Test Results RAM/CPU's in Photoshop

[pubquiz]

Hi All

I have always used a dual boot PC in my obs as when I built it i installed Vista and it wasn't compatible with my cameras/scope control software etc so I made it dual boot with XP as well ...which I still use as it works great.

I later changed the Vista to win 7 which I use when on PS (CS5)....I still have CS3 on the win XP partition.

However i wanted to speed things up a bit so have recently bought a used better CPU (quad core instead of dual core) and some used RAM (8GB from the existing 2GB....8GB is the max my MB will support) both for good prices on Ebay (£30 for the CPU and £35 for the RAM)

I downloaded a good PS speed test from http://www.gavtrain.com/?p=1509 (which runs an action with a large amount of processes) and ran it with the old CPU and the new CPU and combinations of 2GB, 4GB and 8Gb of RAM on CS3 on XP and on CS5 on win 7

I have just posted the results on the above website but thought I would post here as it may be of interest to anyone thinking of increasing the speed of PS.

Graphics card in all tests is a Geforce 8800 GTS and RAM is DDR 2 6400

The old Processor was an Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 and the new (to me) one is an Intel Core 2 Quad Q700

Here are the results with a surprise re the CPU

1) Old Processor (Core 2 Duo E6300) and 2GB of RAM on CS3 on Win XP Time: 22 minutes 49 secs! (yawn )

2) Old Processor (Core 2 Duo E6300) and 2GB of RAM on CS5 on Win 7  Time: 8 minutes 17 secs

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All the rest of the tests are with the New processor a Core 2 Quad Q 700

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st the CS 3 results with the new CPU

3) New  CPU on CS3 on win XP with 2GB RAM time: 26 minutes 22 secs (slower than old CPU )

4) New  CPU on CS3 on win XP with 4GB RAM time: 24 minutes dead.

5) New  CPU on CS3 on win XP with 8GB RAM time: 23 minutes 43 secs

So proving that win XP being 32 bit is, as claimed, unable to use any RAM above 3GB....the speed with 8GB being almost identical to the 4GB speed)

___________________________________________________________________

Now the CS5 results with the new CPU:

6) CS5 on win 7 64 bit 2GB RAM time: 8 min 7 secs

6) CS5 on win 7 64 bit 4GB RAM time: 6 minutes 26 secs

7) CS5 on win 7 64 bit 8GB RAM time: 2 minutes dead.

_____________________________________________________________________

So Conclusions:

1) An upgrade of the CPU (about 3 times faster in some games benchmarks so still happy I upgraded ..it was only £30) actually made PS CS3 slower on Win XP with 2GB RAM and  was basically the same time as the old CPU on CS5 with 2GB RAM so don't assume a processor upgrade will necessarily speed up PS...RAM is obviously much more important.(I play games and other stuff  on the PC as well so the new CPU will be worthwhile for them if not for PS)

2) CS5 is MUCH MUCH faster than CS3.

3) RAM is the biggest improvement you can make in  PS making approximately a 2 minute improvement on my machine per 2GB

4) If you still use a 32 bit OS don't bother installing more than 3 GB of RAM, if you are on a 64 bit OS fit as much RAM as you can....although I dare say that anything over a certain amount (don't know what that would be) would not give as big a performance jump.

Hope this has helped if you are considering an upgrade.

Fitting an SSD as the PS scratch disk would no doubt speed things up even more...I have one in my HTPC and it is lightning fast  (I use a nearly empty seperate 500GB standard HD in the obs PC) but I am happy at the mo with the speed improvement as is

Anyone know why the new CPU actually gave a longer time on the old CS3?

Tom