CS4 - how to get 64-bit install on XP x64?

With Lightroom 2 there was a simple setup 64 folder, but I can't seem to find one for CS4. I realize all my plugins will not work (Noiseware, Portraiture, etc.), but I would like to give the speed a try, and I have 8 GB of RAM that is dying to be used.

I really am avoiding Vista as long as I can...

The Wedding Shooter said:

With Lightroom 2 there was a simple setup 64 folder, but I can't seem
to find one for CS4. I realize all my plugins will not work
(Noiseware, Portraiture, etc.), but I would like to give the speed a
try, and I have 8 GB of RAM that is dying to be used.

I really am avoiding Vista as long as I can...

Click to expand...

Adobe does not officially support Creative Suite 4 or any of its component programs on Windows XP 64-bit (The minimum configurations for CS4 and its applications are enumerated on Adobe's website - for example, Photoshop ). It does support the suite and the programs on Vista 64-bit versions (other than Home Basic). Note that except for Photoshop, all the CS4 applications are natively 32-bit and run in Vista 64-bit's 32-bit mode. Under Vista 64-bit, the Creative Suite 4 (and Photoshop 11) installers provide both the 64-bit version of Photoshop 11 (called by default when double clicking on images) and the 32-bit version of Photoshop 11. The 32-bit version is provided for compatibility with non-Adobe plug-ins that don't yet have 64-bit versions (sorry, there was no reasonable way to make the 32-bit plug-ins work with 64-bit Photoshop - the same problem will be seen with all applications from Adobe and everyone else as 64-bit executables become available).

Please be aware that the 64-bit version of Photoshop is not necessarily any faster than the 32-bit version except for any performance gain that you would achieve from the larger address space and less paging going on if you have adequate memory! (There is a common misperception that 64-bit in and of itself is "faster" than 32-bit - not true in most cases unless the program is optimized for 64-bit usage and takes advantage of the larger data paths, larger address spaces, and special 64-bit processing techniques.) You will probably see more performance gain from Photoshop's use of your graphics card's GPU (assuming you have a higher-end graphics card) than from the 64-bit improvements in Photoshop!

I know that you are probably not thrilled about the lack of support for XP 64-bit from Adobe given that you apparently have an XP 64-bit system up and running successfully. FWIW, I personally have been running Vista 64-bit very successfully both with the CS3 applications, Acrobat 9, and now the CS4 applications for over a half year without any real hitches. On my system, Vista 64-bit has been solid as a rock once Vista Service Pack 1 was available - the performance problems and other oddball anomalies are gone. And if you know what you doing in setting up and configuring your system, the annoyances such as UAC (User Account Control) can be totally eliminated. Vista in general seems to do a much better job than XP in efficiently managing CPU resources on multiple core and multiple processor systems (I have dual quad core Xeons on two of my Vista 64-bit systems). I do NOT recommend that Windows XP 32-bit users do Vista 32-bit upgrades; there just isn't that much if any benefit to such an "upgrade" if you are running an "up to date" XP configuration. But for 64-bit purposes, XP 64-bit was a quirky experiment compared to Vista 64-bit, especially when it comes to external device support, software installation, etc. - that along with the miniscule number of XP 64-bit users (due to those issues) caused Adobe to "pass" on ever supporting XP 64-bit.

• Dov (for Adobe Systems)

Can I get it working in XP x64. The work around install for Lightroom took all of 3 seconds, is there such a backdoor install for CS4?

I have two E8600 Core2Duo systems (clocked to 4 GHz) and running 8GB of RAM with XP x64 and the difference from 32 bit to 64 bit on Lightroom was massive. If I have to convert one of them to Vista I can - I already own a copy of the 64 bit Business Edition - just have been holding off...

I can't believe the lousy lack of 64 bit support from all software vendors - both application and driver support as well. If the entire pipeline was 64 bit (as it should have been 3 years ago) we would be in much better shape. As it stands, the hardware is being bottle-necked by old software and so we need greater processors to do what the developers are dragging their rears on.

Won't CS4 install at all on Win XP 64?

It's interesting that Dov (from Adobe) does not appear to have actually had a WinXP 64bit system and is just repeating negative stuff he has heard about XP 64bit.

In some respects he is right, when XP 64bit was first released, there was a scarcity of drivers and therefore it was a headache. However, XP 64 was based on Windows Server 2003 and was and is robust and very stable. After 6-8 months things were quite different and PShop CS3 ran far better on my XP 64bit machine which had 8Gb than on any other machine I have ever used up to that time. Since I build, upgrade and troublehsoot and setup computers for a living, I easily have hands-on experience with a lot more computers in 6 months than the average computer user in 6 years. This includes, all the major and minor brands as well as custom built machines.

Interesting to hear from Dov's story that Vista 64bit was stable primarily AFTER the SP1 update.

There is absolutely no problem installing CS4 on Win XP 64bit. Look here:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1004&message=29698343

and be sure to look at this later post too:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1004&message=29724537

Alas, you will almost certainly have problems getting the GPU feature to work.

Other than the GPU problem, which is a pretty big problem, CS4 works fine.

Unless I am able to find a solution to the WinXP 64bit GPU problem, I have to agree w Dov, that anyone planning on getting a new computer for CS4 work should get it with Vista 64bit and with at least 8Gb of RAM, and be sure to get one of the Adobe tested video cards preferably with 512Mb RAM.

Finally a comment about Photoshop CS4 32 bit vs 64 bit speed. Dov, is of course, quite correct in stating that 64 bit does not mean faster processing speed than with 32 bits, however, when people talk about a program like Photoshop operating faster, they are talking about how fast you can move, manipulate and process (filter, sharpen, warp, etc.) large multi layered files. So, if you have sufficient memory the 64bit OS which allows more RAM than something under 4Gb, and the 64bit CS4 lets you do your work faster -as long as the processing speed is primarily limited by RAM (rather than HD speed, or just CPU speed). I think most people equate that w speed.

Hope this helps,

Dan

Dan Tong said:

It's interesting that Dov (from Adobe) does not appear to have
actually had a WinXP 64bit system and is just repeating negative
stuff he has heard about XP 64bit.
...

Click to expand...

Actually, although I do not (and did not ever) personally have an XP 64-bit system, others working close to me did have such systems and I am personally aware of some serious incompatibility problems that were experienced by these users with drivers (including the PSCRIPT5.DLL PostScript driver), Adobe applications, and other applications. (Had their experiences been positive, I would indeed have setup a 64-bit XP system at least two to three years back!) Yes, XP 64-bit has a Windows Server 2003 legacy, but then again, Windows Server 2003 was not a particularly desktop application friendly environment. Our internal experience within Adobe (and that of other CS users that I know from outside of Adobe) is that Vista 64-bit SP1 is much more "ready for prime time desktop use" than XP 64-bit.

My posting was certainly not to bash XP 64-bit and I am certainly glad to hear that users who have wanted to install CS4 have been successful minus GPU support, something that is fairly important for Photoshop 11 (as well as for Acrobat 9). However, be aware that Adobe does not officially support XP 64-bit and that we will not provide complimentary installation technical support for that platform. Use of XP 64-bit is not blocked by Adobe applications, but its use is at your own risk and is not recommended.

• Dov

Folks,

I use XP 64 bit as my primary desktop since it's introduction. I actually have two computers with it as only OS installed. Both are 2-socket Opteron boxes (first one is a 4 year old one with Tyan S2895 + Nvidia7800 and 8GB RAM, and the new one is TyanS2915-E + ATI3700 with 16GB RAM). Both have hardware RAID from 3ware (9550SXU and 9650SE). I mostly use EIZO monitor, and Eye-One 2 calibrator. I never had problems finding drivers for it (but I do not use Wacom tablets, and do not know about their compatibility). I reboot both boxes only when software updates ask me to do. The only issue I have was introduced by Canon recently, when the new installer for EOS Utility rejects to install. However, after some workarounds, EOS Utility itself works fine.

I am very lucky i decided on XP 64 bit instead of Vista 64 for the new desktop for the only reason: 3ware did not have Vista drivers for their RAID controllers at the time.

In comparison, my 1 year old Toshiba Qosmio notebook with 4GB RAM and dual 7200RPM drives has 32-bit Vista Ultimate. If you believe, I am worried about UIC or exotic driver incompatibility, you are plain wrong. I am nuts because it is slow and buggy. Power management is terrible, slow and unstable, applications (including antivirus) fail to start without explanation and able to resume only after reboot, some directories access becomes disabled incidentally, and requires reboot to be restored, the language panel disappears and I can not change input languages until I restore it through Control panel, etc, etc. even putting my laptop to sleep can take few minutes, and every 3rd or 4th time it hangs.

I am software developer since 1985, I used to fix puchcards and punchtapes with scalpel when our punching machine was in bad mood, I remember programming for OS/360, PDP-11, MS-DOS 3, and trust me, Vista is the worst software nightmare I've ever faced in my life.
--
Vlad

Correction: the new box has ATI3870 GPU.
--
Vlad

Good news is that Slim_W got the GPU accelleration working with Win XP 64 bit and after installing the very latest video driver for my FireGL V-3600 and using the Adobe Registry switch so did I.

You can find the detailed info if you look at my posts on this topic.

Dan