Power Mac vs. Mac Pro for LARGE PS files

[JoelBelmont]

I have a Power Mac G5, dual 1.8 processors, 2GB of RAM.

Does anyone have a quantifiable sense of what the difference in time will be when working on this computer compared to an equivalent newer one (obviously the processors will be faster, and maybe with 4GB of RAM or more)... I just got a 9880, and will be working with drum scans that are large enough files to print to 40x60.

So in terms of speed of processing in CS3, will there be a huge difference?

Thanks.

[Kirk Gittings]

I had the opportunity to do just that comparison this summer as a friend of mine in Chicago runs both. While I honestly do not remember the speeds, and while there was a difference, it was incrementally faster rather than quantitatively. I expected more working on 1 GB files.

[JW Dewdney]

Your disk subsystem will make a fairly big difference here. I'd recommend a SCSI array or a really fast SATA array.

[AJSJones]

I have a Power Mac G5, dual 1.8 processors, 2GB of RAM.

Does anyone have a quantifiable sense of what the difference in time will be when working on this computer compared to an equivalent newer one (obviously the processors will be faster, and maybe with 4GB of RAM or more)... I just got a 9880, and will be working with drum scans that are large enough files to print to 40x60.

So in terms of speed of processing in CS3, will there be a huge difference?

Thanks.

I'd say YES! Here is a thread that told me I really needed to upgrade processors from a Dual2GHz G5 PowerMac (as well as from CS2 to CS3) compared to the latest Intel chips (They were getting results around 25sec and mine was well over a minute - as might yours be!). I'd agree completely with the recommendation to really beef up your disks. The printer will determine printspeeed (d'oh) but any prep of files before then will be on humongo files - fast disks and reduced number of history states will help, once you've got good processor speed and enough RAM. My sense is that your processing could be several times faster on the suped up new machine, compared to your system now - note that the speed test at Naturescapes is not designed to assess disk systems. Just re-read the additions to that thread and indeed the latest Intel Macs are down to sub 30 sec. So I'd say 2-3x faster on the test (check out Jeff Hapeman's disk strategy - I'm headed that way )

Good luck - and let us know how it goes

Andy

[Ted Harris]

Buy 6GB of RAM to max out your G5 for 360 - 375 (www.datamem.com) and you will run rings around a MacPro with 2GB of RAM

OTOH ...... 8 GB on a Mac Pro .......