Mobo and chipset for pro photographer ?

You got a laptop with a Prescott? In that case, I can't make a good recommendation for you, because you lack even the most basic judgement when it comes to computer hardware. Sorry.

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

So please elaborate on why it was a bad choice ?

Not to steal Crash's thunder but...
Prescotts have huge power requirements and high heat issues. You'll find that you have very short battery life and a hot laptop. A little research before getting the laptop would have identified the Prescott issue.

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Have you read the FAQ? Looked for previous posts on this topic?

It seems like this is exactly the type of person that could use your expertise.

He made a bad decision. To prevent him from making future bad decisions someone needs to give him guidance/advice so he has the ability to make better decisions in the future.

your thinking wayyyyy too much, just get somthing simple if your just going to do photoshop stuff.

this is my boomstick!

He already has a P4 3.0, he's not going to get a significantly faster CPU, and overclocking would help a bit but not enough to make the board change worthwhile. If I had that combination of components:
1.) The Prescott is probably a desktop version
2.) The board is probably the Prescott compatable version
3.) From what he said, he probably has a Northwood 3.0

I'd verify that and swap processors, and put a Zalman CNPS7000 or 7700 in his desktop after the swap to keep that hunk of heat relatively cool. That swap could really help the laptop performance by reducing its need for thermal throttling and extending battery life.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

Well heres the scoop. I may not have been clear. My desktop w/3.0 is the one I was trying see if it could be upgraded with any signifigance, otherwise I'll leave it be.

I just mentioned the sager 4791 w/prescott as a side bar. This laptop will only be used plugged into ac, it is not a primary pc but to be used for location shooting, although its considered a desktop replacement, and running dvd slideshows for sales presentations. It will get some pshop use running actions and scripts and handling 47 meg file conversions on site..

So your idea to swap chips the 3.2 prescott to my desktop. I like that idea, I'm using a thermal take fan 5000 rpm, I'll assume a Zalman is a cooler...

see that ? I learned something....

The main reason I suggested the swap was due to thermal management: The Prescott is likely to run much of the time in a crippled state in the laptop, because when it gets hot it will clock itself down, and a laptop case doesn't provide ideal cooling. The laptop would likely perform better with the Northwood due to it's lower heat output, and the Prescott would likely perform better in the Desktop because you'd be able to use a large cooler.

But all that assumes you have a desktop CPU in the laptop (the most common P4 laptop configuration), and that your Intel motherboard is a new enough revision to support Prescott CPU's (most are).

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

And I think its a damned good idea..

I'm now cosidering building a brand new machine a notch above my current destop, again I'm a digital photographer...

What components would you recommend, dual, non dual, I'd want 4 gigs of ram, which brand chip, stick with intel ?
opterons, xeons

Thanks for your advice

If you want 4 gigs of RAM I'd go with an Athelon FX 55. At least a cpu with 64 bit adressing anyway. Most socket 939 boards of good brands support 4096 megs of ram.

You can of course also get a multi cpu system (think photoshop is multi threaded), 2 opterons 244 cost about the same as the FX-55. Problem of multi cpu systems is that you need an expensive mobo, expensive casing and expensive cooling.

Well, I have a thermaltake case full tower now, which I would install the mobo/chips. Dual would be what I'd want to do.

Why opterons over xeons ? or amd over intel and what else hardware wise can you recommend ?

One of my raw conversion programs is dual chip aware (besides pshop) and this is a good reason for a dual system

Opterons seem to be more popular than Xeons at the moment. People who buy hardware like dual systems normally choose performance instead of brand. Opteron workstations are very fast, most of the time a bit cheaper than an Intel solution and with Intel you would almost need an airconditioning with it to keep it cool (Xeons are very hot chips).

That's about all I know about dual core systems, the popularity of Opterons with professionals being my main argument.

Thanks ....