Ram question?

[Dinozaver]

Hey guys,


is there any way for me to see how much ram do i use while using photoshop or any other 2/3d apllication?

I have for 4gb of ram, but it looks like its not using all the power it should, can anyone help me here, to make it more powerful. I mean to squeeze more juice from it.

I know that when u go into edit/prefernces/performance it shows only 1704 ram but i have 4gb, so thats strange too

Anyone have anything on this, tnx!

[Telos]

I assume you are using WinXP

Ctrl+Alt+Del
There you can see Processes or Performance tab. Processes tab lists all processes and let's you see how much they use memory. Here's an article about optimizing Photoshop: Optimize performance of Photoshop (CS2 on Windows)

[Kenneth]

I have to say, that I don´t really see the problem here. Are your Photoshop acting slow or..What?
I just upgraded to 1gb ram, and it works like heaven, so I still don´t understand why you want more. If you just like to optimize, then I think Telos suggestion will work fine!

[turvas]

Is you PS running slow? Then something's seriously wrong, because I can make it run decent (not fast, not slow) on 512meg RAM.

[tamlin]

In the article linked by Telos, note the following:

Photoshop CS2 is a 32-bit application. When it runs on a 32-bit operating system, such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional, it can access the first 2 GB of RAM on the computer.The operating system uses some of this RAM, so the Photoshop Memory Usage preference displays only a maximum of 1.6 or 1.7 GB of total available RAM. If you are running Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2, you can set the 3 GB switch in the boot.ini file, which allows Photoshop to use up to 3 GB of RAM.

So (unless you have set the 3GB switch as described above) your OS and Photoshop are only accessing 2GB of your 4GB total. The OS is using 0.3GB, so that obviously leaves 1.7GB for Photoshop (which is what it is reporting). Even if you set the 3GB switch, PS will still only be able to access 3GB of your total 4GB.

[unleash]

and by the way,

winXP isn't made to use 4GB, It is programmed up to 3GB and therefore you have 1GB of RAM that's can't be used by any programmes on you system. Vista is programmed to be able to use op to 10GB(but this can be more due to upgrades or such). So if your OS is winXP than you won't be able to use your systems full potential. There are ways around that, but that's to difficult to explain on the web, for me that is.

I think your best option is to go for the 3GB switch, but I guess this will only make photoshop faster and will not enhance the rest of your system...

[tamlin]

Originally Posted by unleash

winXP isn't made to use 4GB, It is programmed up to 3GB and therefore you have 1GB of RAM that's can't be used by any programmes on you system.

What the 3GB switch does (on a system with 4GB of RAM) is force Windows to limit the kernel to the upper 1GB and provides up to 3GB for applications. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition can access up to 128GB of RAM, but running 32-bit applications on a 64-bit OS is fraught with its own problems. A lot of 32-bit applications just cannot take advantage of 64-bit architecture - in fact, in tests that we ran at work we found that some 32-bit apps actually performed worse on a 64-bit system with 8GB RAM than they did on a 32-bit system with 4GB RAM and the 3GB switch set!

[unleash]

that's what I meant to say Tamlin with this sentence

There are ways around that, but that's to difficult to explain on the web, for me that is.

anyway, there are indeed some progs that do support 64 style, like Maya and Vue. Im not sure if photoshop does support it, but than you'll probably need to split your HD and install 2 OS, one for your normall progs and one for your "heavy" progs. You will need to adjust your bios as well if you're thinking of going that way...

But in the end it may be better just to stick with the 3GB switch....the easiest I guess

[Dinozaver]

No i just had the problem with this 1,704GB of ram in use instead of 4GB. I think im gonna switch to Vista 64bit to get max power :P

Tnx for the help guys!

[luciferis]

Better switch to XP 64...I had some issues running Photoshop CS3 in Vista, but it was the 32bit version. Hopefully, you'll get lucky...

[jswdana]

Originally Posted by Dinozaver

Hey guys,


is there any way for me to see how much ram do i use while using photoshop or any other 2/3d apllication?

I have for 4gb of ram, but it looks like its not using all the power it should, can anyone help me here, to make it more powerful. I mean to squeeze more juice from it.

I know that when u go into edit/prefernces/performance it shows only 1704 ram but i have 4gb, so thats strange too

Anyone have anything on this, tnx!

A neat litlle program freeware program called Freeram XP Pro puts a realtime meter of useage in the systray. I like it, if you want to try it, just Google it's name..
Dana

[Gjbphp]

Originally Posted by Dinozaver

No i just had the problem with this 1,704GB of ram in use instead of 4GB. I think im gonna switch to Vista 64bit to get max power :P

Tnx for the help guys!

Unless you have 64bit versions of all your programs, I'd stick to 32bit.

[turvas]

Originally Posted by jswdana

A neat litlle program freeware program called Freeram XP Pro puts a realtime meter of useage in the systray. I like it, if you want to try it, just Google it's name..

Doesn't the taskmanager (Windows XP) do about the same thing?

[Cr0w]

noo, win xp doesn't have native free ram support.

[Ravensky]

I also have 4 gigs of RAM, running Vista 32-bit. (it reports 3.5 GB)

Photoshop is currently using a gig of my RAM. Awesome.

No performance issues at all. Even with XP's limitations, I dont see why you would have problems. My old computer only had 1 gig of RAM and it ran just fine.