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Community Newsletter: Q&A: New PC recommendations needed for graphic-intensive programs
- 4/18/08 11:26 AM
I did buy an iMac!
by jpachner - 4/11/08 5:53 PM In reply to: Easy Answer.... by soupgfxI appreciate these suggestions and will save them for when I finally do upgrade my pc, which I have kept. But I ultimately decided to buy an iMac and am very happy with the way it works every time with no waiting, no hassle!
Nice...
by soupgfx - 4/11/08 6:00 PM In reply to: I did buy an iMac! by jpachnerIt's built for exactly what you want to do. You just saved yourself from a mountain of headaches.
Your New iMac
by lechtmmg - 4/15/08 9:48 AM In reply to: I did buy an iMac! by jpachnerJoan which iMac did you buy?? I hope you will be very happy with it. I have owned a Mac's for a long time
the majority of my work on a Mac is CS3. Have fun with your iMac.
lechtmmg
20" screen
by jpachner - 4/15/08 3:17 PM In reply to: Your New iMac by lechtmmgI have one with a 20" screen, 2 gig ram, 320 gig hard drive. I just love it... everything works so smoothly!
IMac
by lechtmmg - 4/15/08 9:46 PM In reply to: 20" screen by jpachnerjpacher I'am sure you will be very happy with the iMack and if you do not get to heavy into CS32 Megs will
probably be enough if you do not have anything else open when working in CS3 have fun.
lechtmmg
The blind leading the blind!
by jsullivan - 4/11/08 6:19 PM In reply to: New PC recommendations needed for graphic-intensive programs by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
First, ignore all responses from people who do not use Photoshop, as it has special needs. Some of their advice is well meaning and generally true for most programs, but may be disasterous for Photoshop.
Case in point: I built a system basd on a Quad Core Pentium 6600 with 2GB of RAM, and it runs Lightroom and Photoshop as slow as molasses. The current culprit seems to be the one component that I went downscale on, the graphics card, thinking (as some people do here)that graphic card memory was mainly used for vector graphics and shading for applications such as gaming. I couldn't have been more wrong, a fact which the Adobe programs pointed out as they installed, and which was dramatically confirmed as I tried to run the programs. Lightroom currently runs much faster on my Core Duo laptop with 1GB of RAM, and that configuration crashes Lightroom (haven't tried full Photoshop on the laptop yet, as I use Photoshop Elements for field edits).
For my use as a photographer, for workflow reasons it can be best to preprocess a file in Lightroom, then have it transferred directly to Photoshop, so both do have to run comfortably at once. My 8-10GB RAW files from my 10 megapixel camera can easily swell to 50GB Tiffs (16 bit) when I use HDR software, which Photoshop users here say can take 500GB RAM (times the numbers of layers I may use while processing it in 16 bit mode). Those numbers may reasonably get 50-100% bigger as I upgrade cameras over the next 2-3 years, but I can probably wait to upgrade the RAM until then. Eventually I'll tend to have a few browsers open as well.
The bottom line? Look up Adobe's minimum recommended specs for those programs. If you'll primarily be working on Web-resolution files and quicly downgrading files to 8 bit color, minimal RAM may be fine, but if you'll be editing full resolution photographs for printing, make sure that you exceed the minimum specs comfortably.
Blind leading the blind/Joan P.
by lois228lois - 4/11/08 7:07 PM In reply to: The blind leading the blind! by jsullivanIn reference to your writing, I have never heard of 500GB RAM, what is this?
"which Photoshop users here say can take 500GB RAM (times the numbers of layers I may use while processing it in 16 bit mode). "
What Photoshop needs
by garyo - 4/11/08 6:32 PM In reply to: New PC recommendations needed for graphic-intensive programs by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Interesting that no one here seems to be running Photoshop, from the answers. At least from the few I read.
Core 2 is fine. Since PS can't see more than 2 gigs, that's fine. Graphics card... 256 should be fine. As far as illustrator and dreamweaver, they aren't a problem. Unless... you're talking about CS3 extended which does handle video and 3D (on a limited basis). Then you might want to bump up to a 512 card or higher.
If you're NOT gaming, Matrox graphics cards have always been king of the hill for professional graphic design but not very good at all for gaming. That's not what they're designed for. They're professional quality graphic design cards. PS, CAD etc. Just don't expect to game with them.
For those who wonder why a PC for 2D graphics? Because they're faster than Macs (by far) (and yes, I have both).
The monitor, on the other hand could be problematic. If you're doing professional work (since a good crt is pretty much impossible to find) you'll find a decent "graphics" LCD is also hard to come by (and pricey). Most LCD low end (which most are, comparitively speaking) monitors have horrific resolution (compared to a good crt) and after a few hours your eyes will start to bleed if you're doing really fine, detailed, pixel by pixel work. You need sharp, crisp and clean. The Matrox will help a lot with that. But check the specs on monitors. Some will rate them for graphic design. But you still have to take some of that with a grain of salt, I'm sorry to say.
Ram & CS2&CS3
by lechtmmg - 4/14/08 9:05 PM In reply to: What Photoshop needs by garyoTo garyo I think you need to read the specs for Photoshop CS2 could see 3 to 3.5 and CS3 3.5 and to go back to basics if you are using 3.5 for CS3 you need some ram for the operating system. I never stopped to look at it but when you work on a big file or open one you need some ram. I opened a big panorama
the other day and thought it was taking a long time and then i looked at the pano and it was a 300 meg
pano.
lechtmmg
bus speed
by frifawnwolf - 4/11/08 6:36 PM In reply to: New PC recommendations needed for graphic-intensive programs by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
whichever you choose,please make sure your bus speed can handle the memory you wish to use,an often overlooked area.best wishes!
bus speed
by chappejw - 4/15/08 1:56 AM In reply to: bus speed by frifawnwolfDo you get on a short bus? or a long bus?
Stay away from....
by cesareDH - 4/11/08 6:36 PM In reply to: New PC recommendations needed for graphic-intensive programs by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
VISTA, stick with XP PRO. I use an ACER 24" monitor with a digital connection to a Nvidia 512MB 7600 video card. 2.66 processor and 2G RAM gets the job done. 320GB Primary drive and 500GB PCI SATA slave drive gives me plenty of storage. A couple 120mm cooling fans keeps the temp. inside the Thermatake case reasonable. This setup is comparitively inexpensive.
Graphic Intensive ?
by david6356 - 4/11/08 7:11 PM In reply to: New PC recommendations needed for graphic-intensive programs by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
After spending almost 30 years in the Graphic Arts and Commercial Printing industry, I would question what the end product is that you are creating. If it is for commercial printing or Add Agency types of applications, I would recommend an internal hard drive with at least 500 GB of storage and an External Hard drive with about the same. As far as the Ram and CPU, again I would need to know what or how your end product is going to be used.
Hope this helps a little.
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