A new SFF? Advice much appreciated...

[netpcuser]

I have a Shuttle XPC SN95G5V3 with the following components:
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
- 2GB RAM
- XFX PV-T34K-NT GeForce FX 5200 128MB 64-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Low Profile
- 2 HD (160 GB, 750 GB)
- DVD-ROM drive
- Windows XP SP3

The PC is used mainly for the 2 ways
1) (all at the same time)
- complex animation creation in Adobe Flash
- photo creation/manipulation (jpg/png/psd) in Adobe Photoshop
- internet browsing (many tabs open)
- divx video watching
2)
- RAW file clean up in Adobe Photoshop
- internet browsing (many tabs open)

The performance of the current setup is OK. The Flash sometimes may hang a bit. I don't know if building another SFF system with a dual-core or quad-core will make things much faster. Any advice?

 

[gkay09]

Well any setup with a quad core will easily satisfy ur demands....

And if u want to improve the performance of the above then install another 2GB of ram, u will see a definite boost in the performance...

 

[netpcuser]

Well any setup with a quad core will easily satisfy ur demands....

And if u want to improve the performance of the above then install another 2GB of ram, u will see a definite boost in the performance...

How about just a dual-core? Is the performance increase not as noticeable?

Unfortunately, the max memory support for the current Shuttle is only 2 GB:-(

 

[gkay09]

Sad oly 2GB...
As for the dual core setup, ya it will be powerful but will nt give you multitasking performance as gud as a Quadcore...

 

[JohnnyLucky]

If you upgrade to a quad core system, then you would most likely see an improvement during image rendering.

 

[DiscoDuck]

Why do you want SFF? It seriously limits your options. I dont agree with much of a performance increase from 2 to 4g as posted above. Yes from 1-2, not so much from 2 to 4. Keep that money for a new system or do fewer windows at a time if it hangs.

 

[netpcuser]

Why do you want SFF? It seriously limits your options. I dont agree with much of a performance increase from 2 to 4g as posted above. Yes from 1-2, not so much from 2 to 4. Keep that money for a new system or do fewer windows at a time if it hangs.

This system is for my wife. She doesn't like a big machine on or near her desk. So the SFF is sitting on her desk with wires nicely tied, etc. The aesthetics of her working environment is very important. She is a creative type. For me, I have a big case that I can put 6 HD in it