Optimum PC setup

[saberlancer]

Hi all,
Will having CS2 on separate drive as windows speed things up?
1. Assuming they're all same speed HDD. Will the below be the best setup?

2. If I get fast WD Raptor16MB HDD, and I'll only get 1 at a time..what is the order by which I should replace them as below. Thks!

hdd 1:windows
hdd 2:PS
hdd 3:files
hdd 4:scratch disk

[DannyRaphael]

Hi all,
Will having CS2 on separate drive as windows speed things up?
1. Assuming they're all same speed HDD. Will the below be the best setup?

2. If I get fast WD Raptor16MB HDD, and I'll only get 1 at a time..what is the order by which I should replace them as below. Thks!

hdd 1:windows
hdd 2:PS
hdd 3:files
hdd 4:scratch disk

re: Will having CS2 on separate drive as windows speed things up?
It should, but by how much is anybody's guess. A lot depends on the size of images you're opening, how many layers you add to them, how many images you typically have open concurrently, what you're doing to them, e.g., simple brush work vs. applying resource intensive filters/plugins, etc.

How much RAM you have (total) and what % is allocated to PS can be a considerable factor. (How much do you have, BTW?)

What's the mHz rating of your microprocessor. This can have a bearing on the case, too.

Rule of thumb is to assign PS scratch disk somewhere other than c:\ so Photoshop's interaction with the scratch disk is not competing with Windows page file.

Using your IDs above, my replacement order would be 4, 1, 3, 2. But keep in mind replacing 1 = replacing Windows = uninstalling/reinstalling all your applications = a lot of work.

If you have not seen the following, you might get some ideas from it:

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/331412.html

Your mileage will vary, but there's just no easy answer to how to make CS2 run faster. Hope some of this helps.

[saberlancer]

Using your IDs above, my replacement order would be 4, 1, 3, 2.

Thks Danny,
Think I'll just get x1 to replace the scratch disk.

[seanarmenta]

Hi all,
Will having CS2 on separate drive as windows speed things up?
1. Assuming they're all same speed HDD. Will the below be the best setup?

2. If I get fast WD Raptor16MB HDD, and I'll only get 1 at a time..what is the order by which I should replace them as below. Thks!

hdd 1:windows
hdd 2:PS
hdd 3:files
hdd 4:scratch disk

i've tried putting cs2 and all my programs on a separate hard drive, but i didn't notice any difference in speed.

yes, using a raptor as your system drive (with the apps on the same drive)will speed up windows and your programs. that's what i have now and it's great.

i am actually quite pleased with my setup now.

i'm running a dual core processor, 4GB of RAM and windows x64.

150GB raptor -- system drive
4 250GB HD's w/16MB cache in a raid 10 array for my work drive (where i edit files on)
1 37GB raptor -- scratch

i allocated 100% of RAM (listed in photoshop preferences) to photoshop

adobe doesn't recommend you allocate more than 85% of ram to photoshop, but i have enough RAM to do this without starving my system of memory.