My G5 MacIntosh is equipped with 4 gigabytes of RAM. Photoshop is only seeing 2 GB available RAM. I am working on huge display files. Why don’tI don’t I see more RAM available in the preferences?
Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.
It’s a limitation of the OS. Any given application can only use a maximum of 2GB. (Well, almost 2GB.) That will not change until the 64-bit operating systems come along, several years down the road. Many expect it will happen on the dark side first before the Mac goes to 64 bits.
Just don’t use the whole 2GB for a RAM disk or you won’t leave anything for the system and any other applications you might want to run at the same time. 🙂
I have found even a 512mB or 448mB RamDisk can result in realworld performance benefits.. That’s even when I’m using images that in 8bits run about 100 mB a layer.
Like much in Photoshop your mileage will depend upon the images you are working on..
But unless you plan on generally running a whole bunch of memory intensive processes simultaneously, I don’t see much downside to setting up a 1gB ramdisk in a situation where you have 4gB totoal ram..
I personally don’t see much benefit to a 1 gig Ram disk when most scratch disk files are 5 to 10 gig or even more, you are only able to go as fast as the slowest disk in the chain. Put that RAM to good use and use some other software at the same time like iTunes or InDesign
My initial thoughts were along the same line as Bukos for the very same reasons he states, but Keith feels otherwise. Since my new machine is maxed out at 2GB of RAM, I can’t really afford a RAM disk anyway, so it’s a little more comforting to go with Bukos conclusion. 🙂
