Computer for CC 2015

[TonyCooper]

Lately, everything is running slow. CS 2015 PS and LR take forever to load, and there are delays in PS when using tools. LR is slow.
PS crashes fairly frequently, but on loading and not when working on an image.

I may have outgrown my computer: HP P6-2100, AMD A4-3420 APU w/radeon hd graphics 2.8GHz, 8 Gb ram 64-bit, Windows 7

In looking for a new tower, what should I be looking for that will make loading programs faster and delays stopped?

What are the key components/specs to look for?

 

[Tom Mann]

Your system doesn't sound *that* out of date. I know lots of folks who run similar systems with no big problems.

Before you spend a bunch of money, have you recently done things like clean your registry using CCleaner, or something equivalent?

Have you recently run thorough scans of your system for viruses and other malware?

Checked and defragged your HD?

Checked exactly how the system is using resources, eg, might it be doing something stupid like running Indexer forever because it's stuck in a loop?

Do you know whether your system is slowing down primarily because of HD usage, RAM usage, network accesses, etc?

If you've done all of the above, nothing glaring stands out, and want to save some money, probably the most bang for the buck would come from installing an SSD and moving the OS and programs over to it. This would certainly speed up loading programs.

Tom M

PS - BTW, what size images (pixel dimensions, pls.), and PS sizes (in MB or GB) do you mostly deal with? Lots of layers? 8 bits per channel or 16 bpc? Video? 3D renders, etc.

 

[TonyCooper]

Your system doesn't sound *that* out of date. I know lots of folks who run similar systems with no big problems.

Before you spend a bunch of money, have you recently done things like clean your registry using CCleaner, or something equivalent?

I have CCleaner, but don't let it touch the Registry. I don't really understand the Registry, so I'm hesitant about doing anything there.

Have you recently run thorough scans of your system for viruses and other malware?

I use Avast and routinely run Spybot.

Checked and defragged your HD?

I haven't defragged for ages. I thought was no longer recommended.

Checked exactly how the system is using resources, eg, might it be doing something stupid like running Indexer forever because it's stuck in a loop?

Dunno how to do that.


Do you know whether your system is slowing down primarily because of HD usage, RAM usage, network accesses, etc?

Dunno how to check that. Network shouldn't be a problem since I'm running programs on my computer.

If you've done all of the above, nothing glaring stands out, and want to save some money, probably the most bang for the buck would come from installing an SSD and moving the OS and programs over to it. This would certainly speed up loading programs.


PS - BTW, what size images (pixel dimensions, pls.), and PS sizes (in MB or GB) do you mostly deal with? Lots of layers? 8 bits per channel or 16 bpc? Video? 3D renders, etc.

I shoot a Nikon D300 and always shoot RAW. I import through LR from the card converting the NEF file to a DNG file. The RAW file
is 4320 x 2868 pixels, and about 10 MB file, so that's what's in LR, but I'll export to PS after cropping to 1800 x 1200 pixels at 300 ppi.

I do tend to work in PS with several layers, but the real problem are in how slow LR and PS load and the delays in using
tools. Type, for example, is hit a letter, wait, hit a letter, wait...etc. It doesn't seem to be worse with multiple layered files.

NIK loads slowly, too.

Dunno about 8 or 16 because I don't know how to know. No video, no 3D, no (spit!) HDR.

I should explain that I do use type fairly frequently because I do some tutorials using screen shots.

 

[TonyCooper]

Adding a question about SSDs.

Can I add an internal SSD to this computer?

Or, is an external SSD as good?

How do you determine the size needed for an SSD?

My current internal HD is 543 Gigs free of 920 Gigs, so I don't use a lot of C: disk space.
I also have two 1 TB external drives for file storage/backups.

 

[gedstar]

People are reporting lots of issues with Photoshop CC2015, do you still have CC2014 installed?
Take a look at this posted by MrToM
https://www.photoshopgurus.com/forum/general-photoshop-board/54632-cc-2015-first-impressions.html
And this, people here are experiencing similar issues as you
https://forums.adobe.com/community/photoshop/content
If you haven't got CC2014 installed after installing CC2015 you can get it back
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/download-install-app.html#topic-3

I personally would not recommend cleaning the registry as this will not improve your PC's performance in any way
http://www.howtogeek.com/171633/why-using-a-registry-cleaner-wont-speed-up-your-pc-or-fix-crashes/

 

[Tom Mann]

Hi Gedstar -

Thanks for pointing out the problems some people are experiencing with PS 2015 on startup.

Out of caution, when I upgraded to PS CC 2015, I retained PS CC 2014 on my system, but, at least for me, I haven't experienced any startup or other problems with 2015. Also, note that the OP is also experiencing problems with LR, not just PS.

With respect to the assertion that registry cleaners are useless, this is one of the rare occasions I have to strongly disagree with you. Perhaps some of these programs are snake oil and don't do anything useful, and perhaps in some cases, the contribution of a mucked up registry to slowing down system startup is less than other problems with the system, but in my experience using CCleaner on both my own system and those of many of my friends, (a) Using it with the default settings has never caused a single problem; and, (b) on many occasions, I have actually measured the improvement in startup performance of the systems in the range 10-20 seconds. However, I can't speak to any registry cleaner other than CCleaner.

That being said, the discussion is almost moot because it's trivial to make a system restore point just before use of a registry cleaner, and if the cleaner does anything bad, just revert the registry back to it's old state. Also, one should always have a separate, current image backup of one's OS and programs, so if worse comes to worse, you can just completely blow in the last good working configuration.


Tom M

 

[Tom Mann]

Your system doesn't sound *that* out of date. I know lots of folks who run similar systems with no big problems.

Before you spend a bunch of money, have you recently done things like clean your registry using CCleaner, or something equivalent?

I have CCleaner, but don't let it touch the Registry. I don't really understand the Registry, so I'm hesitant about doing anything there.

See my response to Gedstar about creating a recovery point and having a backup available to back out of any changes made. IMHO it's really not risky at all to do this, and I have done it many, many times on my computers both at home and at work, as well as the computers of many friends. Although I routinely create a recovery point before running CCleaner, never once have I had to revert the change.

Have you recently run thorough scans of your system for viruses and other malware?

I use Avast and routinely run Spybot.

Great!

Checked and defragged your HD?

I haven't defragged for ages. I thought was no longer recommended.

Defragging isn't at all necessary with SSDs, and since you have Win 7, it may be defragging automatically, but it's so easy to check the condition of a drive for both errors and how fragmented it is, why not do so? There's nothing that will slow down or even bring a computer to a grinding halt as a bad sector in the wrong place on the HD.

Checked exactly how the system is using resources, eg, might it be doing something stupid like running Indexer forever because it's stuck in a loop?

Dunno how to do that.

I strongly suggest that you learn how to use the Task Manager and the Resource Monitor. There are lots of tutorials on this.

Do you know whether your system is slowing down primarily because of HD usage, RAM usage, network accesses, etc?

Dunno how to check that. Network shouldn't be a problem since I'm running programs on my computer.

Same as above: Use Task Manager and Resource Monitor

If you've done all of the above, nothing glaring stands out, and want to save some money, probably the most bang for the buck would come from installing an SSD and moving the OS and programs over to it. This would certainly speed up loading programs.

...

Adding a question about SSDs. Can I add an internal SSD to this computer? Or, is an external SSD as good?

How do you determine the size needed for an SSD? My current internal HD is 543 Gigs free of 920 Gigs, so I don't use a lot of C: disk space. I also have two 1 TB external drives for file storage/backups.

Typically, one can add an internal SSD to almost any computer. It's nice if there is an empty drive bay available and an unused plug on the cable going to your present HD, but one can easily get around both of these possible obstacles. The usual advantage to internal SSDs is that they can achieve a much higher rate of data transfer than external drives, eg, even those with USB 3 interfaces, but if you want to put in a bit of extra work, you can get around this as well.

With respect to sizing the SSD, if you only put the OS and programs on the SSD, and no user data (ie, not any images), a 500G SSD will almost certainly be adequate.

HTH,

Tom M

 

[gedstar]

Hi Gedstar -

Thanks for pointing out the problems some people are experiencing with PS 2015 on startup.

Out of caution, when I upgraded to PS CC 2015, I retained PS CC 2014 on my system, but, at least for me, I haven't experienced any startup or other problems with 2015. Also, note that the OP is also experiencing problems with LR, not just PS.

With respect to the assertion that registry cleaners are useless, this is one of the rare occasions I have to strongly disagree with you. Perhaps some of these programs are snake oil and don't do anything useful, and perhaps in some cases, the contribution of a mucked up registry to slowing down system startup is less than other problems with the system, but in my experience using CCleaner on both my own system and those of many of my friends, (a) Using it with the default settings has never caused a single problem; and, (b) on many occasions, I have actually measured the improvement in startup performance of the systems in the range 10-20 seconds. However, I can't speak to any registry cleaner other than CCleaner.

That being said, the discussion is almost moot because it's trivial to make a system restore point just before use of a registry cleaner, and if the cleaner does anything bad, just revert the registry back to it's old state. Also, one should always have a separate, current image backup of one's OS and programs, so if worse comes to worse, you can just completely blow in the last good working configuration.


Tom M

Hi Tom Mann

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on the reg cleaning, each to their own! I actually do use CCleaner but never use the registry cleaner part of it, luckily for me I work in IT and know how to look after my system and it's super fast

I will agree with you about the SSD for the main OS and Apps it certainly makes all the difference and also the process of creating backup images on a regular basis!

CCleaner will actually ask you "Do you backup the registry before cleaning" and I would recommend doing so.

There is one thing I would suggest the OP do and that's installing the latest Video card drivers from the AMD website
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

 

[TonyCooper]

Thanks for the replies. I try, I really do, to provide all of the info people might need to reply to my question in the initial post. But, there's always something left out.

The problems started well before I installed CC2015. The problem is with more programs than I indicated, but I tried to keep this Photoshop Guru centered.

After reading the replies, and doing some web searching, I plan to add a Samsung internal SSD. Probably the 500 Gig, but I'd like to be able to get away
with the 250 G cheaper version. I plan to keep all files on the standard HDs including my externals. Just programs on the SSD.

The Samsung 800 seems to be the most recommended, but if there are other suggestions I'd like to hear them.

The only problems with the CC2015 install was with On1. NIK was added without a problem. I don't use On1 very often, so I'll use it as a stand-alone
and not bother figuring out why it's a problem.

I did find out that I have a scheduled weekly defrag already. Forgot I set that.

I will have to chase down some tutorials on using a Resource Monitor. I'm a photographer (advanced amateur) not a computer techie.

Some things baffle me about the computer aspect. For example, every time I boot up I get a pop-up that says there is no tablet installed. But, my Wacom works fine.
It doesn't seem to know it isn't installed!

Thanks again for the replies and suggestions.

 

[gedstar]

Hi Tony

I recently updated my SSD from 120GB to this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-2-5...=1435504386&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung+evo+250gb
I'd highly recommend it, very fast and cheap

I also recommend doing a fresh install of Windows, considering the issues your having, when installing the drive make sure to connect to the SATA III connection on the motherboard to get the full speed from the drive another thing to check is to make sure AHCI is enable in the BIOS

Here's some things to do after installing Windows
http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

This is the way I have my PC configured
View attachment 56736

I use the SSD C Drive for OS and program files only, no data stored there at all
I have a 1TB and 3TB for storage/backup
107GB partition for Photoshop Scratch Disk
20GB partition for the PageFile
117GB for backup images of the C Drive

Once you have everything installed and configured to your liken, I'd highly recommend creating an image of the hard drive, you can use this it's free
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

Any questions feel free to ask

 

[Tom Mann]

Great minds, and all that, Gedstar! LOL.

Here's a picture of my drives. Although there are some minor differences, my setup follows exactly the same philosophy as yours.

Note: Drives H, J, K and L are things like card readers, DVDs, etc, while drives M, N, O, and P are external, USB3 image archives / backups that I turn on as needed. I also rotate copies of these from my home to my office and my wife's office for backup redundancy.

I also have 64 Gig of RAM, so my page file, PS swap file, etc. see very little use, so I put them all on one SSD.

Tom M

 

[gedstar]

Hi Again Tom Mann

One thing the OP may have an issue with is the lack of RAM, 8GB although sufficient and above what's required to run Photoshop and other Adobe apps, as we know Photoshop can be pretty RAM hungry. I recently as well as upgrading the SSD upgraded my RAM to 32GB

Alas his PC max ram is 8GB so I think the PS scratch disk is more important for him, it would be a good idea to create a partition on the existing drive and use that for the scratch disk

In relation to CCleaner and cleaning the registry, I do agree that cleaning the registry can be a good thing if you know what you are doing, personally I wouldn't recommend it for a novice.
@TonyCooper

In the original post you mentioned buying a new PC, in the long run that might be the better option to go for if your a heavy Photoshop user, a better higher spec PC would be the best option.
If you're considering that option can you please let us know what kind of budget you have, also keep in mind Windows 10 will be coming soon

Main things to consider
RAM 16GB or more
Graphics Card 2GB dedicated or more, I'd recommend Nvidia
SSD for OS and Programs 250GB would be quite sufficient
1TB or more internal hard drive for storage/backup/Scratch Disk
1TB of more external hard drive for storage/backup
Intel Icore5 processor or above

This may seem overkill, but you'll have a good spec PC and backing up to 2 drives is always a good thing