Memory in CS3
 

Hi I am new to this kind of thing.
Can somebody please help, I have cs3, my computer has 4gb memory,in preferences, performance, it shows memory of only 1644mb,and if I do a lot of editing it says memory too small.
What is wrong any suggestions :confused:please help

I might well be on the wrong track here but I'm guessing you are using Windows XP??? If so, then this OS cannot use all of the 4GB although I do believe I've come across a reference to 'switching' which basically means playing around in the system somewhere to force it to recognise more. Someone with more knowledge on the subject would be a better position to advize on this.

I also have 4GB of RAM installed on my system (XP) but right-clicking on 'My Computer' > Preferences indicates that only 2.75GB is being used. In Photoshop (Preferences > Performance) 1684MB is being shown which more or less ties up with yours and it is this that prompted me into believing that you are also on XP.

I use vista .with 4 gig though only elements 7 .

One possibility is you could try altering the paging file .....via control panel,system and maintenance,performance ,advanced .

set up for performance rather than visual effects.or set it to the maximum figure possible .The default windows setting is lower than this.

Not sure the same applies in xp.

Or in photoshop check allocated memory for editing and set it a bit higher.

Thanks Guys.
I have vista and will try the paging file and see what happens
Thanks again

[QUOTE=RoyTodd;8571]Thanks Guys.
I have vista and will try the paging file and see what happens
Thanks again[/QUOTE]

Have you set up scratch disks in Photoshop? If not, and you have your hard disk drive split as C and D, then open Photoshop, Edit, Preferences select Performance. It will tell you how much ram your've got, and you can increase this if you have enough spare ram. Also, check the scratch disks and put a tick in the box for D, if you have a second disk or your main disk is split into more than one partition. This will increase the speed of Photoshop. Scratches disks are only used when Photoshop is running. :D

Just to add, if you do as Oldboy says and increase the maximum RAM photoshop can use, remember that this is the most possible it can use, if there are other applications running then Photoshop will not be able to use that maximum figure, so when you're doing some intensive work with Photoshop close down any programs you don't absolutely need, and don't go burning DVDs etc!

Also consider upgrading the OS to Vista 64 or Windows 7 and buying another stick of RAM (£25 for 2GB) although CS3 is only 32 bit and can only access around 3.5GB the OS can use the whole 6GB leaving the full amount for CS3 to use.

[QUOTE=flake;9074]Just to add, if you do as Oldboy says and increase the maximum RAM photoshop can use, remember that this is the most possible it can use, if there are other applications running then Photoshop will not be able to use that maximum figure, so when you're doing some intensive work with Photoshop close down any programs you don't absolutely need, and don't go burning DVDs etc!

Also consider upgrading the OS to Vista 64 or Windows 7 and buying another stick of RAM (£25 for 2GB) although CS3 is only 32 bit and can only access around 3.5GB the OS can use the whole 6GB leaving the full amount for CS3 to use.[/QUOTE]

Read what I said again! Nowhere did I suggest using all the ram, but did suggest increasing it if you have enough spare. On my 4gb PC, when I open Photoshop Preferences it shows available ram as 1667mb and Photoshop set as 916mb. This can be increased to 1200mb without much effect on other programs unless you are doing encoding. :D

XP processing is 32 bit and limited to 4 gig RAM. In real life you are probably only getting 3 gig of RAM. The answer is to probably upgrade to 64 bit which is then open to higher memory, but this has its downsides as far as some hardware and software programmes go. Also many older cameras, including my 5d software won't be recognised with the new 64 bit version of Windows 7, but will be okay with the 32 bit version.

I tend not to open any other programmes when using Photoshop for some heavy processing, and as oldboy says, increase the memory in PS to its max. Sometimes I get the lack of memory issue, but not often these days.