# Sublijet IQ PowerDriver System Requirements



## Cjoe Design (Jun 3, 2008)

I just got my 4880 today with the 8 color Sublijet PowerDriver XG. I was planning on getting a new computer this weekend for the system. The PowerDriver XG manual lists minimum hardware requirements at Pentium 4 3.0 GHz with a gig of system memory. That's right around what I was going to get but I thought that was going to be way over what I was going to need. Now it looks like I am just squeeking by. is this setup that power hungry? Is this due to the 8 color management? 

I want to be sure to get the right PC to run smoothly. What is everybody running their 4880 Sublijet on?????????


----------



## MVP J (Aug 29, 2007)

Great question, I was wondering about that too. Hope we get some answers!


----------



## jpkevin (Oct 22, 2007)

RAM is the important part you should look at. 1 Gig is the minimum required, but more is better. I would personally get as much RAM as you can afford. You won't regret it. 1 Gig of Ram is not a whole lot these days. Graphics programs as well as Operating Systems and just about any program seem to use more and more memory.


----------



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

aside from core ram, you should also look at video memory. we put a separate video card with a ton or dedicated memory in our desktop and it outperforms our laptop with its own dedicated memory by at least 10X.


----------



## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

I would agree with Fred and Kevin. New computers will probably come with MS Vista and 1 gig ram is barely adequate. 2 gig is a minimum I would use. and if you don't have a separate graphics card, any graphics ram usage is shared with the center ram...so...cards are not expensive...get one put in


----------



## Dingbat (Jun 12, 2007)

Just a note, but PowerDriver has not been released for MS Vista yet. I've been waiting as I have switched everything else over to a humongous Vista machine. I still have to keep an older XP unit to drive my epson 4800 with Sublijet IQ Power Driver.


----------



## Cjoe Design (Jun 3, 2008)

Thanks for the heads up on Ram! Ram! Ram! and Beefy Video Card, I will go heavy on that. I leave on vacation Tomorrow and plan on getting the computer while away. I live in a small resort town 100 miles from the nearest McDonald's let alone a Computer Store. So I need to do this right the first time.

Now I have the 4880 and in the "Epson Stylus Pro 4880 SublijetIQ Getting Started Guide" is says Minimum Requirements: Windows XP/Vista. I am banking on this info being correct.


----------



## levelbest (Mar 12, 2007)

I have a 4880 Hybrid and can tell you that the vista driver is far from perfect.

Right now, everytime I print out of illustrator, the print spooler craps out. You have to then restart it and printing continues. Sawgrass confirmed this is a known issue and they are working on an improved driver. Right now, the driver is ver 1.0 and there is room for improvement.

It does print though - after the spooler kicks back in.

Also, I can't get my printer to cut after every print when printing from a roll. If i tell it to do 10 prints, it only cuts after all 10 have gone.

There are also some quirks in how the ink levels are shown and the error messages about inserting non OEM carts. Apparently Epson is making things tough for 3rd parties.

Anyway, if you have any questions, I'll do my best to try to answer. After dealing with an "air bubble" in the line tonite - two head cleans and finally a power clean before things came back online with one of my cyan carts - I'm ready to give advice 

BTW, we have 3GB of ram in the machine we use - and the confusion is Sawgrass has NO PLANS to release a driver for vista on the 4800. I was told that flat out - which is why we waited on the 4880 to be released.


----------



## Daniel Slatkin (Jun 25, 2008)

I am having the same driver problem. Butt I have had some success by clicking on the properties tab of the program you are printing from and telling the system to run it in xp compatibility mode. Now I only have to restart 20% of the time not 100% of the time. Hope This helps other poor vista owners, things are getting better my microsoft help guy tells me I actually have the fifteenth registered copy of vista ultimate so when I first got it nothing 3rd party worked now the sawgrass problem is the only one I have.


----------



## levelbest (Mar 12, 2007)

I actually put a shortcut to the Services portion of Vista so I could quickly get to the area where I restart the spool. I'm just happy it works - even if a little conviluted.

How the heck do you tell which ink is running out though???


----------



## Cjoe Design (Jun 3, 2008)

I am having this same spooler problem and I don't understand how to reset the print spooler in Vista. Infact when I type spooler in Vista help it does not even come up


----------



## cochise (Nov 12, 2007)

I failed to read the fine print when purchasing Sublijet ink, their so called IC profile and an Epson 1800 with the CIS. I tried to use the system with Windows Vista. I have scrapped all of that for ArTainium ink and refillable cartridges. ArTainium uses my Adobe CS3 and the provided color reference just fine with Vista. Using an auto print software keeps the heads flowing and does not waste nearly as much ink as a cleaning.


----------



## Davidramsey03 (Aug 5, 2008)

Hi guys. Something I've been doing with the 4880 hybrid is I've disabled print spooling and am printing directly to the printer. If you right click on the powerdriver, and choose properties, under advanced you can choose "print directly to the printer". The computer will "lock up" while it's printing, but will free up again as the print finishes. It's a trade off, but I don't have any errors, or have to restart anything now. Just a tip.


----------



## Cjoe Design (Jun 3, 2008)

Thanks david, I will definately give that a try


----------



## willjav (Sep 5, 2008)

Cjoe Design said:


> Thanks david, I will definately give that a try


I am new to all of this. I am thinking of purchasing a 4880 and wanted to know if there is anybody out there using the Hybrid system on the Apple? 

Thank you in advance!


----------



## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

As far as I know, there are no hybrid software programs out their to run on a Mac natively. We plan on working on this during the 1st quarter of 2009 (but no timetable is set for when it will be finished). There are several people that have split the Mac computer into Mac and Windows running bootcamp and run the hybrid software this way. The only negative about this setup is you would do all your designing on the Mac side and then have to shut it down... open the Windows side and then print from there. The jury is still out on programs like Parallels that allow you to run both at the same time. There tends to be some communication problems when sending items to a printer with Parallels.

Hope this helps.

Mark


----------



## willjav (Sep 5, 2008)

Thanks Mark!
I have a few other questions based on reading posts on the 4880 hybrid system. It seems to me that everyone is having the same problem with the heads clogging. I plan on using the printer once, twice every two weeks. It seems you need to run the printer everyday. I read a post that detailed ink consumptions: Power Cleanings 80ML, Nozzle Checks 5 to 6ML. If you don't use the printer in two weeks, will the print heads be clogged using the hybrid systems? Shelling out $1,200.00 dollars for inks and when you use it you have commit to cleaning the heads and that consumes 80ML out of a 110ML cartridge makes no sense to me. I need a system that can print Sublimation & Chromablast inks and won't clog if left unused for a couple of weeks. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!


----------



## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Are you printing onsite (i.e. printing at events, fairs, tourneys,...) or would it be possible to outsource the printing of the sublimation transfers? I ask because if you only print once every two weeks... clogged nozzles would be expected on a 48X0 or larger. If you go with a smaller printer and a bulk feed system, expect the nozzles to clog in 4 days or so depending on the humidity and temperature the printer is stored in. If you are doing onsite printing or can't outsource the printing to another company due to time, then you will want to look at a program like Printer Jockey (www.printerjockey.com) that has a Timed Print feature. What these type programs do is they automatically print a test pattern out of your printer based on a schedule you choose. This helps keep the ink flowing and not clogging in the nozzles. Here is a video of how to set this feature up in printer jockey - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJy4HuRQZxM. 

The real problem with the nozzles clogging is that the dye sub ink is thicker than the OEM ink. So it clogs in the print head faster. You need to make sure that you adjust your pricing to help cover any maintenance cost (including wasted ink) that you might have to do. Hope this helps.

Mark


----------



## Cjoe Design (Jun 3, 2008)

Will,

aI had some clogging on my 4880 so I purchased Printer Jockey, It eliminated all my clogs except for one that turned out to be a bad nozzle. I can say for 3 months I never had any clogs in the other 7 heads that were not faulty. Printer Jockey just runs a print pattern of your choice at whatever time you want. I chose 2:00am that way I was safe in bed and not in the middle of a job. This kept me getting perfect nozzle checks for months except for the blue channel which proved to be a printer problem not caused by clogging.


----------



## buckcreek (Aug 13, 2007)

I have been trying to install the sublijet power driver on my laptop which has Vista. I read your June post and you were waiting for it to be released, do you know if that has happened yet? I can't get it to work.


----------

