How to build a PC for work purposes #4
So, following #3, all we have to do now is use simple methods to improve the performance of your PC/MAC.
The Pagefile
If you have 2 or more disks then you can move your windows pagefile onto the second disk. The pagefile is used by windows when the memory is used and so it caches some of it’s data using the pagefile. Moving it away from the disk that holds your Operating System will improve performance as it will utilise both disks rather than trying to read/write from a single disk while working.
The only exception to this is when your OS disk is much faster than your second disk (see SSD below) in which case it’s quicker leaving it as-isDisk Performance
Disks vary in performance, but are getting faster all the time
The fastest disks you can get today are SSD (Solid State Disk) and are basically the same as a keyring memory stick, but with a bigger capacity and set in a laptop HD case. Unfortunately they’re still an emerging technology and so they’re not cheap (£1 per 1Gb at the time of writing).But the benefits are:
No moving parts – virtually indestructible (take note laptop users 😉 )
Not affected by magnets – it’s all silicon and solder
SpeedTo elaborate the speed difference, regular SATA hard drives (HDD) have a seek time of approx 0.18ms (milliseconds). Pretty fast for sure, but becasue SSD have no moving parts, their seek time is about 0.01ms. Doesn’t sound like much, but when your system tries to access 2,000 files during a boot-up it shows.
Added to that, regular SATA HDD have a read/write transfer rate of about 70-80Mb/s maximum. SSD transfer data is about 220mb/sFaaaast
To put it in perspective, I installed a Samsung PB22-J 128Gb disk on my system and used Ghost to copy from my old 40Gb C partition on my old 320Gb HDD to this new disk leaving 78Gb spare (my old disk has been added to my external backup pool).
My old disk would boot my system from start to screen up in just over 60 seconds. Now it gets to screen up in 22 seconds.
I set the spare 75Gb as an S drive and only use it for pagefile and scratch data for photoshop and other applicationsHonestly, 128Gb is excessive for what I do, 64Gb would have been enough (40Gb+24Gb scratch), but it’s good to have a little wiggle room just in case.
Scratch Space/Disk
Lots of programs and operating systems use temporary areas to perform tasks in the background or write temporary files. By allocating the scratch space to use either a fast disk (SSD) or a second disk then this will also increase performance as you won’t be ‘stealing’ disk time from the operating system/program disk.Well, that’s about it. I’ve kept this series fairly simple so that most people can follow the logic and theory behind the principles I’ve written.
Feel free to comment or ask questions belowHow to build a PC for work purposes #1
One of the key components to being a digital image maker is a PC or Server.
This is often something that is overlooked when we’re bombarded with newer, bigger resolution and faster FPS cameras every few months.
Although it’s great having top-end pro-cameras, you also need the [digital] darkroom to process the images efficiently tooWe can create files 11-60MP, 11FPS, 25-100Mb in size, yet it takes ages just to do the simplest processing, then it’s time to face the fact….. it is the weakest link…. reboot
So what can you do about it?
As with most things, the answer is fairly simple.
Below is the first step that should make an immediate change to your digital life.Sounds like a cop-out right? Well not quite. The secret to it is to also keep the one you already have 😉
So why buy another computer?
In an ideal world we would have a computer that’s as fast as lightning, never slows down over time and we’d never be distracted when using itThe new machine should be a high spec and built just for editing/processing – don’t put other programs on it if you can.
You keep your current machine/laptop as your ‘working’ device (accounting, email, paperwork,whatever…) and keep it as a backup for the main editing machine.I know it sounds like, “build a high power machine then leave it off most of the day”.
If that’s the case then great. It and you have become more efficient and so it means that you’re off working somewhere else.Another bonus is that it stops the new PC from being used unnecessarily which will over time wearing out the hard-drives and slow it down (yes, this happens)
2 key things will happen when you’re in front of the new machine which will speed you up1) You don’t have emails or IM messages or any distractions taking valuable resourses and popping up on the screen and interrupting your immersion in what you’re doing.
What you may find that what used to take you 2 hours now takes you just 1.
What could you do with an extra couple of hours in the day? 🙂2) No matter where you keep and use the new machine, psychologically you will know that this is your workplace.
It’s a lean mean editing machine.Free IT advise
I come from a technical IT background and so I thought that I may have something of value to share on both my current set-up and best practise methods which may be of some value to someone (anyone?
) out there on the interwebOver a few blog entries I’ll hopefully share with you some IT best practises that will make your computer happy which in turn will make it perform quicker and in turn improve your workflow so you can be less interrupted through your day and log-off quicker to go do something more interesting.
This isn’t necessarily just photographers – this covers anyone that uses a PC/MAC for work purposes, but I’ll lean towards the visual industry as they have higher performance requirements than the average computer user.
More to come ….