Increasing memory available to CS2

PK
Posted By
Peter_King
Oct 17, 2007
Views
321
Replies
7
Status
Closed
This has probably been covered before, but I could not find it in the forum. The issue is this: Although I have 4 GB RAM installed, recognised by my mobo and reported in the POST, Windows only recognises 3GB. Worse still, Photoshop CS2 reports available memory as only 1758 MB. Is there any way of increasing the amount of memory available to Photoshop, and what is the recommended maximum percentage to set for use by Photoshop?
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RK
Rob_Keijzer
Oct 17, 2007
Peter,

XP only handles 3 GB. And further, don’t forget PS is not the only thing that needs RAM. Running a filter needs extra, let alone the O/S itself.

Most systems run stable if the PS percentage slider is set from 55 to 65%

Rob
J
Jim
Oct 17, 2007
wrote in message
This has probably been covered before, but I could not find it in the forum. The issue is this: Although I have 4 GB RAM installed, recognised by my mobo and reported in the POST, Windows only recognises 3GB. Worse still, Photoshop CS2 reports available memory as only 1758 MB. Is there any way of increasing the amount of memory available to Photoshop, and what is the recommended maximum percentage to set for use by Photoshop?

The 1758 value is virtual memory. You can increase the amount of virtual memory which is available to the user program with the /3G switch in boot.ini. Keep the percentage of physical memory to around 50%.

Jim
C
curranistan
Oct 17, 2007
On Oct 17, 9:25 am, wrote:
Peter,

XP only handles 3 GB. And further, don’t forget PS is not the only thing that needs RAM. Running a filter needs extra, let alone the O/S itself.

Most systems run stable if the PS percentage slider is set from 55 to 65%
Rob

Hi all,

I just wanted to point out that the amount of ram XP supports is dependent on various system specs, I have heard of people getting various amounts of ram recognized. I think this has to do with how much addressing space is available (around 4GB) but some of this is need for system devices…

More info here:
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=110175
H
Ho
Oct 17, 2007
In order for CS2 to see any of your extra memory, you have to invoke the /3GB switch in the boot.ini file. It’s been covered in depth here and elsewhere. Make sure you’re aware of the potential pitfalls as well as the benefit (singular) before you try it out.
PK
Peter_King
Oct 18, 2007
I have seen a post on this subject, but the OS referred to in the topic was not Windows XP SP2 (NT or 2000 from memory). Invoking the /3GB switch was the essence of my query here. Do you have any advice on how to go about adding the switch in Win XP, and what exactly are the pitfalls of making this change to the boot.ini file?
H
Ho
Oct 18, 2007
Invoking the switch can be as easy as modifying your boot.ini file to read something like this (make sure the disk and partition info is correct for your own computer):

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /3GB /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

A better option might be:

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Baseline" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB" /3GB /Userva=2816 /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

This presents two options, a normal boot and a /3GB boot. It also includes the Userva setting which allows you to fine tune how much memory is allocated to any one app.

You may well need to muck around in your BIOS to make XP see all of your 4GB of RAM at POST. XP will never see all of it; most likely it will report ~3.5 GB or less.

The downsides are (in order of importance):

A machine that will not boot (which makes the second boot.ini example a good choice).

An unstable machine. Some componets (video cards are a prime offender) don’t like the switch at all.

A slower machine. Without Userva, you only have ~1GB for the OS to live in.

I’ve run with the switch for 2 years without a hitch. Others have been less fortunate.
H
Ho
Oct 19, 2007
Oops. Above, where I said, "You may well need to muck around in your BIOS to make XP see all of your 4GB of RAM at POST," should have read,
"You may well need to muck around in your BIOS to make YOUR COMPUTER see all of your 4GB of RAM at POST."

The BIOS will acknowledge that it’s there. XP, due to reporting issues, will not.

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