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Performance Choice

R

Reality4711

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 8, 2009
738
558
scotland
At the moment I am running my cMP with 512GB HD and 16Bb of RAM with Photoshop CS5.
About 50Gb on the internal HD and 500Gb on a 3TB optical drive. The internal used for mostly images I am working on and obviously the rest on the external. The scratch is also on the internal on its own section(forgotten the right name).

I am planning to add a Samsung 1TB EVO in a single drive case via Thunderbolt.

What would be my best set up?? Just for the CS5 really no other assessment needed.

I shall be deleting a fair bit of rubbish before transferring to the sad so maybe just 450GB in total.

All suggestions appreciated

Regards

Sharkey

ps: other options also appreciated.
 
cMP do not support Thunderbolt.

If you want fast storage (e.g. as scratch disk), go for the SM951 + PCIe adaptor setup, this will give you the best performance.
 
I see, so you actually mean you are running a nMP with a 512G SSD.

Then I will say it's nothing wrong to use a 1T Evo with thunderbolt connection. If you believe that fit your need.
 
OK - - my new MacPro (cylinder type) has a 512Gb internal hard drive. It is partition so that 400Gb is 'OS',apps, working photographs and iTunes with the remaining partition set to be a 'scratch' for Photoshopping in CS5..
My main photographic store is on an optical external drive via usb3/eSATA convertor. It totals at the moment approx. 450Gb..
The plan is to reduce my library by aggressive editing and then use a 1TB samsung ssd (via thunderbolt) as the main store (estimated 350Gb) and continue to keep the working images on the internal setup mentioned previously.

My very badly laid out question:oops: was really simple:rolleyes:.

Will this planned setup be my best option, from a CS5 performance angle or can you see a better one? :)

My ram will also be upgraded to 32Gb.

Regards

Sharkey
 
Reality4711 said:
OK - - my new MacPro (cylinder type) has a 512Gb internal hard drive. It is partition so that 400Gb is 'OS',apps, working photographs and iTunes with the remaining partition set to be a 'scratch' for Photoshopping in CS5..
My main photographic store is on an optical external drive via usb3/eSATA convertor. It totals at the moment approx. 450Gb..
The plan is to reduce my library by aggressive editing and then use a 1TB samsung ssd (via thunderbolt) as the main store (estimated 350Gb) and continue to keep the working images on the internal setup mentioned previously.

My very badly laid out question:oops: was really simple:rolleyes:.

Will this planned setup be my best option, from a CS5 performance angle or can you see a better one? :)

My ram will also be upgraded to 32Gb.

Regards

Sharkey
Click to expand...
So yes, sounds like an excellent plan about using the external SSD as a main store (if you can't fit everything on the internal SSD).

Frankly, the external SSD enclosure could be USB3 - you're not going to perceive any performance advantages with TB for your usage. Where TB would help is if you were getting an external RAID enclosure. But for single drive SSD, USB3 works great and you can get a nice enclosure for around US$20.

Also, the internal 512GB SSD is an "SSD", not a "hard drive" (HDD). In this case, that's not a pedantic distinction when discussing these sorts of topics. Just so you know, it's completely pointless to have a separate partition on the SSD for scratch - you're just making it a more complicated setup than it needs to be. The mechanical limitations of HDD's that in certain usage cases made a separate scratch disk/partition useful, do not apply to SSD's.

Also, you did't really explain exactly what you do with PS, and maybe you are PS extraordinaire working on multiple 1GB PS files with hundreds of layers, etc., but I question whether you really need 32GB RAM (not that it hurts or anything to have that much RAM, but I only bring it up if budget was an issue at all).

What I'm sure everyone is curious about is what you mean by an "optical external drive"?... typically an "optical drive" is a CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive of some sort... there are no "optical" HDDs.

Good luck!
 
ixxx69 said:
So yes, sounds like an excellent plan about using the external SSD as a main store (if you can't fit everything on the internal SSD).

Frankly, the external SSD enclosure could be USB3 - you're not going to perceive any performance advantages with TB for your usage. Where TB would help is if you were getting an external RAID enclosure. But for single drive SSD, USB3 works great and you can get a nice enclosure for around US$20.

Also, the internal 512GB SSD is an "SSD", not a "hard drive" (HDD). In this case, that's not a pedantic distinction when discussing these sorts of topics. Just so you know, it's completely pointless to have a separate partition on the SSD for scratch - you're just making it a more complicated setup than it needs to be. The mechanical limitations of HDD's that in certain usage cases made a separate scratch disk/partition useful, do not apply to SSD's.

Also, you did't really explain exactly what you do with PS, and maybe you are PS extraordinaire working on multiple 1GB PS files with hundreds of layers, etc., but I question whether you really need 32GB RAM (not that it hurts or anything to have that much RAM, but I only bring it up if budget was an issue at all).

What I'm sure everyone is curious about is what you mean by an "optical external drive"?... typically an "optical drive" is a CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive of some sort... there are no "optical" HDDs.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thank you for all of that - a very useful response. I suppose being on my own most of the time (excepting beautiful non techie wife) I get into bad shorthand habits. Of course 'optical' should be HDD and I knew there was no need to partition my internal ssd but did it any way:mad:.

As for the rest; a general dissatisfaction with the speed of CS5 an this machine (especially thumbnail display and selecting an area) is the main drive in this case. I thought as my editing requirements had dropped from highly manipulative (arty) to a more as it is approach the base nMP would suffice with CS5 but these niggles have made me think again.
I shoot 75mb files and at the moment I seem to trundle through the editing rather laboriously. Perhaps my CS5 setup is not right??

Anywayup! Do you think 24Gb of ram would suffice?

I have read recently a number of reviews where the Thunderbolt interface allowed 320/350 mbs throughput whilst the usb3 ran at 190mbs with the same case and sad. Hence my thinking on the thunderbolt case. I suppose though that as I had not intended to edit on that drive the two-way capability of thunderbolt would be unnecessary?

Given these submissions you obviously clear grasp of my little problem leads to the question. What do you think?

Kind Regards

Sharkey
 
I get 350MB/s reads/writes on my USB3 enclosure... I got this one and it seems to work fine, but there are tons out there - just make sure it has UASP support (optimized for SSD). But I'm in no way trying to talk you into a USB3 enclosure. TB is great and it might be worth it to you to spend a few more bucks and have a TB drive and any peace of mind that comes with that. Also one advantage I believe with TB is that you can use a longer cable than the short little cables that come with the USB3 enclosures.

I really don't think you need more than 16GB from what you describe, but again, doesn't hurt to have more RAM, and if you're going to bother with an upgrade, may as well do 32GB. If you really want to know more about your actual RAM usage, you can look at the Activity Monitor and check your memory pressure, swap usage, etc.

I consider myself extremely sensitive to computer performance, and I have the same nMP as you (with only 12GB RAM) and your nMP should be flying through the photos. So if you're still dissatisfied with performance after getting your photo library onto an SSD, then you might need to do some trouble-shooting, starting with whether CS5 is really fully compatible with whatever OS X version you're running. I know a lot of people don't like the whole CC subscription thing, but if you're really relying on PS, might be time to bite the bullet.
 
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Purchased. 3TB WD Red hdd for time machine. 1TB Samsung 850 EVO photo. store.. Inateck USB3 case with there usb port hub. usb3 dual card reader from Lexar. Extra PSU to replace usb 5v connection needed for case. 16GB (2x8) from Crucial to make 24GB onboard.Bit confused as to which ports to fit these. 1&2 I think??
Anywayup. When it is all set up and running I will report back.

Sharkey
 
Purchased. 3TB WD Red hdd for time machine. 1TB Samsung 850 EVO photo. store.. Inateck USB3 case with there usb port hub. usb3 dual card reader from Lexar. Extra PSU to replace usb 5v connection needed for case. 16GB (2x8) from Crucial to make 24GB onboard.Bit confused as to which ports to fit these. 1&2 I think??
Anywayup. When it is all set up and running I will report back.

Sharkey
 
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