Building 1st PC! Would like higher end for Photoshop, non gaming machine...

[Pythias]

Please forgive my ignorance. I keep hearing the term "scratch disk". What exactly does this mean?
Hope this isn't too off topic.

 

[Skypix7]

Scratch Disk is the portion of your hard drive that Photoshop uses as a kind of virtual memory when your RAM is full. It's where it writes all the temporary files while you're working on the image.

Typically, you want to have a ton of scratch disk space because Photoshop needs about five times the size of your file to allow you to work with that file. So a 20MB image file will be happier with 100MB at least of free scratch disk space. You can set it in the Preferences menu. I typically carry several gigabytes so it's never an issue...the more memory though, as someone said above, the less PS has to go to the scratch disk.

 

[Pythias]

Appreciate the info. Learn soemthing new every day. :beer:

 

[Skypix7]

Dual: Been doing more research on this topic. I'm going to update my bios so my P4PE will be able to have 800 FSB, then get a 3.0C and two Gigs DDR 400 memory. That should give me an affordable (around $500) boost for now, then in 6 months I can do a dual processor upgrade, which everyone agrees is the way to go for optimal Photoshopping. Thanks to goku for this info, I'll post how the upgrade went.

Check out this board for more info on duals: http://forums.2cpu.com/

 

[Skypix7]

I bought the cpu (P4 3.0C) from Newegg for 199 (retail box), and two Micron 1 gig sticks from
for 380 total (190/stick).

I wanted a solid brand name for the memory but didn't want to pay >250/stick.

Der Linky to Der Memory

Anyway, my earlier estimate was obviously off, it's around $600 for both. I've also upgraded the bios to current for the P4PE, when I get the new chip and memory onboard, I'll overclock the whole thing too.

Question: Can anyone tell me where to find a general guide on overclocking? I've done a little bit in the past but don't remember much.

thanks

 

[Gothgar]

MACdaddy = DrCool

 

[The MACdaddy]

...Uh, no.