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Computers and The Internet This is the place to ask questions and discuss the complex world of computer and internet issues.

AMD or Intel

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  #11  
Old 05-04-06, 10:30
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Canis Vulpes Canis Vulpes is offline  
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Essentially I am looking for a machine that can efficiently process 12Mpx RAW images. Currently I use AMD 2600+ 1GB RAM and 64M graphic card and Nikon capture for RAW conversion. After looking at other RAW converters NC is in my opinion the best for Nikon users. 6Mpx files from D70 are converted easily but the machine struggles with 12Mpx. After receiving great information from another thread on the subject I realise the CPU is a major bottleneck as sits at 100% during the long conversion process. I'll consider anything including MAC to make conversion a joy rather than a pain.
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  #12  
Old 05-04-06, 12:27
Chris
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I should make it clear that I am talking about the mac that is only just shipping with "Intel core duo"
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/
not historic ones like mine except that the new one is in the same box, an industrial design classic and inter alia using to within 7mm of the edge of the top for the 1280x800 screen.

I am not sure whether I would quite go so far as describe using GraphicConverter as joy and not sure what the universal has in it; what you would have to do is go to a mac dealer and get the trial download http://www.lemkesoft.com/en/graphdownload.htm
onto a demo box and try your RAW files.

You should not directly compare processor speeds, as the OS is far craftier. GC has a good record of keeping up to date with Mac OS and I think Nikon will follow. Less confident about Adobe as their so-called MacOSX progs are hopelessly memory hungry and cumbersome compared to true natives; seem to have the MS habit of adding more and more superstructure and never going back to the foundations. There would be a lot in the editing field that you would still need to go back to PS for (where I use 7 year old Color-it!!).

I find slight difficulty comparing mac with Wintel as no-one whose Wintel system I have had the misfortune to try and use in emergency seems to know how to use it themselves, never mind explain to me. I also have to admit that I did have to use a paper manual to change from Mac OS9 to 10, unprecedented since Excel 2...and I would have to say 3 year extended warranty was essential having had new hard drive and superdrive under mine at 3 years minus 10 minutes or so.

But I am sure you would find it worth spending an hour with a dealer and their prices are no worse than internet ones.
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  #13  
Old 05-04-06, 19:37
Leif Leif is offline  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen Fox
Essentially I am looking for a machine that can efficiently process 12Mpx RAW images. Currently I use AMD 2600+ 1GB RAM and 64M graphic card and Nikon capture for RAW conversion. After looking at other RAW converters NC is in my opinion the best for Nikon users. 6Mpx files from D70 are converted easily but the machine struggles with 12Mpx. After receiving great information from another thread on the subject I realise the CPU is a major bottleneck as sits at 100% during the long conversion process. I'll consider anything including MAC to make conversion a joy rather than a pain.
I would also check your memory and hard disk usage during image manipulation. It might be that the disk is thrashing due to continual virtual memory paging. Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Performance monitor will help with analysis. The CPU can be at 100% even though it is paging and/or the disk that is the issue since it performs the i/o operations and byte transfers.
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  #14  
Old 05-04-06, 23:50
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen Fox
Essentially I am looking for a machine that can efficiently process 12Mpx RAW images. Currently I use AMD 2600+ 1GB RAM and 64M graphic card and Nikon capture for RAW conversion. After looking at other RAW converters NC is in my opinion the best for Nikon users. 6Mpx files from D70 are converted easily but the machine struggles with 12Mpx. After receiving great information from another thread on the subject I realise the CPU is a major bottleneck as sits at 100% during the long conversion process. I'll consider anything including MAC to make conversion a joy rather than a pain.

Hi Stephen

I'd wait until Nikon Capture NX becomes available (imminent) before I did anything radical with my computer set up. The computer setup you quote is more than adequate for handling a 12mpixel file. Capture NX is touted to be something worth waiting for, it's sure to be a cheaper option than a new PC/MAC system that will gain you very little realtime advantage for a large outlay of cash.

A trial version of Nikon Capture NX will be available for download shortly at the following web address.

http://www.nikonimaging.com/global/p...p/download.htm

nirofo.
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  #15  
Old 18-08-06, 10:15
affirmation affirmation is offline  
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The single and best upgrade you can make is quality ram - particularly where photo editing is concerned - this followed by a sata 2 disk (if Mobo supports it) with high burst speeds will make the largest differences. AMD and Intel are now with awesome chips but intel is known for its longer pipelines and that is why they hold the edge over AMD for video processing and also a slight boost with pics. this is also the reason why AMD have the edge over intel when gaming is concerned. Upgrade the ram but not with corsair value - spend the extra few quid and get quality ram and you will notice the difference - it will also allow you to overclock the system gaining yet more performance. Corsair TwinX is awesome and I highly reccommend it but it is dual channel and im not sure your system supports that but it would still make a significant increase to performance working without dual channel support. The RAM would speed it all up but not reduce the workload of the CPU so consider a dual core CPU especially as prices are now driopping considerably thanks to teh launch of INTELS excellent new Core Duo X6800. Of course this would also mean a new motherboard so basically upgrade everything lol - welcome to the frustrating world of performance hardware.

Last edited by affirmation; 18-08-06 at 10:19.
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