Photoshop dream box... Upgrade or change totally current config?

[ruud]

Dear Forum members,

I am confused with all announcements and news coming from the PC hardware world (new Nehalem CPUs recently introduced in the Mac Pro).

The question I have today is the following: taking into consideration my current self made configuration (september 2006), should I just upgrade it or renew it completly?

Today's most powerfull workstation (Dell, Carri System and past Mac Pro) are built on a Dual Xeon 54xx basis (quad core, 5400 Intel chipset), so if I understand correctly it means 8 cores.

I read on various forums that 8 cores (even more with the reintroduction by Intel of Hyperthreading) is just an overkiller taking into consideration that Photoshop would not use the full power of the 8 cores at the same time under windows environment


My current configuration:

Today, I use:

- a dual Xeon (5120, dual core, 2.0 Ghz) based on a Supermicro motherboard (Chipset Intel 5000X)
- 4 Gig of RAM (FB-DIMM)
- my graphic card is a PNY Nvidia Quadro FX 540 (ideal for 2D application)
- 1 Raptor HD for system and applications
2 Caviar (500 and 750 Gb) for data
OS : Windows XP 64bit

Most used photo applications : Photoshop CS3 (I tried Photoshop CS4 64 bit, but most of my favourite plug ins such as Nik Software are not running under PS CS4 64bit for the time being), Capture One v. 4.5 and Qimage (very heavy files, usually more that 500 Mega for big prints)
I am not a gamer, I do not use any 3D software.

Very stable under Windows XP 64-bit, but disappointing in terms of speed with big files (over 250 Mega) under Photoshop CS3 when I apply heavy layers and filters. I checked that with most of the filters and plug-ins under PS CS3, the 4 cores are not used at the same time (average 30% of CPU time...). The only softwares which use 100% of the CPU capacities are Capture One and Qimage.

My Question is as follows:

- what should I do to improve my current configuration (add Ram up to 8 gb, but would it be used by PSCS3? go with Xeon 54xx which are supported by my motherboard, but would the 4 additional cores be fully used)? If I go (what I hope in the future) to PS CS4 64 bit, would that improve the speed?

- if nothing is to be done with my current PC, what would today's ideal Photoshop machine for à 2000 US $ budget (and taking some parts if possible from my current config)?

I start with the Q&A for a new PC:

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Photoshop CS3 (CS4 64 bit in the near future)
Capture One v.4.5
Lightroom v.2
Qimage
Windows XP 64 bit (very stable and I have most of my drivers), not ready to move to Vista (for what?)

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

2000 US $ max (only for hardware)

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

Europe, France (internet)


4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
Intel chipset for sure. Xeon if it worth it (reference to current workstation on the market, Dell, Mac and Carri)

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

see current configuration

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yes, of course, but I am lost now with all sometimes contradictory information

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

No O/C.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

No urgency. If something terrific is to come in the next months, I am ready to wait...



I really thank you for your help.

Ruud

 

[heyheybooboo]

I think for the most part you will best be served by an e8400 with a P45 chipset (or an AMD PhII 720BE/790gx) with 8Gb of DDR2 RAMs and your current disk system.

Sorry for slashing your budget 75% - 😛

There is clearly a point of diminishing return beyond the e8400 or PhII 720 where spending 50% more may net a 10% improvement in performance (if you are lucky). Bulking up on your RAMs and opening a second PCIe x16 slot (for future GPU processing) is probably a sweet move.

I've seen others return to CS3 from CS4 (my Creative Suite is much older-LOL) so I don't think you are out of the norm. The future of PS is clearly in harnessing the parallel processing power of the GPU. As I understand it there are a limited number of plug-ins for CS4 that will use the GPU and provide 5x the 'jam' of CPU processing, so spending a lot of money now on your platform may not be in your best interests.

Give it a year or so and see where they take the tech ...

 

[Denithor]

I'm going to guess you're not into overclocking your hardware, right?

No problem with that at all - just means you have to spend more to get the speed you're after.

CS3 is not multithreaded enough to fully use a quad-core setup so no point in going down that path.

Since you're in France I'll forgo linking actual parts since you won't be ordering from the same sites we use in the US. Instead here's a list of what I would suggest for your rebuild.

Intel e8500 (3.16GHz, 6MB cache, dual-core)
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P (best P45 motherboard available, hands down)
8GB DDR2-800 (two 4GB sticks are more expensive but might be easier to get working)

If that Raptor you list is actually a "Raptor" and not one of the newer Velociraptors - you need to upgrade it. Grab the 300GB Velociraptor. Reuse your other two data drives.

Doesn't look like your apps need much GPU power at all, I'd say just stick with that card.

 

[ruud]

Thank you very much for your advice (which slash my budget but who would complain in today's situation...!).

Just two additional questions:

- I definitively intend to move to Photoshop CS4 the day my favorite plug-ins are rewritten to support full 64 bit PS (in the coming months, I hope so...)

- Would then a quad core solution the way to go (even not with i7 Intel CPU, too expensive in my view)?

- If I go with a dual/quad core solution with the highest frequency, do you think it would go faster than my current workstation configuration based on two Xeon 5130 (my mistake, in the initial post, frequency of the Xeon are 2.0 Ghz)?

Thank you

Ruud

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: ruud
Thank you very much for your advice (which slash my budget but who would complain in today's situation...!).

Just two additional questions:

- I definitively intend to move to Photoshop CS4 the day my favorite plug-ins are rewritten to support full 64 bit PS (in the coming months, I hope so...)

- Would then a quad core solution the way to go (even not with i7 Intel CPU, too expensive in my view)?

- If I go with a dual/quad core solution with the highest frequency, do you think it would go faster than my current workstation configuration based on two Xeon 5130 (my mistake, in the initial post, frequency of the Xeon are 2.0 Ghz)?

When you install the 64 bit version of photoshop it also installs the 32 bit version as well.

As far as multicore support goes... it depends on the action. Some are multithreaded some are not. You just have to google, it is a pretty long list and I can't remember. Same thing with plugins... some will be multithreaded, some will not.

And as someone else recommended the E8400 would be a good choice. The higher clock speed will help immensely. I run photoshop on a Q9450 with 8gb ram and vista64. It runs pretty nicely but I don't ever do more than a few photos at a time.


EDIT: and consider that the i7 cpus also support hyperthreading where as the core2duos and core2quads do not. It would be interesting to see some benchmarks of a quad core xeon box versus a hyperthreaded core i7.

 

[jackschmittusa]

You could blow your whole budget on a Quadro CX video card to use with CS4. CS4 can use the gpu for processing power if you enable OpenGL. Not too many plugins use it yet, but more are supposed to be in the pipe.

From what I've read recently, CS4 can actually use all of the cpu, gpu, ram, and hd speed you can throw at it.

 

[octopus41092]

Core i7 920 - $250
12 GB RAM - $200
Some Motherboard - $200
HD4830 in Crossfire (So you can hook up 4 monitors if you want)- $200
256GB SSD - $600
2 x 1TB Drives - $200
Corsair TX650 - $100
Antec 900 - $100
2 x DVD-RW - $50

 

[rob25]

Hello Neighbour, I am living just downstairs from you in Spain, Malaga. :beer:

I have opened a thread with similar questions if you might be interested.(Here.)

The rig I have set up is for under 600? so your budget is almost 3x mine.

I recommend you look on ebay , there are shops that offer good rigs & normaly you can get in touch with them to change components, you have to go through the specifications thoroughly because they try to get rid of old motherboards etc, but as I say you can usualy upgrade.
example

I think the best value for money right now is a PhenomII 940.
- get windows 7 beta , then migrate in sept.
- Hard drive setup for cs4, they recomend you have 3 seperate fast disks for os, scratch & files.
you can set up 2x500 & 1Tb drives in Raid 0/1 for less than 200? for data.
This way you get twice the transfer rate & it is mirrored on the 1 tb drive for backup.