CS3 - Should I be using more than 55% usage? Available Ram is 1708

[bozojim]

Hello, these are my puter specs >

P-35 MSI Platinum MS-7345 Mobo
Windows XP Home Edition SP3 (32bit)
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz 2.4 GHz
Corsair XMS2 2x2GB=4.0GB PC6400 DDR2 (only seeing 3.3GB with XP)
NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT 512 Memory Size
DirectX version: 9.0c
Monitor: Viewsonic VX2035wm Series
WD 500 GB HDD / WD 74GB RAPTOR HDD

I have CS3 Photoshop. It takes a long time to load the preferences, maybe about 4 -5 minutes, is this normal?

I don’t remember it taking so long to load. I’m thinking of upgrading from XP to Win7 64 bit so I can utilize 4 more DDR2 of ram. Since Photoshop is a memory hungry program, I’m willing to help it out as much as possible.

A few people told me if I’m not having issues with the program, that XP with 4GB DDR2 ram running XP 32bit, would perform better than upgrading to Win7 (64) even with more Ram. Really?

I went into my CS3 Preferences under memory usage, and it’s set at 55% or 939MB out of the 1708 Available Ram.

Ideal range states > 939 – 1230 MB. Should I up that to at least 70%??? What is the norm to allow for the amount of available Ram I have?

I also use Pinnacle Studio 14 HD, so I have to free up many resources to even use this program while editing, so I’m thinking this system needs more memory.
I’m just not that financially able to build a new computer with a new mobo, faster i7 Intel CPU, more DDR3 Ram, but trying to ‘tweek’ what I already have for now.


In the same area, I see the cashe levels is set at 6. The history States is 20.

Thank you.

Side note* What causes custom brushes I make and out into the brush toolbox disappear from time to time? I almost always save them to a separate folder, but why does this happen in the first place?

 

[Hoogle]

Your computer is more than good enough to run photoshop cs5 so cs3 shouldnt be a problem windows 7 64 bit is perfectly good I would choose it over xp anyday. (but avoid Vista) it sounds like your photoshop is only recognising 2 gig or ram maybe you have a faulty ram stick have you done a hardware test on it. ifd it is not ram then you have something using all your ram up on 1 of my 4 gig ram spec computers I can render 3d projects and still use photoshop effortlessly I would say you need to do a big disk clean up delete broken registry files delete temp files etc and try and create a cleaner computer

 

[bozojim]

Hey Hoogleman-
I went into my Photoshop CS3 Preferences under memory usage, and it’s set at 55% or 939MB out of the 1708 Available Ram.

MY COMPUTER 3.25GB RAM, and I ran the utility AIDA32, and that shows 3327GB Physical Memory.

So you mentioned it might mean I may have a bad on board memory dimm slot, or one of the 2x2GB sticks went bad? I bought Corsair memory thinking these are pretty good. How do I test this, if I don't have another computer?

Or do you know if photoshop shows a smaller sized memory to allow for resources, and actually show less than what I actually have? Thank you for any input!

No, I do not have any friends computers or extra PC's lying around to test it on. I don;t think i ever tested my memory before. Thanks again!

 

[Hoogle]

quick and easy way to see what your computer is running in xp
is to go to the start menu and click run
when the run box pops up type dxdiag (you may get a window pop up asking if you want to see your digital driver signatures etc click yes )
View attachment 5074

 

[Steve]

Try resetting your preferences file it may be corrupt.
Start Photoshop and immediately hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows)
or Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS X).

Then, click Yes to the message, "Delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file?"


PS should run faster at 64 bit, the problem is upgrading from XP to Win7 isn't an upgrade, it's a complete re-installation of the OS and all your programs.
If you do switch to Win7 make sure you deactivate PS first so you can install it again on the new OS.