P650 too slow?

[chaoliang]

During film scanning the windows are rebuilt quite slowly if I switch between various programs. Is it beause the limited speed or memory of the graphics card or is it because of anything else?

[dwood]

I doubt is has anything to do with the P650.

What type of film scanner are you using, and with what scanning software? And how much system RAM?

I use an HP PhotoSmart S20, and it ran fine with a G400 in a P3-700 with 512MB RAM under Windows 98.

Sounds to me like you're running out of RAM, so Windows is using swap space instead. If you're saving large scans to the hard drive at the same time as trying to us the drive as memory, everything (including window graphic changes) will grind to a halt.

I wouldn't recommend anything less than 512MB system RAM if you're going to be doing lots of film/negative scanning.

[Mcollector]

To add to the above, what speed is your CPU (and brand/model)?

[az]

Seems like that Nikon scanning software is really quite bad. Does this also happen with SilverFast or other software?

AZ

[chaoliang]

It's a P4 2.4@3.06 with 1GB RAM. Windows XP. Nikon Super Coolscan 5000. I scan the images at 4000dpi, which produces an average image size of 120MB.
I compared the Nikon scanner software with other softwares as I had the Coolscan 2000 and 4000, with a much slower system and the G550. At least it was not so obvious like now with the 5000. But the scan process is not the only situation that forces the windows to change very slowly.
The Nikon software has some shortcomings. But it is the only software that can take advantage of the full functionality of the scanner. The quality of the scans is also better.

[Twilight]

My guess is the harddrive. If your scanner uses a USB2 or a Firewire connection, it's a lot of data you are transferring. And when you switch programs, Windows need to read from the harddrive which is very busy.

I have the same problem when I'm editing movies, and I don't think it has anything with the graphics card.

[chaoliang]

Originally posted by Twilight
My guess is the harddrive. If your scanner uses a USB2 or a Firewire connection, it's a lot of data you are transferring. And when you switch programs, Windows need to read from the harddrive which is very busy.

I have the same problem when I'm editing movies, and I don't think it has anything with the graphics card.

O yes. The scanner uses USB connection and there is really much activity on the hd if I switch between programs. And it's true that the CPU and RAM are not fully occupied. A similar phenomenon is, when activate the auto-hided quick-launch bar on the bottom of the screen resizing a big image in Photoshop, the quick-launch bar turns to fine lines instead of a plate with smooth colours.

[Mcollector]

You might need a 2nd HDD, ideally on a separate IDE channel from the OS/programs HDD. Or go to a 2nd HDD on a SCSI bus. Sounds like you are really thrashing the HDD. I agree with Twilight.

[chaoliang]

I have 3 HDDs. Two of them are driven by a SCSI-controller. Setting paging files on other physical HDs helps somewhat, but doesn't solve the problem completly.

[schmosef]

Nah, I think it's your P650. Better give it to me to spare yourself any further annoyance!

[areia]

I agree with the hd solution: I had several dual cpu machines with more than one hd and nothing of that kind happenned to me until the moment I was forced to upgrade (?) to a faster machine; one cpu and one hard drive - of course that happens because ide drives don't multithreat as well as scsi; also, one drive with and operating system and work with large files... it's normal what happens to you. The solution has been said: buy a second hd and use it to keep your files, pictures, movies, captured video, etc. Cpu speed isn't the only thing that matters.