Photoshop Scratch Disk Raid setup?

S

switchg3ar

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 1, 2007
Messages
143
I have been reading a lot about how raid 0 offers very little real world performance.

I'm building a new computer for photoshop work typically printing large images ie 3x 4 foot high resolution photos with vector graphics. Is it worth a raid setup for the scratch disk or what configuration do you recommend? Printer buffering will be huge when printing let alone rendering non vector graphics.

I'm going to go with 8gb of ram what would be the best hdd option?

Option 1
2 x velociraptor raid 0 for main and scratch disk

Option 2
velociraptor for main and a second Velociraptor for scratch disk

Cost is not really an issue just performance. But if performance gain in minimal ie less then 15% then I would prefer a cheaper solution.
 
there have been about a half dozen threads about this recently, but if cost is no option then raid of some sort is your best bet. or go for a couple of iram drives in raid for even better speeds.

note: I would *NOT* put your OS in raid 0, keep it on a separate drive.
 
I've been reading the other threads and I guess I am looking for a clear cut answer. There are so many options, and I would like to invest wisely. I don't even know how much I would save in terms of time, I have even read about 4 way raid 0.

The setup doesn't have to be in a raid configuration just for maximum performance. If that means two drives one for OS and one for swap files, temp files then I am fine with that. The more I read about other peoples solutions the less clear it becomes.
 
Get a shitload of RAM, put the scratch file on a RAMdisk... you'll almost piss your pants when you see how fast Photoshop can actually be. Even VelociRaptors can't touch the performance of a RAMdisk - and it doesn't matter how much RAM you have right now. If you're not using the RAM efficiently - meaning some of it for a RAMdisk - then you're missing out and wasting time waiting on physical hard drives.

MixManSC has the right ideas... I've been doing this for photo service bureau machines for years, they absolutely love how fast things are when they spend some extra money for more RAM to use just for a RAMdisk and the scratch file. And I don't mean something like the Gigabyte iRAM either - that thing is as slow as hard drives, really.

Real RAM... there's nothing like it... not even SSD drives can touch it.

My preference is RAMDisk Plus by SuperSpeed.com, however.
 
I haven't build anything yet, but you changed my mind. I am going to drop this raid and go with 16 gb of ram and dual xeons
 
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