[Mistle]

Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Intel Q9550
ATI radeon 5770
P5QPL-AM ASUS motherboard
OCZ 8GB (2x 4GB) Platinum series RAM. pc2-6400 DDR2, 240 pin, non ecc, unbuffered

I have installed 8GB ram into my computer. Both my BIOS and system properties state I can use all 8GB of it. However- even when I put my computer under huge strain, I've never seen it go higher that 30-31%. It idles on about %20, so that means when I put strain on it, it only ever goes up by %10! I have not set a limit in msconfig either.
It's frustrating me why my computer isn't using all my ram. If anybody has any suggestions, let me know!

Here's an example: I open photoshop with a huge canvas (A0), and went crazy with a large brush. I've allowed PS to use %75 of my memory. PS lags heavily, yet my ram will not budge higher than 30-31%. Here is a screenshot of it. The ram is the steady blue line.



I would be extremely thankful if anybody could share any thoughts/information. Thanks

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30% of 8GB is not a small amount. Don't worry about it. Windows uses a swap file, so unused data in RAM will be flushed into your hard drive. That's why it's hard to fill the RAM.
Maybe Photoshop doesn't need more memory with that canvas and brush.
And how is using 100% of your RAM a good thing?

[devper94]

30% of 8GB is not a small amount. Don't worry about it. Windows uses a swap file, so unused data in RAM will be flushed into your hard drive. That's why it's hard to fill the RAM.
Maybe Photoshop doesn't need more memory with that canvas and brush.
And how is using 100% of your RAM a good thing?

[Mistle]

Well, I don't want it to use 100%, that's not the goal. It's just that- I assumed Photoshop would utilize the remaining RAM instead of slowing down. I upgraded my RAM so I could work with large resolutions without lag, however the lag is still heavy. Am I wrong to think Photoshop should be using the remaining RAM and stop lagging? Thanks for the help.

Also, I forgot to mention, I am running the 64 bit version of Photoshop.

[devper94]

Well, a large RAM won't help much if your computer has a bottleneck somewhere.
You should try turning off programs you don't need when using Photoshop.

[Mistle]

I closed all programs when using Photoshop, and those are the results I got :/
I know this may not be the best forum to ask for Photoshop advice, but again, if anybody has any thoughts it's be great to hear them.

I set my memory usage in PS to use 75% of it, which is about 6GB. However, as I've said, Photoshop continues to lag with large canvases/brushes, and never uses more then approx. 2500 MB ram.
That's my main concern. I assign a potention 6GB for photoshop to use, yet as shown in the pic, it never goes over 2500mb. I believe if there was a way to let photoshop REALLY use 6GB, it would stop lagging and run smoothly ^^' is this correct or am i misguided?

[devper94]

2500MB is a lot. Even obscenely large pictures won't take that much memory.
I think that the problem lies somewhere else. So even if Photoshop takes the whole 6GB it won't stop lagging.
You might want to look at the Efficiency Indicator: http://kb2.adobe.com...4/kb404440.html

[rshaffer61]

I closed all programs when using Photoshop, and those are the results I got

Autoruns I can almost guarantee you didn't shut off.
Download Autoruns from the link in my signature below:

1: Extract the Autoruns Zip file contents to a folder.
2: Double-click the "Autoruns.exe".
3: Click on the "Everything" tab
4: Remove any entries that mention "File Not Found" by right-clicking the entry and select Delete.
5: Go to File then to Export As or Save in some versions.
6: Save AutoRuns.txt file to known location like your Desktop.
7: Attach to your next reply.

[Digerati]

I agree with devper94, your problem lies elsewhere - perhaps with Photoshop itself, or your graphics solution. I am not one to upgrade drivers just because new versions are out there, but graphics drivers are often the exception. I would go to your card maker's website and make sure you have the latest.

Does the computer lag when doing other tasks? If only PS, then I would suspect PS.

And just to be sure, do NOT disable your security when using PS. You have plenty of RAM and CPU horsepower for both, and more. If you feel you must disable your security, disconnect from the Internet.

[Mistle]

I really appreciate all the suggestions so far, thanks.

Firstly, here's the autoruns file: http://www.mediafire...k86nszs5m6rktmp
Second, I updated my graphics driver. Turns out I was behind on a few updates. Although this didn't improve my Photoshop performance, thank you for reminding me, as I'm sure it will improve much else.
Lastly, the Efficiency Indicator shows a constant 100%. Even under huge load and lag, it never drops at all.

Only Photoshop is lagging as far as I can tell. Everything else seems to be running smoothly. In other applications though, the RAM will never go about 30%, however that may be because 30% is a large amount and the programs only need that much. To be honest though, it still does seem a bit odd. Having one program open uses the same amount of ram (30%) as having several programs open. I would assume the ram usage would increase with every program?

Somebody suggested to me that perhaps my P5QPL-AM ASUS motherboard, although states it can run up to 8GB ram (and my computer/BIOS says it's all accessible), maybe has some sort of sneaky limit, where it only allows a maximum amount of ram per program. Could this be a possibility? Memory Remapping is enabled in the BIOS.

Edited by Mistle, 17 March 2011 - 03:10 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Autoruns file is completely unreadable.
Please redo the steps and save the file and attach it as instructed.

[Mistle]

Sorry, I looked over the .txt part. Here it is:

Attached Files

•  AutoRuns.txt   69.36KB   217 downloads

[rshaffer61]

Download TFC by OldTimer to your desktop

• Please double-click TFC.exe to run it. (Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator).
• It will close all programs when run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin.
• Click the Start button to begin the process. Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two. Let it run uninterrupted to completion.
• Once it's finished it should reboot your machine. If it does not, please manually reboot the machine yourself to ensure a complete clean.

Background info courtesy of DonnaB Thank you

As for TFC, this is a tidbit of an article I found a while back by a MicroSoft MVP.

TFC (Temp File Cleaner) will clear out all temp folders for all user accounts (temp, IE temp, java, FF, Opera, Chrome, Safari), including Administrator, All Users, LocalService, NetworkService, and any other accounts in the user folder. It also cleans out the %systemroot%\temp folder and checks for .tmp files in the %systemdrive% root folder, %systemroot%, and the system32 folder (both 32bit and 64bit on 64bit OSs). It shows the amount removed for each location found (in bytes) and the total removed (in MB).

Before running, it will stop Explorer and all other running applications. When finished, if a reboot is required the user must reboot to finish clearing any in-use temp files.
-- TFC only cleans temp folders.
-- TFC will not clean URL history, prefetch, or cookies. Depending on how often someone cleans their temp folders, their system hardware, and how many accounts are present, it can take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or more. TFC will completely clear all temp files where other temp file cleaners may fail.

Download Auslogics Defrag from the link in my signature below. Auslogics Defrag in my opinion is better because:

It does a more comprehensive job at Defragging
It will actually show you what it is doing
At the end of working it will show you how much speed you picked up
You can view a online log of the files that Auslogics defragged
Please do not run any other Auslogics programs other then this one as they may cause unwanted results.

http://auslogics.com...defrag/download

[Mistle]

Ok, I have run them both. Any details needed? Thanks.

[rshaffer61]

How does PC run now?

[Mistle]

Pretty much the same as before, I still have brush lag and same problems as before. However- I did notice when putting it under heavy load (multiple layers, large brush), my RAM usage did make it upwards to 40-50%. When rendering a huge HD video with multiple layers in Sony Vegas, it even went to 60%. First time I've ever seen it do so, so I'm glad my computer isn't throttling it at 30%! Thanks for help, I really appreciate it. I'll keep those two programs in mind for the future.

EDIT: Just managed to get Photoshop to use the maximum amount of ram I have assigned to it (almost 6gb), by upscaling an image to an enormous size with 16 bits/channel. This certainly wasn't possible before.

I guess my Photoshop lag problem must reside somewhere within the program itself, or my processor/graphics? Although I seem to be accessing more RAM than before, the problems still persists and makes it impossible for me to work on A1 and (rarely) bigger canvases.

Edited by Mistle, 18 March 2011 - 02:31 AM.