Digital BW, The Print

Paul: I am also needing to upgrade the PC.  I have a P4 1.7 with 1.3gb RAM.
If XP assigns two gb to the app, then I guess anything over 3gb would not be
effective?  I see Dell offers a choice of two HDs or two in a RAID
configuration.  Can you point me to some info on the benefits of the RAID
array?  I would like to have one drive dedicated as the scratch disc for
Photoshop, and external HDs to store the RAW "negatives" (that are also
burned to DVD along with finished prints), unless I can do the same thing
better with multiple (more than two?) RAID drives.  I want to keep all the
RAW negatives on HDs in addition to DVDs, so I have some odds of not losing
anything until the next big thing arrives. Hope this makes some sense and
thx for any help.

Regards,

  --Ken Carney
    www.kencarney.com  

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul D. DeRocco [mailto:pderocco@...] 
> Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 4:23 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [Digital BW] computer horsepower ?
> 
> 
> > From: Djon [mailto:westsidemaurice@...]
> >
> > I'm becoming convinced that my main computer is too lite 
> for the task 
> > (scanning, PS, and especially Qimage).
> >
> > Sony Vaio Pentium IV 512MB 2.8G . And 2 external 120G HDs.
> >
> > Maybe the Mac G5 enthusiasts have a point.
> >
> > The next generation of scanners (in a year or two, after 
> Nikon V and 
> > 9000 and Minolta 5400) will demand a lot more horsepower.
> >
> > How much ram do you have on your XP machines?
> >
> > What's your setup, what are your plans?
> 
> I've got a 3.2GHz P4 with 3GB RAM and two internal 120GB 
> disks in a raid config. Windows will give up to 2GB to one 
> app, and use the rest for whatever else is going on, 
> including disk cache. It's useful for doing panos, which 
> involve large multi-layered files.