# Experiences with new Windows PC



## b_gossweiler (Jan 25, 2011)

I thought I'd share some of my experiences with a new Windows machine with you:

I used to work on a 6 year old, 1 core, 4GB XP system with good old SCSCI drives in it. I bought myself a new PC before christmas, and I wanted it to be a very good performer. The system is configured as follows:


Intel I7 980X Extreme CPU, 6 cores, 3.33GHz
24GB RAM
3ware 9650SE 8 port RAID controller
4 WD VelociRaptor 10'000 rpm 600GB HDDs in a RAID 10 Array (2 RAID 0 pairs in a RAID 1)
1 Kingston SV100 256GB SSD
ASUS EAH4870 Video Card
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit
Originally, I was planning on having SSDs only, but I also wanted all my non-volatile data in a RAID 1 mirror. But, because there are no RAID controllers which support TRIM yet, I had to let go the idea of an SSD RAID1 array and take the (fast) spinning VelociRaptors instead.

I keep my catalog and the previews on the VelociRaptors, ACR Cache, PSE Cache and Windows Swapfile (which is rarely used) on the SSD. My original images reside mostly on a (still) slow NAS, some on local HDD.

I am really amazed how LR performs on this machine.
 Examples when working with 21MP 5DMkII Raw images, with originals on my internals:


Export at 100%, no resizing: ca. 2.5-3.0 sec/image
(all processors are active at this point of time)
Develop, moving from one image to another:
1-2 sec until sliders are free, ca. 1 second more until "Loading" overlay disappears.
With images recently visited, it's almost instantaneous (< 0.5 sec.)
Library, scrolling Grid: At any speed with no noticable delay
Library/Develop, going to 1:1 view (with only standard previews rendered): ca. 1-2 secs. until finished
Another nice side effect: Saving my entire system (approx. 200GB) to an USB drive took me ca. 12 hours before. Now, with the new system and USB 3.0 it is finished in 3.5 hours.

Also, the assembler I chose to build the system is specialized in building low-noise PCs. Although I told him that noise (in a PC, not on my photos ) is not of my concern, but performance would be important, he built a system which I can barely hear, even with the four 10'000rpm drives in it. He uses rubber mounting for HDDs, low noise fans, PSUs and such. Really nice indeed! 

Beat


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## Mark Sirota (Jan 25, 2011)

Beat, how much RAM do you find in use at peak times?  How big do you set your Camera Raw cache?  Have you considered putting anything (Camera Raw cache, PSE cache perhaps) on a memory-backed filesystem instead of on the SSD?  I'd be curious whether the difference is notable.


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## b_gossweiler (Jan 25, 2011)

Mark,

1) So far I haven't seen more memory usage by LR than 2GB, but I haven't done heavy editing lately. I wonder which LR functions would use the most memory?

2) My ACR Cache is at 50GB, which corresponds to about 3'000 average sized files

3) No, I haven't tried putting anything on a memory-backed filesystem, as I'm so happy with how it is running

Regarding memory: I didn't buy 24GB because I thought I would need it, but because - compared to the total price of the system - maxing out memory was such a small amount so I didn't want to mess with anything else.

Beat


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