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Configuring Your System for CS4, Part 1

Feb 9, 2009 12:00 PM, By Jan Ozer

           

Over the last few issues, I’ve focused my attention on configuring your system for Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4). First, we looked at the benefit that 64-bit Windows can provide over 32-bit versions, and then we evaluated how Nvidia’s Quadro CX can accelerate certain functions in Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere Pro. This month, I’ll review how the number of processors and the amount of RAM impact encoding performance, and then find other, non-CS4-related fish to fry.

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Configuring Your System for CS4, Part 2 In the last installment, I described buying considerations and costs for system RAM and CPUs for Apple’s Mac Pro and HP’s xw8600 workstation. In this installment, I’ll present the results of a series of benchmark tests with the two systems... CS4 and 64-bit Systems, Part 1 So there I was, testing Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4)’s AVCHD compatibility. I created a simple project, about 4 minutes long, two picture-in-picture overlays with simple rotation and color correction... Test Drive: Nvidia Quadro CX and Adobe CS4, Part 1 This month, in our quest to identify the optimal CS4 configuration, we look at graphic chip manufacturer Nvidia’s Quadro CX technology...

In this first installment, I’ll discuss general configuration options for RAM and CPU, and overall system pricing for the Apple Mac Pro and HP xw8600 workstations that I used in my tests. Next time, using projects with DV, HDV, AVCHD, DVCPRO HD, and Red source footage, I benchmark performance using single and dual quad-core processors and RAM configurations from 2GB to 16GB.

Let’s start with some theory about RAM and CPUs.