It's still set to use 17-20 gig RAM but only ever uses about 6 at most
So....why set aside 24GB to PS?
You may actually be slowing your PC down by doing this.
With only 8GB of RAM left, (32-24), all the other tasks that constantly run in the background are all fighting to use that RAM. When that RAM runs out they then have to fight for pagefile space, writing and reading to and from the HD.
This is considerably slower than using RAM but with no other alternative this is what happens, and slows your PC down in the process.
PS, OTOH, just sits there using very little RAM and no more than 6GB when you push it hard, but has a further 18GB allocated to it which is basically sat there doing nothing, and the PC won't use it because it's allocated to PS.
As daft as it sounds, I'd try REDUCING the allocation to PS to speed up the background tasks / apps / services that the PC needs to run, removing the probability of using the pagefile.
Also PS will ONLY use what RAM it needs, regardless of how much is allocated to it, and if you know it uses no more than 6GB then why waste that other 18GB?
If PS does need more RAM than it has allocated to it then it will use the scratch discs, slower yes, but its what they are for...as a temporary buffer. This should be quicker than slowing the whole PC down, and to be honest I doubt you'll even notice a speed decrease.
Try allocating just 6GB to PS and see if that makes a difference. You can always increase it if you find yourself working on larger files with many layers.
There's no guarantee any of that will actually make a difference but re-allocating unused RAM back to the PC has to be a good move...doesn't it?
Regards.
MrTom.