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Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

05/27/2011 06:40:01 PM · #1

Two days ago I ordered a custom PC to be used almost exclusively for photo editing. Please keep in mind that I'm about as dumb as a rock when it comes to electronics etc. Basic setup is i5 processor, 16g RAM, and a single 1TB hard drive. That brings me to my question: I have just read that it's best to use a secondary drive, not the boot drive that holds the Photoshop program, for a scratch disk drive. It isn't too late for me to call the seller and add that component. Should I? Thanks in advance for all help!

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

05/27/2011 06:50:43 PM · #2

You can also just get a second external drive -- I prefer to have them outside the cabinet, with their own power supply and cooling. But if you want it internal, it is indeed better to have a separate disk to use as a scratch drive, though with 16GB RAM it shouldn't need much scratch disk space.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-70mm 1:35-4.5G ED

05/27/2011 07:05:28 PM · #3

Thanks General. I was sort of guessing that beaucoup RAM would offset that need, but I wasn't sure. I do plan to hook up an external drive as well, so I'll leave it as is. Thanks again.

Socom

Nikon D80

05/27/2011 07:32:26 PM · #4

Was there a big difference in price from the i5 to the i7? you might want to make that jump now versus later if its not to big of a price difference.

Secondary drive is the way to go, a good external with dual drives for redundancy so you dont have to worry if ones dies.

I bought one like this except mine was a network version as I use it to share media, this one is for direct connect to your computer and you can set it up as a raid (so 1TB of space over two drives) WD Ext Drive

This is the one I got if you want Network Access: WD Network Version

Also, what version of Operating System are you going to be running?

Message edited by author 2011-05-27 19:34:19.

05/27/2011 07:36:40 PM · #5

$167 to upgrade from i5 to i7. I considered it. From what I understand, the upgrade gets me hyperthreading. Hmm. Both choices are 4-core Sandy Bridge processors. I just didn't know whether I would benefit enough running only Photoshop and Lightroom to justify the price difference.

Thanks for the link on that Western Digital drive, it would fill the bill nicely.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-70mm 1:35-4.5G ED

05/27/2011 07:38:18 PM · #6

Originally posted by Socom:

Also, what version of Operating System are you going to be running?

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1. To be precise. :) (ETA: Just got your note, Socom, and by dumb luck i should be fine then. Thanks for taking care of me!)

Message edited by author 2011-05-27 19:43:51.

Socom

Nikon D80

05/27/2011 07:41:20 PM · #7

Originally posted by nova:

Originally posted by Socom:
Also, what version of Operating System are you going to be running?

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1. To be precise. :)

Ok so keep in mind with that version of the OS 16GB is the max memory you can ever put in it (not that 16GB wont last you a good long time anyway lol)

Photoshop apparently does use hyper-threading to some degree.. but not always.

Message edited by author 2011-05-27 19:42:45.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

05/27/2011 07:52:46 PM · #8

In the "old days" before digital cameras, when a scanned TIFF of 20MG was considered "gigantic," you could run the UnSharp Mask filter and go get a cup of coffee while the {"lack of") progress bar crept across the screen.

Speed differences become less and less relevant as they've gone up ... unless you are processing video, or dealing with hundreds of photos at once, you probably don't need the very fastest system -- you shouldn't really notice the difference between a process which takes 9.1 seconds and one which takes 7.6 ...