Computer for CS5

[sraichur]

Preston,

Thanks.

So how much capacity is required for the scratch disk? I was under the impression 60gb would be enough and thus could use a SSD. It's only about a $100 now.

Is 500gb required for the scratch disk alone? If so of course an SSD is out of the question.

Is your 500gb partitioned into a scratch disk and a file storage disk, or is it all one, or is it a scratch disk alone?

[Preston]

Sandeep,

Honestly, I do not know how much space is used for the scratch disk. I suppose the amount would depend upon how much space PS needs. A 60GB drive would likely be fine for a scratch disk, though.

I specified the 500GB drive for use as a PS scratch disk and for storage of archived files. It is not partitioned.

--P

[John Rodriguez]

Ideal scenario -

- Maxed out RAM
- Application drive: SSD
- Storage: 2 standard drives in Raid 1 config
- Scratch: 2 SSD drives in Raid 0 config

CS5 doesn't use multi-threading for adjustment layers, so multi-cores aren't useful there. The place where CS5 does use the additional cores is ACR (same as with Lightroom - both are more processor dependent).

If I was pinching pennies and had to choose where to upgrade over standard separate drives for startup/application, storage and scratch I'd rank like this -

- Second storage drive in Raid 1 for peace of mind
- Max out RAM (make sure your running 64 bit, in 32 bit PS can only use 2.1 GB)
- Single SSD scratch disk (as soon as PS eats up RAM it moves on to the scratch disk)
- Second SSD scratch disk in Raid 0
- SSD startup/application drive
- SSD storage drives

[sraichur]

Preston thanks.

John,

Thanks for the input.
I am not savvy at all with Raid. Also I already have 3 (2 TB external drives) that I back everything on manually. So do you think I'll still need to raid it?

Why are you suggesting 2 SSD's in Raid 0 for scratch disk? Is one not enough?
Also as I asked Preston, do you think 60GB SSD is enough for a scratch disk?

As for maxed out RAM, the bang for buck right now is 4x4gb = 16gb (About $100)
For 4x8gb = 32GB it jumps to ($330). 3 times the price for double capacity.

So here is what i have calculated prices/ performance wise:

Base config (cheapest): (I'm not including all components here, just the basics)
16GB RAM ,60GB SSD for scratch ($130 for MB + $100 RAM +$100 SSD = $330)

Middle of road - but fixed at 32GB Max memory
32GB Ram plus 60GB SSD SCratch ($130 MB + $330 RAM +$100 SSD = $560)

Middle of road but expandable to 64gb in the future:
32GB Ram, 60 GB SSD ($280 MB with 8 slots + 330 Ram + 100 SSD = $710)

Most expensive
64GB RAm and No extra Scratch disk ($280 MB with 8 slots + $570 RAM = $850)


So What do you think is the best bang for Buck?
Is it worth paying extra $520 to get 64gb ram and no additional SSD scratch disk,
or save $520 and use 16gb ram and 60gb SSD scratch?

Or in between is $230 extra to get 32GB ram and 60Gb SSD scratch

[John Rodriguez]

Raid 0 - Work is split up between the drives in the array. Two drives in a Raid 0 configuration will be faster then a single drive. No backup or fail-over functions.

Raid 1 - Same data is written to both drives simultaneously. Write performance goes down slightly while read performance goes up slightly. If one drive fails the other one goes full time.

Scratch disk size - Adobe supports up to 64 billion GB of scratch disk space (not kidding), but they don't provide guidance over optimum size. The best way to tell is to look at your current scratch disk usage when working on your largest files/slowest processing requests. One suggestion I've seen is 3x your largest file size.

I highly recommend you read this, it goes over most of this stuff - http://blogs.adobe.com/crawlspace/20...rformance.html

One thing to consider, you can save yourself a bunch of money and time if you use the "guide file" approach. It's really simple -

- Open your original scan file
- Resize it to a manageable size. I use 8x10 inches at 360ppi.
- Save the resized "guide" file. Close the original file without saving changes.
- Do all of your work and test prints on the resized file.
- When you've got it perfect, resize the file back up to it's original file size and ditch the background layer.
- Open the original scan back up, and drag the layer over to the guide file - making it the new background layer. All adjustment layers will be perfectly lined up.

Using this method I'm able to work on 4x5 drum scans using a standard MacBook with 4 gigs of RAM.



Anyways, as to your Bang for the Buck question - being the gear geek that I am I'd be tempted to go with the 32GB expandable to 64GB option. However, as I use the guide file approach I outlined above, I'd probably just go for the base config and buy a new lens.

[Nigels]

I have a vague recollection that Win7 x64 Home Prem edition will only address 16Gb of RAM. If you have more then you'll need to pay more for Win7 Pro or Ultimate which can address up to 192Gb. Not 100% sure on this, so should check out.
In November I upgraded and got an i7 quad core, 16Gb RAM, Gforce 1024Mb graphics card, Win7 x64 Home Prem, 1Tb HHD + 1Tb external backup HDD and CS4. Scanning from Epson 2450 at 2400 dpi with Vuescan. Printing to Epson 3880 at native resolution of 360 dpi gives a print of approx 31" wide - plenty!

[sraichur]

John,

Thanks for the info. I've browsed the link you sent. It's very helpful!
Also I will try you guide file approach. I have tried it in the past, but i couldn't figure out how to get it to work with adjustment layers on specific selections. But i hadn't thought about the resizing the file then replacing the background layer. That's a great tip!

As for seeing how large my scratch disk requirements are that would be difficult as right now I only have an old laptop (1.5GB max memory) and don't even bother trying to process my largest files. It's to painful. But maybee i can load it up just to see how much it's using.
How do you find out how much scratch disk space is being used?

Thanks

Nigels
I will try to find out about win7 and 16gb max.
Thanks

[sraichur]

Nigels,

You were right,
Win 7 Home premium is still limited to 16gb.
You would have to bump up to professional for 192Gb supported.

Thanks for the tip.
Sandeep

[Kirk Gittings]

But they cost significantly more. A 250gb SSD drive will run you $300-400. You can get a 500 GB hard drive for $125 to 150. A 500 GB SSD enterprise drive will run you $1200.

So you're better off getting more RAM and a cheaper drive.

Maybe. I am maxed out on RAM and run the fastest regular drives available all sata or esata. The only way I have to go for more PS speed is SSDs. I have not done that yet largely because of the expense, but with the next round of PS/LR upgrades I will probably have to go to a faster computer or the SSD option (which is a shorter term fix than a new computer).

[Brian K]

Maybe. I am maxed out on RAM and run the fastest regular drives available all sata or esata. The only way I have to go for more PS speed is SSDs. I have not done that yet largely because of the expense, but with the next round of PS/LR upgrades I will probably have to go to a faster computer or the SSD option (which is a shorter term fix than a new computer).

How much RAM do you have and what files sizes do you work with?