SSD information and advice? - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

10/02/2013 02:20:57 PM · #1

Hello!

The computer that I'm using is a

Dell XPS 8300, i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40 GHz
8 GB RAM

Photoshop is slow. I'm thinking about upgrading the RAM -- I can go to 16, but I was also wondering about a SSD.

1. Would an SSD make a big difference on the speed in working with photoshop?

2. Does size matter? Should I get a bigger drive so I can fit more on it, including my photos, or would you just get something large enough for the programs and the system and store the files on a regular drive without seeing much slow down?

3. The computer is a year or so old -- maybe a bit older -- can it really take advantage of an SSD?

Thanks!

Message edited by author 2013-10-02 14:21:58.

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

10/02/2013 02:27:52 PM · #2

Only one way to tell where your bottleneck is.

Right-click the task bar, go to "Start Task Manager"

click on the "Performance" tab, and then on the "Resource Monitor" tab.

fool around with this until you understand it, then go to work while monitoring the resource utilization. That should pretty quickly answer your questions.

As for the SSD, yes your computer can use it, and yes it will help, but you'll need to enable ACHI if you want to see the real performance gain, and that's a little more involved than simply slapping in the drive.

10/02/2013 02:29:31 PM · #3

Originally posted by Cory:

As for the SSD, yes your computer can use it, and yes it will help, but you'll need to enable ACHI if you want to see the real performance gain, and that's a little more involved than simply slapping in the drive.

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

10/02/2013 02:30:37 PM · #4

When I looked achi up, wikipedia says it's a mayan language. No wonder it's more involved...

Message edited by author 2013-10-02 14:31:57.

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

10/02/2013 02:31:58 PM · #5

ACHI - Why do you need it.

giantmike

Canon EOS R6

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

10/02/2013 02:58:33 PM · #6

To be clear, you WILL see a real boost in performance working with data, just by slapping the drive in there. I have done it, it's very noticeable.

What Cory is referring to is further optimization that can make an even larger performance boost.