Not enough RAM

Hello,

I'm starting to get trouble with the message 'Not enough memory (RAM)', after I started to notice that Photoshop is getting slower.
I use Photoshop 7, WIndows XP, 256Mb Ram, 1.8 ghz, 40 Gb disk partitioned into C:7gb, F:23gb, G:10gb.
G is the partition I do my Graphics work on.

In the preferences I've followed the recommendations in Help and made F: to be the first, second, third and fourth scratch disk. At the moment F is rather filled up (approx. 4 gb left there). Also in the Preferences I gave Photoshop 50% (128 Mb) of RAM.

Any idea what I should do?
Thanks.

well i few questions first. How big are images u usually work with? And what tupe of work you do? use filters a lot? is it work for video? lots of layes?

The ram is it DDR?
I would suggest you have a seperate drive all together and bump your ram to 512 minimun depending on the questions above. Scratch disk should be on different drives not different partitions, see even though the partitions are different is still the same disk thats reading it so it can not be that efficient.
Also try running photoshop at 100% ram and with out any other applications running and see if that helps.



Welcome aboard.

Hmmm, I drive a 128 RAM, 933 MHz, XP with PS7 and have no problemos at all...I normally do not exceed 1024x768 in any pic. No filters, no video, but a lot of layers ;)

So if you're the at the other end of the scale, using filters like crazy on big pics with a lot of layers, you should go out and get some more memory...

Patric.

[QUOTE=dreamdesign]well i few questions first. How big are images u usually work with?
Most of the time between 10 and 20 Mb. By the time one is bigger, around 55 Mb.

And what tupe of work you do? use filters a lot? is it work for video? lots of layes?
I don't use lot of filters, no work for video, just design of CD-covers and flyer-like materials, nr of layers: 20-30.
The ram is it DDR?
yes
I would suggest you have a seperate drive all together and bump your ram to 512 minimun depending on the questions above. Scratch disk should be on different drives not different partitions, see even though the partitions are different is still the same disk thats reading it so it can not be that efficient.
Also try running photoshop at 100% ram and with out any other applications running and see if that helps.
I'll try.
Good suggestions of a seperate drive.


Welcome aboard.[/QUOTE]
Thanks.

Hi Zorry!

Do NOT set Photoshop's memory allocation at 100% ! But you should get more ram anyways...

In Photoshop CS, the Adobe Software Engineers even recommend to lower it... in PS7, 80% was a reasonnable level if you've got 512mb of ram... the os still needs some ram...

Also, you shouldn't set fours times the same disk as scratch in the prefrences. You should allocate a partition only for the scratch disk, if possible the first one of a disk. Do not put anything else in that partition, or it will be fragmented... and you'll have reduced performance

I hope that this helps you...

The ram available to photoshop does not include an memory needed to run your os. You probably run into problems if you want to open more that one application other than PS while setting PS to 100%. I do agree with spectre, i think your scratch disks may be the source of the problem. Let us know how it works out for you. If i find any other possibilities ill post here again.
Good luck.

I see what you mean, dreamdesign, but still , Adobe Employees recommends to let at least 15 megas extra ram for the system (other apps, spooling, etc...)

quote from Scott Byer, Adobe Sotftware Engineer:

................................................................................................................
Hmm. Let's see if I can clarify the statements.

Photoshop CS, as an executable, is bigger than Photoshop 7. By a reasonable
chunk. So yes, right there it will use more RAM.

The tile size is bumped, which means for certain images that there will be
somewhat more RAM usage for that image. Not a lot, and it depends on how
much RAM is in the machine. A tradeoff for better MP performance. The
larger the image, the smaller the increase will be.

It also means that initial RAM allocation will be larger, and initial
scratch usage will be larger. But since that's mostly for rarely used
items, they'll soon be out of RAM and won't impact performance.

Those things together mean you better re-tune Photoshop CS's memory
percentage, and not just use the same percentage you used for Photoshop 7,
because that will likely get you in trouble. Best thing to do is run
Activity Monitor and watch Free Memory. Having Free Memory go below 15MB
gets you in the danger zone, and you should back off your Photoshop memory
usage percentage and restart Photoshop.

As for opening images slow, if you have images with many Photoshop 6/7 text
layers, then yes, the image can open a little slowly as those layers are
translated into the new text engine. Do anything to update those layers and
re-save the file out, and the file will open much faster, so this should
diminish as you migrate files up to Photoshop CS.

How Photoshop measures free RAM, and how it determines how to live within
the percentage assigned haven't changed (which is what Chris was referring
to). It's just that enough other things changed that means that the same
percentage may no longer be appropriate.

-Scott
................................................................................................................
quote from Russell Williams, Adobe Sotftware Engineer:



(original question form poster)
Sorry forgot to tell you I am on Windows XP Professional on a Pentium 4 with 1024RAM. Thought this was not really relevant as I am comparing the same system with Photoshop 7 and now CS and CS is very much slower! my RAM for Photoshop is on 98% for Photoshop use only. So I have left all the parameters the same with my system and the setup only CS is much slower.
(Russell's answer)
98% is too high unless you have >2GB of RAM in your system. Try backing the
slider off to 85%. If that helps a lot, you can try increasing it, say 5% at
a time (remember you have to restart Photoshop after each change for it to
take effect).

Photoshop tries to guess how much of the memory in the machine it can get
away with using -- that is, it measures memory and subtracts off a fudge
factor. It's just a guess, it depends on your system and other software
running, and the fudge factor is usually too small. It got further off this
time, so if you were running with a very high memory percentage in 7, you
probably need to reduce it in CS.

Russell
................................................................................................................
BTW, Dreamdesign, to make sure that I don't sound arrogant, I do not post this as a p!$$!ng contest, but rather to give you the reference/explanation of what I posted...

arrogant not at all, or at least i dont take it that way, we learn things everyday, or at least i try to even if you think you know something, you just may be wrong, i always try to discuss rather than argue and keeping an open mind to the fact that no matter how much you know, there will always be someone that knows more that you about something. And i think those postings from adobe are great, but you know sometimes their "enginneers" ar e not gonna tell you the best or even the truth about everything, just what is more safe to tell you. Thanxs for your exlanation. I see you are a knowlageble source of info.

512mb should be the minimum if you want PS to perform...

But in my opinion anyone working on print should have, 1024 mb

I'd rather say that I try to find knowlegeable sources of info, I'm just a messenger ;)