Does CPU speed matter for big files?

RF
Posted By
Robert Feinman
Dec 8, 2003
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621
Replies
14
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Closed
I’ve been scanning negatives at the max resolution and 16 bit color depth lately. This gives an initial file of about 220 Mbytes. As soon as a curves layer is added the size doubles. In addition the history takes memory too. So pretty soon the file needs to be paged out to disc. This is about 100 times slower than RAM based operations and is generally limited by the mechanical speed of the disc drive.
There seems to be a practical limit of about 1-2 Gbyte for RAM so at some point the disc swaps are going to occur.
So, while parts of the edits may be faster with higher CPU speeds, it would seem that overall there will be slight improvement once the files start getting written to the temp disc.
Has anyone any experience with this?
Presently, with my 450MHz processor I can wait 4 or 5 minutes for the edited file to be saved.

—
Robert D Feinman

Landscapes, Cityscapes, Panoramas and Photoshop Tips
http://robertdfeinman.com
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EG
Eric Gill
Dec 8, 2003
Robert Feinman wrote in
news::

I’ve been scanning negatives at the max resolution and 16 bit color depth lately. This gives an initial file of about 220 Mbytes. As soon as a curves layer is added the size doubles. In addition the history takes memory too. So pretty soon the file needs to be paged out to disc. This is about 100 times slower than RAM based operations and is generally limited by the mechanical speed of the disc drive.

Yes. Thus RAID arrays to have multiple spindles working on the same project.

There seems to be a practical limit of about 1-2 Gbyte for RAM

2.5 or so.

so at some point the disc swaps are going to occur.
So, while parts of the edits may be faster with higher CPU speeds, it would seem that overall there will be slight improvement once the files start getting written to the temp disc.
Has anyone any experience with this?

Yes.

Presently, with my 450MHz processor I can wait 4 or 5 minutes for the edited file to be saved.

A modern processor will give you noticeable benefits.

Then again, a modern system would give you mucho faster *everything*, and you don’t need to spend for the cutting edge stuff.
PJ
Paul J Gans
Dec 8, 2003
Robert Feinman wrote:
I’ve been scanning negatives at the max resolution and 16 bit color depth lately. This gives an initial file of about 220 Mbytes. As soon as a curves layer is added the size doubles. In addition the history takes memory too. So pretty soon the file needs to be paged out to disc. This is about 100 times slower than RAM based operations and is generally limited by the mechanical speed of the disc drive.
There seems to be a practical limit of about 1-2 Gbyte for RAM so at some point the disc swaps are going to occur.
So, while parts of the edits may be faster with higher CPU speeds, it would seem that overall there will be slight improvement once the files start getting written to the temp disc.
Has anyone any experience with this?
Presently, with my 450MHz processor I can wait 4 or 5 minutes for the edited file to be saved.

I assume you have an older computer. Newer ones have somewhat faster disks. If you use such large files frequently, then when you are in the market for a new machine make sure that the disk systems are as fast as possible. And, of course, get as much memory as you can, up to the 4 Gig limit (though I don’t think that going much beyond 2 will help.)

—- Paul J. Gans
B
bhilton665
Dec 8, 2003
From: Paul J Gans

get as much
memory as you can, up to the 4 Gig limit (though I don’t think that going much beyond 2 will help.)

Photoshop doesn’t recognize more than 2 GB RAM.
EG
Eric Gill
Dec 8, 2003
(Bill Hilton) wrote in
news::

From: Paul J Gans

get as much
memory as you can, up to the 4 Gig limit (though I don’t think that going much beyond 2 will help.)

Photoshop doesn’t recognize more than 2 GB RAM.

Rather, the system cannot allocate more than 2GB to applications.

In a machine with 2GB, Windows and all apps share the 2GB. In a machine with more, Windows uses the extra and more is available for apps.

Much the same is true for OSX.
TR
Tony Robinson
Dec 9, 2003
Why are you using a 450Mhz processor with 220MB + files! Sounds crazy. Get a faster PC, and why use such big files unless you are doing professional posters. 50MB will get you to A3.

Tony Robinson.
F
Flycaster
Dec 9, 2003
"Eric Gill" wrote in message
(Bill Hilton) wrote in
news::

From: Paul J Gans

get as much
memory as you can, up to the 4 Gig limit (though I don’t think that going much beyond 2 will help.)

Photoshop doesn’t recognize more than 2 GB RAM.

Rather, the system cannot allocate more than 2GB to applications.
In a machine with 2GB, Windows and all apps share the 2GB. In a machine with more, Windows uses the extra and more is available for apps.
Much the same is true for OSX.

Unless I’ve competely misunderstood what the progammers here have said, both OS’s are limited to 2GB per process. Say for example you’re working in Photoshop – you’ll never have a full 2GB available because the app *and* the OS reside in the same process. The highest available Photoshop RAM number I’ve seen was just under 1.9GB on either platform, both with more than 2GB total RAM.

64 bit OS’s are the solution to this problem.

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W
WharfRat
Dec 9, 2003
There seems to be a practical limit of about 1-2 Gbyte for RAM

2.5 or so.
—
So what is the deal with the G5 and 8 gig of RAM
– does it get used … or what?
( I have not been on one yet )

MSD
EG
Eric Gill
Dec 9, 2003
WharfRat wrote in
news:BBFA60FE.10237%:

There seems to be a practical limit of about 1-2 Gbyte for RAM

2.5 or so.
—
So what is the deal with the G5 and 8 gig of RAM
– does it get used … or what?

2 gig per application. Better than the 32-bit Windows scheme, still not really 64-bit memory space. OS apparently may not have that limit itself.

( I have not been on one yet )

Potent machines for PS despite the limit.
EG
Eric Gill
Dec 9, 2003
"Flycaster" wrote in
news:3fd51e57$:

"Eric Gill" wrote in message
(Bill Hilton) wrote in
news::

From: Paul J Gans

get as much
memory as you can, up to the 4 Gig limit (though I don’t think that going much beyond 2 will help.)

Photoshop doesn’t recognize more than 2 GB RAM.

Rather, the system cannot allocate more than 2GB to applications.
In a machine with 2GB, Windows and all apps share the 2GB. In a machine with more, Windows uses the extra and more is available for apps.

Much the same is true for OSX.

Unless I’ve competely misunderstood what the progammers here have said, both OS’s are limited to 2GB per process.

In 32-bit Windows, it’s 2GB for all apps and 2GB for Windows, minus some parasitical losses and ignoring memory extenders and the capapbility of Server versions of Win to give apps 3GB, since PS will use no more than 2GB.

Say for example
you’re working in Photoshop – you’ll never have a full 2GB available because the app *and* the OS reside in the same process. The highest available Photoshop RAM number I’ve seen was just under 1.9GB on either platform, both with more than 2GB total RAM.

64 bit OS’s are the solution to this problem.

Along with 64-bit apps.
N
nospam
Dec 9, 2003
In article <BBFA60FE.10237%>, WharfRat
wrote:

So what is the deal with the G5 and 8 gig of RAM
– does it get used … or what?
( I have not been on one yet )

Photoshop see up to 2gb. With 8gb RAM you have a lot of elbow room for other programs in RAM at the samem time. That’s the only virtue of all that memory.
N
nospam
Dec 9, 2003
In article , Eric Gill
wrote:

Potent machines for PS despite the limit.

The G5? Maybe with very large files, but (at least with PS V7) the G5 is not twice as fast (with files up to 750mb) as a well endowed Wintel/XP-pro that costs half as much. So it goes. I feel there’s something wrong with the PS code when a dual processor G5 with 8gb of RAM and two fixed drives for scratch just doesn’t BLOW WindoZe away. It doesn’t.

Maybe CS will be better.
F
Flycaster
Dec 9, 2003
"Eric Gill" wrote in message
[snip]
64 bit OS’s are the solution to this problem.

Along with 64-bit apps.

Yeah, I realized I left that out right after pushing the darned send button. Oh well, at least you caught it.

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EG
Eric Gill
Dec 9, 2003
"Flycaster" wrote in
news::

"Eric Gill" wrote in message
[snip]
64 bit OS’s are the solution to this problem.

Along with 64-bit apps.

Yeah, I realized I left that out right after pushing the darned send button. Oh well, at least you caught it.

It’s part of the nasty reality that’s keeping me from running right out and getting a G5 or Opteron to replace my main workstation. I *hate* it.

Therefore, I have trouble forgetting it. ;-}
PJ
Paul J Gans
Dec 10, 2003
Bill Hilton wrote:
From: Paul J Gans

get as much
memory as you can, up to the 4 Gig limit (though I don’t think that going much beyond 2 will help.)

Photoshop doesn’t recognize more than 2 GB RAM.

Right, but the operating system needs some and one usually has some other apps taking up some memory space.

The 2 GB limit is per process.

—- Paul J. Gans

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