RAW and RAM

Sloper

Sloper

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408
Name
Steve
Edit My Images
Yes
I've just started shooting in RAW and and have started having problems with my PC slowing right down when using Photoshop, and sometimes, when just viewing RAW files. Operations occasionally fail, with error messages informing me that there isn't enough memory.

Images from my D90 are around 10mb in size and I'm running Windows 7 with 2gb of RAM. Would you expect memory problems with this setup? Funds are a bit tight at the moment.. would another 2gb be enough (so 4gb in total) or is even more RAM necessary?
 
Should be OK - I was using a laptop PC last year with that amount of RAM... occasional hangs with Photoshop CS4 when batch-writing file info, but apart from that...
 
Bring up Task Manager (Cntrl+Alt+Del) to see what is hogging your PC's resources.

You may have too many other applications running in the background. If so close them down.
 
Norton anti virus is an application that slows things up - check task manager and if so try an alternative AV program. Unless your processor is an old SX or DX then your RAM should be ample.
 
Ta for the replies.

I use Spyware Doctor and processor is a dual core E5200. Only processes running that take up any significant resources are Photoshop and Firefox at the moment. The thing is I haven't had any problems until I started working on RAW files.

I think I'd better invest in another 2gb of Crucial RAM, although Mrs. Sloper won't appreciate it :nono:

Anyone else manage RAW files ok with just 2gb?
 
Windows 7 want's 1Gb ram just for the OS (2Gb for 64 bit). Photoshop also hogs ram, so I'd suggest doubling to 4Gb. It's quite a cheap upgrade.
 
Adobe say that CS5 requires 1GB of memory so it should run OK.

Your AVS could be a problem. Task Mgr may show it dormant but open a file and it probably jumps to life to check it out. The bigger the file the longer it will take.
Try coming offline and shutting down your AVS then see if Photoshop runs OK.
 
unless you are using a 64bit system then the computer won't use more than 3gb.


how much hard drive space have you got?


Sloper said:
I've just started shooting in RAW and and have started having problems with my PC slowing right down when using Photoshop, and sometimes, when just viewing RAW files. Operations occasionally fail, with error messages informing me that there isn't enough memory.

Images from my D90 are around 10mb in size and I'm running Windows 7 with 2gb of RAM. Would you expect memory problems with this setup? Funds are a bit tight at the moment.. would another 2gb be enough (so 4gb in total) or is even more RAM necessary?
Click to expand...
 
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POAH said:
unless you are using a 64bit system then the computer won't use more than 3gb.
Click to expand...

Yes you're right! I'd forgotten about the RAM limit. I used to have Win7 64 bit installed but became fed up with some programs and drivers not working, so changed back to 32 bit. I believe the system as it is can use up to 3.6 gb though, so installing another 2gb should still offer better memory performance?

POAH said:
how much hard drive space have you got?
Click to expand...

You're thinking of the swap file? I have 62gb free on my 292gb C: partition. Should be plenty?
 
POAH said:
unless you are using a 64bit system then the computer won't use more than 3gb.
Click to expand...

On windows XP,use the /3gb option in the boot.ini file to allocate 3Gb to the application and 1Gb to the OS to make the most of the 4Gb upgrade.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833721

Whilst photoshop CS4 & 5 suggest 1Gb ram, I do find after a while it slows down so it's best to stop and restart the app. so it suggests it eats memory.
Windows 7 64 bit, 8Gb ram and photoshop CS5/Lightroom 3 works well.
 
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is there such an option for vista or windows 7?

Byker28i said:
On windows XP,use the /3gb option in the boot.ini file to allocate 3Gb to the application and 1Gb to the OS to make the most of the 4Gb upgrade.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833721

Whilst photoshop CS4 & 5 suggest 1Gb ram, I do find after a while it slows down so it's best to stop and restart the app. so it suggests it eats memory.
Windows 7 64 bit, 8Gb ram and photoshop CS5/Lightroom 3 works well.
Click to expand...
 
I found in my settings on photoshop the other day, that it was set to use only 700MB of ram itself. This was under Edit->Preferences->Memory and scratch disks.
If it goes over this value, it then starts to swap out itself, which is an independent function to the OS memory swapping.
 
Working with raw file I'd say a minimum of 4gb but if you can stretch it and have a 64bit OS then 8gb would be the sweetspot.
 
I am working with RAW (started a couple of months ago), converting them to TIFF after, and I have Vista with 2GB of RAM, and it all works fine.
The hard disk is partitioned into 2 X 70GB, and one has all the space remaining, and the other has 25GB left.
Having worked with hundreds of PCs over the years, I think that it all comes down to make, luck and the processor.
 
If you have 2GB of RAM and Windows 7 needs 1GB and Photoshop needs 1GB then isn't that leaving very little room to play?

I'm sure when you open a file it requires many many times it's actual size on disk.
 
Looks that way. I have Photoshop open at the moment, but no files opened...

Capture.png
 
We have CS5 on an old dell with 2gb ram (xp pro) it works faultlessly with raw files from the d3 or 5D2, yes more is better but it should still run, I suspect theres something else using a lot of memory.
 
swanseamale47 said:
We have CS5 on an old dell with 2gb ram (xp pro) it works faultlessly with raw files from the d3 or 5D2, yes more is better but it should still run, I suspect theres something else using a lot of memory.
Click to expand...

I sure XP only needs 128MB to run though. Vista needed 512MB and Windows 7 needs 1GB. Don't quote me, just from memory. That would explain why 2GB on an XP machine will run smoothly.

Heaven help us when we reach Windows 10! lol
 
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Not sure if the old memory (hoho) is playing up, but i'm almost certain I used to run XP on an old machine with only 32mb ram in it! Didn't use Photoshop on it though!
 
gman said:
I sure XP only needs 128MB to run though. Vista needed 512MB and Windows 7 needs 1GB. Don't quote me, just from memory. That would explain why 2GB on an XP machine will run smoothly.
Click to expand...

These numbers are pretty accurate yeah.

I'd suggest at least 4gb for Win7, I tried the install with just 2GB when I built my computer but it left quite a few problems and the slowdown in PS and LR was noticable, 4GB is very quick for me.


Have you considered a cheeky 64GB SSD? can be had for as little as £90 for a nice Corsair one and can really boost performance too.

To put it in real world terms, with a SSD and 4GB ram, LR opens from scratch and displays my full catalog in less than 2 seconds, and the only process which seems to take any length of time is exporting to PSD from LR.

HTH,

Rich
 
Smoot said:
Have you considered a cheeky 64GB SSD? can be had for as little as £90 for a nice Corsair one and can really boost performance too.

To put it in real world terms, with a SSD and 4GB ram, LR opens from scratch and displays my full catalog in less than 2 seconds, and the only process which seems to take any length of time is exporting to PSD from LR.
Click to expand...


Wow, perhaps one day, when prices have dropped a bit. I was wondering, do you have your OS installed on these?
 
Yeah I do.

I keep only the essential programs on the SSD because of its small size (and relatively high price per GB)

At the moment I have Win7 / PS / Office / LR / Ffox installed on the SSD. Its 64GB in size and with these aforementioned app's I have 33GB free. 64GB should be enough for most people if you keep your app's tidy.

At the moment i'm keeping my LR catalog on the SSD and its lightning fast, but i'm keeping it small (only my current shoots)

£100 seems like a lot to spend for a tiny hard drive, but you'll really notice the difference.

Rich
 
I remember paying £130 for a 85 mb (yes, mb!) drive in the early 90s! Thanks for the info, I am very tempted, although an SSD wouldn't solve my memory troubles. Hmm :)
 
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