hrguerra

I hope I'm not abusing the forum..this is my third question this week..

My issue is this. I just added 2 GB of RAM to my PC, a Gateway GT3224m, for a total of 3GB and it worked fine. The system recognized it properly and everything is fine. But the reason I added it was for use with Adobe software, especifically Photoshop and After Effects CS3. But both programs recognize only 2 GB. Is there a way to address this?

TheMatt

No problem, ask as many questions as you want.

I would check within the CS3 settings to see if it is 2 GB they are recognizing or just two GB they are using. You can also check how much RAM each program is using through task manager. Honestly, I don't think it will make too much of a difference though.

Which version of Photoshop do you have?

hrguerra

Thank you!

Ok, in PS, Edit - Preferences, it says that it has 1700 MB of RAM available, of which I'm letting the program use 70%. Also when I start Adobe After Effects, it says the amount of available RAM and it shows 2 GB.

Both versions are the latest, CS3.

TheMatt

Take a look in the Performance tab of Task Manager to see how much total and available RAM is listed.

hrguerra

Ok, I'm just gonna type everything. A few words might not be accurate because my OS is in spanish:

Totals

Identifiers (?) 19935
Subprocesses 798
Processes 78

Physical Memory (KB)

Total 3127000
Available 2225100
System Cache 2006756

Transactions Load (KB)

Total 870576
Limit 4509040
Max 891864

Core (?) Memory (KB)

Total 136840
Paged (?) 88100
Not Paged (?) 48736

TheMatt

That is saying you currently have 2.2 GB of available physical RAM out of 3.1 GB. Adobe is probably only going to use 1.7 GB at the most so you would have 500 MB free if Adobe was using all 1.7 GB.

hrguerra

According what I've read, PS can only access a max o 2 GB by default (which is what I'm seeing) but it can be expanded up to 3 GB by modifying the Boot.ini file.

From Adobe site:

"Photoshop CS2 is a 32-bit application. When it runs on a 32-bit operating system, such as Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, and Mac OS v10.2.8, it can access the first 2 GB of RAM on the computer. The operating system uses some of this RAM, so the Photoshop Memory Usage preference displays only a maximum of 1.6 or 1.7 GB of total available RAM. If you are running Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2, you can set the 3 GB switch in the boot.ini file, which allows Photoshop to use up to 3 GB of RAM."

That wouldn't be recommended?

But I think that my biggest concern is that I added the RAM ok. I've never messed with the insides of a PC before.

TheMatt

When your computer does a cold boot, it does a quick check on the RAM to make sure its working properly and will alert you if it doesn't pass this quick test.

To be honest I don't think you will see a big performance difference from increasing the RAM CS3 uses, and you should avoid modifying the boot.ini file because if you do mess it up you won't be able to boot Windows likely.

hrguerra

Thanks, Matt!, I think it's better that I left it the way it is and just let PS use 100% of the 1.7 GB it recognizes.

TheMatt

You're welcome.