May need to move LR - CPU questions

[Replytoken]

This is not going to be your standard question relating to a new dream system. Presently, my main computer, listed in my signature below, has 2GB of RAM and a Pentium M 1.73GHz processor. Its not the fastest rig, but it gets me by with respect to LR. Now, I may be giving up my laptop to my beloved, and I have several budget options for consideration. First, I have a Dell Dimension 3''' desktop that has a Pentium 4 3.'GHz with 512 MB of memory. This processor is supposed to be mildly faster than the Pentium M above, and I can easily upgrade to 2GB of memory.

I am also considering an HP Mini 1''' with an Atom processor because it may meet some travel needs. This is supposed to be a bit slower than the Pentium M above, and I would consider this a secondary machine to a desktop, like the Dimension 3''' above.

So, keeping in mind where I am presently at, I have two questions that I would like to pose. First, does anybody have some kind of idea as to how much of a speed change, positive or negative, these two alternate machines would pose under "normal" LR tasks in relation to my current machine. the benchmark scores that I have seen do not seem to help me very much.

Second, would a new low- to mid-range Core 2 Duo (or Pentium Dual E2XXX series) based machine seem to be significantly faster than my current machine? They say ignorance is bliss, and while I am not quite blissful, I am somewhat contented becaused I do not have to sit in front of LR all day long. (For comparison purposes, my machine at work is a Core 2 Duo with 2GB of RAM, and it does not seem that much faster with respect to MS Office applications.)

In light of the economic situation many of us are facing, I really do not want to shell out a large sum of money for a high end machine when LR is the only taxing program that I use with any frequency. However, there are a large number of refurbished machines that are much better equipped than my Dimension 3''' and you would think that they would offer significant performance gains. I could use that money for the additional Dimension 3''' RAM and put it towards one of these "semi-disposable" CPU's, but if the gain is minimal, its not that great a use of funds.

Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated.

--Ken

 

[Brad Snyder]

Ken, I truly wish there were a simple answer. It would definitely make forum life easier. There seems to be some sort of non-linear, chaotic aspect to Lr's tech-spec/performance curve. People come in all over the map on their subjective perceptions of Lr performance on various specification tier machines.

Conventional wisdom ranks specification priorities like this:

1) Disk I/O, Lr split across multiple fast disks (solid state/ram disk where possible) with high band-width (FireWire8'' or SATA) connections.
2) RAM. The more the merrier, subject to Lr's inability to play well with Windows memory management subsystem. Best bet for more than 3 GB, Vista64 or Mac.
3) CPU, there's some serious processing in the rendering, and multi-core/multithreading is supported in that and some other operations as well.

But I truly think it comes down to Missouri's motto, 'Show me'. All the theory in the world may come to nothing as configured on your desk. I know it's not practical advice, but you almost have to test your exact proposed environment, including peripherals, accessories and concurrently installed s/w.

I went from exasperated teeth-gnasher to happy camper on my very modestly spec'd XP machine, simply by changing six variables in the nVidia setup.

Assuming that losing the laptop is a done deal, I think your immediate biggest bang for the buck would be to bump up memory in the Dell, to 2GB. Take advantage of any SATA internal drive capability, and add external eSATA within your budget. Online prices for all of these are continuously falling, and it's just a matter of determining your budget sweet spot, and maximizing the GB's, and accepting that your decision will be out of date before the shipment arrives.

 

[Replytoken]

Kind of what I suspected, Brad. The laptop is not yet a done deal. But, I am considering a different netbook with a faster HD, and I will most likely upgrade the RAM to 2GB. I do not expect miracles from it, but it would be nice to have a copy of LR while on the road. The tougher question is what to do about the desktop. I need to give it some more thought. Thanks of the advice.

--Ken

 

[JohnnyV]

What's your budget? I've built a kick butt machine for about $13''.''. I've never built a computer before, this was my first home built computer.

 

[Replytoken]

Its in flux at present, but it will be less than the $13'' you used when you built your machine. fortunately, I have some time to figure this out, so I may be able to see if there are any good bargains after the holiday season.

--Ken