64 bit PC advice needed

[weka2000]

I need more RAM. 1Dsmk3 files and panofactory is why I need to look at upgrading. 4 gig aint enough.

I will be running Vista 64 bit, Panofactory 64 bit CS3.

I know that the hardware drivers need to be 64 bit so my canon scanner and printer may not work (will keep older 32 bit PC) are there other issues I need to be aware of.

I will have 8gig of RAM installed
INTEL DQ35JOE board.

Cheapest option is using sRAW

[chauncey]

Was under the impression that CS3 does not recognize 64 bit.

[weka2000]

Was under the impression that CS3 does not recognize 64 bit.

As long as it runs. Its the panorams that I have issues with.
Just need to work out if going to 64 bit is the right move.

Even with the old 5D trying to stich often had "run out of memory" on 4gig RAM

[alexclc]

I'm running 8 gb of ram on a 64 bit XP machine and CS3 runs with no issues.

And LR is almost fast. Kinda.

Alex

[RandyMN]

I have 64 bit Vista Enterprise and the only reason was so I could recognise over the 3.5 GB memory I have installed.

I have six GB available and have configured CS3 to take over the entire 3.5.

Only a few timers have I noticed excessive usage of memory.

[M_ark]

i can't say much about having more than 4 GB ram - but i do know if you'd been running a 32 bit os, then even if you'd had 4 GB installed, windows XP 32bit would not have seen more than 3 GB...
I do however have Vista x64 Ultimate installed and it runs very smoothly now that i've updated my systemboard and accessory drivers to their 64 bit versions. I do believe there is a 64bit version of photoshop in the 'pipeline' but am unaware if it will be released as CS3 or a future release...

[mson]

Adobe has stated the next version of PS will be 64-bit on the Windows side. They have not announced a date.

Other than possible driver issues, you should be fine moving to 64-bit Vista.

[weka2000]

Adobe has stated the next version of PS will be 64-bit on the Windows side. They have not announced a date.

Other than possible driver issues, you should be fine moving to 64-bit Vista.


Issues like spyder pro may come up, printers, scanners, cameras etc. Its the hardware side not the applications.

[PAFC2004]

What CPU are you running?

[weka2000]

What CPU are you running?

Now or planning on getting ?

[chauncey]

Running CS3 on a 32 bit Vista OS with a 64 bit quad core Gateway with 4 GB RAM and had tons of trouble until I got a 750 GB hard drive in that puppy.

It seems to me that CS3 is more hard drive sensitive than RAM sensitive and I do a lot of panoramas and HDR work with Ds MkII images (Big A$$ files).

When working with these big files, only have CS3 open on your desktop, not even Bridge, do not multitask.
And even when it shows "non responsive", it is still working. Just go for coffee, be patient.

[Quad]

I have done what you did, Vista 64/8 gig RAM. I put photoshop to use 100% of available memory, 3255 MB in this case. Plug-ins go to other ram so you will use more than the 3 gig or so photoshop will allow. It works faster for me.

My old scanner does not wok at all and my Spectravison profilling software gives an error message but still creates a profile. I could use the eye one software as I think it is Vista 64 capable (I think the spectravision is the same anyhow). I think spyder has 64 bit software. That to me was the biggest issue.


The other thing that really helps with photoshop are fast scratch drives, I use two of these in RAID1 as the primary scratch:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Storage/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2179&ProductName=GC-RAMDISK

They have a new form factor here:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Storage/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2678

but I have not used it. It look like it would help as the old ones take up two slots of space.


When the scratch goes to my second drive a 10K SATA things take a turn for the slower. The iRAM is just SATA 1 but the access time is 0ms so I think that makes a huge difference. If you have some old 1 gig DDR sticks of RAM they are worth it. They get a bit pricey if you have to buy RAM but I bought some yesterday for $30 Canadian/GB.

[Quad]

Additional thoughts.

I also have an XP32 machine for web browsing and taking care of things like mp3 player that has no new software but I have thought about setting up a virtual machine on the vista machine with xp on it to take care of that stuff. VMware supports usb devices but VirtualPC does not. I tried virtualPC since it is free but will have to test out the VMware software to see if this would make a work around for older non supported devices.