Computer Setups - Hardware, and performace. What do you use?

[Sean Dempsey]

I want to hear what some of the other digital darkrooms consists of. I'll start with my own.

My system specs are: Pentium 4 2.8 overclocked to 3.1, 2 gigs of dual channel PC3200 ram, Serial ATA with 2 80 gigs non-raid, a 7200 rpm IDE 120gig, 2 19" inch KDS monitors, and most of all a Wacom Intuos 9x12 tablet, and the Epson 2200

I use Photoshop CS for my editing and browsing. I shoot mainly in RAW images.

For performance, my machine seems to barley keep up when editing 300dpi images that are at 13x19. I think it's just a symptom of the workload, not sure how much hardware will make a difference. Editing anything other than 300dpi large images, the computer is fine.

The Wacom is my favorite part. I use it for 90% of my photshopping, hardly touching the mouse. I've had it for about 3 years and it's like an extension of my body.

As far as monitors, I'd like to get a pair of 21's when money permits, but right now 19's are okay. I run them both at 1600x1200 for maximum desktop. I had a third 17 inch monitor for a while, but 3 screens was actually a little to confusing for me to get used to.

Anyways, what are all the rest of you running as your digital darkroom?

[Trevor Ash]

wow, nice system Can I have your tablet?

Ok....

Athlon XP (1.87GHz)
1.5G dual channel Corsair PC3200
2 x 120G IDE 7200RPM drives
1 x 22 inch NEC monitor
No printer
No fancy input devices
Pioneer A06 DVD writer
Plus a few additional 27G hard drives used for misc storage needs.

Almost all editing is done in Photoshop CS. I also use downloader pro for image downloads from a cheap Dazzle USB 2.0 card reader. I don't bother with any RAW editors anymore except for what comes with CS.

I use the MonacoOptix for monitor calibration.

[another view]

Mine still uses vacuum tubes compared to Sean's setup! Just got Photoshop CS and Monaco Optix and looking at an external hard drive next. I was using PS7, and CS seems to run a little slower. Anyone else run into this? I've got 512mb RAM which I know isn't enough, I'll have to go to 1gb. They actually recommend 256 - that's gotta be painfully slow.


Dell P4, 2.26ghz, 40mb internal hard drive (temporary image storage)
512mb RAM
Really cool little Bose speakers that sound great (highly important part of workflow)
Acer 2720s 35mm film scanner
Viewsonic 17" tube
No photo printer

[Sean Dempsey]

CS runs alot slower than 7.0 did for me.

[Wings]

I don't notice any difference at all, seems to me that it run just as fine as Photoshop 7 and I work with Photoshop about 15 hours every week. Btw, my hardware hasn't changed, didn't change anything, didn't add anything.

I do agree that the new lens blur filter is exteremly slow. Also the new central filter gallery boots up slow. Maybe Photoshop CS itself take a little longer to start up, but so does alsmost any new version of an application, other than that I have nothing to complain about the speed in Photoshop and use it more than just retouching photographs, I also make a lot of art with it or graphics for web pages.