What's my best upgrade path (dual quad 2.8)?

[hualon]

I have an '08 dual quad-core 2.8GHz MP with 6GB of RAM (2,2,0,0 | 1,1,0,0) and I want something faster.

Most of my applications use the cores efficiently (handbrake, Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.) but my panoramic stitching tool is single-core!

So I'm wondering what's best... the panoramics I work with are in the 1-2 gigapixel range and they're all stored on my Drobo (firewire 800).

I have the stock 500GB system drive. I assign that drive as swap space in my various programs.

Would I do better to move the large photo files to the system drive instead of on the Drobo? Get more RAM? Shoehorn in the 3.2GHz chips?

Thanks!

 

[Tallest Skil]

It'd be a waste of money to buy upgrade CPUs. Get a better panorama stitching tool.

 

[iBookG4user]

I have an '08 dual quad-core 2.8GHz MP with 6GB of RAM (2,2,0,0 | 1,1,0,0) and I want something faster.

Most of my applications use the cores efficiently (handbrake, Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.) but my panoramic stitching tool is single-core!

So I'm wondering what's best... the panoramics I work with are in the 1-2 gigapixel range and they're all stored on my Drobo (firewire 800).

I have the stock 500GB system drive. I assign that drive as swap space in my various programs.

Would I do better to move the large photo files to the system drive instead of on the Drobo? Get more RAM? Shoehorn in the 3.2GHz chips?

Thanks!

If you go to Activity Monitor, how many page outs do you have? And what is the ratio of Page Ins to Page Outs, that will define if you need more RAM. If you don't have many Page Outs then I would look into either getting the 3.2GHz CPUs or waiting for the next Mac Pro rev. A 10,000RPM internal hard drive may help a bit as well.

 

[hualon]

I like the way you think, Skil. The tool I'm using is free but I'm not sure if Autopano (which supports multi-core) will handle the image sizes I'm working with.

Page ins: 2.73GB
Page outs: 1.24GB

I don't know what that means. I also have 3.73GB of "inactive" memory.

 

[Ljohnson72]

I've have good luck with the Photomerge tool in CS3. Works like a charm for me!

 

[iBookG4user]

I like the way you think, Skil. The tool I'm using is free but I'm not sure if Autopano (which supports multi-core) will handle the image sizes I'm working with.

Page ins: 2.73GB
Page outs: 1.24GB

I don't know what that means. I also have 3.73GB of "inactive" memory.

Definitely get more RAM then, at least 10GB with your current Page ins and Page outs although you may want to go up to 16GB. Page outs are when the computer has run out of RAM and it has to write to the hard drive, which is much slower. Adding the RAM will be your cheapest way to achieve more speed, and if you fill all the RAM slots then the Mac Pro will be even faster. And inactive memory is when the RAM is still designated to an App but it is not currently using it like after you work on a photoshop file and then close it with photoshop still open. The RAM that was being used to process the image will still be designated to Photoshop, but it won't be in use since the image is not open any longer.

 

[hualon]

Thanks for the info! I'll order some more memory and fill up these slots with 2GB sticks. AutoPano is coming out with some new software for gigapixel images in February or so. The new software uses multiple cores so I'll tough it out until then.