Which run Adobe Photoshop better: 2.8 dual or 2.4 quad core

[mobiblu]

Hey Guys,

So my buddy is planning to invest in a Mac.
He will be using it to run Adobe Photoshop and few other few other graphic design apps.
Which processor will Photoshop run better on?

 

[Eug]

Dunno about the current one, but in past years Photoshop usually tended to run better on high clocked dual rather than mid-clocked quad.

That said, I'd take the quad esp. since the CPUs are so fast these days that they're often not the bottleneck for Photoshop on modern machines. Also, quad may help if he's running a bunch of other apps simultaneously. I've noticed a significant improvement in even just general OS multitasking on a quad machine as compared to dual. (Mind you part of that is going from C2D to Core i7.)

Plus, the other thing to make sure of is to get an adequately sized SSD, and gobs of RAM.

ie. SSD > RAM > CPU (or something like that) for perceived speed.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Photoshop is heavily multithreaded, so quad > dual. At least if you're looking at benchmarks that simulate heavy use and emphasize the things where Photoshop is CPU limited.

Photoshop isn't as heavily multithreaded as some things, but there'll still be a benefit. Although frankly, depending on his usage patterns, he may not notice much of a difference, and he may be I/O (HD) limited if he doesn't have an SSD.

Also, if he's doing web design, he might have to occasionally transcode some video. Then he'll be glad he has a quad core.

But as a general rule anyway, get the quad. Quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad quad.

 

[KeithP]

This might be helpful:
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/optimize-performance-photoshop-cs4-cs5.html

-KeithP

 

[slashbinslashbash]

That's the cool thing about Turbo Boost. The CPU can decide how many cores it needs, and throttle them to meet the needs of the system and how much heat it's putting out. The quad-core i7 in my MBP, nominally 2.2GHz, goes up to 3.0GHz in quad core mode, 3.2GHz in dual core mode, and 3.3GHz in single core mode. So you don't have to agonize over the decision when you buy the CPU; you can just get the QC and have it actively make the decision for you on a moment-to-moment basis.