How much RAM?
Jul 21, 2012 07:13:32 #
LaughBrian wrote:
he said he is maxed out already. thats why i like my pc readyboost rocks, it will use any flash drive as added ram.
Agreed but the transition of converting storage space into virtual memory is not as fast as physical memory.
I often work on massive multi layer image files anything upto 1gb in filesize. I could not use swapspace to buffer these.
Jul 21, 2012 07:21:59 #
I have just opened 100 Raw files in Photoshop with my 8GB ram and it handled that just fine. Not sure if having that many files opened at the same time is common but as a test it does show what 8Gb can do :)
My machine specs are:
Intel i5-2500K @4.3Ghz
8Gb 1600Mhz 2x4Gb
Nvidia GTX460 1Gb
My machine specs are:
Intel i5-2500K @4.3Ghz
8Gb 1600Mhz 2x4Gb
Nvidia GTX460 1Gb
Jul 21, 2012 07:30:05 #
Izza1967 wrote:
I have just opened 100 Raw files in Photoshop with my 8GB ram and it handled that just fine. Not sure if having that many files opened at the same time is common but as a test it does show what 8Gb can do :)
My machine specs are:
Intel i5-2500K @4.3Ghz
8Gb 1600Mhz 2x4Gb
Nvidia GTX460 1Gb
My machine specs are:
Intel i5-2500K @4.3Ghz
8Gb 1600Mhz 2x4Gb
Nvidia GTX460 1Gb
I bet it took a while to open them all mind! I do not think 100 files open is common either.
Jul 21, 2012 07:38:18 #
2 minutes maybe, didn't really notice as I was watching the resource meter in the gadget bar. Once all loaded swapping between images and working on them was the same as if I had only a couple open. I am using CS6 which does have speed increases over previous versions, maybe I should try again with CS5
Jul 21, 2012 07:41:25 #
Jul 21, 2012 08:00:23 #
Since the new Macbook Pro Retina does not have a hard drive and has a solid state drive I believe you will not need more than 8gb of ram unless you plan on doing some intense video editing. Of course if $200 is not much to you then I would play it safe and get the 16.
Jul 21, 2012 08:17:16 #
Jul 21, 2012 08:35:13 #
I have found a limitation of Photoshop that I was unaware of, which is the 2GB file limit for PSD files. To save a file larger than 2Gb you have to use, either Tiff for up to 4Gb, PDF for files up to 10Gb or for the insane sizes you need PSB which can cope with up to 4,000 million gigabytes or larger than any storage media you could buy to store it on.
I duplicated the images layer 150 times to proce a file in excess of 3gb which is where I found the limitation. I did this to test how my machine coped and it coped very well with no noticable slowdown at all
I duplicated the images layer 150 times to proce a file in excess of 3gb which is where I found the limitation. I did this to test how my machine coped and it coped very well with no noticable slowdown at all
Jul 21, 2012 08:48:10 #
Jul 21, 2012 08:54:37 #
Jul 21, 2012 08:59:53 #
Izza1967 wrote:
Why?
Just wondered. Interesting findings but you seem to either have a lot of time on your hands or be very very inquisitive to be carrying out these experiments.
Jul 21, 2012 09:05:37 #
I was experimenting to find out if 8Gb is enough, which after testing I now believe it is, at least for me anyway :)
Jul 21, 2012 10:09:29 #
sueyeisert
Loc: New Jersey
Upgrade if you can. you will not regret it. You spent a lot for the laptop. I know I ordered one. As my mother would say don't be penny wise and pound foolish.
Jul 21, 2012 10:29:40 #
I have read most of the other replies to your question. I take a different stance. You can never have enough RAM. It all depends on how long you plan on keeping your computer. Someone mentioned that Adobe says 4 GB RAM will run CS6. Generally when a software company indicates a particular amount of RAM it is usually the minimum RAM that is necessary to run the program doing the basic things the progams does. When you get into multitasking and/or pushing programs to their limits that's when you need more RAM. As I mentioned if you are planning to keep your computer for only a couple of years then 8 GB RAM may be enough. But if you are planning to keep the computer and do upgrades to software, be aware, that generally each time software such as Photoshop is upgraded, it requires more RAM to run "efficiently".
Jul 21, 2012 10:51:03 #
Charrito78 wrote:
I am fairly new to photography but hope to continu... (show quote)
8 GB should be plenty. I use Photoshop on my 3-year-old MacBook Pro, which has only 2 GB of memory and a Core 2 Duo processor, and get good performance with Photoshop. Also, bear in mind that the Retina MBPs uses SSD solid state drives, which are much faster than conventional hard drives. Photoshop uses a lot of scratch storage, so the SSD drive will also boost your performance significantly.
16 GB would be very nice, but I doubt you'd notice the difference. Maybe by the time you're up to Photoshop CS 9 or 10, but they only just released CS 6.
What you may want to do is only keep your best photos and current work on the SSD drive (which today is limited, relative to the capacity of hard drives) and migrate your other photos to an external 1 or 2 TB drive.
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