PC config for Photoshop performance?

photobugphotobug Registered Users Posts: 633 Major grins
edited March 5, 2006 in Digital Darkroom
I plan on upgrading my PC (buying a new one) in the next couple of months. In particular, I would like the new machine to run Photoshop CS2 better than my current machine (Dell Dimension 4550, 2.5GHz, 1GB PC2700 memory). I don't have the budget for an "extreme" machine and prefer to get another Dell (perhaps Dimension 8400).

Can anyone offer recommendations on what configuration options would help the most with Photoshop performance? Obviously I'll need at least 1GB of memory (and am thinking of bumping it up to 1.5-2GB), but what else will make a noticeable difference?
  • Memory speed? (e.g. 533Mhz vs. 400Mhz)
  • DDR memory, dual-channel memory?
  • Second disk drive? (for Photoshop scratch disk)
  • etc?
  • Is the choice of graphics card at all a perfomance issue? (I run my monitor at 1900x1200, so won't be using a bargain-basement graphics card)
Thanks for any recommendations!

= photobug
Canon EOS 7D ........ 24-105 f/4L | 50 f/1.4 | 70-200 f/2.8L IS + 1.4x II TC ........ 580EX
Supported by: Benro C-298 Flexpod tripod, MC96 monopod, Induro PHQ1 head
Also play with: studio strobes, umbrellas, softboxes, ...and a partridge in a pear tree...

Comments

  • David_S85David_S85 Administrators Posts: 13,167 moderator
    edited May 20, 2005
    Bigger Tiles plug-in
    Adobe is offering the Bigger Tiles plug-in at:

    http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/331372.html

    There is supporting text on how it works + how to install and use it
    there.

    photobug wrote:
    I plan on upgrading my PC (buying a new one) in the next couple of months. In particular, I would like the new machine to run Photoshop CS2 better than my current machine (Dell 4700, 2.5GHz, 1GB PC2700 memory). I don't have the budget for an "extreme" machine and prefer to get another Dell (perhaps Dimension 8400).

    Can anyone offer recommendations on what configuration options would help the most with Photoshop performance? Obviously I'll need at least 1GB of memory (and am thinking of bumping it up to 1.5-2GB), but what else will make a noticeable difference?
    • Memory speed?
    • DDR memory, dual-channel memory?
    • Second disk drive?
    • etc?
    • Is the choice of graphics card at all a perfomance issue? (I run my monitor at 1900x1200, so I won't be using a bargain-basement graphics card)
    Thanks for any recommendations!

    = photobug

    I'll be interested in reading information others post here, since I'll also be upgrading to a new machine this year too (still running a 400mhz, PII, WIN '95 machine. eeeek!).
    My Smugmug
    "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,694 moderator
    edited May 20, 2005
    photobug wrote:
    I plan on upgrading my PC (buying a new one) in the next couple of months. In particular, I would like the new machine to run Photoshop CS2 better than my current machine (Dell 4700, 2.5GHz, 1GB PC2700 memory). I don't have the budget for an "extreme" machine and prefer to get another Dell (perhaps Dimension 8400).

    Can anyone offer recommendations on what configuration options would help the most with Photoshop performance? Obviously I'll need at least 1GB of memory (and am thinking of bumping it up to 1.5-2GB), but what else will make a noticeable difference?


    • Memory speed?
    • DDR memory, dual-channel memory?
    • Second disk drive?
    • etc?
    • Is the choice of graphics card at all a perfomance issue? (I run my monitor at 1900x1200, so I won't be using a bargain-basement graphics card)
    Thanks for any recommendations!

    = photobug
    What's your budget?
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • David_S85David_S85 Administrators Posts: 13,167 moderator
    edited May 20, 2005
  • wholenewlightwholenewlight Registered Users Posts: 1,529 Major grins
    edited May 21, 2005
    I'm in the same dilemna as you but more urgent when a power surge (I use a supposedly good surge protector) trashed my desktop last Thur. Hope I can salvage some recent, non-backed up images off of my HD! My unplanned purchase needs required spending less than I would have liked. I see all the ads for cheap pcs ($600) but I know that they don't have the horsepower to do the minimum of what I need to.

    So, last night I ordered one from Dell. I used a techbargains.com (they are great!, i've used them for years to find the better deals) coupon code (3MGZK7SWFGHS1?) so I good the current dell offers (free ship, 19" flat screen, and more) + 25% off.

    My bare minimum sys requirements:
    pentium 4
    minimum 1gb ram - hopefully faster, dual channel sdram
    dvd burner
    cdrw burner
    ms xp pro (NOT the new home media edition)
    flat panel monitor - bigger the better
    non-integrated graphics

    I know this is pretty much a minimum system - 1gb ram will be upgraded soon - it can hold 4gb ram. But it is a lot faster (dual channel ram 533mhz) and more memory than my system that died.

    Here's what I bought:

    Dimension 8400 Series, Intel Pentium 4 Processor 630 (3GHz)w/HT Technology and 2MB cache


    Qty: 1

    Unit Price: $1,256.00



    Dimension 8400 Series, Intel Pentium 4 Processor 630 (3GHz)w/HT Technology and 2MB cache

    1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz

    Dell Quiet Key Keyboard

    19 in (19 in viewable) E193FP Flat Panel Display

    128MB PCI Express x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X300 SE

    160GB NCQ Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)

    No Floppy Drive Requested

    Dimension Dell Support

    Image Restore

    Dell Media Experience 3.0 Basic

    Microsoft Windows XP Professional,Service Pack 2, English

    Windows Media Player 10

    Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access

    Dell USB Optical Mouse

    Intel Pro 1000 Integrated PCI NIC Card

    56K PCI Data Fax Modem

    Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0

    48x CD-RW and 16X DVD+/-RW

    PowerDVD Software Decoding forDVD Drives

    Integrated Audio

    Dell A215 Speakers

    No Security Subscription

    Music Match 9.0 Basic 7 day OnDemand

    Paint Shop Photo Album 5.1 Standard

    Dell/My Way Home Page

    NETZERO ISP

    AOL for Broadband

    Broadband Icon for Inspiron

    MS Worksuite 2005

    Type 3- Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, 1 Year Extended

    2 Year Limited Warranty

    Soft Contracts - Banctec

    Technical Support, 1 Year Extended

    Technical Support, Initial Year

    Type 3- Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year

    Thank you for choosing Dell

    Quickbooks 2005 Special SimpleStart Edition

    CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE





    Subtotal: $1,256.00

    Shipping and Handling: $0.00

    Tax: $75.35

    Total: $1,331.35
    My unreasonable target was $1K and with discounts it comes in at $1.3k. Plus 6mos no interest.


    I'm pretty happy and believe with a little more ram, it can be a grreat system for me.
    john w

    I knew, of course, that trees and plants had roots, stems, bark, branches and foliage that reached up toward the light. But I was coming to realize that the real magician was light itself.
    Edward Steichen


  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited May 21, 2005
    Note the bit in the links to dpreview where they say CS2 runs slower. I have 1gb of memory, and it's fine for CS. But CS2 runs a great deal more slowly. That tells me it's a memory hog. :bluduh
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
  • tlittletontlittleton Registered Users Posts: 204 Major grins
    edited May 21, 2005
    David_S85 wrote:
    Adobe is offering the Bigger Tiles plug-in at:

    http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/331372.html

    There is supporting text on how it works + how to install and use it
    there.




    I'll be interested in reading information others post here, since I'll also be upgrading to a new machine this year too (still running a 400mhz, PII, WIN '95 machine. eeeek!).
    Thanks for that post David. That works great! Of course, I have 3GB in my system, which probably helps a bit...

    Also, if you're buying the Dell with a 19"LCD, and you can spare $100 extra, go for the 1905FP. It has a much better contrast ratio. It also has 4 USB 2.0 ports, which come in very handy.
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,904 moderator
    edited May 23, 2005
    I belive there's a knee in the processor speed curve above which it doesn't
    make sense to buy the fastest processor. Right now, it's probably around
    3 to 3.2GHz. That said, buy the fastest processor that fits your budget.

    A second disk helps a great deal. For best performance, do not allow
    PS to use the OS disk for scratch/temp files. I would consider a second
    disk mandatory for running PS.

    2Gigs of memory should be enough for most things. DDR would be good.

    Bus speed matters as well. It does no good to have fast disks, fast memory
    and a fast CPU if you cannot transfer data between them.

    In the end, it's better to have a nicely balanced machine whose components
    compliment one another than to have the fastest CPU/oodles of memory.

    Ian
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
  • photobugphotobug Registered Users Posts: 633 Major grins
    edited June 8, 2005
    Ordered a Dell 8400 on June 8
    First, I want to thank everyone who has responded to this thread. It helped me discover new info and served as a good "sanity check" for what I was planning to do (too bad I don't have $2K+ for a nice Mac G5 system -- but that wouldn't run all my apps (yet)).

    I was delayed in posting back to it because of a very busy week ...
    last night I ordered one from Dell. I used a techbargains.com coupon code so I got the current Dell offers (free ship, 19" flat screen, and more) + 25% off.
    I know this is pretty much a minimum system - 1gb ram will be upgraded soon - it can hold 4gb ram. But it is a lot faster (dual channel ram 533mhz) and more memory than my system that died. Here's what I bought:
    • Dimension 8400, Pentium 4 630 (3GHz) w/HT & 2MB cache
    • 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
    • 19 in E193FP Flat Panel Display
    • 160GB NCQ Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
    • Microsoft Windows XP Professional,Service Pack 2, English
    • 48x CD-RW and 16X DVD+/-RW
    • 2 Year Limited Warranty
    Total: $1,331.35


    My unreasonable target was $1K and with discounts it comes in at $1.3k. Plus 6mos no interest.
    I'm pretty happy and believe with a little more ram, it can be a grreat system for me.
    Dell has another "Outrageous Deal" on Dimension 8400s which ran for about 2 days, through Wed Jun 8th (thanks to Techbargains.com for the heads-up on that!). When all the dust settled, I dropped $978 ($1518 - $529 discount - $100 mail-in rebate + $82 tax) for:

    • 3.0GHz dual-thread (HT) P4 630 w/ 800MHz front-side bus
    • 512 MB DDR2 (double data rate, dual-channel) 533 MHz memory (PC2-4200) ... and I'll add another GB of aftermarket memory for $100 or so
    • 19" E193FP monitor (which I'll give to my wife, so I can keep my 24" CRT monitor)
    • 128MB ATI Radeon X300 SE video card (the default card, which will drive 1920x1200)
    • 160GB SATA hard drive
    • DVD+/-RW burner, dual format (+/-), double-layer write capable
    • 10/100/1000 MB/s ("gigabit") Ethernet
    • Win XP Home
    • Acrobat Elements (for writing PDF files)
    • no floppy, no ISP, no extended service (may purchase service later)
    • last-minute addition: Dell offered 3-yr service for 50% off, $127, so I added that on, too (raising total to over $1K)
    The link to Dell for the "Outrageous Deal" is:
    http://www.techbargains.com/u.cfm?id=45350&u=1
    (I suppose that link gives Techbargains a small percentage referral fee, but they really deserve it)

    Poster wholenewlight specifically helped because he clued me into the availability of 533 MHz memory -- an option which I hadn't even noticed before. It increases the max memory bandwith from 6.4 to 8.4 GB/sec -- which probably helps when Photoshop accesses large image files in and out of the processor, and only cost $20 extra. I'll get 533MHz memory for the later 1GB aftermarket memory.
    Canon EOS 7D ........ 24-105 f/4L | 50 f/1.4 | 70-200 f/2.8L IS + 1.4x II TC ........ 580EX
    Supported by: Benro C-298 Flexpod tripod, MC96 monopod, Induro PHQ1 head
    Also play with: studio strobes, umbrellas, softboxes, ...and a partridge in a pear tree...

  • jhn397jhn397 Registered Users Posts: 1 Beginner grinner
    edited March 5, 2006
    photobug wrote:
    First, I want to thank everyone who has responded to this thread. It helped me discover new info and served as a good "sanity check" for what I was planning to do (too bad I don't have $2K+ for a nice Mac G5 system -- but that wouldn't run all my apps (yet)).

    I was delayed in posting back to it because of a very busy week ...

    Dell has another "Outrageous Deal" on Dimension 8400s which ran for about 2 days, through Wed Jun 8th (thanks to Techbargains.com for the heads-up on that!). When all the dust settled, I dropped $978 ($1518 - $529 discount - $100 mail-in rebate + $82 tax) for:
    • 3.0GHz dual-thread (HT) P4 630 w/ 800MHz front-side bus
    • 512 MB DDR2 (double data rate, dual-channel) 533 MHz memory (PC2-4200) ... and I'll add another GB of aftermarket memory for $100 or so
    • 19" E193FP monitor (which I'll give to my wife, so I can keep my 24" CRT monitor)
    • 128MB ATI Radeon X300 SE video card (the default card, which will drive 1920x1200)
    • 160GB SATA hard drive
    • DVD+/-RW burner, dual format (+/-), double-layer write capable
    • 10/100/1000 MB/s ("gigabit") Ethernet
    • Win XP Home
    • Acrobat Elements (for writing PDF files)
    • no floppy, no ISP, no extended service (may purchase service later)
    • last-minute addition: Dell offered 3-yr service for 50% off, $127, so I added that on, too (raising total to over $1K)
    The link to Dell for the "Outrageous Deal" is:
    http://www.techbargains.com/u.cfm?id=45350&u=1
    (I suppose that link gives Techbargains a small percentage referral fee, but they really deserve it)

    Poster wholenewlight specifically helped because he clued me into the availability of 533 MHz memory -- an option which I hadn't even noticed before. It increases the max memory bandwith from 6.4 to 8.4 GB/sec -- which probably helps when Photoshop accesses large image files in and out of the processor, and only cost $20 extra. I'll get 533MHz memory for the later 1GB aftermarket memory.

    I go to www.dealgain.com that saves me a few bucks
  • photobugphotobug Registered Users Posts: 633 Major grins
    edited March 5, 2006
    More memory DOES help! (2GB++)
    Another follow-up note ... after buying the Dell Dimension 8400 mentioned eariler in this thread (with 0.5 GB of 533 MHz PC4200 DDR2 memory), I added a gig of aftermarket memory, for a total of 1.5 GB (2 x 256MB plus 2 x 512 MB).

    Last month, I snagged a special at Frys for 2GB of 533 MHz PC4200 DDR2 memory for $99 after rebate. I pulled out and sold the original 0.5GB of memory, so now have 3GB of memory on the box.

    I didn't think the increase would make a whole lot of difference; after all, 1.5 GB is a pretty respectable amount of memory! To my surprise, it did make a noticeable difference, esp when running Photoshop. Files load faster and Camera Raw pops up faster, too. I did expect it to improve response when I edit multiple images, and it did that, also -- the machine doesn't bog down as much because it can keep more in active memory instead of swapping data out to disk. So Photoshop is pretty memory-sensitive, and more than 1.5GB does help, even for a "weekend Photoshop hacker" like me.
    Canon EOS 7D ........ 24-105 f/4L | 50 f/1.4 | 70-200 f/2.8L IS + 1.4x II TC ........ 580EX
    Supported by: Benro C-298 Flexpod tripod, MC96 monopod, Induro PHQ1 head
    Also play with: studio strobes, umbrellas, softboxes, ...and a partridge in a pear tree...

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