run away from vista32. stick with 64. i’ll probably switch myself when i get cs4 (shut up bart and bob, or i’ll reload windows me just to spite you! 😛 )
Go with 64-bit. I do not have benchmark numbers yet, but I also only have CS2 and haven’t loaded it on the new machine as I am waiting for CS4 to start shipping.
I’m sick of the slow performance of cs3 with it’s 3.2gb memory cap and white screens when you apply filters or try to draw on large format files on x64…..I need more power Scottie…..
I’ll do me best captain, but any more ‘n she’ll blow ………….my god,…it’s…..It’s…..IT’S…….CS4…..systems stabilised, large format files are ready and armed Captain………[/Scottie]
Not..so…fast…We’ll just have to see about that…..roll on October the # [/captain]
You’ll need as much RAM as you can afford. I currently have 16gb and it still runs out – but I work on massive files….I mean HUGE 6 metre then, the more powerful the specs available the harder I’ll push it… There’s never enough power IMHO
///Earth to Chris, calling Chris….//back to Earth….:)
Think about your hard drives too. 1: system only 2: files programs ( although some work better on the c drive ) 3: PS dedicated scratch drive around 8 to 60gb depending on what you do….maybe an ssd for fast random read / write times….
Also I reckon a Nvidia 8800 series would be fine for CS4…..but wait and see on that – the 9000 series might have improved performance. No real way of knowing until CS4 is released and we all get to complain about it…:)….sorry, it’s been a long day.
I want a motherboard that has a 64GB capacity for RAM. I don’t plant to populate it with more than 8GB (or so :)) at the outset, but I bet the sucker will be full before I’m done with it.
Now if SSD makers can get their issues sorted out so the drives can read and write in a blazingly fast manner, scratch issues with be a thing of the past
As said, I rarely have issues. But I do get white fades once in a while, and when I load 16bit panoramics, the system really slows down quite a bit.
I built this system with an eye towards running Vista x64. There are few motherboards supporting more than 8gb of ram. Most are server boards, and they have their own peculiarities. I image mainstream boards supporting more ram will start to show up sooner rather than later. However, 8gigs is still very, very sweet. With a quadcore running at 3.2ghz, I never worry at all how many apps I have open, and the only thing that will bring this system to its knees are those dang 16bit panos…
Interesting. I dislike the slowdown with 16 bit panos on a single core system and it looks like I’ll have the same complaint when I upgrade. 🙁
One thing I do is to copy the document ans drop the bit size to 8 before running resource hungry filters, like Smart Sharp. Huge gain in speed, and after all, if I am doing final sharpening, I can’t use the 16 bit file anyway.
dpick – the asus p5q series will support 16gb. Although, it does have only 4 slots, so, yeah, 4 x 4gb to achieve 16gb – But ram is so cheap. My 16gb of Ram was £240 – a no brainer really.
Even with loads of RAM I still get the white fade outs – CS4 might resolve this issue…lets hope….
I know about the claimed advantages of 16bit for some operations, but is there a visible difference in the printed result from merging panos in 16bit? (I’m talking results, not histograms!)
I know about the claimed advantages of 16bit for some operations, but is there a visible difference in the printed result from merging panos in 16bit? (I’m talking results, not histograms!)
Josh,
I think it helps a great deal with blending–especially the sky. I never have posterization issues with 16bit images like I had with 8 bit. For me, that’s the main advantage. I could drop to 16 bit after the initial blend, but the 16bit is still held in the history state. If I weren’t so lazy, I’d save it, close, and reopen the 8bit and go from there 🙂
Chris,
I’ve checked into a few boards using 16gb, but I can’t seem to find 4gb ram sticks. Every board I check at Crucial only show 2gb sticks. I figured they just weren’t widely available, yet. But thanks for the heads up on that board–it’s looks promising.
When you drop from 16 to 8 bit, any errors in sky tones will be exaggerated, exactly as if it were 8 bit to begin with.( I’m speaking of the very gradual change in these values which can and do show posterization so that the tonal distribution looks like an isothermal map).
I have a photo of Mt. Hood reflected in a lake in which this effect is pronounced. The analog print shows no such effect, and remains the better image.
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