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Happy Thanksgiving all,
I'm looking to build a fast Intel/Microsoft computer top operate Photoshop. Would I get a better performance from a server motherboard with 2 Xeon processors or a desktop motherboard with 1 i7 processor? Yes, I will load up on RAM and Raid SSD hard drives.
Tom
...and happy thanksgiving to you too...
LOL, you may want to take these questions to a hardware/software forum such as:
www.tomshardware.com
It's akin to asking questions relating to camera's in a mechanical forum....[H]
I would prefer the i5/i7 or i9 (soon to be released)...
Happy hunting....
I haven't been keeping up with hardware stuff but either of those would be pretty dang fast and run photoshop very well
you have to determine what your willing to spend and how much use your going to get out of the thing i mean the price of a server mb and 2 xeons is not exactly cheap
I7 :D maybe even I5... Photoshop is depending more and more on graphic card acceleration lately. So I doubt if a server board will be that good in the future.
I got an I7-920 myself with a few raid disks and an 1GB ATI radeon 4890 graphics card and really.. it rocks.
An ssd might make the startup a little faster, but I think a nice raid setup will be as good as you need, plus the extra storage size. Harddisks are simply very cheap cmpared to ssd's and you can use a little disk space during photoshopping :D
I recommend samsung spinpoints f3 series for that.... you will figure it out I guess ;)
good luck
I was hoping that photo professionals that read Bryans web site would know the answer from hands on usage of Photoshop. I run it now on a quick 64-bit computer and can't stand how slow PS is. Not only is time = money, but it test my patience too. :) or is it :(
I think you will better off with the I7. Also get a good video card such as the nVIDIA 260. I built two computers. Get two hard drives of the same compacity so you can back up everything.
John.
Photoshop is murder on the RAM and Bus system, not so much the processor. I think PCs suffer from Windows inability to "actually" address more than 2.5 gigs of RAM even in 64 bit systems. I don't think Windows 7 has really addressed this issue yet since it is still Vista with a cleaned up interface.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith B
If you're running a 64bit OS then you can address much more than 2.5 gigs....In 64 bit Vista Ultimate, Enterprise, & Business editions you can address a maximum of 128 GBs of RAM (in Home Premium it's a measly 16 GBs). If you're running a 32bit OS, you can install up to 4 GBs, but the OS will only utilize up to 3.2 GBs.
I recently upgraded my 3.2GHz single-core processor to a 2.66GHz quad-core one. I also wiped the slate clean and installed Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. It's not too shabby...I'm glad I did it. Next upgrade? Dual monitors.... ;-)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean Setters
It was referring to 32 bit Windows Home. Sorry.
But it does say 2.3 gigs due to MMIO issues on systems with hi powered graphics cards.
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Apparently, they actually raised the bar in Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate 64bit editions--they now support up to 192 GBs.
As you can tell from the article I referenced I am a Mac guy. I actually work exclusively on a 2.4 Santa Rosa MBP with with 7200rpm HD and 4 gigs of RAM. I never wait on Photoshop. Aperture on the other hand I can bring to absolute halt.
When Apple puts the new 4 Core chip in the MBPs I'll probably upgrade just to speed up Aperture.
The i7 is a great chip and more than capable of handling bulk photoshopping. As mentioned, photoshop chews ram and spits it out so a 64 bit OS is a must. I run Vista Home Premium 64 bit with 8gb of 1066 MHz ram and itruns well. I am using a much older CPU (e6600 core 2 duo) soCPU isobviouslynot the limiting factor.
Invest in a decent graphics card such as the Nvidia 275/285/295. The 260 GTX, although an excellent card, was well and truly superceded by the 275 GTX and the price difference is small for the benefit you get.
I would also suggest Windows 7. I trialled a beta version and it was much more stable than Vista... and by "much" I mean HEAPS.
Happy spending.
All great feed back. That is why I wrote you guys (and gals) in the first place. You seems to have saved me a lot of money.
My understanding than about PS is that it seems to be more dependent on video and memory. Since I have been running Windows 7 64-bit Professional since it was out in beta form, I already have 4 gig of memory. I will first upgrade my video card (maybe dual card) and since memory is cheap now I'll throw on 2 more sticks for a total of 8 gig. No need to upgrade my processor from a E8500 OC even though the i7 will be somewhat faster, but a lot of expense for not much more improvement.
Tom
Quote:
Originally Posted by FI-Photo
I think you've got the right idea...that's what I'd do.
Using Photoshop or any other image editing software you will ONLYneeda card that supports the resolution you need to run at, any 50.00cardshould do this. If you arelooking at gaming and CAD and stuff then gofor a beefy card.
Photoshop speed is not done via the GPU,its more dependant on the CPU cycles. Save$$$for the processor, RAM and mainboard!
I have the following rig:
Q6600, 4GB DDR2 1066, 2T HDD, ATI 3450 &Win7 x64 Ultimate.I use Lightroom, Photoshop Elements and Premiere for video all without a hiccup.
[:D]
Quote:
Originally Posted by elmo_2006
That depends on which version of Photoshop you are using. If you a using CS3 then photoshop utilises the CPU for rendering. CS4 however, introduced GPU and Open GL acceleration so it uses the GPU for its graphical rendering. I would suggest a GPU capable of DirectX 10 (Nvidia 275 GTX or higher) and any of the i7 Cpu's.
RAM is also important as when you are working with many layers that information is stored as separate packets within the RAM. Get 8Gb and you'll never have to worry about the machine bogging down.
Hope this helps.
I would recommend a single Core i7, and since PhotoShop surely uses RAM a lot you should go with one of the 900-series, because they have three memory channels, whereas the i7 800-series and below only have two memory channels.
You then need to get memory in sets of three in order to maximise memory performance. I can't tell you about Windows, because I only use Linux and Mac OS, but 6 GB should work fine on a 64bit system(?), and I wouldn't get less for an i7.
@ btaylor...
....not necessarily, unless you are 'rendering'but here is the url to confirm....
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/405/kb405711.html
As anyone can see, a simple video card is required and video cards today do support OpenGL and directx 10. My little ATI Radeon that cost me CAD40 works just fine.
Simple test, buy the card, as it seems that he will, build the system and then test with both cards, theoretically there should be no difference in performance, unless there is 'rendering' involved!
If you are purely and simply editing images then there is no need for a top end videocard, RAM and processing cycles are more important.
[:$]
There's a multitude of articles that suggest otherwise but I'll take your word for it.
I guess the OP was really after high performance when using whichever version of Photoshop they're using. So buy the best of everything and you'll be happy, but broke.