Photoshop tells me that it has 1761MB RAM Available in Pref>Mem & Image Cache but I have just added 2GB to make 4GB RAM.
my computer>preferences says I have 3.25GB. That’s better but it seems that .75GB is still hiding somewhere!
I don’t understand it all but here’s some more info.
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600 OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation Processor x86 Family 15 Model 15 Stepping 0 AuthenticAMD ~2412 Mhz BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 22/05/2006 SMBIOS Version 2.3 Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)" Total Physical Memory 4,096.00 MB Available Physical Memory 2.51 GB Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB Page File Space 5.09 GB Page File C:\pagefile.sys
And this is about the graphics card which, I think has its own RAM
Name RADEON X800 Series PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5549&SUBSYS_03021002&REV_00\4&a mp;243D7BD0&0&0070 Adapter Type RADEON X800 GTO (0x5549), ATI Technologies Inc. compatible Adapter Description RADEON X800 Series Adapter RAM 256.00 MB (268,435,456 bytes) Installed Drivers ati2dvag.dll
Can anyone tell me if I have a problem… Well, a computer one at least.
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Make sure you are aware of the consequences of a failed /3G switch implementation. Worst case is a machine that will not boot. Make sure you have a recovery strategy, just in case.
Don’t be afraid of the 3G switch technicalities. While the details are good to be aware of, it is very easy to activate and a backup strategy per Ho’s advice is easy as well.
The 3G switch is simply added to O/S boot option in your boot.ini file which is in the root of your boot drive, usually at C:\boot.ini. The file is a hidden system file that you may not see listed in Windows Explorer unless you’ve disabled Windows efforts to hide important things from you. So, the fastest way to edit the file is launch Notepad and then from File > Open, type in C:\boot.ini. The edits you’ll want to make are these:
1. Make sure "timeout" has a value that, in seconds, gives you sufficient time to choose between either of two operating system boot options. I use 3.
2. Following "[operating systems]" will be one line for each bootable partition which for most people is a single entry that looks similar to this: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut
3. All you need to do is duplicate that line and paste it to follow the existing line. Then, edit the name and add the 3G switch so you have a line like this: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="3G Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /3G /NoExecute=OptOut
4. Save and close boot.ini and reboot your system. At the point where you see the O/S menu presented, move down to the 2nd entry "3G Microsoft Windows XP Professional" and choose that.
When your system boots up, you’ll see no obvious difference and the properties on My Computer will still only show 3GB of memory. But, if you launch PS and go to the memory preferences, you will find that the available RAM has increased by a gig.
If your system doesn’t boot for some reason, just choose the first o/s option to boot as you normally have been.
I’m glad you caught my mistake which, for the sake of avoiding confusing others who see this thread, I’ve now corrected in my prior post. I had simply cut & paste the text from my boot.ini file into that posting, and my file is correct, so I must’ve gotten careless with my edits when I made the changes to show how it would appear for 2 O/S entries.
I’m not sure I follow what you’re saying in your last comment, but I don’t believe the fact that Windows shows only 3GB of RAM installed even when running 4GB has anything to do with virtual memory. I tend to think that perhaps it simply cannot report more than 3GB available although the 3GB switch is now instructing the O/S to use that additional 1GB for itself, freeing up the full 3GB for application use.
I’m running my PS RAM allocation at 90% for 2405MB free…I know the suggestion is usually to run around 50-65%, but I don’t recall if that applies to systems with 4GB of RAM. I’ve yet to play around much with PS since building this system and will tweak that allocation if I see an performance improvement in doing so or if I start running multiple applications more often now that I’ve got more monitor space…I just got a new 24" BenQ FP241W LCD monitor and it is nice! 🙂
I have the same issue a new PC with Intel E6700 dual core and 4GB of RAM. Windows XP Pro only reports 3GB of RAM even with the /3GB switch set. The motherboard is an Asus P5W DH Deluxe and it reports the full 4GB when booting up.
I was told be the company that built the PC that the missing 1GB was due to how the BIOS maps the address space, and that if I upgraded to the 64bit version of XP the operating system would see all of the RAM. (I will see next year when CS3 is available I suppose 🙂 )
Anyway after adding the /3GB switch more RAM was reported as available to PS so I upped the limit first to 60% then 70% and there was a big improvement in speed when rotating a large 200MB (5 layer 16 bit RGB) file. The biggest change was going from 50% to 60%, I didnt see much if any improvement going from 60% to 70%, but everything appears stable at 70% so left it at that.
