Help me upgrade my PC

My PC is showing it's age and could use a little refreshing before I shell out for a whole new machine next year. My main gripe is how slow the computer bogs down when I am loading up 30-60 photos in CS3. It can also be a pain running filters while there are a lot of photos open.

Here are the basic specs:

WinXP Pro
Asus mobo, Athlon 64 2800+ socket 754
1.25GB of ram (2x512, 1x256)
geForce FX 5500 256mb video card
120gb IDE harddrive for OS/applications
400gb IDE harddrive for photos/music/files
400gb of external drives for backup

What would you upgrade first, and why? I figure more RAM is the best budget thing to do. Should I buy 2 or 3 one GB sticks? If I buy 2, I can have 2.5GB, or spend an extra $60 and I'd have 3gb (the most my mobo will support).

I figure its not worth upgrading the CPU, especially since socket 754 is extinct and hard to find CPU's for.

What else I can do to make CS3 perform better? I have increased the amount of RAM CS3 can use, to just below the threshhold where Winamp will skip my MP3's will loading a lot of photos. I didn't think of it when I installed my 400gb drive, but is it worth partitioning that drive to use as a scratch disk? If so, how large of a partition should I make it?

Last but not least, how much of an increase would I get from wiping the OS harddrive and doing a fresh install of Windows? The PC has never had a virus and I am meticulous about spyware, etc. It's a large hassle to reformat and reinstall all my apps that I've gotten over the years, so it may not be worth the hassle. Maybe there are some cleanup utilities that I can use on that end?

Thanks in advance!

have you run windows disk defragmenter? that will help your computer access files a little bit faster.

adding more ram should help. with ram, you'll want to add identical ram sticks. and depending on the motherboard, where you put the ram in each slot does matter. with ram prices dropping, if you have the extra $, i would put in 3 1GB sticks. check out corsair XMS ram....they are really good and usually have deals at outpost.com or newegg.com.

IMHO, opening 30-60 photos at once in CS3 would cause performance set back even on an Intel Core2 duo system. Do you really need to open that many photos at once?

A few things that might improve the performance of your current system before you upgrade:
1. Do a thorough spyware scan, as well as virus scan, to make sure no virus or spyware clog up the throughput.
2. Defragment the hard drives.
3. Fine tune your CS3 cache setting. I set my CS3 to use 65% of my total memory (2Gb). Seems to work great. Tune yours appropriately.
4. The default setting for History in CS3 is 20. Reduce it if you hardly go back to that far in the History. The higher the number, the more RAM it occupies.
5. Set your CS3 scratch disk to something other than C:\. You have two IDEs. Set the scratch disk to the 400Gb disk.
6. Check your motherboard specs. If it supports dual-channel memory technology (different from DDR), see how to set it up and take benefit of it.

I have an AMD 64 3000+ socket 939 system. It's old but still is more than enough to run CS3, but i don't normally open 30-60 photos at once.

Good luck.

Do a disk clean first before defrag

MeNiS wrote in post #4302011
have you run windows disk defragmenter? that will help your computer access files a little bit faster.

adding more ram should help. with ram, you'll want to add identical ram sticks. and depending on the motherboard, where you put the ram in each slot does matter. with ram prices dropping, if you have the extra $, i would put in 3 1GB sticks. check out corsair XMS ram....they are really good and usually have deals at outpost.com or newegg.com.

I run the disk defrag every week or so, it definately helps.

RAM is definately cheap, I'll go ahead and buy the 3 sticks of Crucial/Kingston/Corsa​ir, whatever is having a good deal at the time.

cfcRebel wrote in post #4302029
IMHO, opening 30-60 photos at once in CS3 would cause performance set back even on an Intel Core2 duo system. Do you really need to open that many photos at once?

A few things that might improve the performance of your current system before you upgrade:
1. Do a thorough spyware scan, as well as virus scan, to make sure no virus or spyware clog up the throughput.
2. Defragment the hard drives.
3. Fine tune your CS3 cache setting. I set my CS3 to use 65% of my total memory (2Gb). Seems to work great. Tune yours appropriately.
4. The default setting for History in CS3 is 20. Reduce it if you hardly go back to that far in the History. The higher the number, the more RAM it occupies.
5. Set your CS3 scratch disk to something other than C:\. You have two IDEs. Set the scratch disk to the 400Gb disk.
6. Check your motherboard specs. If it supports dual-channel memory technology (different from DDR), see how to set it up and take benefit of it.

I have an AMD 64 3000+ socket 939 system. It's old but still is more than enough to run CS3, but i don't normally open 30-60 photos at once.

Good luck.

Thanks for your help. It seems easier to me when I am editing large groups of photos to open a lot and just work through them, but I suppose I should just cut that down to 5-10 images at a time.

I will reduce the amount of steps that are saved in the history, and switch the scratch disk. Is it worth my trouble to reformat the 400gb drive and partition it to have a separate scratch disk, or should I just run it on the drive as is? I will investigate the dual channel RAM as well.

It's time for an overhaul DigitalWave. You can get a very speedy Mobo, proc, Ram and videocard for around $1K. You don't need much, but buying more RAM for your dinosaur is just a plain waste.

But, I imagine you're running DDR 333MHz or something, maybe even 400MHz. That will be a very cheap upgrade and if you don't have the spare coin for a completely new system then it'll have to do. If you do have $1K to burn, here's what I'd get:

Intel E6700 C2D
2GB DDR 800 (PC6400
Nvidia GeForce 7XXX Videocard
Asus P5N-E Mobo

Digitalwave wrote in post #4302085
Thanks for your help. It seems easier to me when I am editing large groups of photos to open a lot and just work through them, but I suppose I should just cut that down to 5-10 images at a time.

I just learned some cool feature in CS3 and Bridge that i didn't know before. In Bridge, I could select a series of RAWs i want to edit and open them at once in ACR. Then edit one of them and copy the edit to the rest of the RAWs. No sure if this helps your situation but make sure check out what Bridge could do. Who knows, maybe you no longer need to open that many photos at once with a single feature in Bridge.

Digitalwave wrote in post #4302085
I will reduce the amount of steps that are saved in the history, and switch the scratch disk. Is it worth my trouble to reformat the 400gb drive and partition it to have a separate scratch disk, or should I just run it on the drive as is? I will investigate the dual channel RAM as well.

I can think of a benefit with a partitioned scratch disk - it's much easier and faster to defrag the scratch disk because smaller capacity. CS3 constantly inserts/deletes files into/from the scratch disk when running. I like to defrag it more often.

More memory always helps, especially with Photoshop.

Do you guys defrag even if the computer says that it doesn't need it?

Bootsie wrote in post #4302533
Do you guys defrag even if the computer says that it doesn't need it?

Yes. A defrag will also help keep files from getting so fragmented later.

scot079 wrote in post #4302130
It's time for an overhaul DigitalWave. You can get a very speedy Mobo, proc, Ram and videocard for around $1K. You don't need much, but buying more RAM for your dinosaur is just a plain waste.

But, I imagine you're running DDR 333MHz or something, maybe even 400MHz. That will be a very cheap upgrade and if you don't have the spare coin for a completely new system then it'll have to do. If you do have $1K to burn, here's what I'd get:

Intel E6700 C2D
2GB DDR 800 (PC6400
Nvidia GeForce 7XXX Videocard
Asus P5N-E Mobo

I definately do, but can't afford it at this point. I'd rather get a 40D first. My performance isn't THAT bad, just an annoyance.

cfcRebel wrote in post #4302231
I just learned some cool feature in CS3 and Bridge that i didn't know before. In Bridge, I could select a series of RAWs i want to edit and open them at once in ACR. Then edit one of them and copy the edit to the rest of the RAWs. No sure if this helps your situation but make sure check out what Bridge could do. Who knows, maybe you no longer need to open that many photos at once with a single feature in Bridge.

I can think of a benefit with a partitioned scratch disk - it's much easier and faster to defrag the scratch disk because smaller capacity. CS3 constantly inserts/deletes files into/from the scratch disk when running. I like to defrag it more often.

I knew you could copy edits in ACR - you could do it in CS2 as well. But I still make adjustments to each image on a case by case basis.

The partition scratch disk makes sense, might not be worth the effort though.

JackProton wrote in post #4302420
More memory always helps, especially with Photoshop.

Thanks, I think I will pick up some more RAM and call it a day until I can afford a new PC.

FWIW, I have found the following links very helpful with regard to PC maintenance.

http://forums.majorgee​ks.com/showthread.php?​t=106650

and

http://forums.majorgee​ks.com/showthread.php?​t=25834

Doug

Adding ram will always help, but please post the model of your motherboard.

Looking at what you have, it may be good to follow scot079's advice for a new PC. They can be easily assembled (heck, some computer parts stores even will assemble it for you for a small fee). If budget is an issue, then I'd start with upgrading:

1. Ram -- Make sure you're using performance ram. It will not always yield amazingly faster results, but it does help in a few tasks. Try to get it to 3gb if possible. You probably want to replace all the ram to make sure the chip manufacturer hasn't changed. Mismatched performance ones can sometimes yield horrible results.

2. Hard Drive - Faster RPM is (usually) better. The WD Raptors have been a godsend where the I/O of the drives have become the bottleneck.

Try a defrag first though. Try only using your main drive for programs and the OS. Try keeping all your data on your large mass storage drives. This the data will be accessed more, it'll slow the performance on the drives they're on. I have separate external drives for Photos, Music and Videos.

Other than those 2 items, I'd recommend getting a new PC. http://www.tomshardwar​e.com is a great read for first timers and pros alike. If you ever need help configuring a rig, feel free to PM.

No reason that system shouldn't run as is. Mine does. Internet, PS, WMP, windows of pics, other stuff. Get more RAM but aside from that, you're comp is just junked up, for lack of a better term.

1.25GB of ram (2x512, 1x256)

you shouldn't be running RAM like this. You should be dual channeling.. well maybe you cant

2 GB should be enough IMHO. Performance RAM vs. budget RAM.. i dont think it matters. Buying RAM with a heatsink on it for photo editing is not necessary. Just make sure you either get Corsair or Crucial, and skip the no-name brands.

If you're gonna get a HD, 7200RPM should be enough for you. But switch from IDE to SATA. SATA makes it faster for things to be processed from your HD. RPM won't do that for you.

Keep your HD, at least 10% free. I'd only defrag if you've gone under 10%.