Does upgrading your PC make much of a difference to Lightroom ?

mikeyw

mikeyw

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Yes
I'm using a Dell Optiplex 7010 with an i5 processor and 16GB of RAM which is the max, video card is Nvidia GT1030 and has an SSD drive

Whilst using Lightroom i'm finding it can be sluggish and starting to get hangs while it catches up with itself. If i'm processing a large shoot this can have a big effect on time taken to edit. Even if i save just 10 secs per image on a 300 photo job that's nearly an hour back and the reduced frustration.

I was thinking of moving to a decent i7 with 32GB of RAM. Would this make a noticeable improvement or am i going through the hassle of migrating to a newer PC for not massive gains.

I believe the amount of RAM and the slowish CPU is the bottleneck. I'd consider an i9 but prices seem very high still.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards,
Mike.
 
I think I recall that in the days of LR perpetual license, it was advised to be careful how much ram (as in too much) you allocated in LR preferences.

So as a stopgap......what are current recommendations for LR preferences setup?
 
Also YES.
HOWEVER,

Not all processors (CPU's) are the same - dual core / quad core.
Not all SSD drives are the same. This is also have a major impact,
The RAM will also have an effect on the speed.
 
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Thanks all - couldn't see anything about ram allocation in LR settings ? 1656610185067.png
 
Definitely does, if I remember correctly , processor, decent amount of ram (16gb with lower CL) have the most effect. Then there is also ssd that should be a standard nowadays - even better the higher speed it is
 
I do feel i5 is a bit long in the tooth now and LR really needs 32GB if possible. It's one greedy monster and just eats resource.
 
It depends where the holdups are.

Processor is the best known bottleneck when actually processing, causing delays in brushwork and spot removal, plus slow export. If the delay is in opening images then using a faster ssd jcan help quite a bit.

Generally upgrading speeds up a lot of things, and can be very helpful. I went from a quad core 4th gen i7 to an 8 core AMD, ssd to nvme, 16 to 32gb ram and everything got a lot faster. Don't bother with a super graphics card, because LR won't use it.
 
I have a quad core i7 and 16Gb Ram and a reasonable Graphics card (GeForce GT640). This combination was fine 7-8 years ago but is very sluggish now. In fact some of my software which needs Graphics card enhancement, rejects my GT640. I would buy a new PC tomorrow but for two things:

a. the current shortage of chips
b. the enormous hassle of changing PC where it will be weeks before I am fully running on the new PC.

I will also get a solid state C: drive next time as well. I was put off this 8 years ago as I had doubts about long term reliability but they proved to have similar reliability to HDD's.

Dave
 
Dave Canon said:
I have a quad core i7 and 16Gb Ram and a reasonable Graphics card (GeForce GT640). This combination was fine 7-8 years ago but is very sluggish now. In fact some of my software which needs Graphics card enhancement, rejects my GT640. I would buy a new PC tomorrow but for two things:

a. the current shortage of chips
b. the enormous hassle of changing PC where it will be weeks before I am fully running on the new PC.

I will also get a solid state C: drive next time as well. I was put off this 8 years ago as I had doubts about long term reliability but they proved to have similar reliability to HDD's.

Dave
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If you can find a GTX 1050Ti 4GB (as did a 2-3 years back) and handles Topaz AI, DxO PL deep prime AOK.....maybe not the racehorse but fairly quick. Or a GTX 16xx series. In either case not, hopefully, silly money!
 
Box Brownie said:
If you can find a GTX 1050Ti 4GB (as did a 2-3 years back) and handles Topaz AI, DxO PL deep prime AOK.....maybe not the racehorse but fairly quick. Or a GTX 16xx series. In either case not, hopefully, silly money!
Click to expand...

Thanks - would changing the graphics card make much difference to me ?
 
mikeyw said:
Thanks - would changing the graphics card make much difference to me ?
Click to expand...
Not for lightroom. Indeed their graphics card accelerated mode is too buggy so I just turn it off.
 
mikeyw said:
Thanks - would changing the graphics card make much difference to me ?
Click to expand...
For me it did.

I was using a GTX 610 card and when I switched to Olympus and DxO PL3 I needed to update the GPU to get the best benefits of software that made use of the GPU.

Actually thinking about it........I might have updated the GPU before that so that Topaz Gigapixel would run :thinking:

Either way I did and do see the benefits and my GTX 1050Ti is only just in the 'recommended' spec for Topaz AI software.

The future of many types of software will use the GPU more than in the past. The price of higher level GPU's is horrifying but that IMO was and is driven by the demand in the gaming computer market!
 
Brazo said:
Not for lightroom. Indeed their graphics card accelerated mode is too buggy so I just turn it off.
Click to expand...
Interesting that one of the bigger(if not the biggest) player in the graphics art & photo editing software world has not got that aspect sorted out by now!
 
Box Brownie said:
Interesting that one of the bigger(if not the biggest) player in the graphics art & photo editing software world has not got that aspect sorted out by now!
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I have a RTX 3080 so would love to use it but it’s auto crash if I enable it!
 
I still live with an 'old' HP touchsmart i3 with a 6GB graphics card. Wasn't a problem when I then owned a D3, D7100 and K3.

More recently I have moved to D500, D810 and K-1. LR Classic (Adobe CC version) doesn't struggle with the images from these cameras but Photoshop does, especially when I start using the plug-ins. And what do I buy? Yes, a D850! Where my computer often struggles is when keywording in Bridge, no problem adding metadata to the Raw files but boy does it struggle on JPEGS....

Now, saving for an i7 machine, just debating which one....
 
Box Brownie said:
Interesting that one of the bigger(if not the biggest) player in the graphics art & photo editing software world has not got that aspect sorted out by now!
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To be fair the drivers I use are gaming drivers and the card is a gaming card.

All that said Nvidia do offer ‘productivity’drivers for the card which are like a really old but stable driver and I haven’t tried those.
 
Brazo said:
To be fair the drivers I use are gaming drivers and the card is a gaming card.

All that said Nvidia do offer ‘productivity’drivers for the card which are like a really old but stable driver and I haven’t tried those.
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A good point about nVidia drivers.

I, because I have zero interest in PC games, always use the Studio Driver as was advised by Topaz (and others?) so perhaps the Gaming Driver just might(?) be contributing to the cause of LR crashing???
 
Box Brownie said:
A good point about nVidia drivers.

I, because I have zero interest in PC games, always use the Studio Driver as was advised by Topaz (and others?) so perhaps the Gaming Driver just might(?) be contributing to the cause of LR crashing???
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It may well be.
 
32GB is absolute min today. I am still getting crazy high caching. I am really itching to upgrade to 64GB but have second thoughts if I should instead look for DDR5 system altogether
 
LongLensPhotography said:
32GB is absolute min today. I am still getting crazy high caching. I am really itching to upgrade to 64GB but have second thoughts if I should instead look for DDR5 system altogether
Click to expand...

DDR5 still seems a year or so away, more so before the MoBo's come on stream that really utilise it - and you need RAM now.

Just stick some more in and be done.

There's never a good time to buy a new PC/Mac or camera etc
 
SFTPhotography said:
DDR5 still seems a year or so away, more so before the MoBo's come on stream that really utilise it - and you need RAM now.

Just stick some more in and be done.

There's never a good time to buy a new PC/Mac or camera etc
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Intel 12th gen with DDR5 is widely available today from all major retailers. I fear money spent on DDR4 and AM4 socket are money poured down the drain.
 
Box Brownie said:
Perhaps try the non gaming driver to see the effect.....?
Click to expand...
I did google before I posted my original comment and it seems that the studio drivers do work but I currently use my pc more for flight simmming than LR but may well try them on my laptop!
 
mikeyw said:
I'm using a Dell Optiplex 7010 with an i5 processor and 16GB of RAM which is the max, video card is Nvidia GT1030 and has an SSD drive

Whilst using Lightroom i'm finding it can be sluggish and starting to get hangs while it catches up with itself. If i'm processing a large shoot this can have a big effect on time taken to edit. Even if i save just 10 secs per image on a 300 photo job that's nearly an hour back and the reduced frustration.

I was thinking of moving to a decent i7 with 32GB of RAM. Would this make a noticeable improvement or am i going through the hassle of migrating to a newer PC for not massive gains.

I believe the amount of RAM and the slowish CPU is the bottleneck. I'd consider an i9 but prices seem very high still.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards,
Mike.
Click to expand...


Never automatically assume it is always the hardware that is a problem.

First, always consider doing "housework" on your computer. Including opening it, and cleaning out the dust. Plus use software tools to sort out your hard drive. Do you realise that our hard drives can get clogged up with junk files, like temporary files, left over files after uninstalling software you no longer use, messed up system settings, etc. They hog system resources like RAM, and they slow down the computer.

Second, check how much photos you have. If it's way too much, then consider the idea of splitting them up into different Catalogs. Different Lightroom users suggest different options, some suggest a maximum of 50,000 photos per Catalog, even when there is no actual maximum limit, to help ease the problems. Some suggest 75K, others suggest 100K, each to their own options.

Some suggestions are: If you're a wedding photographer, then one Catalog for all commissioned wedding photos, another Catalog for other photos (ie: your own general photos), Or if you're a sports photographer, how about one Catalog for football, one for cricket, and one for motor racing. Anything like that, instead of cramming all the photos into one Catalog. The more there is in one Catalog, the more Lightroom gets sluggish.

You can be surprised to find that doing few things like that sometimes fix the problem. If you try anything you can think of, and it's all not working, then as a final restore, consider upgrading.

Even if you upgrade to a new computer, you must remember that in future, the more photos you add to Lightroom, there will be a chance that Lightroom will get sluggish again.
 
You can use system performance/taskmanager? I forget, its been a long time since I've used windows and watch what is getting maxed out eg storage, RAM, CPU power etc.

However, It's pretty easy to build your own system nowadays.

A little bit of time on research of components/value for money, can get a great reliable system for years to come.

You can choose cooling fans/case to adjust for the noise level you are willing to go to etc.

A midrange processor, good amount of ram and storage, is often the best value proposition. Something that can be upgraded to a higher end part in the future if needed, whilst allowing you to spec up or down a little if deals are found on sale.

Always bare in mind the cost of any software licensing you need , eg OS, Editing packages etc as well.
 
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