Should I use my main monitor on a single or dual card and split off the Scratch

B
Posted By
bob733
Oct 24, 2008
Views
264
Replies
2
Status
Closed
Hi,

First, here are my system specs. Windows XP Pro Sp3. 2GB ram. PS CS4 on a 160GB Raptor (10k RPM). Scratch on a 7500 RPM. 3 monitors (2 on a Dual head Nvidia 7800 GT) and 1 on a single head Nvidia 6800 GT.

Left monitor on the single head Nvidia 6800GT
Middle monitor (my main monitor) and right monitor, on a Dual head Nvidia 7800 GT

Here are the questions:

1. I have not noticed a speed bump with CS4 over CS3. Would it help if I take my main monitor off the Dual Card and put it on its own card. In other words, swap the left and middle monitors so that the left and right monitors are on the Dual Nvidia and the Middle (main) monitor is on its own card?

2. Should I leave the scratch disk on the slower 7500 rpm separate HD or is it more efficient to put it back on the same Raptor 10k RPM hard drive as the CS4 Program?

3. with not noticing any faster speed, I tried to upgrade from 2GB to 3GB and found out I can not (32 bit OS limitation (can only see 2GB)) from several sources. However, that one is not closed yet because some say a 32 bit OS (Window XP) can see a max of 4GB. I am only throwing question 3 into the mix because if may be a factor. I will be talking to Dell later today.

Appreciate any suggestions.

Bob
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BJ
Bruce_Jed_Lambert
Oct 24, 2008

2. You probably want the scratch disk on your fastest disk. However that depends not only on the disk RPM but also the interface. I.e. a 10k disk on an IDE interface might be slower than a 7.5k disk on a SATA interface. There have been some discussions recently about using a freeware program called DiskTT to test your disk speeds, you might check that out.

3. I’m not sure what you mean by upgrading from 2 GB to 3 GB, however if what you mean is using the /3GB switch, that has nothing at all to do with physical memory. I have a Dell box that has 4 GB memory installed, yet I only get 2 GB with Windows XP, that is due to a limitation on the mother board. The /3GB switch only allows applications to use up to 3 GB instead of 2 GB for "user memory", as opposed to "kernel memory". That however has nothing to do with physical memory as it applies to virtual memory. I understand that I need to go to a 64 bit OS to be able to use all of the 4 GB of physical memory that I have.
B
bob733
Oct 25, 2008
Bruce,

thanks for your comments. The Raptor 10k is IDE. At to the memory limitations, I have the same issue. Dell told me my motherboard could only handle 2 GB on a 32 bit system, but it could handle 8 GB on a 64 bit Vista system

I am exploring what I have to do for a dual boot (reload, reregister, repartition, on and on and on). Not sure if it is worth it except for another thread out here that says PS CS4 on a 64 bit system (and lots of ram) is "bliss".

So, if I can also load my ID CS4 and IL CS4 on a 64 bit Vista, it might be worth the difficulties.

Bob

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