XnView Software

I'm updating my computer. What are the most important specs for fast viewing/browsing?

I think the most important factor is fast file access and fast file input, i.e. fast access and reading of thumbnail cache and fast access to image files that you want to view and folders that you browse. For this, an SDD (solid state drive) is much superior to HDD (hard disk drives). Apart from that I see no real hardware requirement - fast browsing and viewing images should work well on any hardware.

Thanks for that helmut!

Unfortunately I can only afford an SDD for my system drive, not all my data drives. So all my photos are on HDD at the moment.

Also, I don't use thumbnail caching, for 5 reasons:

1. Mainly because I change my folder structure / drive letters fairly regularly, so it would all need to be re-generated. This could result in large thumbnail files full of useless outdated directories.

2. I like to change thumbnail size sometimes, which means thumbnails would need to be re-generated.

3. Old folders of images would have cached thumbnails and display quickly, but newly added folders would still be slow while the thumbnails were generated. I don't like the inconsistency of some being fast and some being slow. And it's the newer images that matter the most.

4. Also there's privacy. For example if I took some private photos, moved or deleted them, their thumbs could remain in the cache forever!

5. I really just like the idea of everything being generated in real time, even if that is a little slower. It means I don't have the complication of thinking about thumbnail caches.

Thank you for your reply, Lee James. Thumbnail caching is essential for fast browsing but I understand your issues that keep you from thumbnail caching.

Best way to speed up things in your case using those thumbnails embedded as metadata in your image files. This way only a small part of your images must be read for displaying a thumbnail in XnView browser. Using embedded thumbnails is activated in XnView by default - so no need to change a setting (menu "Tools > Settings" | .category "Browser > Thumbnail" | tab "Misc", setting "Use embedded thumbnail").

An alternative would be thumbnails stored as companion files on your data drives but for all I know, XnView MP doesn't support companion thumbnails.

Related topic(s):
- Embed Metadata into Image File