Running Adobe Creative Suite 4

[exorr]

I'm working to build a budget PC for a friend who uses Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium and am wondering what people recommend for Processor and Memory?

I was thinking of this Processor and 2GB of memory:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116072

However; she pushed back and said she "required no less than 3GHz". Their on a budget and a 3GHz proc is $50-70 more.

What are the thoughts on that proc and 2gb of memory? Should I keep that proc and bring it to 4gb? Would that be better for that kind of program?

I've never used this software but built many PC's for friends who play games like World of Warcraft so that's my specialty. I know these Adobe programs can really be hogs though.

Thanks!

 

[bruceb]

Try this cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115036
It is faster, still only a Duo Core (quads are still very expensive) and runs at 3.16Mhz .. but it is $188 as opposed to your
first choice of only $83 .. Is it worth it to her ? ? And yes, I would max out the memory, as it is fairly cheap. Also a nice
large, speedy, large cache hard drive. Also be sure the cpu you pick will work in the mobo you are thinking about.
You may need to change mobo to go to the faster cpu.

 

[exorr]

Yup, the mobo will be decided on after the Processor is determined.

I was thinking this proc if she wanted more:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115037

It's still $70 more which is probably too much for them so $100 more won't work.

Overall I'm trying to keep the entire thing around $400.

 

[bruceb]

That and I the one I linked to are only $30 difference versus 3.0 & 3.16Mhz ... the cache is the same at 6MB

 

[exorr]

Yeah, I think I was able to use the 3.0GHz and get everything else and keep it under $400 so think I'm good.

 

[Tarrant64]

Quick question: What OS?

You may be able to get away with 2GB but I'd recommend 4gb. Here are my reasons:
1. Adobe is a memory hog. Fact. The more you throw at it though, the better it runs. If they are serious in what they are trying to accomplish, the 4GB will pay for itself in the long run.
2. bruceb: I agree with all of the suggestions!
3. Slightly future proof. Giving it 4GB now (and its dirt cheap now too) will help with any other designing programs that may be used later on. And it may get you through that extra year before they have the funds to upgrade again.

 

[Modelworks]

I'm not a fan of CS4, to me it shows how bloated adobe has become. CS3 does 98% of what CS4 does and faster. But since she wants CS4, min ram 4GB, vista 64 bit. One of the new things with CS4 is support for using the GPU to process some of the transforms and calculations. You will need one that is on the list to use the features, it is a pretty big list so shouldn't be hard to fit one in the budget.
Adobe approved cards:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservic...do?externalId=kb405711

Cpu , anything like a E6600+ will be fine.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: exorr
I'm working to build a budget PC for a friend who uses Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium and am wondering what people recommend for Processor and Memory?

That depends heavily on what sort of work she'll be doing. It's a flexible suite of tools, and the computer needed will be very different if her workload is, say, all web versus all billboard graphics.

I was thinking of this Processor and 2GB of memory:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116072

However; she pushed back and said she "required no less than 3GHz". Their on a budget and a 3GHz proc is $50-70 more.

What are the thoughts on that proc and 2gb of memory? Should I keep that proc and bring it to 4gb? Would that be better for that kind of program?

I've never used this software but built many PC's for friends who play games like World of Warcraft so that's my specialty. I know these Adobe programs can really be hogs though.

Thanks!

I can't comment on that processor, but I will say she'll likely be better off with more RAM, especially if she'll have more than a single application open at once (I usually have 3 open at a time, sometimes 4). 3 gigs, if that's all the OS will do, or 4 gigs if you can.

Again, depending on the work she'll be doing, it would be wise not to ignore the hard disk speed. High volume photo processing, video, large (or many, many-layer) images can all be disk-intensive.

On the flip side, if she's doing mostly Flash or web-resolution stuff, disk and ram are much less of an issue.

 

[exorr]

Originally posted by: Tarrant64
Quick question: What OS?

You may be able to get away with 2GB but I'd recommend 4gb. Here are my reasons:
1. Adobe is a memory hog. Fact. The more you throw at it though, the better it runs. If they are serious in what they are trying to accomplish, the 4GB will pay for itself in the long run.
2. bruceb: I agree with all of the suggestions!
3. Slightly future proof. Giving it 4GB now (and its dirt cheap now too) will help with any other designing programs that may be used later on. And it may get you through that extra year before they have the funds to upgrade again.

Windows XP Pro.

We went with 4GB as there was a good deal on 2x2GB kit on newegg for $15.

 

[exorr]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
I'm not a fan of CS4, to me it shows how bloated adobe has become. CS3 does 98% of what CS4 does and faster. But since she wants CS4, min ram 4GB, vista 64 bit. One of the new things with CS4 is support for using the GPU to process some of the transforms and calculations. You will need one that is on the list to use the features, it is a pretty big list so shouldn't be hard to fit one in the budget.
Adobe approved cards:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservic...do?externalId=kb405711

Cpu , anything like a E6600+ will be fine.

This is good to here actually; she uses CS3, I just mentioned CS4 as that's the latest version and figured if we can support CS4 then CS3 wouldn't be a problem.

I got one of the approved cards so we're good there.

Thanks!

 

[Nizology]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
I'm not a fan of CS4, to me it shows how bloated adobe has become. CS3 does 98% of what CS4 does and faster. But since she wants CS4, min ram 4GB, vista 64 bit. One of the new things with CS4 is support for using the GPU to process some of the transforms and calculations. You will need one that is on the list to use the features, it is a pretty big list so shouldn't be hard to fit one in the budget.
Adobe approved cards:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservic...do?externalId=kb405711

Cpu , anything like a E6600+ will be fine.

Don't know where this comes from, but I've noticed that it's considerably faster. And 4GB is not a minimum for it. I'm running it on 3 right now, and it's definitely faster than CS3. Throw in the support for gpu processing, and I'd say the've taken a step forward.

 

[dguy6789]

Just a bit of thought. Photoshop CS4 supports 64 bit, so it supports more than 2GB of memory, unlike all other previous versions. This can greatly improve performance in the application if the user is using such large workloads. Vista 64 + CS4 64 bit + lots of memory = :thumbsup:

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: Nizology

Originally posted by: Modelworks
I'm not a fan of CS4, to me it shows how bloated adobe has become. CS3 does 98% of what CS4 does and faster. But since she wants CS4, min ram 4GB, vista 64 bit. One of the new things with CS4 is support for using the GPU to process some of the transforms and calculations. You will need one that is on the list to use the features, it is a pretty big list so shouldn't be hard to fit one in the budget.
Adobe approved cards:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservic...do?externalId=kb405711

Cpu , anything like a E6600+ will be fine.

Don't know where this comes from, but I've noticed that it's considerably faster. And 4GB is not a minimum for it. I'm running it on 3 right now, and it's definitely faster than CS3. Throw in the support for gpu processing, and I'd say the've taken a step forward.

It comes from all the testing on various artist forums.
It is slower for daily task and uses more resources.
http://www.thephotofinishes.com/picthat/?p=86

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Just a bit of thought. Photoshop CS4 supports 64 bit, so it supports more than 2GB of memory, unlike all other previous versions. This can greatly improve performance in the application if the user is using such large workloads. Vista 64 + CS4 64 bit + lots of memory = :thumbsup:

Or even better Xp x64.

 

[dguy6789]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Just a bit of thought. Photoshop CS4 supports 64 bit, so it supports more than 2GB of memory, unlike all other previous versions. This can greatly improve performance in the application if the user is using such large workloads. Vista 64 + CS4 64 bit + lots of memory = :thumbsup:

Or even better Xp x64.

XP 64 is losing support very fast. It is the red headed step child that is being forgotten about and has more compatibility issues than Vista 64 does. Driver support is horrible for XP 64.

<- Used XP 64 for several months before making the switch to Vista 64.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: dguy6789

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Just a bit of thought. Photoshop CS4 supports 64 bit, so it supports more than 2GB of memory, unlike all other previous versions. This can greatly improve performance in the application if the user is using such large workloads. Vista 64 + CS4 64 bit + lots of memory = :thumbsup:

Or even better Xp x64.

XP 64 is losing support very fast. It is the red headed step child that is being forgotten about and has more compatibility issues than Vista 64 does. Driver support is horrible for XP 64.

<- Used XP 64 for several months before making the switch to Vista 64.

yeah, yeah, heard it X times infinity. XP X64 was never meant to be a consumer OS.

Driver support is actually very good on XP x64, thanks to vista, drivers were ported to XP x64 whenever a vista x64 driver was created.

XP x64 is also the OS of choice for the majority of the vfx/cgi industry, linux a close second. We have been using 64bit applications for years where the rest of the world is just now learning about them.

The reason why XP x64 is preferred over vista by many in the business is because it works, and it is possible to have nothing but a basic OS installed and just what is needed to run the applications. We don't care if the OS has UAC, media players, or indexing. These are machines that are set up to do one purpose and they have to do that one thing well.

There are people in the business running win2k still just because it is a very lean OS and as long as the application supports it, a lean OS is what is needed in VFX and CGI.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: Nizology

Originally posted by: Modelworks
I'm not a fan of CS4, to me it shows how bloated adobe has become. CS3 does 98% of what CS4 does and faster. But since she wants CS4, min ram 4GB, vista 64 bit. One of the new things with CS4 is support for using the GPU to process some of the transforms and calculations. You will need one that is on the list to use the features, it is a pretty big list so shouldn't be hard to fit one in the budget.
Adobe approved cards:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservic...do?externalId=kb405711

Cpu , anything like a E6600+ will be fine.

Don't know where this comes from, but I've noticed that it's considerably faster. And 4GB is not a minimum for it. I'm running it on 3 right now, and it's definitely faster than CS3. Throw in the support for gpu processing, and I'd say the've taken a step forward.

It comes from all the testing on various artist forums.
It is slower for daily task and uses more resources.
http://www.thephotofinishes.com/picthat/?p=86

Your link shows XP > Vista for CS, not CS3 > CS4.

I'm not trying to discredit or argue your opinion, just pointing out your link doesn't do anything to support it.

 

[sswingle]

Give her a 3 Ghz P4 Northwood then if 3 Ghz is so important to her :roll: