???PhotoShop CS - Which OS?, Single or Dual Processor?, Ram?, Etc.

??? I have questions.

I bought the new verson of PhotoShop CS. I use Photoshop regularly with file sizes in the 250 to 1G ranges.

I am ready to buy a new Dell PC and have the following questions:

1. Which OS runs PhotoShop CS better, XP Pro or 2000 Pro?

2. I am looking at a 3.20ghz Xeon processor. Will CS run any better with two processors?

3. Should I go with 4 gigs of ram, or does CS max out ram usage with less?

4. Does CS take advantage of Hyper-Threading technology?

Thanks

1. Which OS runs PhotoShop CS better, XP Pro or 2000 Pro?

XP Pro would be better then 2000.

2. I am looking at a 3.20ghz Xeon processor. Will CS run any better with two processors?

I don't know, but i would expect it to.

3. Should I go with 4 gigs of ram, or does CS max out ram usage with less?

Both Windows XP Pro and 2000 have inherit limits that prevent any one application from using more then 2GB of RAM. Getting 4GB is still a good idea because XP Pro itself and any other apps you have open won't take away from the 2GB that PS can access. If you really want PS to have access to more then 2GB of RAM get a Mac.

4. Does CS take advantage of Hyper-Threading technology?

I don't know. But at the very least your CPU (i believe the 3.2GHz Xeon supports it), and your BIOS need to support it.

Yes, PS takes advantage of Hyperthreading, just as it also supports mulptiple processors.

I am under thr impression that PS will run 2G max on Mac also. No?

If you already run W2k, go ahead and use that. I run CS on 2000 very well. I don't see much advantage to replacing it with XP. With a new machine, I would buy XP.