Hardware Upgrades Needed for PS?

Sasquatch76

Apologies if this isn't the right place to post this. I did consider posting in the computer building/upgrading forum, but thought the more specific know-how from you guys and gals might be more benficial.

Basically, I'm wondering if there are any worthwhile upgrades I can make to my current PC to make it more efficient at running CS4 (bought but not installed yet).

At the moment, I'm running an E8400 CPU @ 3.6GHz in an Asus P5K Pro mobo, with 4GB Ram and a 4870 GPU. I've a couple of HDs - one for Vista 64 and apps, games etc, and a larger slower drive for storage.

Are there any blatantly obvious improvements I can make to my PC to enable CS4 to run as smooth as possible? I've been told it's quite RAM hungry, so would another 4GB be a useful upgrade? Also, I'm going to be getting Windows 7 in a few weeks, and was toying with the idea of buying an SSD for the OS and most frequently used apps. Would Photoshop benefit from being installed on an SSD? And where is the optimal place to put the scratch disk?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions - bit lost when it comes to Adobe software!

melekalikimaka

hummm processor is probably your weak link 4gb should run it smoothly... have you tried it yet on the pc, i cant see it running slow. windows 7 will speed it up a tad, a fast scratch just for it will add a bit more speed and cs4 now can draw power from som gfx cards...

Sasquatch76

Thanks for the swift reply!

No, I haven't installed it yet - was holding off adding anything to the PC til I get Windows 7 (will be a clean install), but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try it out...

Just had a look at Tom's Hardware's CPU performance charts (no idea if these are still considered a reliable source of info) and it seems like even older quads give a big performance boost over my Wolfdale when it comes to Photoshop. I might consider getting a cheaper quad then.

I agree with you that I don't think my comp will struggle with it per sé, but now that I'm getting older, I guess my priorities are changing. Before, my upgrades were always to get better performance from gaming. But now, I want to let my creative side loose! So a small fast HD just for the scratch disk would be beneficial then?

melekalikimaka

Sasquatch76 wrote: »

Thanks for the swift reply!

No, I haven't installed it yet - was holding off adding anything to the PC til I get Windows 7 (will be a clean install), but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try it out...

Just had a look at Tom's Hardware's CPU performance charts (no idea if these are still considered a reliable source of info) and it seems like even older quads give a big performance boost over my Wolfdale when it comes to Photoshop. I might consider getting a cheaper quad then.

I agree with you that I don't think my comp will struggle with it per sé, but now that I'm getting older, I guess my priorities are changing. Before, my upgrades were always to get better performance from gaming. But now, I want to let my creative side loose! So a small fast HD just for the scratch disk would be beneficial then?

not a huge improvement tbh...

5uspect

Unless you're planning some seriously heavy duty PS work that system will handle CS4 just fine. You may have to wait a few seconds longer for high quality filters to apply to high res images but that's about it.

Chorcai

I have a 100gig drive for cache. 8gig of ram, I would love to have a SSD just for windows+PS+games. Your board is DDR2 drop by memoryc.ie and pick up an 8gig kit cheap as chips now that DDR3 is main stream :P If you do go for a quadcore x64bit PS will use it to the full ammount.

Sasquatch76

Okay, thanks for all the feedback - tis much appreciated