[J. Tsang]

this is what i am using:
celeron 1000mhz
256mb pc133 ram
40gig harddrive
geforce2 pro 64mb
wacom graphire 4x5 inch

i don't think i have a bad computer. but i am having hard time painting on a 3000x3000 pixel or larger canvas. it's just too slow! so now i have to work with smaller canvas sizes (1500x1000 pixel or smaller). but with such smaller canvas, i can't really do much. well, portrait or some small still life painting are fine. but i can't do large pieces with insanely detailed backgrounds.
i have seen many of those large pieces where we can zoom in really close and still see the detail clearly. those are at least 3000x3000 pixel i believe.
what kind of a computer do u use? how much ram do u have?

[Novacaptain]

Use ctrl alt del to shut down everything except explorer, systray and the program you�re uring..that usually speeds thing up quite some. I feel like my computer really ought to kick more butt too...at 3000x3000 using a few layers, an alpha channel or two will make certain tools/brush sizes completely useless.

Maybe i need to free more HD space...and get some more memory however...hmmm

[zak]

if youre using xp i would seriously advise switching to something else like 98 or 2000. xp drains you resources like noones business, i got a 2gig and an old 333mhz, and both paint the same, so so much to the new improved xp.

[Frog]

Top tip I learnt from CG channel recently, in win2000 you can even shut down Explorer!!

Do a ctr-alt-del and go to processes, from there you can shut explorer down and just leave photoshop open for that extra bit of juice. Once you're done you can ctr-alt-del again to bring it back.

[Dr. Bang]

thats because your cpu is a Celeron

[eyewoo]

With 256 meg of RAM, your machine is most likely swapping to the scratch disk for just about everything on a large image - making for very slow work. 256 megs of RAM are probably OK for 72 ppi graphics for the web, but if large images are what you're after, 256 is just not enough... period! hmmmm... didn't mean sound so unyielding.

I think RAM is pretty cheap these days... Put as much in your machine as it will hold... or your bank account will tolerate.

[Snakebyte]

EyeWoo's right, you dont have enough ram.
I have 1.5Gig's of ram and that isnt enough sometimes.


That and the Celerons 100MHz bus will slow you down....

[ May 23, 2002: Message edited by: Snakebyte ]

[PixelPeZ]

haha ... I envy you


I'm forced to paint on a cel 366 with 192 mb of ram and an 8mb graphics card ... AND a 15" monitor from hell, AND 5gigs of HDD space in total. beat that

but, unfortunately, I do not have the resources to upgrade to anything decent ... sigh ...

[Lee Yiankun]

Here's my comp
Celeron 466
Ram128
i820 Chipset
20GB HDD

I work in 1500x2000 space most of the time.
for detail work, I just bump up the scales to 3000x4000 for final details.
Sometimes I even work in 300x400 space just to get the feel right.

As the way I am now, I think I'm doing just fine for the moment.
Press here to see my works
I don't have the resource to upgrade, and since I don't run into problems, I don't see why I have to upgrade.

[ May 23, 2002: Message edited by: Lee Yiankun ]

[Asurfael]

i hate my duron 800 geforce 2 mx comp seems too damn slow. especially if i put the spacing to 1% or put it off entirely. That way it takes ages to get smooth strokes.

[[666]Flat]

There ain't no restrictions on da paper. Try dat combined with a scanner while you're at it. BTW: /me got P3-800 & GF2 Pro 2 and be still save for all da hot gamez out there. Da old chap's still ridin' da rocket, homie.

[Vhy]

This is a RAM issue, but you would need a faster CPU to use larger brush size at the same speed.

[grand lord mubshkin]

i think you definitely need more RAM. i also read today that if you are using Photoshop with a graphics tablet with virtual memory enabled it really slows things down. you should try turning virtual memory off. i just got Photoshop today, so i haven't tested this myself yet. hope this helps.

[turnip]

double check in your system information >running tasks that there aren't sneaky useless software running, specially spyware and such.

[Tron]

this is a very useful advice:
if photosh. is slow just clear the histrory,
this will release great resources that were occupied by this (very useful) photoshop function.

I would advise you to limit the history-function to 3-5 steps, because you�re so little on ram


_____________
Tron

[ May 24, 2002: Message edited by: Tron ]

[noire]

It's partly a ram issue and partly a cache issue. The problem with low end cpu's (Duron and Celeron) is that the cache is stripped waaay down. AMD just released a chip with 512kb of level 2 cache, which is the same amount as a P4. I'd love to try one of the new G4's that have 1 or 2 MB of level 3 cache. Reminds me of my old K6-III

hope that helps.

[Mordecai]

well....first thing you need to do is get rid of that celeron crap you call a processor...only thing celeron is good for..is....well.....havent found that out yet...but it doesnt deserve to be in a computer....its the Kmart of processors...or salvation army of processors....basically the poor beaten stepchild processor....cant say anything good about it...ever!

the more ram the better....ddr ram is the best due to the fact that its 2 times the speed...

processor...NEVER BUY CELERON!!! .....that was your first mistake....

the faster the processor the better....right now its at 2.53 ghz....pentium 4...which is smooooking for a PC...dual processors are always a plus too...but can be $$$ expensive...

not really sure what everyone is talking about regarding windows xp slowing down their stuff....i have had absolutely no problems with my XP professional edition...it takes up like 128 mb of ram...so its good to have as much as possible....either XP or windows 2000....meesa like that as well...

for video card....geforce4 ti 4600 i think the model is..one of the best consumer video cards out there...expensive too...but...worth it...128mb of on board video memory...fast fast clock speeds...

what you need to start doing my friend is saving up for a new hella fast computer....it will make your life a lot poorer...but in the end...its all worth it cuz you can work on laaaaarge ass sized art work

hope my rough explination helps...i only speak the truth....


o...my current computer is a 1.7 ghz processor with one gig of ram...and a geforce 3 video card...so...in another year or so i see myself getting a new computer.
By then im sure the 3 ghz processors will be out....or FASTER!!!!

[ May 28, 2002: Message edited by: Mordecai ]

[ May 28, 2002: Message edited by: Mordecai ]

[glody]

*bump*