Pages: 1 [2]   Go Down

Author Topic: Computer for Photoshop  (Read 13651 times)

ChuckZ

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 59
    • http://czhike88.smugmug.com/
Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #20 on: June 21, 2010, 09:49:44 am »

Quote from: ChuckZ
I'm in the process of buying a new PC to replace my 6 year old Dell.  My max budget is $2200.  So far, I've come up with the following computer configuration to be built by a company called Puget Systems.  I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions as my knowledge of computers is basic.  Thanks.

Motherboard: Asus P7P55D-E Pro
CPU: Intel Core i7 QUAD CORE 860 2.8GHz 8MB 95W (Socket 1156 45nm)
RAM: Kingston 8GB DDR3-1333 (4x2GB)
Video Card: Asus GT 240 1GB Silent
Hard Drive 1:  Intel X25-M 34nm Gen 2 80GB SATA II 2.5inch SSD
Hard Drive 2:  Western Digital Caviar Black 1.0TB SATA 6 Gb/s
Power: Corsair TX 650W Power Supply
CPU Cooling: Gelid Tranquillo  
OS:  Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM

I've learned that newegg.com is a good place to read reviews of individual computer components.
Logged

new_haven

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 67
Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #21 on: June 21, 2010, 12:34:27 pm »

What drive are you planning to use as the photoshop scratch drive?

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404439.html

According to this tech note:

"Solid State Disks (SSD)

Installing Photoshop on an SSD allows Photoshop launch extremely fast, probably in less than a second. But that initial few second saving is the only time you'll see a benefit, because that's the only time when a lot of data is read from the install disk.

A better option is to set your scratch disk to the SSD. This will give you significant performance savings if you have things that don't fit in RAM, for example, swapping tiles between RAM and SSD is many times faster than swapping between RAM and hard disk.
If you already run Photoshop and work entirely in RAM (if your efficiency number is always at 95-100%), then you won't see much benefit from swapping to an SSD scratch disk, since you're already going as fast as you can."


Logged

ChuckZ

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 59
    • http://czhike88.smugmug.com/
Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #22 on: June 21, 2010, 12:58:13 pm »

Quote from: new_haven
What drive are you planning to use as the photoshop scratch drive?

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404439.html

According to this tech note:

"Solid State Disks (SSD)

Installing Photoshop on an SSD allows Photoshop launch extremely fast, probably in less than a second. But that initial few second saving is the only time you'll see a benefit, because that's the only time when a lot of data is read from the install disk.

A better option is to set your scratch disk to the SSD. This will give you significant performance savings if you have things that don't fit in RAM, for example, swapping tiles between RAM and SSD is many times faster than swapping between RAM and hard disk.
If you already run Photoshop and work entirely in RAM (if your efficiency number is always at 95-100%), then you won't see much benefit from swapping to an SSD scratch disk, since you're already going as fast as you can."

I'm figuring that since I'll have 12G of RAM, Photoshop will probably not need a scratch disk?
Logged

ChuckZ

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 59
    • http://czhike88.smugmug.com/
Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #23 on: June 21, 2010, 01:02:55 pm »

Quote from: ChuckZ
I'm figuring that since I'll have 12G of RAM, Photoshop will probably not need a scratch disk?

So if it turns out that if Photoshop doesn't need a scratch disk very often, if at all, I'm guessing that I am ok with the HDD being the scratch disk.
Logged

new_haven

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 67
Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #24 on: June 21, 2010, 01:10:34 pm »

Makes sense to me. -R
Logged

ChuckZ

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 59
    • http://czhike88.smugmug.com/
Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #25 on: June 21, 2010, 01:16:23 pm »

Quote from: ChuckZ
I'm in the process of buying a new PC to replace my 6 year old Dell.  My max budget is $2200.  So far, I've come up with the following computer configuration to be built by a company called Puget Systems.  I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions as my knowledge of computers is basic.  Thanks.

Motherboard: Asus P7P55D-E Pro
CPU: Intel Core i7 QUAD CORE 860 2.8GHz 8MB 95W (Socket 1156 45nm)
RAM: Kingston 8GB DDR3-1333 (4x2GB)
Video Card: Asus GT 240 1GB Silent
Hard Drive 1:  Intel X25-M 34nm Gen 2 80GB SATA II 2.5inch SSD
Hard Drive 2:  Western Digital Caviar Black 1.0TB SATA 6 Gb/s
Power: Corsair TX 650W Power Supply
CPU Cooling: Gelid Tranquillo  
OS:  Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM

Here is the latest configuration:

ANTEC, Performance One P183 Black Mid-Tower Computer Case, ATX, No PSU
   
CORSAIR, CMPSU-650TX TX Series Power Supply, 650W, 80 PLUS®, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, SLI Ready
   
ASUS, P6T Deluxe V2, LGA1366, Intel® X58, 6400 MT/s QPI, DDR3-2000 (O.C.) 24GB /6, PCIe x16 SLI CF /3, SATA 3 Gb/s RAID 5 /6, HDA, GbLAN /2, FW /2, ATX, Retail
   
INTEL, Core™ i7-930 Quad-Core 2.8GHz, LGA1366, 4.8 GT/s QPI, 8MB L3 Cache, 45nm, 130W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail
   
NOCTUA, NH-U12P SE2 CPU Cooling Fan, Socket 1366/1156/775/AM3/AM2, 2x 120mm Fans, Copper/Aluminum, Retail
   
CORSAIR, 12GB (6 x 2GB) XMS3 PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.65V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
   
EVGA, GeForce® 9800 GT 550MHz, 1GB GDDR3 1800MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, VGA, DVI, HDMI, Retail
   
INTEL, 80GB X25-M Mainstream SSD, MLC, 250/70 MB/s, 2.5-Inch, SATA 3 Gb/s, OEM (operating system, programs)
   
WESTERN DIGITAL, 1TB WD Caviar® Black™ (WD1002FAEX), SATA 6 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 64MB Cache (storage)
     
ASUS, DRW-24B1ST Black 24x DVD±R/RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, Retail
   
MICROSOFT, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Edition, OEM

+existing 1TB external drive for back-up
 
Logged

Nicholas

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 14
Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #26 on: July 05, 2010, 10:31:28 pm »

Quote from: ChuckZ
I dropped the DVD reader and now the price is $2015+$88shipping.  The current monitor, a Dell WFP2408, will do the job for the next few years.

ChuckZ,

If you decide to go ahead with AVADirect, you will not be disappointed. Here is my computer, it's a little over a year old and I haven't had a single problem with it, it's been flawless. CS5 and NX2 fly at warp speed, too   .

http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/image/116244768/original

Best of luck to you.
Nicholas
http://www.copperhillimages.com
« Last Edit: July 05, 2010, 10:34:09 pm by Nicholas »
Logged

ChuckZ

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 59
    • http://czhike88.smugmug.com/
Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #27 on: July 05, 2010, 10:51:42 pm »

Quote from: Nicholas
ChuckZ,

If you decide to go ahead with AVADirect, you will not be disappointed. Here is my computer, it's a little over a year old and I haven't had a single problem with it, it's been flawless. CS5 and NX2 fly at warp speed, too   .

http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/image/116244768/original

Best of luck to you.
Nicholas
http://www.copperhillimages.com

Thanks for your input Nicholas.  Actually your comments in a Fred Miranda thread from a few months ago led me to check out AVA Direct and influenced the configuration I eventually came up with.  Thanks for the suggestions there.  I'm planning to order the computer next month.
Logged

KenS

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 131
    • Spark of Light Photography
Re: Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #28 on: August 18, 2010, 11:15:12 am »

ChuckZ,

If you decide to go ahead with AVADirect, you will not be disappointed. Here is my computer, it's a little over a year old and I haven't had a single problem with it, it's been flawless. CS5 and NX2 fly at warp speed, too   .

http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/image/116244768/original

Best of luck to you.
Nicholas
http://www.copperhillimages.com

I'm planning on upgrading my 5+ year old Dell computer (has 4 GB RAM with 3 GB boot.ini switch) in the next month or so and just found this thread.  Since about 6 weeks have gone by since the last post I am wondering what, if anything has changed in terms of recommendations or evaluations?

I plan on doing a lot of multi-image stitching from RAW files from a FF DSLR, and I also  scan my Pentax 67 film resulting in 350 MB files per transparency.
- I am thinking I might want 12 to 16 GB of RAM?
- With this much RAM I won't need a SSD for scratch disk?
- Other recommendations made above are still good?

My current main monitor is a Sony Artisan works great and I don't really want to upgrade unless I have to. Second monitor for CS3 palettes  (will upgrade to CS5, 64 bit when I get the new computer)  is a cheap but workable Viewsonic.   Am I correct in thinking the Artisan monitor will work with the video cards suggested BUT the calibrator will not (unless I switch W7 Pro to XP mode?)

Finally, I have a $2000 Minolta MultiPro scanner which is no longer made so I am thinking the drivers might work in XP mode but if not I will either have to maintain my current XP Dell Computer just for the scanner or buy a different driver/scanner-application for the MultiPro?

~ $2000 budget is okay for me.

Thanks for suggestions.
Ken

Christopher

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1499
    • http://www.hauser-photoart.com
Re: Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #29 on: August 18, 2010, 06:09:14 pm »

Well, let's see. If you want 12GB of RAM you need an i7 with Socket 13xx. Here you could go till 24GB of RAM, however it is REALLY expensive because you have to use 6x4GB.

With a CPU and a 1156 Socket you can go to 8GB pretty cheap, but 16 again would be really expensive. 4x4GB



One more note, I really don't get why so many people are talking about a SSD as scratch. I think it makes NO sense whatsever. (Only if you use SSDs based on SLC, which again is really expensive) The much cheaper and better solution is to get 2-4 500GB drives in RAID 0. Fatser and a lot cheaper than a SSD.
Logged
Christopher Hauser
[email=chris@hauser-p

cybis

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 283
    • http://www.lucbusquin.com
Re: Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #30 on: August 19, 2010, 01:01:25 pm »

Quote
any thoughts on Windows 7 Home vs Windows 7 Professional?

The 'Backup and Restore' feature in Windows 7 Home Premium does not allow you to back up to a network drive. Pro does.

That one difference tipped the balance toward the Professional edition for me.
Logged

tived

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 714
    • http://
Re: Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #31 on: August 24, 2010, 08:44:10 pm »

The biggest improvement you can make to your computer is to add SSD drives to it, its the greatest bottleneck in your system.

RAM: how much is enough? it obviously depends on the size of files that you work on and what else you have going on. I am pretty certain that when my current build is done with 32GB of ram, I will still need a fast scratch disk.

good luck and happy photoshopping

Henrik
Logged

degrub

  • Guest
Re: Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #32 on: August 25, 2010, 04:30:50 pm »

With that configuration you should be able to overclock to about 3.6-4 GHz with minimal effort. i am running the same with a 920 at 3.9 rock stable and CS5 and LR3 are quick under Win7 64

Consider changing the WD black for a pair of Raptors - use small ones (74s or 150s if you can find them)  for system and scratch, and save the large drives for "offline" storage.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2010, 04:38:24 pm by degrub »
Logged

KenS

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 131
    • Spark of Light Photography
Re: Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #33 on: August 27, 2010, 12:26:18 am »

...
RAM: how much is enough? it obviously depends on the size of files that you work on and what else you have going on. I am pretty certain that when my current build is done with 32GB of ram, I will still need a fast scratch disk.
Henrik

You caught my attention with '32GB of ram'.  I am still a month or so away from buying a new PC but I've been thinking 12 to 16 GB would be enough.  As I mentioned in a previous post I plan on doing stitching of Canon 5D II RAW files (21 MPix, perhaps up to 8 shots to be combined) and I also have a large number of 6x7 transparencies which I scan that end up being 350 MB (but I don't typically stitch these for pano's and my current 4 GB PC handles them okay - but slowly).  So,  can you provide some more information about why you think 32 GB might be necessary.  I don't want to over-spend, but the computer I purchase I hope will last ~5 years before I need to upgrade again.

Ken

Christopher

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1499
    • http://www.hauser-photoart.com
Re: Computer for Photoshop
« Reply #34 on: August 28, 2010, 03:57:42 am »

Well the Problem you get is quite simple. You can get 8GB / 12Gb very cheap and simple. However to get 16 or 24GB you have to fill every slot with 4GB, which REALLY is expensive. If you want more RAM you have to look at Workstation Xeon Systems.

I think you will be fine with 12GB of RAM. Instead of spending a lot more for 16GB/24GB I would just get 2-3 cheap 500GB drives and run them as RAID 0 Scratch. Much better option, because for the stitching process of some larger panos even 32 or 48GB RAM wouldn't be enough. For Photoshop 12GB is more than enough, if your not planing on working on 10 files at a time.
Logged
Christopher Hauser
[email=chris@hauser-p
Pages: 1 [2]   Go Up