Photoshop System

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Whats good / recommended for photoshop these days?

Just finding out on behalf of a friend.

I was thinking Intel Core2 Quad, possibly an I7 with 4GB Ram. It wont be used for gaming at all. Do graphics cards effect photoshops performance?

Thanks
 
Vicious said:
Do graphics cards effect photoshops performance?

Thanks
Click to expand...

CS4 supports GPU accelleration http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/405/kb405745.html

More RAM is beneficial when working with large projects and when multiple files are open. 6GB is fine for an i7 system or 8GB for a Core 2 system. I'm not sure which version of PS you're using but I believe CS3 is optimized for two threads or dual core. It was shown four cores had no affect on speed. CS4 may well be different though.
 
I'm interested in this to. as I'm a Photographer I need a Good Fast System for Photoshop/Video work/Office/Everything, but NO gameing.
 
i7 is the way to go if you are thinking about runnig intensive applications.
They are designed to do just that :)
 
I'd hardly call CS4 extreamly intensive. It's not as intensive as gaming, so you won't need as good a system. It'd suggest something like a 720 BE.
 
If you read carefully, you will see video work mentioned.
As far as I'm aware, i7 beats AM3 hands down when it comes to encoding/decoding.
Only gaming wise are AMD able to match them for their performance.

Yes GPU does affect the performance of CS4 as it leverages the graphics cards to speed its screen redraw. However you can disable the OpenGL setting to prevent that from happening. Unless you have the budget for a decent graphics card.
 
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Since gaming pushes the CPU it's used as a benchmark. Anything that doesn't utilise the whole CPU is going to perform more or less the same on any CPU. AMD is better value for money, and since you wouldn't want top of the range then you wouldn't want the i7. You could either wait for the benchmarks and reviews of Core i5s and Core i3s, or you could buy AMD.
 
It's a matter of sacrificing a bit of speed for a bit of money or paying a bit more for newer technology and performance.

Gaming wise, not all games are CPU intensive, in fact, most games are more dependent upon the GPU.

However, I do agree on waiting a bit before you jump on to building your system. Prices for CPU's are expected to fall, not so much on the i7's but more so to the AM3 chips i.e. Phenom II Quads.
 
Yes, CS4 can leverage the graphics card for certain tasks, which is a good thing but by no means does it make graphics card power the main factor in photoshop performance. A reasonable mid range card like these :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-108-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1434

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-093-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=356

will be plenty.

And don't worry about the quaddro marketing hype - CS4 uses ATI cards for the acceleration too.

CPU power and RAM remain most important. In fact the same is true for most 3D applications (not games) - apart from very hardcore modelling, most other areas benefit from a mid range card and a fast CPU.
 
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I7 systems are a waste of money for adobe products, as most operations are not properly multi threaded, a high end core2 duo, with lots of ram, a nice ssd + 1 for scratch, will give you far more bang for your buck.

Remember i7 is only around 10-15% higher performance than a equivalent clocked core2 quad in fully multi threaded environments. As cs4 isn't, It's not wisely spent cash.

A top end c2duo or quad, + 8gb ram + fast scratch drive will in my opinion be a far wiser distribution of your money.
 
depends how quick you wanna work,my pc is mainly used for 3d work maya 2009 and 3d smax 2010,i use cs4 for minor work and making templates for my 3d work,i can render quicker than ever,cs4 does benift from i7 now,i believe the lastest update states that.go i7 if i where you also if you get into it and want to use 3d,dont use ati cards there not capable of running very well i learnt this meself,later found out from autodesk that nvidia are the best cards to run software like i use now hope this helps.
 
it can be used in a lot more programs than just video editing,its quicker in my 3d apps i use by miles rendering 4times faster than my quadcore i had, i find it more quicker in cs4 as well.
 
quad core + quadro for 3D work, but thankfully for the OPs wallet photoshop is hardly 3D work.

My vote would go to an overclocked e8*00, 8gb of ram and P5Q board. A 9800GT / 250gts / whatever else that core is called is probably worth including, anything over that is likely to be a waste.
 
Personally I'd go for a Q9xxx quad or i7. Adobe products have been multithreaded for years, and if there's any video work involved, a quad will be well worth it.
 
Only CS4 has the GPU options? I have CS3 at the moment, would like to take advantage of my 4890s for processing...
 
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