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Post by Romy Ocon on Mar 14, 2008 0:52:25 GMT
For those who are considering setting up a new PP machine, let me share my experience.
My current Pentium 4 (3 GHz, 2 GB RAM) system has served me well as a post-processing workhorse for the past 3 years or so, and I'm planning to buy a new machine as a preventive measure against PC downtime .
I've been considering switching to an IMac 24 for the past few weeks, but in the end I realized I just have too much PC baggage (software and hardware) that can't be left behind.
So I pegged my budget at PHP 60-70K (USD 1.5-1.7 K) for the new system sans displays (I'll continue to use my reliable 20" Viewsonic VX2025wm LCD as my processing display, and a cheapo 17" Samsung 740N as my secondary monitor where the TV and PP tools are parked).
After a lot of research, I settled on the following:
1. Windows XP Home Edition SP2 (Vista still has too many issues as far as photo processing is concerned).
2. E8400 core 2 duo processor, 3 GHz
3. 4 GB RAM (I need to hack the boot.ini file later to enable PS to recognize the extra RAM beyond 2 GB).
4. 1 - 500 GB main HDD, partitioned into a 200 GB system disk + 300 GB data disk; plus 2 - 750 GB secondary HDD, a total of 2 TB of new onboard storage. My current 500 GB external HDD will serve as a shuttle to transfer my old files to the new machine.
5. TV tuner, wifi/LAN, USB/firewire connectivity
6. 512 MB video card
7. 2 - DVD burners @ 20x
8. Casing, dedicated power supply, keyboard, mouse, webcam, AVR, etc. (no speakers, my old one still works great).
All these stuff amount to about PHP 64K at PC Express, using branded components. This is still a bit less (far less if 3-year inflation is accounted for) than what I paid for my old machine! And I get 2 TB vs my original 200 GB HDD, plus at least 4-6 times faster processing power in PS.
Romy
PS - my old system goes to my 11-year old son/color consultant who'll begin bird photography this summer break. He'll start with a 20D + 400 5.6L combo. ;D
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Post by tina mallari on Mar 14, 2008 1:06:16 GMT
WOW What a PP machine Romy !!!!! 4 gb RAM !!!! That's going to be one heck of a machine  While we are on the subject of computers, does anybody have an idea about converting an external drive to NTFS format ? I recently got a 500gb lacie d2 quadra external drive and to my horror, after reading the manual, it says I need to convert the drive to NTFS format so that windows will be able to recognize the capacity of the drive. I searched on the internet about NTFS and it looks pretty easy - my question is ... IS IT AS EASY as it seems ? I'm scared to do the procedure for fear of crashing my PC in the process |
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Post by tjparpan on Mar 14, 2008 1:22:25 GMT
Looks like a great set-up Romy. And I'm looking forward to another Ocon in the forum!
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Post by Martin Alvendia on Mar 14, 2008 2:59:00 GMT
WOW What a PP machine Romy !!!!! 4 gb RAM !!!! That's going to be one heck of a machine While we are on the subject of computers, does anybody have an idea about converting an external drive to NTFS format ? I recently got a 500gb lacie d2 quadra external drive and to my horror, after reading the manual, it says I need to convert the drive to NTFS format so that windows will be able to recognize the capacity of the drive. I searched on the internet about NTFS and it looks pretty easy - my question is ... IS IT AS EASY as it seems ? I'm scared to do the procedure for fear of crashing my PC in the process From what I know, you just right click the drive in My Computer, then click format. There will be an option there to choose what file system. As such, just pick NTFS. Just my 2 cents worth.... Just make sure that before you format, you've backed up the content of the external. During formating, make that you don't touch the cables (USB Cable and Power Supply). Goodluck and congrats on the new toy Tina! |
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Post by tina mallari on Mar 14, 2008 3:04:19 GMT
Thanks Martin. This is where the expression "Takot Ako" fits ;D It's a brand new hard drive so nothing to back-up. It's still in the box waiting for me to get the courage to finally install it  |
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Post by Neon Rosell II on Mar 14, 2008 3:42:53 GMT
Wow!! I'd like a new toy just like this!!  My old reliable PP machine is my laptop which is laboring at a slow pace, especially with the bigger files produced by the 40D as compared with the 30D. It takes from 5 min to 10 min to do one cropped pic. If it's full frame, 30 min is not rare.  |
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Post by tina mallari on Mar 14, 2008 3:46:15 GMT
Neon, Romy will throw his old PC to you daw ;D ;D ;D HehEHehEHehHEHeheheh naku just kidding ha ;D
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Post by Ed Matuod on Mar 14, 2008 4:05:41 GMT
I can see another Master in the near future.....Great dad too.
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Post by bindi on Mar 14, 2008 4:26:43 GMT
Hi Romy,
I built a PC like that for myself last year, but I use my computer for work and music production so I need it to be a very fast multi-tasker. It has been a dream to use, and very stable (I use Windows XP ). I know you will have fun with yours!!
The components I used were:
Gigabyte P35-DQ6 MB
4GB DDR2-667 Corsair RAM
Intel E6600 CPU
2 X Western Digital SATA 2 HDDS
Nvidia 8500GT PCI-E Graphics card
ANTEC truepower trio 650W PSU
ANTEC P180B Chassis
The only compenent I do not like much is the 8500GT graphics card. It is a little flakey with redraws, but it could be that I haven't set it up for PS properly or something.
I was wondering though, what lines do you hack in the boot.ini file to get PS to see 4GB of ram? That sounds like a very neat trick!!
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Post by Romy Ocon on Mar 14, 2008 16:16:33 GMT
I'm currently still up at 1 am, configuring my new PP machine and transfering hundreds of GB of photos. ;D There's a slight change of system specs: 1. Q6600 2.4 GHz quad core (price diff vs E8400 C2D is less than PHP 1K) 2. Still 4 GB RAM, but 2 GB modules out of stock, so I got 4 pcs @ 1 GB. 3. Larger HDDs are out of stock, so I settled for 4 - 320 GB internal HDD + 1 - 320 GB external HDD = 1.6 TB of new storage (I still have the old 500 GB external in addition, to make it all 2.1 TB). 4. I already managed to hack the boot.ini file to make PS recognize almost 2.5 GB of RAM. Oh boy, this rig is a speed demon.... it crunches 40D RAWs like there's no tomorrow. ;D ;D ;D All came in at less than PHP 61K! Ok, I'm going back to software/file transfer work.  |
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Post by Romy Ocon on Mar 14, 2008 16:20:50 GMT
I second Martin's suggestion..... just right click the drive in My Computer and choose NTFS in formatting. If there's no smell of burning plastic in two minutes, everything should be fine. Be sure to have a fire extinguisher within reach, just to be safe. Ok, ok, pulling your leg on that. It's actually a very simple procedure, similar to formatting your CF in your camera. ;D WOW What a PP machine Romy !!!!! 4 gb RAM !!!! That's going to be one heck of a machine While we are on the subject of computers, does anybody have an idea about converting an external drive to NTFS format ? I recently got a 500gb lacie d2 quadra external drive and to my horror, after reading the manual, it says I need to convert the drive to NTFS format so that windows will be able to recognize the capacity of the drive. I searched on the internet about NTFS and it looks pretty easy - my question is ... IS IT AS EASY as it seems ? I'm scared to do the procedure for fear of crashing my PC in the process From what I know, you just right click the drive in My Computer, then click format. There will be an option there to choose what file system. As such, just pick NTFS. Just my 2 cents worth.... Just make sure that before you format, you've backed up the content of the external. During formating, make that you don't touch the cables (USB Cable and Power Supply). Goodluck and congrats on the new toy Tina! |
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Post by Romy Ocon on Mar 14, 2008 16:26:33 GMT
I was wondering though, what lines do you hack in the boot.ini file to get PS to see 4GB of ram? That sounds like a very neat trick!! There's a long thread at NSN dedicated to making PS recognize over 2 GB of RAM on Windows XP: www.naturescapes.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=54998I suggest you read the whole thread before touching your boot.ini file. I think I was brave enough to hack mine because it's a new machine without any valuable files yet. If it crashed, I can just reformat and reinstall the OS. Fortunately, everything worked fine.  |
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Post by Ding Carpio on Mar 14, 2008 21:51:21 GMT
What a production machine!
Just one more thing I can add: BACKUP
I keep a backup on a portable HD which I bring to the office (so it's offsite) plus 2 sets of DVD backups, one onsite and one offsite. Call me paranoid.
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Post by reneripr on Mar 16, 2008 2:45:03 GMT
Congratulation Romy, your setup appear to be a very good and fast machine. And congratulations also to your son for inheriting a machine with a lot of birding experience. Talking about BACKUP, yesterday night my external backup HD doesnt function  . Finally it goes up after three times. I was so scared that today I'm doing backup in DVDs and in a brand new HD that I bought today. Saludos, René |
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Post by bindi on Mar 16, 2008 2:59:26 GMT
Thanks for the reminder to back up! I lose a hard drive about once a year (I have so many). I cry every time!!!
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Post by Ding Carpio on Apr 27, 2008 9:13:07 GMT
Romy started this PC-building thing and I'm bitten. Thinking of picking up some components on an upcoming trip then build me one. Economics and power (two usually incompatible requirements) are key criteria in my selection.
Will probably get a Q6600 (quad core CPU), a pair of 750gb drives, and max out the memory.
I have two questions on the mobo, though, that some geek (like me) out there might help me with:
1. What mobo would you recommend? I know Romy built his at PCExpress so he may have been limited with their selection.
2. I'm also thinking I may get one with onboard RAID. I know I will not have the money for an array of SATA2 HDDs yet but was thinking it may be a good future target. But is it? RAID would improve speed (striping) and reliability (parity) but that would be if PP in Photoshop requires a lot of IO. Should I look into RAID or am I better off just spending my money on memory?
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Post by Romy Ocon on Apr 27, 2008 12:02:00 GMT
Romy started this PC-building thing and I'm bitten. Thinking of picking up some components on an upcoming trip then build me one. Economics and power (two usually incompatible requirements) are key criteria in my selection. Will probably get a Q6600 (quad core CPU), a pair of 750gb drives, and max out the memory. I have two questions on the mobo, though, that some geek (like me) out there might help me with: 1. What mobo would you recommend? I know Romy built his at PCExpress so he may have been limited with their selection. 2. I'm also thinking I may get one with onboard RAID. I know I will not have the money for an array of SATA2 HDDs yet but was thinking it may be a good future target. But is it? RAID would improve speed (striping) and reliability (parity) but that would be if PP in Photoshop requires a lot of IO. Should I look into RAID or am I better off just spending my money on memory? Hi Ding, Whatever mobo you get, if you intend to run XP, I highly recommend the Intel ones, as some mobo brands have issues when the 3GB switch is enabled. I'm not too familiar with RAID, so can't help on that one. Romy |
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Post by Ding Carpio on Apr 27, 2008 22:13:21 GMT
Hmmm. Planning to run WinXP64bit since I will probably go beyond 4gb RAM. Was looking forward to an Asus or Gigabyte mobo because Intels can't be overclocked. Also a bit more expensive. Ah, well. I guess quality has its price.
Thanks, Romy!
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Post by Farmer Nestor on Apr 27, 2008 22:29:57 GMT
Panyero, My experience with RAID is horrible. Hmmm. Planning to run WinXP64bit since I will probably go beyond 4gb RAM. Was looking forward to an Asus or Gigabyte mobo because Intels can't be overclocked. Also a bit more expensive. Ah, well. I guess quality has its price. Thanks, Romy! |
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Post by Mark Itol on Apr 28, 2008 3:46:55 GMT
Wow, that's one hell of a machine, Master Romy!
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My old reliable PP machine is my laptop which is laboring at a slow pace, especially with the bigger files produced by the 40D as compared with the 30D. It takes from 5 min to 10 min to do one cropped pic. If it's full frame, 30 min is not rare. 
