I currently have PhotoShop CS4, Windows XP Pro SP3, 2 gig ram, 10k Raptor hard drive (for the program), but using a 7500 rpm internal drive for the scratch drive.

I can tell the system is getting sluggish so was contemplating putting it 3 gig (or possibly 4 gig).

I went to crucial and let the web scan my system to see what I could do to upgrade ram. Because the resutlts were conflicting, I started a chat session with Crucial. It was somewhat enlightening. Here is why:

Windows xp pro 32 bit with 4 gig, the system only sees 3 to 3.5 gig
Windows xp pro 32 bit with 3 gig, the systems sees all 3 gig
I have pc2-5300 sticks, and upgrading to pc2-6400 is only 2% speed boost.

Now,here is my question. If I upgrade from 2 gig to 3 gig, will my now laboring system start acting like it is sneaking some steroids again?

Appreciate the help.

Bob

Possibly, but there are other variables involved that could impact the speed, like HD config/speed/type.

I have a Raptor 10k rpm (for PS CS4 program) hard drive and then another 7500 rpm Internal (for the scratch)

Well, I would put the additional two sticks in matching the original ones. You should never mix RAM types. Then you can use the 3GB switch in your boot.ini. RAM is cheap and it certainly will not hurt. While the app will not see all the RAM, the OS will and use what is left over for itself. Also set the memory usage to 55%, if PS needs more the OS will provide more.

when i get (and install) the ram tomorrow, i will probably need to know aboutj the 3 gig ram switch in Boot ini... in fact, I wll go to msconfig now and see what I can see.

If I upgrade from 2 gig to 3 gig, will my now laboring system start acting
like it is sneaking some steroids again?




IMO, no you won't see much improvement, even with the 3/gb switch enabled. That external HD has me wondering if it's slowing down the system as a USB2 and Firewire interface are much slower than an internal drive would be. With SATA drives being so cheap why are you using an external drive as part of your system disks? For backups they make more sense.

Having one largish internal SATA2 drive (>300g) for your Windows system and another for Photoshop will help pep up the system more than the extra RAM. The larger drives transfer data faster as there's more data density at the outer rim than with smaller drives.

Make sure you don't have a gazillion apps running in the background. You should look at every one of those apps running via the icons in your taskbar and ask if they really need to be running.

Are you using overly aggressive AV software? Do you have Skype, IM, Mailwasher, Spychecker, iTunes (and God knows what else) all running in the background?

Maybe it's just time for a nice clean reinstall of everything. Especially if you've installed and uninstalled a lot of stuff over the past year. Some folks like to do a full HD backup using 'Aconis True Image' or Symantec 'Ghost' as soon as the system is installed and everything is running smoothly. Then they only have to restore the system back to that state when things seem to get 'tired' and that can be done in less than 1/2 hour with most systems. It's a lot easier than reinstalling everything from scratch! It'll also save your butt when you hard disk fails... and it WILL... sooner or later.

Anyway... them's my 2 cents. While I have found there to be a big performance increase going from 1-2GB, I have been less impressed with going from 2-4GB.

Russell

I have 4 gb memory and 1 TB of SATA II disk installed. One 500gb for scratch and other need I have.

What boot.ini switches do I need to set to get the fullest from the memory? PAE? 3GB?

Thanks,
RON C

Well, I am finding out that my Dell XPS 600 system can not accomodate more than 2GB. I have confirmed that with Dell.

My alterantives?
1. Buy a new machine (thanks Michael)
2. Install a 64 bit os (Vista) and then I can have 8GB

So, I am now trying to find out how hard it is to install a dual boot system (keep my 32 bit Windows XP and add a 64 bit Vista).

Any ideas as tohow hard this is?

Bob

You can build a killer machine yourself for less than $1500. I
personally see no need to dual boot. If you want the support for some
special application that won't run in Vista 64 then just keep the old
machine.

Bob

Depends on the O/S. With a 64 bit O/S the machine maxes out at 8 gigs.
With a 32 O/S it maxes out at 2 gigs.

Bob