After the nth lock-up of my stone age PC, I am almost convinced to get a new PC ;-)
I plan to keep my current PC for web surfing and to use the new PC almost exclusively for image editing.
I need quite good PC, since I plan to use it both for the 8 megapixel files of my 350D and for the 22 megapixel files of the next Canon 1D, when it will be available (september).
I was thinking about these specifications:
- Windows XP Professional SP2
- Pentium 4, 3 GHZ
- 2GB RAM
- 160 GB of hard disk (+ external HDs)
- Monitor Eizo S1910 (19" LCD)
Do you think that it would be enough? Anyone has tried the Eizo monitors?
Last year I built my own photoshop editing computer. It is an ASUS motherboard with an AMD Athlon 1900+, 1.46 Ghz processor and 2 gigabytes of ram. I also have 2 standard Seagate 80 gigabyte ATA hard drives. Drive "c" is for the operating system and programs. Drive "d" is used for the "photoshop" scratch disk space. Both "c and d" have been formatted for NTFS. Then I also have 2 SATA 300 gigabyte drives with NTFS and mirrored (RAID-1) for my photos and also 2 300 gigabyte Seagate external firewire drives for backup purposes. I got tired of running "dual" 19" CRT monitors (one for the photo work space and the other to display my tool bars), so I purchased and Dell 20" Wide Aspect" monitor. I love the WA type monitors, there is plenty of room for both the photo you are editing and also the tools can now sit off to the right and there is still plenty of monitor real estate to boot. So my suggestion to you is reconsider spending close to 2 grand for a 19" LCD monitor and go look into the "wide aspect" monitors that are out there. I love my Dell. Also I believe that you can run an Apple Cinema monitor on a Windows based PC if you buy a graphics card that will support it.
Your hardware looks good, though I might add another 2 gigabytes of RAM to the system, and split it between OS and Photoshop. My next monitor will be a LaCie Photon 20" with hood.
Just wanted to add that, unless you plan to use external HD's for your primary storage as well as for backup, I think 160GB is too small for an internal HD. Like Martin, I have two HD's in Raid-1 (mirrored) configuration (250GB each), although since I back up to external HD's frequently, I am seriously considering going to Raid-0 in order to increase my internal storage to 500GB. I've noticed that sometimes in PSCS2 I am creating some master TIFF files that are 200MB each when I'm done, and that's starting with an 8MP RAW file from my 20D!
The rest of your specs look pretty good. Can't help with the monitor, but my single 19 inch Dell is pretty tight, so I would sure be happier with more screen real estate!
Charlie, Raid 0 as far as I understands it will not increase the size of your internal storage, two 250GB harddrives in raid 0 will give you a drive of 250GB. But because it uses two drives you increase speed instead.
Juza,I have just build a computer on an AMD platform that is intended for mainly photoediting once I get my scanner hooked up to it in about a month time. For internal drives you should consider using two raptor drives, one as systemdrive and one as scratch disk. I can tell that mine really get things moving when the drives need to work.
ALso from what my research have showed when I was building my computer, is that at the moment you will get more for the money with an AMD based system.
Sounds like you're on the right track....one suggestion go for the Pentium D ( Dual Core)..lightening fast!!! Do a google search and you'll see what I mean. Good luck and I too would go for the LaCie Photon (saving for one myself)
I have a 'hardware' Raid-0 on my Dell Dimension 8400. It has two 160GB Seagate drives. According to Windoz it has a usable capacity of about 300 GB. So, RAID the controller sees both drives as a single drive and stripes the data to each drive. Because the data is striped, read/write operations can occur at the same time; so there is a gain in performance. The downside is that if one drive goea awry, you lose all your data. A back-up, in some form or another is absolutely required.
Juza,
Your proposed system sounds pretty good. If you can afford it, and the mother board will handle it--go with more RAM. Also, if you plan to upgrade to Windoz Vista when it ships, you really should consider a higher end video card--one with at least 128MB of VRAM or even 256MB. As I understand it, Vista is very video-intensive. I have a 19" CRT monitor (Dell) is a very nice monitor, but for graphics and large spread sheets, I could use more real estate. Eizo monitors are 'best of breed' so you can't go wrong, there.
There are several different RAID configurations, so your confusion is understandable. It took me a while to get it sorted out, too.
The most common RAID are RAID-0 and RAID-1. RAID-1 uses two drives; one drive being the primary and the other beig a mirror of the first. When data is written to the first drive it is also written to the 'mirror' drive, creating the redundancy. If one drive fails, the data is safe.
Another common RAID is RAID-0-1. In this scenario, three drives are required. The first two drives form the RAID-0 and the third drive is the 'mirror'. The capacity of the 'mirror' drive must be equal to the sum of the capacities of the drives in the RAID-0.
There are several other RAID configurations with varying degrees of redundancy, but they are very expensive and time consuming to implement.
If one is considering implementing a RAID array, there is a serious caveat: When the controller builds the array, all the data from all the drives is lost. So, one would have to have all their data stored elswhere and all applications and the OS would have to be reinstalled.
Juza,
Be sure you get a PCI video card. There are lots of good ones out there-mine is an 128MB ATI-Radeon that I'm pretty happy with. Avoid AGP video. It uses a portion of your system RAM in order to function, taking away RAM capacity you will need for other uses.
Discussion
10 repliesI plan to keep my current PC for web surfing and to use the new PC almost exclusively for image editing.
I need quite good PC, since I plan to use it both for the 8 megapixel files of my 350D and for the 22 megapixel files of the next Canon 1D, when it will be available (september).
I was thinking about these specifications:
- Windows XP Professional SP2
- Pentium 4, 3 GHZ
- 2GB RAM
- 160 GB of hard disk (+ external HDs)
- Monitor Eizo S1910 (19" LCD)
Do you think that it would be enough? Anyone has tried the Eizo monitors?
You help and suggestion are very appreciated!
Last year I built my own photoshop editing computer. It is an ASUS motherboard with an AMD Athlon 1900+, 1.46 Ghz processor and 2 gigabytes of ram. I also have 2 standard Seagate 80 gigabyte ATA hard drives. Drive "c" is for the operating system and programs. Drive "d" is used for the "photoshop" scratch disk space. Both "c and d" have been formatted for NTFS. Then I also have 2 SATA 300 gigabyte drives with NTFS and mirrored (RAID-1) for my photos and also 2 300 gigabyte Seagate external firewire drives for backup purposes. I got tired of running "dual" 19" CRT monitors (one for the photo work space and the other to display my tool bars), so I purchased and Dell 20" Wide Aspect" monitor. I love the WA type monitors, there is plenty of room for both the photo you are editing and also the tools can now sit off to the right and there is still plenty of monitor real estate to boot. So my suggestion to you is reconsider spending close to 2 grand for a 19" LCD monitor and go look into the "wide aspect" monitors that are out there. I love my Dell. Also I believe that you can run an Apple Cinema monitor on a Windows based PC if you buy a graphics card that will support it.
Good Luck:
Martin
Just wanted to add that, unless you plan to use external HD's for your primary storage as well as for backup, I think 160GB is too small for an internal HD. Like Martin, I have two HD's in Raid-1 (mirrored) configuration (250GB each), although since I back up to external HD's frequently, I am seriously considering going to Raid-0 in order to increase my internal storage to 500GB. I've noticed that sometimes in PSCS2 I am creating some master TIFF files that are 200MB each when I'm done, and that's starting with an 8MP RAW file from my 20D!
The rest of your specs look pretty good. Can't help with the monitor, but my single 19 inch Dell is pretty tight, so I would sure be happier with more screen real estate!
Good luck!
Charlie
Just another question...how do you split the RAM between OS and PS?
Juza,I have just build a computer on an AMD platform that is intended for mainly photoediting once I get my scanner hooked up to it in about a month time. For internal drives you should consider using two raptor drives, one as systemdrive and one as scratch disk. I can tell that mine really get things moving when the drives need to work.
ALso from what my research have showed when I was building my computer, is that at the moment you will get more for the money with an AMD based system.
Regards
I have a 'hardware' Raid-0 on my Dell Dimension 8400. It has two 160GB Seagate drives. According to Windoz it has a usable capacity of about 300 GB. So, RAID the controller sees both drives as a single drive and stripes the data to each drive. Because the data is striped, read/write operations can occur at the same time; so there is a gain in performance. The downside is that if one drive goea awry, you lose all your data. A back-up, in some form or another is absolutely required.
Juza,
Your proposed system sounds pretty good. If you can afford it, and the mother board will handle it--go with more RAM. Also, if you plan to upgrade to Windoz Vista when it ships, you really should consider a higher end video card--one with at least 128MB of VRAM or even 256MB. As I understand it, Vista is very video-intensive. I have a 19" CRT monitor (Dell) is a very nice monitor, but for graphics and large spread sheets, I could use more real estate. Eizo monitors are 'best of breed' so you can't go wrong, there.
Let us know what you decide upon.
-PB
Thanks for the clarification
Regards
I plan to upgrade to Windows Vista next January, if it won't be delayed again ;-)
After your suggestions, I'm going to save for another couple of months, then I'll get a PC with 4GB of RAM and a high-end video card.
There are several different RAID configurations, so your confusion is understandable. It took me a while to get it sorted out, too.
The most common RAID are RAID-0 and RAID-1. RAID-1 uses two drives; one drive being the primary and the other beig a mirror of the first. When data is written to the first drive it is also written to the 'mirror' drive, creating the redundancy. If one drive fails, the data is safe.
Another common RAID is RAID-0-1. In this scenario, three drives are required. The first two drives form the RAID-0 and the third drive is the 'mirror'. The capacity of the 'mirror' drive must be equal to the sum of the capacities of the drives in the RAID-0.
There are several other RAID configurations with varying degrees of redundancy, but they are very expensive and time consuming to implement.
If one is considering implementing a RAID array, there is a serious caveat: When the controller builds the array, all the data from all the drives is lost. So, one would have to have all their data stored elswhere and all applications and the OS would have to be reinstalled.
Juza,
Be sure you get a PCI video card. There are lots of good ones out there-mine is an 128MB ATI-Radeon that I'm pretty happy with. Avoid AGP video. It uses a portion of your system RAM in order to function, taking away RAM capacity you will need for other uses.
-PB