What's new
By:
Photoshop Gurus Forum

Welcome to Photoshop Gurus forum. Register a free account today to become a member! It's completely free. Once signed in, you'll enjoy an ad-free experience and be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Photoshop is better with Windows XP or Windows 7 if Ram is only 2GB ?


M

mhphotoshop

Member
Messages
10
Likes
2
Hi,

My processor is Dualcore 1.8ghz and Ram is 2GB.

I am not upgrading my pc for now. As i plan to wait and then spend properly for a strong PC. Because upgrading my ram is not possible as mother board does not support it. If i will change motherboard, then more money. So i will wait till hardware update.

Right now, I am using Photoshop CS4 with Windows XP SP2 ( i have sp3 too so this is also option)

What i want to know is, if i should upgrade to Windows 7. ( I already have Windows 7 ) So keeping my hardware in mind, Is windows xp is good or Windows 7 will be better. ?

I use photoshop for Web design, graphics for web, sometimes i get brochures and flyers project as well.

Please guide me. Illustrator will also be installed seprately.

Thanks
 
Hi, Judging from your current setup I think you better stick to XP for now and Photoshop CS4. Windows 7 wouldn't be a good choice for you IMO but then again it's just my experience.
 
Windows 7 will eat up 2GB RAM fairly easily, i've got 4 gigs in my laptop, and it still runs like a snail without a brain. you are best to stick to windows XP for a wee bit longer.

XP's good anyway :P
 
My PC is windows 7 and 2 gigs ram and adobe CS6 runs pretty slowly!! Not sure how CS4 will do but I would consider at least getting 1 or 2 more 2gig ram cards (they're fairly cheap!)

(PC is just my backup, I run CS6 on a Mac Pro with 32 gig ram)
 
If you've been managing with your current setup and are happy with the performance. I wouldn't change anything. If you install Windows 7 (like everyone said above) you'll probably run into issues. How old is your current setup and what are your exact specs? It seems surprising that you can't add anymore ram considering you have a dual core cpu.
 
CS6, Windows 7, 4GB ram 64bit Dell- quick but could be quicker.
 
3 gigs works quite well with CS5 on my desktop, the program uses about 1.5gb RAM from my computer, on a normal day, allowing me to do other stuff without disruption.

however, the CPU you have could also be just as much of a limit, my 4GB laptop uses a 2.1ghz dual core processor, and like I said, with windows 7+4gigs of RAM it runs the photoshop trial like a number 2. To me, I feel the CPU is as much to blame as the next component, as I have 3gb RAM in my desktop and a 3.1GHz dual core processor, it runs CS5 smoothly.


Photoshop isn't as CPU intensive as other programs, but it's intensive enough ;)
 
I run a quad core processor, 8 gb RAM on windows 7...no issues except in 3d....runs slow..no issue with CS 5.5

My other tower is XP with an older duo core and 2gb RAM....and PSE 9 runs slow.....
 
You'll see no benefit in upgrading to Win7 with only 2gb of ram.
Upgrading always carries some dangers and problems and isn't worth the risk without some reward.
There's no upside for you.
 
I don't think win7 by itself will necessarily speed up or slow down you computer. However if your xp installation has been on for a very long time your computer will definitely be better with a fresh windows install.

I have a netbook 1.6ghz atom dual core (weak as) with win7pro and 2gb mem. I use a 8gb sdcad for memory boost but it only accesses 4gb of it. Can't say for sure if ready boost helps perhaps it's like a placebo and any improvements are just psychological ones. Anyways, this netbook runs photoshop cs2 better than I thought it could.

So I don't think putting win7 would be a bad thing, its just a lot of work for little gain if your current windows installation is running ok.
 
PS interface behavior vise xp and 7 makes no difference. How ever performance vise 7 will struggle more because your hardware resources is very limited and needs to be shared with more complicated version of windows. have in mind that sometimes extra ram could give you no difference as your motherboards bus speeds between bridges, AGP, ram, cpu is slow. Hope you got your answer.
 
I should add more here, Remember the Graphic card plays a big role for PS.. I'm on Windows 8 RTM x64 Enterprise Edition 4GB GDDR3 Ram and a Radeon 5770 HD which is GDDR5 1 GB and yes I'm using photoshop CS6 on a core i3 @ 3.0 and it's super smooth. In fact PS never let me down in terms of speed and performance so you better think about upgrading as soon as you get some dough ;)
 
Thank you all of you for all your great replies.

The advice of sticking to XP for now sounds better as i am not upgrading hardware at the moment. And Yeah, its strange that my board supports dual core but not more than 2gb ram. You can investigate if you are curious :) its Intel D945gcnl.

The advice of Graphic Card increament is also great.

So the graphic card of 512MB or 256MB will improve Photoshop ? PCI Express 16 is what my board supports.

Thanks
 
I'll recommend a 512 / 1g.b graphic card as they aren't very expensive and you can choose one according to your budget !
 
I wouldn't just go out and buy a good Graphics card and expect to get a better result. Your system will only run as fast as the slowest component. You'll probably need to upgrade your motherboard to notice any improvement.
 
Back
Top