building a photoshop computer

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  1. Posts : 59
    windows 7 pro 32 bit
       #1
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  2. Posts : 11,424
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64
       #2

    I would jump to at least a 128 gb SSD or even better a 256 gb for the OS and most if not all software. Then add a top flight 7000+ rpm 2 or 3 TB spinner with at least 32 to 64 cache for data/pictures. Oh and then don't forget a back up target disk or cloud for the data just to be safe with all those pictures.
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  3. Posts : 2,573
    Win7 Ultimate X64
       #3

    Agree ^^ bigger drive would be better, no point building a decent spec machine that you cant run of the SSD, its only going to slow things down, if your photoshoping your probably going to want your working images on there and after a shoot that can equate to quite a few GBs with a decent camera and your programs and games will already be on there and dont forget about pagefile which will = total ram size & hiberfile if you use hibernation
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  4. Posts : 12,364
    8 Pro x64
       #4

    jonass21 said:
    One specific question I had was if I have 32GB of RAM will a 60GB SSD suffice for a scratch disc?
    For a scratch disc, yes - 60GB is fine with 32GB of RAM.

    But I would make sure photoshop/OS is on a SSD for optimal performance.



    (Guys, a scratch disc is essentially an 'overflow' drive for any data that exceeds the 32GB of physical space. Photoshop dumps data onto the drive. Since memory overuns aren't an every use occurrence, a small and fast drive solely for that purpose will suffice. The OP didn't mention what type of drive the actual app and OS will be on. )
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  5. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #5

    You also might want to bump up the RAM to 16GB. The gaming won't need it but if working with large images and or very many images at once, your wife will appreciate the extra RAM. If she does any serious video editing 23GB might not be too much but you would have to run Win 7 Pro or Ultimate since Home Premium is limited to 16GB.

    Also, be sure to make sure you have plenty of capacity for making backups. Ideally, you should have a minimum of one offsite and one onsite backup. An affordable scheme would include one or more external HDDs with enough capacity to back up everything on your internal HDDs for the onsite backup (the onsite backup drives should never be continuously connected to the PC) and a cloud backup service for the offsite backup (I use Carbonite's basic home service and have been happy with it).

    I would never use less than 120-128GB for the boot SSD. By the time you load in your games and your wife's photo editing software, you could wind up with more than 60GB. If your games are very large, you may even need a 256GB SSD but that would be a bit extreme for most gamers. If you want to keep hibernation activated, the hiberfil.sys folder will occupy space on the SSD equal to 75% of the amount of RAM you have. It can be reduced but, if you or your wife use close to 75% of the RAM, you may actually want to bump it up to 100%. I kept hibernation enabled on my machine since it is used by my UPS to save any work I'm doing before shutting everything down if the power fails.
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  6. Posts : 59
    windows 7 pro 32 bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    linnemeyerhere said:
    I would jump to at least a 128 gb SSD or even better a 256 gb for the OS and most if not all software. Then add a top flight 7000+ rpm 2 or 3 TB spinner with at least 32 to 64 cache for data/pictures. Oh and then don't forget a back up target disk or cloud for the data just to be safe with all those pictures.
    Pauly said:
    Agree ^^ bigger drive would be better, no point building a decent spec machine that you cant run of the SSD, its only going to slow things down, if your photoshoping your probably going to want your working images on there and after a shoot that can equate to quite a few GBs with a decent camera and your programs and games will already be on there and dont forget about pagefile which will = total ram size & hiberfile if you use hibernation
    I forgot to link the drives. It will have a 120GB SSD fit os/programs and 60gb for scratch. And 750gb for data
    I w planning putting the os/programs onto the 120GB SSD as I usually run a pretty tight ship application wise. I figured that would be more than enough space for Windows photoshop and 1 or 2 games.

    I was going to use the 60gb SSD for scratch, that is not enough? Again she is not a full time professional photographer when she finishes a session she usually only has around 4gb worth of images so I am not sure that much space is needed? Am I just looking at it wrong?

    I only linked the 1 ram disc but it will have 32gb ram is that enough plus the 60gb scratch disc?
    Last edited by jonass21; 27 May 2013 at 19:37. Reason: More info
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  7. Posts : 12,364
    8 Pro x64
       #7

    If you re-read, you'll notice that they missed the fact that it's for a scratch disc only.

    So yes - 60GB is enough. And for the price of RAM, 16GB is a good sweet spot for home/semi-work needs.
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  8. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #8

    smarteyeball said:
    If you re-read, you'll notice that they missed the fact that it's for a scratch disc only.

    So yes - 60GB is enough. And for the price of RAM, 16GB is a good sweet spot for home/semi-work needs.
    Why have a separate scratch drive?
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  9. Posts : 59
    windows 7 pro 32 bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Lady Fitzgerald said:
    smarteyeball said:
    If you re-read, you'll notice that they missed the fact that it's for a scratch disc only.

    So yes - 60GB is enough. And for the price of RAM, 16GB is a good sweet spot for home/semi-work needs.
    Why have a separate scratch drive?
    From what I read it speeds up photoshop for when you use up all your available ram, it only needs to throw info into it occasionally and if something else is using that drive it can cause a bottleneck, seems like if you are doing real intense graphics creation and multiple layers etc. then you could potentially use a ton of excess space, but I didn't think that more than 32gb ram + 60gb ssd was necessary for a hobbyist
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  10. Posts : 59
    windows 7 pro 32 bit
    Thread Starter
       #10

    smarteyeball said:
    If you re-read, you'll notice that they missed the fact that it's for a scratch disc only.

    So yes - 60GB is enough. And for the price of RAM, 16GB is a good sweet spot for home/semi-work needs.
    awesome thanks
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