Computer Upgrade? - FM Forums

Moderated by: Hendrik, guardian

Visit the FM Store · Image Upload · Buy & Sell
FM Actions & Plugins support
Workflow Guidelines

FM Forums | Post-processing & Printing | Join Image Upload
end

j.curtis
Offline
Image Upload: On

p.1 #1 · Computer Upgrade?

I don't keep up to date on the latest and greatest computer stuff. Below is what I have. I am I better off investing $$$ in a new computer or $200 in memory to go up to 4 x 1GB of RAM?

Dell E510
Pentium 4 3.0Ghz
1.49GB of RAM (I have four slots, rated up to 4 GB total)

I appreciate any thoughts and comments you have. My gut tells me $200 in RAM. Just spent a bit on a camera. I'd rather spend the money, or wait a year then invest $200 if it won't do me any good.

Thanks in advance.

Edited on Dec 09, 2007 at 04:09 AM

Dec 05, 2007 at 02:31 PM

dan727
Offline
Buy and Sell: On

p.1 #2 · Computer Upgrade?

More RAM will help... but it really depends on what you are doing. Photoshop, rendering, Office apps? The pentium 3 3.0ghz is not really a bad cpu.. just definetly showing its age. What time of RAM will you be buying $200 sounds expensive?

You just decide if its worth it. $200 is 1/3 the cost of a new PC. For example a Dell Inspiron with core2duo cpu, 2 gigs ram, 250 GB hd, etc.

Edited on Dec 09, 2007 at 04:09 AM

Dec 05, 2007 at 02:56 PM

j.curtis
Offline
Image Upload: On

p.1 #3 · Computer Upgrade?

$200 is what Dell charges. I found Crucial 1GB sticks x4 shipped for under $100.

Mostly PS. Pentium 4 3.0Ghz isn't lightening fast, but I didn't think it was too bad.

For $100 I guess I can't lose.

Edited on Dec 09, 2007 at 04:09 AM

Dec 05, 2007 at 03:05 PM

dan727
Offline
Buy and Sell: On

p.1 #4 · Computer Upgrade?

And make sure you put your old ram on ebay once everything is up and running... that will help soften the blow as well. You can probably get a premium for it if the current ram is genuine Dell memory (which is basically a Dell sticker).

Edited on Dec 09, 2007 at 04:09 AM

Dec 05, 2007 at 07:09 PM

j.curtis
Offline
Image Upload: On

p.1 #5 · Computer Upgrade?

dan727 wrote:
And make sure you put your old ram on ebay once everything is up and running... that will help soften the blow as well. You can probably get a premium for it if the current ram is genuine Dell memory (which is basically a Dell sticker).

Good tip. A couple bucks is a couple bucks.

Edited on Dec 09, 2007 at 04:09 AM

Dec 05, 2007 at 09:00 PM

mrladewig
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #6 · Computer Upgrade?

The new core 2 machines are definitely nice, but your P4 should be fine with photoshop for a while. As a heads up, Windows will only use 3.2 something of the 4 gigs you fed the machine unless you're running XP 64. You're not doing any harm, but the computer can't use it all either.

Also, if your computer uses onboard video, you can free up some of that RAM by getting a dedicated video card. You don't need anything fancy for 2d applications like photoshop, so get what will work with your board (PCI, AGP 4X/8X or PCI-e) and is on sale.

Mel-

Edited on Dec 09, 2007 at 04:09 AM

Dec 05, 2007 at 10:15 PM

monkeyonacamer
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #7 · Computer Upgrade?

No windows will use the entire 4 gigs if you go over 4 gigs then yeh need xp/vista 64 bit version .

If yeh got 4 gigs in the box and yeh only see 3.2 then that .8 is gettting used be some hardware like the graphics card.

Another thing that would help is formating the whole thing and reinstall every thing fresh. Over the years stuff accumulates and bogs down yer system.

Edited on Dec 09, 2007 at 04:09 AM

Dec 06, 2007 at 03:40 AM

j.curtis
Offline
Image Upload: On

p.1 #8 · Computer Upgrade?

What I've learned in 24hrs. is, you can't run XP 64 on Pentium 4. 4G is my max. You only see the 3.2-3.5 because the graphic card uses that extra, I'll still be doubling my RAM! I should see significant improvement in my photo editing programs.

I've turned off a lot of BS programs running in the background. This seems to have helped quite a bit.

I should have my memory sometime on Friday. I guess I need to go and shoot something to check out the upgrade.

It sure would be nice to get a couple more years out this computer.

Edited on Dec 09, 2007 at 04:09 AM

Dec 06, 2007 at 02:17 PM

Brit-007
Offline
Image Upload: On

p.1 #9 · Computer Upgrade?

For $100 I think you did a wise move. To upgrade the PC would cost you 10x that amount and you would still have to buy the Ram. I remember your previous post and I think you were also looking at a second internal drive. That will make Photoshop run faster if you make the second drive the scratch disk.

Good luck.

Edited on Dec 09, 2007 at 04:09 AM

Dec 07, 2007 at 12:03 AM

BobCollette
Offline
Image Upload: Off

p.1 #10 · Computer Upgrade?

I agree that the $100 spent on the additional memory is money well spent. However, I disagree with the statement that it would take 10X that to upgrade the PC. I just built up a new PC,ordering the parts around Thanksgiving. I built up a complete new system minus the hard drives and optical drives (going to reuse those from my present system). It cost me just over $550 after rebates (including shipping). I now have an Intel Core2Duo 2.66GHz (Conroe 6750) overclocked to 3.6 GHz, with 4 GB of RAM. I'm still installing software on it, but the machine seems to really scream. Preliminary tests indicate that it's about 2.5X faster than my AMD 64x2 3800 (current machine).

Edited on Dec 09, 2007 at 04:09 AM

Dec 07, 2007 at 12:12 AM

Alan321
Offline
Image Upload: On

p.1 #11 · Computer Upgrade?

Windows only uses less than 4 GB because of Windows limitations that are quite independent of graphics cards, etc. It was designed at a time when nobody but IBM could afford 4GB of RAM. Don't blame the hardware for limitations built into Windows by Microsoft.

You cannot even stop Windows from using the hard disc for virtual memory when there is oodles of RAM sitting there unused. And often it won't even let you make a large RAM drive for use as a speedy scratch disc. Applications like PS insist that a virtual file exist even if there is more RAM on the system than the combined RAM and swap file on another system.

In general, any digital photographer should consider spending money on an improved monitor for better colour accuracy before spending lots to upgrade an already decent computer. A speedy system that produces the wrong colours is not a great advantage.

BobCollette, my computer screamed too. Then it died a slow and agonizing death

After building computers for many years I gave in and bought a laptop. There are more important things than sheer speed but I'm sure you already understand that.

- Alan

Dec 09, 2007 at 04:09 AM


FM Forums \| Post-processing & Printing \| Join Image Upload end