Incorrect available RAM displayed in photoshop cs1

DW
Posted By
dan_welldon
Nov 6, 2006
Views
185
Replies
6
Status
Closed
I’m running PS CS1 on my new intel pro mac which is loaded with 4GB of RAM. However, the ‘available RAM’ showing in the PS preferences panel shows only 1458MB of RAM, even though Apple’s System Profiler & Activity Monitor confirm that the 4GB of RAM is up and running (although not being used by PS)
I’ve spoken to both Apple & Adobe but neither were able to shed any light on the problem, so I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem or if anyone might know how to solve the problem?

Thanks

Dan
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E
eltee
Nov 6, 2006
I’ve spoken to both Apple & Adobe but neither were able to shed any light on the problem…

What were their exact words?

CS1 can only see a percentage of 2GB of RAM (methinks)
R
Ram
Nov 6, 2006
Dan,

It’s basic math. Until we have true 64-bit operating systems, the most any application can use is 2GB of memory. (One bit is reserved, so 2^31 = 2,147,483,648, or 2GB). There is some overhead involved, so that the real max amount of RAM any application can use is in the order of 1.9GB.

In Photoshop CS2, the programmers found a workaround so that CS2 uses almost double that amount. But in Photoshop 8 (CS1), that’s your limit, about 1.9GB.

If you had Photoshop 9.x (CS2), the program could use all your available memory.
R
Ram
Nov 6, 2006
Additionally, I can’t really comment on what the Mac-Intel machines do, so that may account for the small remaining discrepancy.
B
Bernie
Nov 6, 2006
Also, available RAM is not the same as installed RAM
DW
dan_welldon
Nov 6, 2006
Many thanks for the feedback guys, that definitely explains it. I’ve been holding off upgrading till CS3, but may have to reconsider now…
Thanks again
R
Ram
Nov 7, 2006
Nomad makes a good point. Available RAM does differ from installed RAM in that it is a dynamically changing figure representing the available memory after the OS and any other running applications have taken what they need.

Also, "holding off upgrading" may not even give you the cost benefit you hope. Rumor has it that the price structure will change and it will be more expensive to upgrade to CS3 from CS1 than from CS2.

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