Very Computer

Hello,

I'm trying to figure out an affordable and balanced configuration for
the work I do, which is mostly retouching photos, color correcting,
sharpening. Usual file sizes are 5 - 30 meg.

If I have 512 (or 1 gig) ram, is PS able to work in ram until I save,
or will it constantly be creating or updating temp files - and writing
to disk? Given the above file sizes, do I need a larger than 10gb
scratch disk?

Would a dual cpu setup be a significant benefit for the above
operations?

Thank you,

Gary Fuchs

Quote:>If I have 512 (or 1 gig) ram, is PS able to work in ram until I save,
>or will it constantly be creating or updating temp files - and writing
>to disk?

Photoshop writes to your scratch disk even whenyou have enough memory to keep
the file loaded in RAM. Remember that history states, for example, need to be
recorded as well!

Quote:>Given the above file sizes, do I need a larger than 10gb
>scratch disk?

Unlikely, but with hard disks being so cheap, why not?

Quote:>Would a dual cpu setup be a significant benefit for the above
>operations?

Many core functions of Photoshop, and many filters, use dual CPUs if they are
available--provided you use a dual-CPU-aware OS, like Win 2000/XP.

--
"Quand la morale triomphe, il se passe des choses tres vilaines."
Literature. Art. Photography. Forums. Shareware. Kink. Sex.
All at: http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

I believe PS constantly uses your drives
no matter how much RAM you have.

With the small size of your files
the dual processor or chip speed
will not mean as much as RAM.
MSD

Thank you both!

A dual-CPU will buy you next to nothing, since most of Photoshops really
time consuming tasks do not scale well at all. I recommend spending money on
the single fastest CPU you can buy along with the fastest RAM and drive.
Save the money on the second CPU and get a fast SCSI drive to put your
scratch disk on.

Mike

Quote:> Hello,

> I'm trying to figure out an affordable and balanced configuration for
> the work I do, which is mostly retouching photos, color correcting,
> sharpening. Usual file sizes are 5 - 30 meg.

> If I have 512 (or 1 gig) ram, is PS able to work in ram until I save,
> or will it constantly be creating or updating temp files - and writing
> to disk? Given the above file sizes, do I need a larger than 10gb
> scratch disk?

> Would a dual cpu setup be a significant benefit for the above
> operations?

> Thank you,

> Gary Fuchs

Thanks Mike!

Over the weekend I picked up an Abit KR7A-RAID board and will probably
get a 1700XP and 60gb 7200 drive to start. Then when I have some more
cash, either a 10000 rpm SCSI as you suggest, or a RAID setup for
scratch.

I've got an order at Crucial for 512 of 2100 ram - but they are out of
stock for a week or two...

I've waited this long...

Regards,
Gary