Biggest bonus is going to be RAM, as others have mentioned.  But, that also means going up to a 64Bit OS.

I have Vista 64 on this machine, which I built up nearly 5 years ago (at the time 1080p video editing was the focus).  8GB RAM, quad core 2.5Ghz processor, and it still runs plenty fast for Photoshop, even with 105MP medium format film scans (unless I start adding a whole bunch of layers and smart objects).

Kaouthia wrote:
Biggest bonus is going to be RAM, as others have mentioned.  But, that also means going up to a 64Bit OS.

I have Vista 64 on this machine, which I built up nearly 5 years ago.  8GB RAM, quad core 2.5Ghz processor, and it still runs plenty fast for Photoshop, even with 105MP medium format film scans.

As Kaouthia so wisely pointed out, the important part I have put in bold, otherwise you are wasting time, effort and money!

at the same time look for clearances at the relevant retail chains. Here it would be Best Buy or Staples.  No clue what it would be down under.  The chains use automated pricing algorithms and 'clear' out stuff that is 6 months old (or less) that is not moving as fast or has been replaced by a newer model.  When you compare the price of Windows 7 retail and RAM and an SSD you might find you get it all 'free' with a clearance unit. the clearance units are all current kit, so the processor isnt shabby at all.

You would be hard pushed to find a current CPU that was 32-bit.

I run CS5 and use the same camera. My PC was 6Gb 64-bit on an 8-core i7 CPU.
Pretty decent spec.
And yet saving files could take around 5 minutes per photo. And forget about having several images open at the same time!
Now I maxed out the board with 24Gb and I get more like good performance. It's pretty sweet.
From my experience I wouldn't even think about upgrading to CS6. Adobe is notorious for outlandish bloatware. I can't think of software that has more inefficient code and such a bizarre mix of unevenly upgraded modules (radial blur - WTF is that 1986 design ?!).
But we're not here to bitch about Adobe.
The bottom line is that you will need to put in some serious money into a machine that will run CS6 well.
Do it on Windows 7 or 8 64-bit and upagrade in stages. Start with less RAM. You can usually sell it again on eBay to make room for more.

The OP did not say how old his system was and based on the statement he's running Vista, you might want to think about your Posting.  You should note that many systems still had 32 bit CPUs just 6 years ago. Do some research and read his initial posting before making your statements.

For example, the Pentium 4 is a 32 bit processor.

If you increase your ram it will help but you'll also have to upgrade your os to a 64 bit system to fully use it. Your processor also matters. And your hard drive. And your video card... Etc.
In my experience editing Canon 5d3 raw files in photoshop if you want to go fast you need a modern quad core computer.

I run a dual core 3.2ghz 12GB of ram. I have a D800 and cs6 runs fine on it. I've retouched medium format files on it for years.

Minimum spec for photoshop isn't all that great. Mainly get the fastest clock speed and stuff buncha RAM in it. Having 8 cores won't do much because photoshop is mostly sequential processes, little is done in parallel. Maybe if you do alot of batching.

I don't feel SSDs make a big difference in performance. Programs will open really fast, but unless you put your image files on the SSD you won't get much benefit. I usually work off my storage drives which are WD black drives.

It is indeed a 32-bit processor. Almost 4 years old from recollection.

Drew Smith Photography wrote:
It's a 'TRAP!'

They lull you and entice you in with PS Elements to process your puny JPegs, then you upgrade your camera and start shooting raw and ... wtf? Elements is running through treacle, so you buy the full version PS creative suite and run CCleaner through your PC.

Burt now your PC is crawling on it's hands and knees and wheezing like an asthmatic carrying some very heavy shopping.

Random Access Memory is your friend here and yes, Windows 7 (which will bring unto you it's own 'joys'.)

Recently went through this whole upgrade process and probably will do again in the not too distant future. It's 'fun' as long as you don't weaken.

Haha, no doubt it is a trap!

Thanks everyone for your input ... I am weighing up my options.

Drew Smith Photography wrote:
It's a 'TRAP!'

Heh, so true. I seem to get stuck in it every 3-4 years. Videoguys have good recommendations for video editing, good systems for photo editing as well.

https://www.videoguys.com/Guide/E/Video … 3a6c6.aspx

I have the equivalent of the DIY9 but with 24GB RAM, SSD, 28" monitors.

64bit pentium 4 came out in 2004, vista was released in 2007. Unless you upgraded to vista or bought a custom built computer with very old parts, most likely you can support 64bit OS

PC???

PC!!!!!

Here is the much better solution than Photoshop:  ACDSee Pro 6 it is smaller, faster, easier and cheaper than PS.

The only thing you can't do is cut and paste of objects from one image into another... if you don't use gimmicks like that... that's the best program.

Using it for years (2005)!



P.S.: For the curious Mac users... don't bother... my buddy downloaded the Mac Version and it's bare bone... not worth it! Doesn't come even remotely close to the power of the PC version.

The first 64 bit Pentium's were released in 2005, not 2004. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_In … chitecture

And as noted machines like the Dell D610 we released in 2005 and 2006 and used 32-bit processors.  The fact is a lot of 32 bit machines were sold thru 2008 as many still could not afford the top-end CPU's (note that very few people ran a 64 bit version of XP).

if you really must be pedantic about it
http://ark.intel.com/products/27468/Int … 00-MHz-FSB

around the time of vista the Core2 was pretty common, even the single cores were still 64-bit capable. It's possible to find 32bit processor but the likelyhood coming from a box store is pretty low.