Computer upgrade, quad core

[tornado33]

I finally decided to go for an upgrade, spurred on by the longer times it takes to process 450D images, and the longish times to do general image processing.

I got in the new Asus P5Q3 Deluxe WiFFi AP@n motherboard
Qx9450 Quad Core cpu, 2.6 Ghz 45nm
8 Gb DDR 3 Kingston Ram
1 Tb Seagate Sata2, and 500 Gb Seagate Sata2 hard drives
Asus "Silent Magic" fanless Nvidia 8500Gt vga (pci x)
Put it in an Antec Nine Hundred case with a Coolermaster 650Watt Power supply, Running Vista 64 Ultimate. Must go 64 bit if using ober 3gb ram

Houghy dropped by as I was finishing the assembly, then watched as we loaded Vista, whinch installed faultlessly.

Wow the new system is fast, even with Vistas bells and whistles "aero" turned on. Iris works fine in Vista 64, and Photoshop launches in seconds. Waitching Iris rip through image calibration, aligning stacking etc at a much higher speed now is very nice.

I was worried about quad core CPU's being power hogs, as the pc is on all day every day, but the motherboard and CPU are very "green" with the board underclocking it and lowering the voltage when it is at idle. CPU temp is only 28 degrees or so, and thats with the cpu fan slowed right down to just 800 rpm, and the air coming from the case and psu feels quite cold, so I think it may even use less power then my old AMD3200, especialy considering the coolermaster PSU is rated at 70% effeciency or better. The board also as this "ai nap" feature that shuts down the video and sound after a set time saving power yet keeping the o/s alive so that downloads etc continue to run. I can also put the pc to sleep in Vista, that shuts down everything, as if it was completely shut down, yet turning it back on brings me back into Vista in seconds.

The machine is quieter then the old one, with the bigger slower rotating fans, the one on the top is HUGE.

I was initially dissapointed to find my USB Tuner wouldnt work with Vista 64. Its maker said that the supplied software wasnt x64 compatable so I wasnt surprised. However I then "discovered" Media centre built into Vista Ultimate, saw my USB Tuner, which itself did have Vista64 drivers available from its website. Presto I can watch HDTV on the new machine.

Updating the Bios is childs play, theres a Windows app. that gets the latest verston and updates it for you as you watch, a reboot and the new bios is in. I didnt need to, but I always like to stay up to date

Star Atlas pro runs fine (albeit very fast now) as well.

Vista takes some getting used to for us old XP users, but on the new machine runs nicely, Im very glad I did the PC upgrade. It should do me for many, many years to come.
Scott

[g__day (Matthew)]

Quad core, quality motherboard and loads of RAM with a compatible (i.e. 64 bit) operating system are a big yes. See DeepSkyStacker fly on a Quad Core is a delight.

Vista - shudders - fine until you want to connect to a business domain or find a missing driver - shudder!

PS

Can't wait until the GPGPU mob get 3d graphics cores with their 200 shader cores pushing things out up to 30 times faster than high end CPUs can today!

[renormalised (Carl)]

It's a wonder you could run your copies of PS and such in Vista64 ....considering they're 32bit programs. Were you running them in XP compatibility mode??. There's not that many 64bit programs around cos' it hasn't really taken off. Mind you, it'd be quick and you can't really run 32bit with more than 3-4GB without it wasting whatever you're got left over (seeing it can't address it).

That system must've cost you a pretty penny too...it wouldn't be cheap!!!.

Im very glad I did the PC upgrade. It should do me for many, many years to come.

Unfortunately, Scott, it's already old news as far as tech goes. Good as it is, they're already 2-3 steps ahead of there in the labs. Plus, the way MS goes, you'll need more power sooner than you think....Win "X" will be more bloatware than it can handle, you can almost bet.

[tornado33]

Yes thats right, Ive also got this old Winfast analogue TV tuner card, thats good also for analogue video capture, alas upon checking its website, the next model up has Vista64 drivers, not this one, and also the 350D camera wont work with Vista64 either, even with the latest software from Canon, ironically though the 450D works perfectly under Vista.
Scott
EDIT:
Apparently Adobe have no plans yet to make a x64 version of Photoshop anyway. The 32 version runs fine, I didnt need to put it in compatability mode or anything, just install and run.. I even have an old MS works for Win 95 installed and running! I use that because it has an easy to use envelope printing function.

I paid $1800 for the board, CPU and ram, and Vista64bit ultimate OEM from Mwave.com.au. They said I could purchase the cleaper OEM version if buying the hardware as well. I bought the case, PSU, VGA and drives from the local computer markets we have here.
Looking at a similar system from dell That of course includes a monitor and stuff.
Ive not done too bad especially considering as Dell are fairly competitive nowdays, and its fun getting the bits in and building a system. The motherboard is so new that theres reviews saying its only just becoming available now. review of it here

My old faithful Athlon 32OO now lives in the garage, to be used as a 2nd pc. Its 5 years old, and has been on for about 16 hours a day. 7 days/week for all of that time. I trust the new one with its good cooling will give me the same service
Scott

[avandonk]

Good news travels fast Scott. This means you can produce four times the images or is this four times as good!
Good for you.

Bert

[tornado33]

Hehehe thanks Bert, hopefully both... IF the weather allows. It does make things easier trying to get the best results from my images, as before it took nearly as long to process them to the "just right" stage, then actually getting the data, but my first processing run on the new machine was so much faster.

My dad who likes to look up stuff on ebay doesnt like Vista yet, hes used to XP but hopefully he will get used to it
Scott

[Gama]

Good luck with drivers, and even drivers that came out initially for Vista64, again good luck, cause they have to be all digital signiture approved before it will be allowed to install.
And finally, good luck with 80 % of all software made specifically with 32 bit drivers.
You better install vista32 as well. Your going to need it.

Theo

[tornado33]

Oddle enough Vista has let me install unsigned drivers, it just pops up the warning that they are unsigned, but gives me the option to go ahead and install. My canon printer installed no problem. I dont plan to use my Q guider cam on it as I use my laptop for that.
With 32bit software Vista installs them in a x86 folder, keeping them separete from the normal program files folder where 64 bit stuff goes. Thus far all has gone well, the stuff I want to put on thus far is on and working.

I dont gave the fastest processor, but plenty of ram, which I find gives the best performance
Scott
Scott

[Gama]

You havent upgraded to Service pack 1 for Vista.
Mine was the same, then it updated, and never let anymore unsigned drivers load since.
Its downloaded as an update, then once installed, its permanent.

Theo

[tornado33]

I have got SP1 now. Im not sure if I tried to load my old TV card before or after SP1, but anyway it doesnt have vista 64 drivers anyway.
Apparently theres workarounds
http://www.vistax64.com/drivers/9351...d-drivers.html
Might look into it if the need arises
Thanks
Scott

[Gama]

Forget it, MicroSucks already made a patch to stop this happening, so dont waste your time.
If you are after driver sig Bypass, there is only one i know of, and its a small program you run and tell it which drivers to sign, then you can easily tell it to unsign them again and go back to normal.

Heres the link http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=dseo , good luck.

Theo.