PC specs for Adobe CS5

[daveza]

Two years ago I built a pc for a client who does digital photography - at the time it was state of the art with 4 gigs of Ram.

It is now struggling and getting memory errors and I need to replace it.

Adobe.com has ridiculous specs for CS5 - 1 Gig Ram ??!

My understanding is as much memory as possible, highest cpu and a separate graphics card.

I guess it will be Windows 7 - is it worth considering going 64bit, what are the memory limitations and what would the educated recommend as a solution ?

Thanks.

 

[Synaesthesia]

Yes get Windows 7 64-bit, a fast CPU and preferably an SSD as well. 4gb RAM should suffice, however 8 is even better for huge images.

 

[adsl2]

Photoshop wants CPU power and RAM, it does not require a very high spec graphics card. SSD will help a lot but it is not a necessity. I run CS5 Extended with a Core 2 Due and 3GB of ddr2 ram which is very old but still works and if PS requires more ram it can use scratch disk's which the SSD will help a lot.

 

[daveza]

Well the client must be doing something wrong - they have 4 Gigs of Ram and still get memory errors.

I've just read a report on the performance increase with the 64 bit OS - quite remarkable but I have zero experience with 64 bit OS or related software.

Pitfalls ?