Several Questions Regarding New Computer

I recently bought a Coolscan V ED scanner and have just started to scan some

old slides. I quickly realized that I need to update my old computer, and I

have a few questions before I make a purchase. I have about 300 old 35 mm.

slides I will be scanning over the next year and printing. I'll be saving

most of these as TIFF files and will work on them in Adobe Photoshop Elements

(I may eventually graduate to Photoshop). I plan to buy a digital camera

soon and will need space to store those photos as well. I am presently

looking at a Dell 530 Inspiron system which has the following.... XP home /

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 ghz / 500 gb 7200 rpm hard drive w/databurst

cache / 3 gb RAM / ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro 128 mb video card. Is any of

this overkill for my needs? Also am I correct in thinking I should stay with

XP istead of Vista? Also, would a duo processor suit me better than a quad?

I'm not too computer savvy and I'm quite confused on this processor issue. Any

suggestions or answers are appreciated.

I just hate to tell people to get a Mac, but I have been much happier.

 

Duo core runs PS CS3 fine. Full Photoshop can use up to 4 GB ram on TIFF, 2 on .psd files. I suggest an iMac 20. As new editions of CS are made, i am sure they will utilize 64 bit and 4 /8 cores. You computer can have them, but the program has to be made to utilize them.

 

Nice to have a big drive, but you still need external backup storage.

 

Vista has been improved, but I still would not touch it. Windows XP will no longer be supported past this summer. I have a refurb XP that I use for e-mail and such. I have a Mac for photowork and a Mac portable cheapest most basic, 80 gb drive, duo core, 1 gb ram. It runs CS3 ok for Nikon 10MB files. I do not recommend any notebook for photowork, just travel.

I'm not a computer expert, but I do have some knowledge of them and I'm pretty sure that system will serve your needs and is not overkill. I'm inclined to think (some may disagree) that you can't really have too much RAM, and I got 4 GB on this Dell when I bought it a little over a year ago. The speed is nothing short of blazing. I have a duo core processor and it seems fine for my needs.

 

I would recommend Win XP Professional over the Home edition, if you can still get it, and I would DEFINITELY recommend XP over Vista. I have seen and read about some real horror stories about Vista. Like all MS products, it's gonna be awhile before performance actually meets expectations & predictions. If ever. For those of us who use the computer as a tool and don't care about interfacing with the TV and every other electronic device in the house, XP is - my opinion - the best OS they've ever come up with. I have NO reliability or stability issues.

<i>I just hate to tell people to get a Mac</i><P>You spend a lot of time telling people that. Interesting.<p><i>Windows XP will no longer be supported past this summer. </i><p>Windows XP support ends in mid-2009. Nice try though.<p>For the original poster, the quad core processor should be fine.

"Windows XP will no longer be supported past this summer."

 

Ronald means sold, not supported. And it remains to be seen whether they actually do stop selling it. Support will last for years after they stop selling it.

 

Bill, for the money of the 530, it's hard to beat. I'd get the 4 gigs of ram of an extra $50 though. They're running 3 gigs on 4 dimms, meaning that they are using all four slots and the only way they can do this is with two 1gig sticks and two 512 sticks. If you wish to upgrade one day to four gig, you'll have to buy 2 1gig sticks to replace those 512's. So, for $50 extra, I'd buy it with 4 x 1gig sticks instead. Try to get xp pro and not the home edition.

 

"I should stay with XP istead of Vista?"

 

I would from your introduction (I'm not too computer savvy). But I'm gutsy and have xp 32-bit a few times over. I'd like to try x64 Vista now that most drivers are out. But that's just me. I say this as CS4 is going 64 bit and you'll have a 64 bit cpu. Be nice to chuck in 8 gig of ram in a year or so and really fly.

 

This lower quad core over the faster dual core they also offer in the 530? I think the jurry is still out, including Adobe.

 

Agree with Jeff on all points. The quad might be more useful in the future as apps take advantage of more cores and a slower quad might work faster than a faster dual. If that makes sense? Also not sure why Ron keeps up with the Mac adverts. Must own stock or like the commercials. I like the commercials actually. The yoga one is funny. Or maybe it's because us windows 64 users will be flying on 16 gig of ram in a year or two and Ron will be stick at a 3.5 cap? Sorry Ron, just had too :)

Jeff; Ronald must work for Apple!<BR><BR>Here most of our scanning is done witn NT4 embedded; win2000; some with xp embedded. One real old engineering 36" scan head scans with DOS; to transfer files we dual boot into win2000. <BR><BR>For scanning slides with our canon and Nikon film scanners we use win2000. If ICE is not used even an ancient box has its cpu loafing during a scan. With the PIII 1 ghz box one can be scanning and watching a video at the same time; even if the video is being read across the LAN. If the codec is super poor; the lip sync looses sync. Our take we dedicate boxes for scanning; usually these are out older Photoshop dream machines; moved down the food chain; not yet retired. If the fastest dual or quad core thats 3.3Ghz does scan any faster than our dual 333Mhz Pii; we scan with the older box; and use the newer boxes for batch and higher end work.<BR><BR>Scanning takes time; here we scan on one box and process files and do photoshop; ie other producive things while the units are scanning. Many boxes cannot scan and do photoshop a the same time. What matters in the long term is your time.

If the fastest dual or quad core thats 3.3Ghz does NOT scan any faster than our dual 333Mhz Pii; we scan with the older box; and use the newer boxes for batch and higher end work.

"I just hate to tell people to get a Mac, but I have been much happier."

 

You've got to be joking!

I am running my Coolscan V and Photoshop CS2 on an old 1Ghz Pentium III with only 512 Megabytes of RAM. It is satisfactory

 

I think the Quad-core is overkill; but it cannot hurt. The RAM is sufficient for any 32-bit operating system. When you upgrade to a 64-bit system, you will probably upgrade hardware, too, so more RAM is not necessary.

 

A second internal disk drive for archiving and to separate the Photoshop Scratch Data Set from the Windows Page Data set would be helpful.

 

As for XP or Vista, I have been running Vista on my Significant Other's machine for nearly a year. So far, it has proved to be a reliable operating system. We have had NO crashes and no real problems.

 

Nikon has released Vista drivers for the Coolscan V. Elements 6 works under Vista. The only question is will the rest of your hardware (printer, etc) and any other software you have and need work with Vista. A quick visit to vendors' Web Sites should quickly answer those questions.

Wow.... great answers. thanks. What makes XP pro better than regular XP? Also, when Microsoft comes up with a new "improved" system, I assume it would be just as easy to upgrade from XP (or XP Pro) as it would be from Vista... right?

"What makes XP pro better than regular XP?"

 

In depth research is perhaps best left to google, but in our situations, with xp pro you can address more ram by what is commonly referred to as flicking the 3 gig switch. I ment to include this earlier when I was suggesting 4 gigs of ram. I'm not sure if MS has updated XP home to do this as well.

 

"Also, when Microsoft comes up with a new "improved" system, I assume it would be just as easy to upgrade from XP (or XP Pro) as it would be from Vista... right?"

 

I'm not sure what you mean by 'just as easy' to upgrade? Will this hardware you are considering buying be compatible with the next OS? Yes. But I say that with hesitation as Vista was supposed to be compatible too. Nevertheless, the next os is called 'Windows 7' at the moment and is at milestone 2, has been submitted to the anti-trust committee for review/judgement, and should be floating around for beta within a year or so from now. Vista, I think, will be dropped as the installed version on new computers and will just go away quietly. Regardless, your safe with XP for a few years in terms of support from MS and getting drivers for new hardware.

 

I'd just play it safe and go with XP32-bit for a year or two.

Bill,

 

What is overkill this year will be just fine next year and by the next year you will think your system is too slow.

 

I would look to get a second hard drive. I like to put my operating system and programs on the first drive. My data is stored on the second.

 

Windows XP Pro is a solid, proven operating system. It will allow you to use 3GB of RAM with Photoshop.

 

Is there much savings on the dual-core versus the quad-core?

The speed of the computer for doing the initial scan is not a big, if any deal. Working with a high res, 16bit, TIFF file is another story. You will be generating 132 mb files and a fast processor with lots of RAM will make a profound difference editing those files. A Q6600 is a perfectly good CPU. I don't know how Elements 6 is written, but parts of Lightroom and PS can make use of more than 2 cores. (http://techgage.com/article/intel_core_2_quad_q9450_266ghz/6) If Dell were offering the Q9450 CPU, I would go for that one. I don't think that the average user would ever notice the differences between XPpro and Home.

"I don't think that the average user would ever notice the differences between XPpro and Home."

 

I haven't doubled checked for awhile, but I don't think XP Home users can flick the 3 gig ram switch like XP Pro users can? XP Home is stuck at...? 1.7 gigs of ram for PS? Sad by todays standards.

Hello Bill,

Since your fishing for feedback, here is what i suggest.

 

1. Win XP PRO SP2.

 

2. 32 bit processor. Min 2GHZ clock rate.

 

3. 4GB RAM.

 

4. External USB harddrive, >/= 160GB, format it to (1) NTFS vol.

 

5. Extra DVD RW burner (internal OR external).

 

6. Internal wireless network card.

 

7. NERO 8 utility software.

 

Now here are some suggested system maintenance things you can do to ENHANCE THE PERFORMANCE of the SYSTEM, resulting in a better running system.

 

1. TWICE A MONTH. Run the Windows DEFRAG on all your hard drives. If its been a long time since this has been done, then do it about 10 TIMES sequentialy. This will repack & reorder all your files. That makes the file I/O operations complete faster. And that makes the file system run faster. Once the file system is nicely Defragged, a simple Twice-A-Month schedule (1 pass, each drive) will keep it defragged. **This task is often neglected, but it DOES produce a noticable speedup in your disk & file system response time. **

 

2. MONTHLY. Run the Windows File System Checker on your hard drives. This will go through the whole file system with a 'fine tooth comb'. If it detects any inconsistency in the file system, it will correct it, to keep the file system running clean.

 

3. DAILY or AS OFTEN AS YOU CONNECT TO THE WWW. (1) Check for latest Windows Updates for the Win Xp Pro SP2 operating system. At least download and install ALL the CRITICAL updates. The Optional updates are good too. (2) Check for latest updates for your Anti-Virus software and Anti-Spyware software. Download and install those to keep your antivirus and antispyware protection up-to-date.

 

4. WEEKLY. (1) Make a full complete backup of ALL YOUR FILES (but not the O/S or applications). Use a program like Nero DVD Burner to burn a copy of your files to DVD disk. Use the 'Verify After Write' function so that you get 100% byte X byte comparison with the source. Lable your disks neatly. And store them in a clean, A/C, cool, dry, secure place, somewhere there on site. (2) Check the C DRIVE freespace, just to make sure you're not running out of diskspace. (3) Run Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware disk scans on all your hard drives.

 

5. QUARTERLY. Review the list of software apps you have loaded to see if maybe some of them should be removed, in order to free up diskspace that could be used for other data. 2. Cull through your own personal files, identify those file sets that have not been accessed in a long time, and ARCHIVE THEM to DVD Disk, then delete them from the hard drive. But make 2 COPIES of the archived data. These are basically "permanent" backups, so label them accordingly, and store securely with your other backup disks.

 

Here are some other things that you can do to enhance the performance on a Windows box.

 

1. Set the Windows Page File size to 2.5X the Amount of local RAM.

 

2. Install and use some quality anti-virus software and anti-spyware software. The heavy hitters in this field are Norton, and McAfee. Other reputable makes are Trend Micro, Kaspersky, Avasti, and AVG. I currently run Trend Micro 2007, and can report it has been a good product for me. Some of the better known anti-spyware programs include Spybot SD, Lavasoft's Ad-Aware 2007, Windows Defender.

 

The point is to choose and use (1) main anti-virus program, and at least (1) anti-spyware program. On my own XP PRO systems I run: a) Trend Micro 2007, b) Lavasoft AdAware 2007 (free ed), c) SpybotSD, and d) Windows Defender, along with the Windows Firewall. BUT the only ones that I let run continuously (in background scan mode) is the Trend Micro 2007 and the Spybot SD w/IE Filter. The others are loaded, and I keep them updated daily, but they are 'on demand' scanning only.

 

3. Activate the Windows Firewall, and run it continuously, set the filter for NO EXCEPTIONS. Unless you just HAVE TO allow an exception in order for some essential program to run correctly, its wise to set the firewall to its tightest level, which is simply NO EXCEPTIONS. That will block ANY process that tries to make a connection to your computer.

 

4. Turn OFF non-Essential Windows Services in the Service List. This item is not for beginners, and does take a bit of computer savvy, and you do have to e careful how you do it. But the IDEA is to carefully cull through the list of Windows Services on your box, see which ones are actually running right now, and out of those, which ones are providing a service that you don't need. Then turn just those OFF, so that they do not start up when you boot the PC and log in. The benefit of doing this is that more RAM is freed up for your own applications & picture files, and the CPU has a few less items competeing for it's time and attention. It would be wise to find an IT guy on your end that can help you do this. And you do have to be careful.

 

 

Now, here is a description of a NEW SYSTEM I am setting up for myself at home, to use for photography (mainly).

 

1. From Walmart, I bought one of those $300 e-Machines with the AMD Sempron 32 bit processor, 2.2 GHZ clock rate, 150GB boot drive, internal DVD RW burner, and etc. Cost was $300.

 

2. From Best Buy I went ahead and made a significant RAM UPGRADE and bought (2) 2GB DIMM memory cards, for total of 4GB RAM. (But, I made sure that if my system couldn't swallow the 4GB RAM, then I could bring the cards back and get my money back.) On this system, it accepted the (2) 2GB memory DIMMS just fine, and the Windows system info screen now happily reports I have 4GB memory. The memory cost about $400 for the 2 sticks. (brand was Kingston, a major memory chip mfgr).

 

3. My system came with Windows XP Home edition, but I decided Windows Xp Pro would be better. So I picked up a Windows Xp Pro Upgrade pkg from Best Buy. The cost was about $200. I installed it myself the next day, took about 1.5 Hrs. The upgrade was smooth exceept for one little part where it couldnt find the NVIDIA driver folder, but i got past that part OK.

 

4. I wanted an extern DVD RW drive for doing regular backups. I wen to Walmart, found a nice SONY DVD-RW burner for $60. Bought that, gtook it home, and discovered it was internal, not external. But decided it was good enough to keep. So spent about 2 hrs installing that in the system accessory bay. It comes with Nero 7 Essentials software, and that installed OK too. So now i have 2 internal DVD RW burners, which will come in very handy.

 

5. I also wanted some external storage, and bumped into a nice bargain at Radio Shack. Picked up an external Maxtor 160 GB USB drive for $40. It was already pre-formatted with NTFS, so all I had to do was plug it in. However, being the anal person i am, I wanted to do my own format, so I used the Disk Mgt tool to reformat the hard drive, again to a single NTFS volume, with a 1024 Byte cluster size. That went fine, and my new external HD is all ready to use.

 

6. For the monitor, I'm making do (for now) with a 15" NEC MULTI-SYNC hi-res color CRT monitor I had picked up about 2 years ago. Not the best choice for serious graphics work, I know, but still good colors, good resolution, good stability.

 

So far, the system performance of this setup appears to be EXCELLENT. The response is very fast to all my commands and the system is nowhere near running out of resources. I think it does have the basic power needed for daily image editing work, as i progress to that point.

 

The e-Machines sold at Walmart are actually made by Gateway. The one I bought has a Gateway motherboard, uses the AMD Sempron processor, which I assume is a single 32bit microprocessor. It is the QUIETEST deskstop CPU unit I have ever handled. (and I have handled a LOT). It boots Windows XP PRO the FASTEST I have ever seen. And, again, it is very fast to respond the keyboard requests.

 

Anyway, I hope you find this feedback helpful. You may find it interesting to know that you DON'T HAVE TO go with multiple processor (dual or quad) motherboards. But you should KEEP IN MIND that your overall system performance will hinge upon the accumulative performance of each system component, and how well you perform the suggested system maintenance tasks described above.

 

Good Luck.

 

 

 

<p>One feature you did not mention could quicken your work more than any other.</p>

<p>If you want fast reading and writing of your tif files as you edit them post scan, research RAID equipped systems. I use RAID 0 drives for my <a href="http://www.slidescanning123.com/">slide scanning business</a> work-horse PC.</p>

<p>Two drives acting as one speeds up read / write times dramatically.</p>

<p>System boots up faster, all apps open faster than a single drive 7200 rpm drive system.</p>

<p>However, RAID 0 (zero) set ups double the risk of drive failure. The files are split across two drives and if one drive fails...</p>

<p>Western Digital drives are VERY reliable. I back-up often and I have faith!</p>

<p>There are more complex RAID configurations which have both striping and redundancy.</p>

<p>Dell offers systems configured with RAID.</p>

<p>http://www.dell.com</p>

<p>http://www.techwarelabs.com/guides/misc_mod/raid_explained/</p>

Alan,

 

Why would you suggest a 32bit processor? Where can one find one?

When I built my first computer, the other students in our class said that getting a 1GB hard drive was crazy. I asked the instructor what he thought about it & he said "if you can afford it, go for it. You'll never know when you may need the extra space".

 

I would differently get a 2nd drive. Stay with any of the 7200 RPM drives & you will be able to work with video if you ever have the need.

 

I do video and Matrox told me a Raid 0 is better than a faster processor when your talking about processors like the 6600 & 6700. The only bad thing about a Raid 0 is that you have to have two drives acting as one. So that means you have twice the space for data and you will lose twice the data if one of the two drives fail. To get the speed of a Raid 0 with redundancy, you have to go to a Raid 10. That means four drives running as two. Supposedly the only way you would lose data is if you Raid controller card failed (don't use the ones that comes on mother boards. Been there tried that)There are many different raid configurations, but Raids 0 & 10 are the fastest.

 

I fell the the second drive is the most important addition to your system, for the least amount of money. You can always add a Raid later if you need one.

<i>Marc Bergman , Apr 30, 2008; 06:24 p.m.<BR><BR>

 

Alan, <BR><BR>

 

Why would you suggest a 32bit processor? Where can one find one?</I><BR><BR>A 386DX is a 32 bit cpu; a 486 is; a pentium; a pentium pro; a PiI; a Piii; a P4; etc. 64bit cpus are common today; but for the typical consumer they have been around a few years in the available priced computers.

So Kelly, when using a 80386 chip would you recommend getting a math co-processor when using it for photo editing?

You folks have really helped with your suggestions. And to answer Marc's question... Is there much savings on the dual-core versus the quad-core? Not really, in the packages I'm looking at its about $40 less. Thanks again.

Bill,

 

With that small a price difference I would go with the quad core.

 

In the near future more applications will be able to use all the cores.I have seen some benchmarks using video applications that showed much improved performance.

I'd go quad too. Bruce R. posted this in an earlier computer thread...

 

Lightroom 1.4 NEF to JPG conversion on different CPUs:

 

http://techgage.com/article/intel_core_2_quad_q9450_266ghz/6

 

Lightroom uses four cores if they are available and when they are, well, even the slower older quads are faster than the newer duals. I'm hoping CS4 will come with even more multi-thread tasks as LR does.

 

And, it's amazing how cheap cpu's are actually. If you have the right board, it's now common today to just up-grade the cpu and do a bios flash. In the past, it often ment a rebuild with a new motherboard and ram in order to just get a faster cpu.

As an IT professional for 15 plus years and one who is both Dell and Apple certifed I would recommend the following.

 

(1) Stay away from the Inspiron systems. The are low end "home" systems. If you buy Dell then go with an Optiplex system. They have better power supplies, memory, motherboards and are more reliable.

 

(2) Dell will switch in October to Quad Core throughout their product line. New systems always roll out in early fall. Watch out for "teaser" sales only to find you could have purchased the "latest and greatest" for almost the same money as the "sale" item.

 

(3) Purchase with XP Pro and not Vista. Why XP Pro? It will be a better and more stable environment and you will have more flexibility especially with peripheral drivers. MS is "trying" to end OEM sale of XP by the end of summer and XP support in 2009, however, as one who deals with Dell as a corporate client I can tell you it most likely won't happen. Large corporate customers like the one I belong to will not move to Vista under any circumstances until MS fixes it or replaces it with something that works. Vista Home is a disaster.

 

(4) Buy the most RAM and harddrive space you can within your budget. You will need it a year from now.

 

(5) and finally, buy a Mac......I use both systems everyday. I use PS3 on both platforms, and I love both platforms, but in my photography and graphic arts work there is only one platform for that, a Mac. You will not be disappointed here.

 

In the end if you are a PC person follow the PC recommendations.

 

Hope this helps.

thanks again !