Getting the best performance out of a PC when using photoshop

tcole1983

No

Ironheart

Yes. This is exactly what I meant when I said you needed to get the Samsung OEM distro of windows. You are on the right path grasshopper.

tcole1983

Well maybe I don't know. I built my last two and just installed Windows...maybe it is different with a prebuilt system. Not sure how.

I will sign out...I am not good a tech support when I don't have anything in front of me.

spraynpray

OK,@Ironheart - the word 'distro' was new to me. I'll see what they come back with. Fingers crossed.

@tcole1983 - no harm no foul matey, we can't all know everything.

tcole1983

Ha...ok I can't help myself because it is baffling me. I just can't imagine that dramatic decrease in performance. You can always manually update drivers for the components. I don't know any component that you couldn't find a driver online for. At least stuff like the CPU, RAM and hard drives should run out of the box. Some things like CD/DVD drives might need drivers, but most times Windows will automatically be able to detect and install those...worst case you have to download the driver from the manufacturer and install. However Windows as a whole should run and preform correctly even in a new install. IE...there isn't anything on the computer besides possibly Samsung bloatware that should be affected by not having the OEM install disk. If the motherboard was reset it might possibly need the newest BIOS update, but honestly if it is running and there aren't major faults anywhere then it should be fine. If anything everything should work better and faster without the OEM stuff installed...many people wipe drives on new pre built systems and reinstall a clean windows.

Maybe this would help for photoshop...
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/optimize-performance-photoshop-cs4-cs5.html

spraynpray

Thanks, I'll take a look.

spraynpray

OK, it seems you can't buy the recovery software from Samsung any more, but you can have the PC serviced and factory reset at their approved repair centre for a reasonable £70. I'm also having them look at possible RAM upgrade while it is apart. Waiting for the shipping carton to arrive.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread, esp @Ironheart. You da man!

Ironheart

First thing when you get it back, make a windows 7 repair/recovery disk:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/create-a-system-repair-disc

spraynpray

I sure will. If he'd done that, none of this would have been necessary! When it is delivered back to me I'll do it.

kanuck

So the setup does not run an SSD then? If thats true it is a shame. I bet running Adobe software such as Lightroom and CC would be incredibly efficient with a 1TB or possibly a smaller 512 GB SSD drive. This is what I hope to do very soon and am hoping for some light speed compared to my current epic struggles..

How did it go spraynpray did they upgrade the RAM? Those are pretty reasonable repair costs actually. Increased RAM has got to make significant difference here for sure.

spraynpray

@kanuck: The laptop this thread is about has 8Gb of SSD embedded in the motherboard acting as a cache for the usual 8Gb of DDR3 RAM. The main HD is a 1Tb disc. According to the shop, the motherboard is maxxed out at 8Gb of RAM so an upgrade is looking unlikely. Yes, £70 is a good price for a service including carton, collection and delivery after. I am impressed with the set-up so far.

FWIW I changed out the HDD for SSD on my desktop. It did help the speed, but as my machine is a quad core 3Ghz I think it is processor limited. I think the speed would improve greatly if it were not.

Killerbob

Just droppong in with my few cents:

A 3GHz Quad core CPU is more than enough to run anything Adobe has to offer. There may be some number crunching algorithms in rendering that would cherish more raw CPU power, but you're not doing it.

Hence the things you can speed up is 1) faster drives, i.e. SSDs, 2) more RAM, and 3) software settings, in decreasing order.

BTW - how much will all this end up costing you? I work in an IT development, support, and hosting company, and it sounds to me as if a lot of hours was put into this, and that generally means expensive...

spraynpray

@killerbob - cost? I presume you mean for the repair of the laptop? As stated above £70 ($100) for the service and recovery. Any possible optional extras will be quoted before payment. The SSD I put in my desktop was bought cheaply on eBay so cost was minimal.

Killerbob

@spraynpray - I meant; whenever we have been working on a laptop, changing HDDs, resetting BIOS, reinstalled OS, ghosted hard drives, looking around for drivers, it easily takes 4-5 hours of work, and at normal IT shop prices, that's easily half the value of a laptop... Of course if it is under warranty, or as a standard package (the £70), that's OK.