Memory / Performance / 64bit question

[Milton Lau]

I found that my CS3/CS4 performance increased when I upgraded to a 64 bit OS. Having full usage of your memory has its benefits. Even though Adobe products are 32 bit apps, i find that After Effects and Premiere run faster, however I cannot quantify the results I experience. I am glad I moved “up”.

[Dene Wilby]

Thanks, I went ahead and ordered some memory and vista 64bit today.

Isn’t CS4 64bit on PC?

Dene

[Milton Lau]

Hi Dene,

You’re correct, CS4 is 64-bit enabled, or atleast that is what I read off Wikipedia:

Adobe CS4 is also developed to perform better under 64-bit and multi-core processors. Adobe Photoshop CS4, Adobe After Effects CS4, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, and Adobe Soundbooth CS4 will officially support 64-bit.

Milton

[David Dobson]

I am running CS3 on a Dual Core AMD 3.0 with 4Gig Ram – well 2Gig now and one chip seems to have died. It works as well as CS3 did so the system is adequate. I am using AVCHD and before the latest update I could view the AVCHD files in High Quality Mode just fine (on an external SATAII Drive). After the update, I have to switch to Automatic quality (and so it looks bad) to get decent playback. I hope there will soon be an update to fix the update.

[Paul Thurston]

Hi,

Vista Home Premium as well as Vista Home Basic, supports only ONE physical CPU, but multiple cores. These versions of Vista should not be used for CS4.

For 64-bit computing on Vista OS and CS4 consider only Vista Business or Vista Ultimate. These versions of Vista support up to TWO physical CPUs. CS4 apparently expects TWO physical CPUs installed in your PC (Most professional Video capture Cards also have that expectation.)

You should be able to upgrade a 64-Bit Vista Home Premium to 64-Bit Vista Business or 64-Bit Vista Ultimate

So what about the other versions of 64-Bit Vista such as Enterprise, 2008 Server, Korean and European versions of Business and Ultimate? Will 64-Bit CS4 software run in these versions?

Vista Enterprise is like Vista Business (Not available through retail or OEM sales, as it’s made available only through Microsoft Software Assurance. The Korean “KN” and European “N” versions of Business and Ultimate do not include Windows Media Player (so in those versions you will not get the codecs that come with WMP.) 64-bit Windows Vista Server 2008 is REALLY nice software. You probably should not consider 64-Bit Server 2008 for a CS4 install, (it’s kind of expensive software $$$$. For the money, 64-bit Vista Ultimate is probably the best option.

The RAM issue:
Please remember that for every processor core installed, you should consider TWO (2) Gigs of RAM. If you have TWO physical CPUs installed and each has four cores (you have a total of 8 cores… 8 processors) you should consider 16 Gigs of RAM for your computer. In such a computer, 64-Bit CS4 software will apparently use only 6 Gigs of RAM.

Other things to consider:
For storage and editing, get a RAID… Something that has at least four large 10k hard drives. SATA drives work. SAS drives work even better (hint, hint, hint.) External RAIDS work the best, but internal ones can be made to work well also.

Some media playback issues are a direct result of hard drives getting full or not running fast enough under certain conditions, bottlenecks in motherboards, incorrect RAM type or RAM installed in a way that causes a bottleneck under certain conditions. Excessive internal heat will slow your processors down (Intel ones that is) and a power supply that is not appropriate (wattage wise) or miswired into the motherboard will also eventually cause sudden, no warning, computer turn-offs.

But then again, many media playback issues are caused by codec issues(related to QuickTime upgrades and or application updates.)

You asked: “Basically, what i’m saying is, will 64bit 8Gb be much better that 3Gb 32bit with the CS4 software?”

ANSWER: YES, much better because in a 64-bit OS, the additional RAM available to the OS makes Premier run better (that is, only if you get the right version of Vista 64-bit.)

(Parts of this info came from WIKIPEDIA.ORG)

Regards,
Paul

———————————————–
Paul Thurston
Producer
Chile

[Dene Wilby]

Absolutely superb post, thank you! I will send back the Premium and get the Ultimate. I only have 1 CPU at present but if I have problems I can be safe in the knowledge that my OS will not be a sticking point if I upgrade the hardware.

Thank you!

Dene

[Lance Bauerfeind]

Of course you could also dish out more dough and get the nVidia Quadro CX graphics card which is supposed to make things hum along especially in AE.

Lance