can anyone offer me hardware suggestions?

On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:55:40 -0400, Matthew wrote:

I recently upgraded to CS5 and I now want to speed up my workflow with a new comptuer for my photography work (my current system practically grinds to a stop if I open up more than three photos at a time). I only have a budget of $1100 and this is the hardware I was considering:

Win 7 Pro-64
MSI X58 Pro-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Kingston Tripple channel (2GBx3) PC3-10600
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz processor
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB system drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB data drive
Asus Radeon HD 4350 video card
Cooler Master 500w power supply
Samsung DVD/RW drive

Should I consider investing more in the processor or add another 2GBx3 memory kit to take me to 12GB? Also would I be better off building a RAID0 with 2 – 1TB drives or is the speed increase not worth the potential risk of drive failure?

Here’s my two cents.

This will be a screaming system. Put some more oomph into your video card – even another 30 dollars will make a big difference. Make sure that your video board is on the list of "approved" boards at www.adobe.com, and that it will drive two monitors.

6GB of memory should be fine, but more would not be overkill in this day and age – I’d recommend more memory over a faster processor.

The software based RAID systems do offer more speed (mostly in initial starup and open), but they can be persnickety from an administration standpoint. So I’d leave this as a later exercise after you’ve gotten settled with your system. Solid state drives offer excellent performance as well, without the complications of dealing with RAID.

If you want to cut corners a little, you could back off on the OS – go with Home Premium (or whatever it’s called), and forgo the second disk – just the 2TB drive will work just fine, and you can add the faster disk later.

The only thing I see missing is a new monitor – get at least a 24 inch HD monitor, and use your old monitor for the tool palettes. —
Mike Russell – http://www.curvemeister.com

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:55:40 -0400, Matthew wrote:

I recently upgraded to CS5 and I now want to speed up my workflow with a new
comptuer for my photography work (my current system practically grinds to a
stop if I open up more than three photos at a time). I only have a budget
of $1100 and this is the hardware I was considering:

Win 7 Pro-64
MSI X58 Pro-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Kingston Tripple channel (2GBx3) PC3-10600
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz processor
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB system drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB data drive
Asus Radeon HD 4350 video card
Cooler Master 500w power supply
Samsung DVD/RW drive

Should I consider investing more in the processor or add another 2GBx3 memory kit to take me to 12GB? Also would I be better off building a RAID0
with 2 – 1TB drives or is the speed increase not worth the potential risk of
drive failure?

Here’s my two cents.

This will be a screaming system. Put some more oomph into your video card – even another 30 dollars will make a big difference. Make sure that your video board is on the list of "approved" boards at www.adobe.com, and that it will drive two monitors.

Well Adobe’s approved video card list is pretty pathetic… for the ATI Radeon cards it just says the 2000, 3000 and 4000 series cards are ok. And the card I chose has SDI and HDMI out… and since my current 24" has SDI in/outs and most of the newer 24"HD monitors have HDMI inputs I am thinking that this card will drive both my current monitor and anything I add in the future.. but I will double check that.

6GB of memory should be fine, but more would not be overkill in this day and age – I’d recommend more memory over a faster processor.

Thanks…. 12GB it is then.

The software based RAID systems do offer more speed (mostly in initial starup and open), but they can be persnickety from an administration standpoint. So I’d leave this as a later exercise after you’ve gotten settled with your system. Solid state drives offer excellent performance as well, without the complications of dealing with RAID.

Good point, but their capacity is still a bit on the low side… I’ll wait on this and see what new and shiny things come out towards the end of the year.

If you want to cut corners a little, you could back off on the OS – go with
Home Premium (or whatever it’s called), and forgo the second disk – just the 2TB drive will work just fine, and you can add the faster disk later.

Well I went with the Win7-64 Pro because that is the cheapest of the Win7-64 series that also offers a 32 bit emulator… and I’m a little worried about some of my older apps.

The only thing I see missing is a new monitor – get at least a 24 inch HD monitor, and use your old monitor for the tool palettes.

Actually I’ve already got a great 24inch HD monitor (picked that up a couple of months ago) and though I would love a second… that’ll have to be a down the road investment. 🙂

—
Mike Russell – http://www.curvemeister.com

Thanks for the suggestions!

"Matthew" wrote:

I recently upgraded to CS5 and I now want to speed up my workflow with a new comptuer for my photography work (my current system practically grinds to a stop if I open up more than three photos at a time). I only have a budget of $1100 and this is the hardware I was considering:

Win 7 Pro-64
MSI X58 Pro-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Kingston Tripple channel (2GBx3) PC3-10600
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz processor
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB system drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB data drive
Asus Radeon HD 4350 video card
Cooler Master 500w power supply
Samsung DVD/RW drive

Should I consider investing more in the processor or add another 2GBx3 memory kit to take me to 12GB? Also would I be better off building a RAID0 with 2 – 1TB drives or is the speed increase not worth the potential risk of drive failure?

I don’t have any information on any specific hardware unit, but I can give some general information.

– If you think 2.8Ghz is fast enough for you then stick with it.

– Memory is dirt cheap these days, and Windows 7 can benefit from extra memory (especially 64-bit) so do little research about the minimum recommend by end user (not Microsoft as they only need to care about selling thie products not about the speed you may enjoy). I don’t remember if mine has 8GB or 16GB (probably 8GB ?).

– Windows 7 does require some newer Video and Audio card for it to work correctly, else you may run into quite a bit of locking up issue. I believe the video it requires DirectX-9 minimum, and I don’t remember the req requirement for audio.

I have to replace both video and audio card for my Win7 to work correctly.

– You might have some issue burning CD/DVD under Win7, but that’s based on my personal experience or issue.

It coould be because I have the IDE DVD as slave of 500GB IDE hard drive. Or the system has only 1 EIDE port, so I use the 500GB for Windows system and aps, and DVD burner. And (3) 1TB SATA hard drives

I may buy a SATA DVD burner see if it will help solving the problem, cuz I sometime burn 10-20-30 DVDs a day, and right now I have around 20-30% coaster. I have burned probbaly around more/less 20K of DVD/CD with nearly 100%, but not with Win7

"Matthew" wrote:

Well I went with the Win7-64 Pro because that is the cheapest of the Win7-64 series that also offers a 32 bit emulator… and I’m a little worried about some of my older apps.

You should be able to run most (not all) 32-bit aps by running under Compatibility & Administrator. Some may act little wierd, and some won’t run at all.

Or some RUN but won’t work (when you try to do something), some refuses to load.

On 6/18/2010 3:53 PM, Matthew wrote:

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:55:40 -0400, Matthew wrote:

I recently upgraded to CS5 and I now want to speed up my workflow with a new
comptuer for my photography work (my current system practically grinds to a
stop if I open up more than three photos at a time). I only have a budget
of $1100 and this is the hardware I was considering:

Win 7 Pro-64
MSI X58 Pro-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Kingston Tripple channel (2GBx3) PC3-10600
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz processor
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB system drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB data drive
Asus Radeon HD 4350 video card
Cooler Master 500w power supply
Samsung DVD/RW drive

Should I consider investing more in the processor or add another 2GBx3 memory kit to take me to 12GB? Also would I be better off building a RAID0
with 2 – 1TB drives or is the speed increase not worth the potential risk of
drive failure?

Here’s my two cents.

This will be a screaming system. Put some more oomph into your video card – even another 30 dollars will make a big difference. Make sure that your video board is on the list of "approved" boards at www.adobe.com, and that it will drive two monitors.

Well Adobe’s approved video card list is pretty pathetic… for the ATI Radeon cards it just says the 2000, 3000 and 4000 series cards are ok. And the card I chose has SDI and HDMI out… and since my current 24" has SDI in/outs and most of the newer 24"HD monitors have HDMI inputs I am thinking that this card will drive both my current monitor and anything I add in the future.. but I will double check that.

The Radeon HD 4650 would be worth the extra $25.

"Matthew" wrote in message

I recently upgraded to CS5 and I now want to speed up my workflow with a new comptuer for my photography work (my current system practically grinds to a stop if I open up more than three photos at a time). I only have a budget of $1100 and this is the hardware I was considering:
Win 7 Pro-64
MSI X58 Pro-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Kingston Tripple channel (2GBx3) PC3-10600
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz processor
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB system drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB data drive
Asus Radeon HD 4350 video card
Cooler Master 500w power supply
Samsung DVD/RW drive

Should I consider investing more in the processor or add another 2GBx3 memory kit to take me to 12GB? Also would I be better off building a RAID0 with 2 – 1TB drives or is the speed increase not worth the potential risk of drive failure?

Rethink the power supply. 500 might not be enough.

—
N

"Joel" wrote in message

"Matthew" wrote:

I recently upgraded to CS5 and I now want to speed up my workflow with a new
comptuer for my photography work (my current system practically grinds to a
stop if I open up more than three photos at a time). I only have a budget
of $1100 and this is the hardware I was considering:

Win 7 Pro-64
MSI X58 Pro-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Kingston Tripple channel (2GBx3) PC3-10600
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz processor
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB system drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB data drive
Asus Radeon HD 4350 video card
Cooler Master 500w power supply
Samsung DVD/RW drive

Should I consider investing more in the processor or add another 2GBx3 memory kit to take me to 12GB? Also would I be better off building a RAID0
with 2 – 1TB drives or is the speed increase not worth the potential risk of
drive failure?

I don’t have any information on any specific hardware unit, but I can give some general information.

– If you think 2.8Ghz is fast enough for you then stick with it.
– Memory is dirt cheap these days, and Windows 7 can benefit from extra memory (especially 64-bit) so do little research about the minimum recommend
by end user (not Microsoft as they only need to care about selling thie products not about the speed you may enjoy). I don’t remember if mine has 8GB or 16GB (probably 8GB ?).

– Windows 7 does require some newer Video and Audio card for it to work correctly, else you may run into quite a bit of locking up issue. I believe
the video it requires DirectX-9 minimum, and I don’t remember the req requirement for audio.

I have to replace both video and audio card for my Win7 to work correctly.
– You might have some issue burning CD/DVD under Win7, but that’s based on my personal experience or issue.

It coould be because I have the IDE DVD as slave of 500GB IDE hard drive. Or the system has only 1 EIDE port, so I use the 500GB for Windows system and aps, and DVD burner. And (3) 1TB SATA hard drives

I may buy a SATA DVD burner see if it will help solving the problem, cuz I sometime burn 10-20-30 DVDs a day, and right now I have around 20-30% coaster. I have burned probbaly around more/less 20K of DVD/CD with nearly
100%, but not with Win7

Win 7 has CD/DVD burning software built in. You don’t need any extra software. Was that your issue?

—
N

On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:53:48 -0400, Matthew wrote:

Well I went with the Win7-64 Pro because that is the cheapest of the Win7-64 series that also offers a 32 bit emulator… and I’m a little worried about some of my older apps.

The emulator, correct me if I’m wrong, refers to Microsoft’s virtual machine environment. IMHO this is overkill for what you want.

Any 64 bit system will also run 32 bit apps, with properties accessing a variety of options for emulating older versions of windows. —
Mike Russell – http://www.curvemeister.com

"N" wrote:

Should I consider investing more in the processor or add another 2GBx3 memory kit to take me to 12GB? Also would I be better off building a RAID0
with 2 – 1TB drives or is the speed increase not worth the potential risk of
drive failure?

I don’t have any information on any specific hardware unit, but I can give some general information.

– If you think 2.8Ghz is fast enough for you then stick with it.
– Memory is dirt cheap these days, and Windows 7 can benefit from extra memory (especially 64-bit) so do little research about the minimum recommend
by end user (not Microsoft as they only need to care about selling thie products not about the speed you may enjoy). I don’t remember if mine has 8GB or 16GB (probably 8GB ?).

– Windows 7 does require some newer Video and Audio card for it to work correctly, else you may run into quite a bit of locking up issue. I believe
the video it requires DirectX-9 minimum, and I don’t remember the req requirement for audio.

I have to replace both video and audio card for my Win7 to work correctly.
– You might have some issue burning CD/DVD under Win7, but that’s based on my personal experience or issue.

It coould be because I have the IDE DVD as slave of 500GB IDE hard drive. Or the system has only 1 EIDE port, so I use the 500GB for Windows system and aps, and DVD burner. And (3) 1TB SATA hard drives

I may buy a SATA DVD burner see if it will help solving the problem, cuz I sometime burn 10-20-30 DVDs a day, and right now I have around 20-30% coaster. I have burned probbaly around more/less 20K of DVD/CD with nearly
100%, but not with Win7

Win 7 has CD/DVD burning software built in. You don’t need any extra software. Was that your issue?

I said exactly what you read. COASTING is my issue, and lot of coasting.

Yes, I do know Win7 has its own CD/DVD burning software, not built-in but comes with one. And same with all other cousins they all give me coasting.

"Joel" wrote in message

I said exactly what you read. COASTING is my issue, and lot of coasting.
Yes, I do know Win7 has its own CD/DVD burning software, not built-in but comes with one. And same with all other cousins they all give me coasting.

My system was making coasters too, even with a SATA DVD. it’s 2 years old and was also having issues reading DVDs burnt on other systems. I replaced the drive and it’s fine now.

—
N

I had a similar problem with one of mine (Plextor). Opened it up which you are not supposed to do, cleaned out many dust bunnies, cleaned the head with a Q-tip and isopropyl alcohol and reassembled. It had vents but my Sony does not. The Plextor now works like a charm burning DL dvd’s.

Paul
"N" wrote in message

"Joel" wrote in message

I said exactly what you read. COASTING is my issue, and lot of coasting.
Yes, I do know Win7 has its own CD/DVD burning software, not built-in but comes with one. And same with all other cousins they all give me coasting.

My system was making coasters too, even with a SATA DVD. it’s 2 years old and was also having issues reading DVDs burnt on other systems. I replaced the drive and it’s fine now.

—
N

"N" wrote:

"Joel" wrote in message

I said exactly what you read. COASTING is my issue, and lot of coasting.
Yes, I do know Win7 has its own CD/DVD burning software, not built-in but comes with one. And same with all other cousins they all give me coasting.

My system was making coasters too, even with a SATA DVD. it’s 2 years old and was also having issues reading DVDs burnt on other systems. I replaced the drive and it’s fine now.

Thanks for the info about SATA. I have no reading problem and it gave me no coaster for many years until I upgraded from WinXP to Windows 7 64-bit. I Googled and read many Win7 users have similar issue, so I am thinking about trying SATA on its own channel.

Mine seems to have something to do with Windows *not* the burner as quite often the programs (I have tried 5-6 different programs including the one comes with Win7) and have similar problems.

– Sometime the program starts the locked up right after the LED of burner made one quick blink.

– Sometime program lockup at 1% some program continues working but stuck at 1% (sometime at around 8%)

– Some program keep working and finishes at 100%, but don’t write to DVD (LED off).

Right now, to get around the problem I have to reboot Win7, don’t run any other application but the burner program only. And it may burn up to around 3-5 DVDs before it acts up again. Then I have to reboot and repeat the process.

On Sat, 19 Jun 2010 08:39:55 -0700, Paul Simon wrote:

I had a similar problem with one of mine (Plextor). Opened it up which you are not supposed to do, cleaned out many dust bunnies, cleaned the head with a Q-tip and isopropyl alcohol and reassembled. It had vents but my Sony does not. The Plextor now works like a charm burning DL dvd’s.
Paul

Kudos to you. We are kindred spirits, at least in this regard. Very few people will actually take something apart and fix it.
—
Mike Russell – http://www.curvemeister.com

Thanks for the compliment. It comes from being a depresssion kid, scrounging electronics from the sidewalk postwar, grad school, etc.

It’s also fun!

Paul

"Mike Russell" wrote in message

On Sat, 19 Jun 2010 08:39:55 -0700, Paul Simon wrote:

I had a similar problem with one of mine (Plextor). Opened it up which you
are not supposed to do, cleaned out many dust bunnies, cleaned the head with
a Q-tip and isopropyl alcohol and reassembled. It had vents but my Sony does not. The Plextor now works like a charm burning DL dvd’s.
Paul

Kudos to you. We are kindred spirits, at least in this regard. Very few people will actually take something apart and fix it.
—
Mike Russell – http://www.curvemeister.com

Regarding taking things apart and fixing them, Paul Simon wrote:

Thanks for the compliment. It comes from being a depresssion kid, scrounging electronics from the sidewalk postwar, grad school, etc.
It’s also fun!

Absolutely – I have never been able to resist taking things apart, starting with a vintage Mickey Mouse watch (parts now long gone). Much later, I found I could actually fix things once in a while as well, LOL. —
Mike Russell – http://www.curvemeister.com

"N" wrote in message

"Matthew" wrote in message

I recently upgraded to CS5 and I now want to speed up my workflow with a new comptuer for my photography work (my current system practically grinds to a stop if I open up more than three photos at a time). I only have a budget of $1100 and this is the hardware I was considering:
Win 7 Pro-64
MSI X58 Pro-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Kingston Tripple channel (2GBx3) PC3-10600
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz processor
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB system drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB data drive
Asus Radeon HD 4350 video card
Cooler Master 500w power supply
Samsung DVD/RW drive

Should I consider investing more in the processor or add another 2GBx3 memory kit to take me to 12GB? Also would I be better off building a RAID0 with 2 – 1TB drives or is the speed increase not worth the potential risk of drive failure?

Rethink the power supply. 500 might not be enough.

Here is my new system…I posted this earlier on. PSCS5 flies!!:)

Intel Core I7 860 2.8 Ghz Quad core

Asus P7P5D-LE core I7 motherboard
8Gb DDR3 1600
64Gb Kingston SSD
2 TB WD SATA HDD
Nvidia GTS 240 Asus
Antec Earthwatts 650 watt PSU
DVD+RW Drive
Windows 7 Home premium

I’d upgrade your GPU to a card Adobe has chosen as one that accelerates CS5. Almost all CUDA powered cards do, (Nvidia) but it starts at the GTX 285. I have one of these (W/ one GB of DDR3-I put a GTX 285 w/ 2 GB in my wife’s PC. She does the home-video of the family). I do all the photos, (being a photographer), and the 285 is amazing. Also, the new Mercury engine in Premier CS5 won’t use hardware acceleration until and beginning with the 285.
Good luck!

On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:55:40 -0400, "Matthew"
wrote:

I recently upgraded to CS5 and I now want to speed up my workflow with a new comptuer for my photography work (my current system practically grinds to a stop if I open up more than three photos at a time). I only have a budget of $1100 and this is the hardware I was considering:

Win 7 Pro-64
MSI X58 Pro-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Kingston Tripple channel (2GBx3) PC3-10600
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz processor
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB system drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB data drive
Asus Radeon HD 4350 video card
Cooler Master 500w power supply
Samsung DVD/RW drive

Should I consider investing more in the processor or add another 2GBx3 memory kit to take me to 12GB? Also would I be better off building a RAID0 with 2 – 1TB drives or is the speed increase not worth the potential risk of drive failure?