Memory and CPU usage in editing.

311

Could someone tell me if memory is the biggest problem when editing photos or is it the cpu aswell.
I finally started using an editor and my laptop is gone to s_it .
It's a 1.6 centrino with 512mb ram and a serial ata hard drive ,if I buy more memory will this speed up stuff for me .
The laptop is virtually hanging every time I leave the editor in memory and go do something else ,I don't have the money really to be buying anything for the puter ,but if it will sort it out I will.

Thanks for reading ,
Brian.

Takeshi_Kovacs

Well i have 2 gigs of ram at the moment, and processing images is much faster compared to my other pc with 512 mb. Although i am using core 2 duo cpu, which probably makes a difference too. But from reading about the subject, i always thought that memory is an important factor. I was using photoshop with a large raw file yesterday, and checked the mem usage. Photoshop alone was using nearly 600 megs..

I am not so sure about upgrading the laptop either, they are just not readily accessible to change components, if at all, unlike a desktop. I am not much of an expert with computers, but maybe you have a virus,spyware on your pc, which is causing problems.

Also you could try using ccleaner to clean up unwanted files and stuff. You can also use it to select which programs are allowed to run at startup. This may free up memory which is being hogged by programs which don't need to be running. http://www.ccleaner.com

GristlyEnd

I have a home built PC with an AMD XP3200 processor and 2.5gig of ram. I was thinking of buying a new PC as it was taking forever to load photos for editing. My PC at the time had only 512mb of memory but since upgrading it to 2.5gig it has made a huge difference. Definately worth upping the memory.

311

Thanks for the replies ,I'll go ahead and get memory so .

RazielDoomgate

ive got 1gb of ram that is runing at 1ghz in speed. and a e6600.. i would say its much more to do with the cpu.. the only reason youd need more ram is if your images are going to be 30mb at teh begining. if you pc is runing a centrino.. personaly i would upgrade.. though its a lappy so upgrades are limited.. if you were to buy a desktop.. core2duo and 1gb fast ram should do you fine..

anyting i do big or small in ps happens alsmost instant

311

Scuttery eyeballs ,I almost ordered ram on the crucial website.(thanks to mathias for the link)
My current ram is 2x256MB DDR2 running at 400MHZ.
I can buy 2x1GB DDR2 running at 533MhZ ,I'm thinking the payload might be easier on the cpu with the extra ram ,but using the 1.6 centrino to pull the program back and forth is my worry.Which is why I thought to ask here first ,a new machine for me is about at least a grand so it's not an option.
If it means I can use this laptop after buying the ram then it's worth it for me.

Thanks for the help.

nilhg

Brian, your laptop should be able to run any decent editor reasonably well. I would suggest before you spend much money that you backup everything and do a clean reinstall of windows and see how you go after that.
Try your editor before you put much other software back on and I would think you should see a big improvement.

If you still need more RAM after that I would recommend

www.shop4memory.com

they are based in Celbridge and I have found them to be excellent.

311

Nilhg ,you could be right about that ,I'm in the process of taking everything off the laptop now and I'll reinstall windows.

Julie has seen how slow my laptop was ,really slow when using ps.Everything else runs grand.

mathew

i would think your problem lies mainly with ram!
I have a nice Dell Inspiron piece of **** with a 3GHz Centrino and 224MB ram (256 with 32 shared for graphics). Couldnt run photoshop at all with it taking 5-10 mins to do simple things like change the tool!! I invested in a new desktop a year ago with a 3GHz Pentium 4 and 1GB of ram and now I can run Photoshop, Corel Draw, Dreamweaver, Firefox, Thunderbird, Trillian and a few others at the same time!!

311

I've a pain in me sweeney with this laptop ,I can't even reinstall windows:mad:
Out with the crayons and join the dots meself I think.:rolleyes:

Dara Robinson

_Brian_ wrote:

I've a pain in me sweeney with this laptop ,I can't even reinstall windows:mad:
Out with the crayons and join the dots meself I think.:rolleyes:

Brian, Mind me asking why you cant reinstall windows?

Also Nilhg's advise is extreemly good. Although I would backup what you need and format the PC and start again. Its always a good idea to do it atleast once a year but I would say 2 times a year. Once you get a system for backing up you can do it and be back to normal in a few hours. (what i mean by system is like having a partitioned HD and move all the files you want to keep over there) On my PC I have a 30 odd gig HD wih only windows and other installed programs. Everything else (including my Documents folder) is on other drives. Its quite an easy process for me to wipe and start again.

RAM is very important but so is processor power. But also RAM is important. Not trying to teach a grandmother to suck eggs so if this is information you already know, sorry.
RAM - When you open a program it will sit in RAM (or virtual RAM - an area that your OS dedicates to hold extra information that RAM is not currently using but will need and does not have the space for). Also anything that the program is doing, using, opening, editing and so on will also sit in RAM. Once you have enough for what your doing you should be ok.
CPU - This is the speed at which your PC can access information (for any source), process information and so on. This means that the faster your processor is the faster it can do things.
So when you open CS2 (for example), your CPU commands and controls CS2 being opened into RAM and then commands and controls everything else you do from there. When you open a picture and edit it, run a filter or anything else like that your using a combination of RAM space and CPU speed.

In your case your low on both. I would recommend upgrading first to 1 gig of RAM. If you can aford it I would say that you should then upgrade your CPU as well.

Tips: If you can only aford one of the other or a cheap version of both I'd say get slow but relabile RAM and a second hand chip. PLEASE NOTE: if your not carful and just jump in when buying what I am adivsing above you can set the wrong or bad stuff.
goto the Technology board and speak to them about what and where you should get it.
Regarding the second hand chip. If your carful who you get it off, and test it first you should be ok.

P.S: You can get programs that test the chip or simply run some demanding programs (ie CS2 and do a load of filters and so on for about 5 mins). that way you should know that its not faulty. As to regards how to tell that your getting what ur suposed to be and that its value for money... again Technology board

Sorry, waffle waffle waffle.... but I hope it helps (sorry I was in work and had too much time on my hands )

311

Cheers darren ,its the laptop that I'm using. I cant reinstall windows because I'm having trouble with serial ata drivers ,Iastor.sys
I was following this http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1626 but I'm only getting 100kbps at the moment and cant get the bloody microsoft files i need:mad:
For some reason the laptop was shipped with no support for the hard drive:eek:

Thanks

5uspect

Brian, a full wipe is a bit drastic!
You can usually get the same results with a good bit of maintenance.
Use CCleaner to clean up your hard drive, and defrag it. PS uses HDD space as a scratch disk when memory is low.
Also turn off all unnecessary start up programs by going into START>RUN>msconfig and turning off things you don't want starting in the start up tab (you'll want your anti virus etc left on, tho if you're using Norton I recommend replacing it with AVG etc as its a resource hog).

After that memory is the way to go.

311

Sorry for this thread swanning off into the techie arena.
I'll buy the ram i wreckon and try and clean the registry ,I've subscribed to Avira antivirus ,use AVG spyware ,comodo firewall.

Again thanks for the help and sorry for getting techie.

Brian.

311

Thanks Takeshi and 5uspect ,i didn't realise CCleaner did the registry aswell.
I had roughly 500 entries deleted :eek: ,photoshop is running a little smoother but I wreckon the memory will be great .

5uspect

Have a look at your performance settings in PS too. If you're using the CS3 beta then you should get better performance. Apparently its up to 40% faster...

sineadw

You sure you don't have spyware or something Brian? My laptop has 512 Ram and a 1.7g processor and its a *little* slower than the desktop running CS2 but not that much. As long as I keep it clean its fine.

Takeshi_Kovacs

Just make sure that you can actually upgrade the ram for the laptop, before you buy!. Sometimes the ram slots may be all used and you have no spare (then again you could also totally replace all the ram sticks with much higher memory sticks.
If i were you i'd check out the laptops specs on the net, look for a few forums supporting computer upgrading, and see if anyone has upgraded their laptop like you wish to do. You may get some good info, before you start spending some more euros

311

I can upgrade my ram alright ,mathias gave me a link to http://www.crucial.com and it has a list of compatible ram. I'm thinking of 2x1GB modules ,but I'm doing my best to get the machine up to speed before I order.

Thanks again.

TelePaul

_Brian_ wrote:

I can upgrade my ram alright ,mathias gave me a link to http://www.crucial.com and it has a list of compatible ram. I'm thinking of 2x1GB modules ,but I'm doing my best to get the machine up to speed before I order.

Thanks again.

Bests site ever! First though I'd do a few things. Scan for spyware, scan for viruses, defrag your hard-drive and run an error check.

311

Finally got the hard drive formatted and a fresh copy of XP on
Will get me some ram now ,I wreckon I deserve it.

Thanks for the replies and help

elven

Just some links for PS tweaks if anyone else is interested - I use the digimarc plug in one anyway to speed up the load time:

http://user.fundy.net/morris/?photoshop26.shtml

http://www.shutterbug.net/techniques/digital_darkroom/0406faster/

And straight from the horse's mouth - http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=318243

311

I just loaded up ps and it's bootin along.
This is a reminder to myself ,DONT INSTALL FREEBIE CD'S THAT COME WITH PHOTOGRAPHY AND IT MAGAZINES.

sineadw

No such thing as a free lunch Brian! Glad its going better