G5 need speed

FT
Posted By
Frozen_Tundra
Sep 16, 2006
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471
Replies
17
Status
Closed
The spec Mac Quad 2.5 GHZ G5 with 8GB of ram GeForce 7800GT: and a 500 GB HD.

What can I do to speed up Photoshop? It seems like I have a ton of horsepower here but PS is slower on this machine than my old Dual 2GHZ G5.

Thanks,

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S
SteveV
Sep 16, 2006
There’s your answer right there Sonny Jim Bob Boy, you need a seperate scratch disc.
AR
alan_ruta
Sep 16, 2006
What Steve says makes sense, but it also depends on the size of the file you are processing and how much space is free on the 500 GB HD.

8GB of ram should be enough to put many files into ram for processing–so scratch disk(s) aren’t that important.

Can you please give us some more details, and if you do decide to upgrade can you do a before and after benchmark?

thanks

alan
WG
Welles_Goodrich
Sep 16, 2006
Wasn’t there some info floating around that if you had more than 4GB RAM on a G5 Quad it actually slowed Photoshop down but that was resolved as soon as the RAM was dropped to 4GB or less?
RR
Reed_Reed
Sep 16, 2006
Alan,

No matter how much RAM you have, Photoshop is constantly using the scratch disk(s). Using the same physical drive as the one containing Photoshop for the scratch assignment or any partitions on the main drive other than the one with Photoshop severely limits performance.

Using a separate physical drive for scratch space improves Photoshop performance enormously with any amount of RAM and for even small files.
R
Ram
Sep 16, 2006
Alan,

What Reed says,

Photoshop sets the scratch drive the very instant you open and image or create a new document, basing the size of said scratch disk on predictions and assumption it makes regarding the file and your workflow.
R
Ram
Sep 16, 2006
Welles,

Wasn’t there some info floating around that if you had more than 4GB RAM on a G5 Quad it actually slowed Photoshop down but that was resolved as soon as the RAM was dropped to 4GB or less?

Adobe released a patch (plug-in) to address that issue. It’s (or was) on the main forum page. Later versions of Tiger may have fixed it anyway. I don’t know; my machine is maxed out at 2GB. 🙁

Not only that, but Tiger speeds up Photoshop even beyond its 3.something GB RAM-usage limit.
WG
Welles_Goodrich
Sep 16, 2006
Aah, thanks Ramón. I was hazy on that issue.
R
Ram
Sep 16, 2006
B
Buko
Sep 16, 2006
Yes you need a second drive for scratch.

you are really slowing the system and photoshop by having the scratch on the same drive as the system. the system needs to write SWAP files (virtual memory) since it only has one set of read write heads photoshop and the system are Photoshop and the system are constantly fighting over the use of those heads with one drive.

also there are FAQs about improving Photoshops performance but who reads them?

<http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bbb681e>

<http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bbb6813>
SP
steve_peters
Sep 16, 2006
Did you have a second drive for scratch on your Dual 2ghz? I have the Quad with 10gb ram, and a raid made up of 6 drives for a scratch. I also have the Dual 2ghz with 8gb ram. I had the same raid hooked up to the Dual 2ghz, and the Quad is definitely faster in certain respects.
EG
Ed_Gerson
Sep 19, 2006
I checked out an iMac 20" with one gig at an Apple store. Using the installed Aperture, it ran fantastic for about 4-5 images, followed by beachball eternity. I walked around looking at iPods and stuff, lost interest. A scratch disk is a must, so’s cleaning up your application HD, smaller file sizes (8 bit asap "as soon as possible") make life easier too. An old PB G4 can go reasonably quick if its not choking too soon, that’s the trick. Throughput is like electricity, you’ve got voltage and you’ve got amperage. The processor is voltage and your disk space and file sizes are amps. The processor speed improvements are ok, they seem always to be in need of catching up to software engineers’ fantasies, as in hardware hogs like Aperture, Capture NX. Adobe PS isn’t half bad by comparison. – Ed
EG
Ed_Gerson
Sep 19, 2006
Speaking of file size: Most of the images were about 10MB. There were no scratch disks. – Ed
FT
Frozen_Tundra
Sep 19, 2006
Thanks for the responses.

I did read the adobe FAQs. They are helpful, although not completely definitive.

I will add an internal scratch disk to one of these machines, then verify speed improvements. Our projects typically can include multiple files exceeding 1 GB of size, so we tend to stress the machine and hit scratch disk. When I ordered the machines I had spec’d 2 drives but they delivered with 1 at twice the size.

Would it make sense to create a RAM disk as scratch space? I have been told that OS X 10.4 uses the extra space to improve speed and that this would not help. Any thoughts? Has anyone tried to use a RAM disk as scratch space.

Thanks again.
B
Buko
Sep 19, 2006
so we tend to stress the machine and hit scratch disk.

Photoshop uses a scratch disk from the moment you open the file.

Would it make sense to create a RAM disk as scratch space?

Nope. smallest scratch disk I would make is 60GB I doubt you would see any benefit from a 2 or 3GB RAM disk.
AW
Allen_Wicks
Sep 20, 2006
What Buko and Ramón said.
FT
Frozen_Tundra
Sep 20, 2006
Suggestions for an internal drive. The Quad G5 only has one open bay so I beleive the only option is a single drive. What type / size/ speed should I buy?
FT
Frozen_Tundra
Sep 20, 2006
The MacGurus site has an interesting link about PS and speed

<http://www.macgurus.com/>

< http://homepage.mac.com/boots911/.Public/PhotoshopAccelerati onBasics2.3.pdf>

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