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Anyone gone to X2 who uses Photoshop/Maya

Dark_Angel

Dark_Angel

Dark_Angel

Soldato
Joined
12 May 2005
Posts
12,631
Hey...

I use Photoshop and Maya Personal Learning edition. Though I am starting to notice a little slowdown when running the programs at the same time.

I currently have a Venice @ 2.7 or so GHZ, with 1GB of ram and an x800XT card. Anyone think upgrading to a X2 3800 will be worth it? I am mulling over the idea right now, but am not certain of what to do...
 
I use photoshop regularly and often have it running whilst rebuilding a level in Unreal Editor (dunno how it compares to Maya, but a hell of a lot more intensive than Photoshop). Having 2Gb of RAm also helps lots.
and the rig still reamins responsive, could never go back to a single core now.
 
How did it handle things with just a single core? was the difference like night and day? I know PS pretty much just likes ram and is not quite so bothered about CPU power. How much did you manage to overclock your 3800?
 
Dark_Angel said:
How did it handle things with just a single core? was the difference like night and day? I know PS pretty much just likes ram and is not quite so bothered about CPU power. How much did you manage to overclock your 3800?
Click to expand...
When Unreal Editor was doing a rebuild I'd have to walkaway as the computer would lock up (essentiall) until it was finished, that was on a AMD64 3000+.

Its a huge difference, I couldn't believe it when I firs tgot this chip. And whenever I use a single core rig now I get really impatient
 
Bah. You people are evil. EVIL. Making me want to spend more money :( I had my heart set on a 20" TFT widescreen, and was gonna order next week but now I am considering getting this instead. I have a 19" CRT at the moment and a 15" CRT to... but widescreen would be nice for the 360 I have.

Also, what would I do to enable dual core? I would assume I download a bootdisc, boot in to dos command prompt (like a windows 98 boot disc or something) flash the bios, and then turn off computer, replace the 3000 venice with the X2, turn on the PC and pray it works?

Is there anything I would have to do in windows itself? I have heard that you need to update the drivers in control panel->system->device manager.

Thanks for the help all, even if you are making me want to spend money.
 
lol, get the dual core :p

Yup, do the bios flash, pop the X2 in, switch on and enjoy!

Windows XP will automatically recognise and install the new X2 processor. It's just a matter of you installing the dual core patches.
 
PinkFloyd said:
not sure If XP home edition natively reconsises it, but it can be done, just a bit more fiddly.
Click to expand...
It does. I went from a San Diego 3700+ to an X2 4400+ and this was what I did.

Flash to latest DC BIOS.
Boot up, make sure BIOS has gone ok.
Shutdown.
Remove 3700+
Install X2 4400+
Boot up
Login to Win XP Home
It says new hardware found, please reboot.
Reboot.
Use as normal.
 
I use XSI (thinking of swapping to maya) and Photoshop and like everyone above has said the speed difference is highly noticeable (especially rendering). I've also clocked the X2 3800 to 2400 on stock volts and cooler with no trouble at all. Its an upgrade that you won't regret, infact you'll wonder how you ever lived without SMP!
 
The only thing that is is holding me back is that I would not be able to buy a secondary monitor, or if I did I would have to buy a standard 19" CRT one... do people think that its worth it?

I am using Photoshop CS2 (took me a while to save lol) and maya Personal Learning Edition (the free one) and premiere elements, so I assume I should not have any trouble with dual cores?

One last thing, I am currently burning a lot of AVI files to DVD, mostly stuff that I am messing around with in premiere... and as anyone knows that encodes stuff it takes quite a while... its a pain in the butt not being able to do PS work or play CS while I am waiting for it to encode. Will I notice ANY lag in counter strike or using photoshop while I am encoding using the other CPU?

I also as mentioned have 1GB of ram currently, and am thinking of replacing it with 2x1GB sticks... the other option I have is to buy another 2 x 512MB sticks which brings up the total to 2GB... I have been told that even with a 939 its best to buy 2x1GB sticks. I have noticed my memory usage is often near the paging limit especially when PS and maya are used at the same time... (texturing and so on) so I am guessing that the extra GB will really help me...
 
Yep, you'll need 2GB. You shouldn't notice much lag in CS - of course, there will be some slowdown but not unduly so. You'd have to assign the tasks manually in this case I should think as photoshop is multithreaded and might steal resources from the 'gaming' core I would imagine - but still, although it wouldn't get done any quicker than single core, you don't have to sit and idly watch it! 2x1GB is definitely recommended to keep 1T for that highly intensive use you have there.
 
You should be fine playing CSS, although 1GB may be pushing it.
My old single core AMDXP with 512MB ram coped with that game fine with stuff in the background, so a far better system with more ram and a much better cpu will be all good ;)
 
Actually I only place CZ... I dont really like the feel of source, and 1.6 is a bit long in the tooth now. Plus all My mates play CZ too :)

Must admit though, I am still stuck between the monitor and the CPU... :( both of them would be an excellent upgrade I think.. :(
 
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