Any Ramdisk / Ramdrive users?

[philfx]

Hello all,

 

I am looking at getting a PCI hardware ramdrive/disk for my PC (not the

software version).

 

I was wondering if others have tried this or use it .

 

My files are usually 600MB, and am wondering if 4GB for a Ramdisk used as a

scratchdisk is good, or is the pagefile used on it, or?

 

As I have posted before regarding my Memory/RAM problems

(I have memory holes that eat 2gb of my 4gb of RAM...only allow 2gb in XP to be

seen even if I have 4gb), I think this Ramdisk option may be my only hope to

boost my system.

 

Some experience with this is greatly appreciated...Im looking at the Gigabit-

IRam with DDR2 400 as one option.

 

THanks!

[rffffffff]

you may need to use the /3gb switch in the boot.ini file... this might allow you to get to 3gb of ram... if you want more than that, you need xp64... xp64, btw, makes a ramdisk superfluous, because it does that automatically... read this from adobes website:

 

(one note: xp64 driver support SUCKS, so check all of your devices before deciding to upgrade)

 

the whole text can be found here:

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=320005

 

New capabilities with 64-bit processors

 

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.

 

Important: The 3GB switch is a Microsoft switch and may not work with all computers. Contact Microsoft for instructions before you set the 3 GB switch, and for troubleshooting the switch. You can search on the Microsoft support page for 3gb for information on this switch.

 

When you run Photoshop CS2 on a computer with a 64-bit processor (such as a G5, Intel Xeon processor with EM64T, AMD Athlon 64, or Opteron processor), and running a 64-bit version of the operating system (Mac OS v10.3 or higher, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition), that has 4 GB or more of RAM, Photoshop will use 3 GB for it's image data. You can see the actual amount of RAM Photoshop can use in the Maximum Used By Photoshop number when you set the Maximum Used by Photoshop slider in the Memory & Image Cache preference to 100%. The RAM above the 100% used by Photoshop, which is from approximately 3 GB to 3.7 GB, can be used directly by Photoshop plug-ins (some plug-ins need large chunks of contiguous RAM), filters, actions, etc. If you have more than 4 GB (to 6 GB (Windows) or 8 GB (Mac OS)), the RAM above 4 GB is used by the operating system as a cache for the Photoshop scratch disk data. Data that previously was written directly to the hard disk by Photoshop, is now cached in this high RAM before being written to the hard disk by the operating system. If you are working with files large enough to take advantage of these extra 2 GB of RAM, the RAM cache can speed performance of Photoshop.

[philfx]

Thanks for the reply,

 

I have tried the boot.ini switch and the pae....no go.

 

I have 4gb loaded and maxed out. I run XP Pro. My system is a Dell XPS600 with 2 PCIexpress cards, and it looks like the memory hole is not avoidable, unless I switch to a Motherboard that can allow to change such settings....Anyway, the situation is that XP 64 bit is likely not going to work since I am not sure of the software limitations, like plugins, RIP for printer, Scanner...and so on...maybe it is ok, but I think Ithe time I would take in verifieing and makeing sure or updating....I am already getting a headache thinking about it. I rather do what I can to this system now, before thinking of Vista or x64bit....By that time maybe a year or 2 down the line I wil build a new system.

 

I am not sure what is effected by 64bit version, besides my printer , my scanner, ...Do harddrives, USB devices like card readers, and most importantly...software ...Wouldn't these need to be 64bit version?...or they will surely work, but not take advantage of the 64bit pipeline?

 

Thanks

 

So I see the RAM advantage when in 64 bit...but XP Pro 32 bit...na.

[philfx]

So no RAMDISK testers, users, ...or even those that read about it and passed it up for some reason?

 

thanks

[steven_clark]

I'm not sure what you mean by "memory holes" exactly, if only 2-gig reads at startup you may need a BIOS update, if only 2-gig is seen by any given program that may just be a limitation of the OS. As for hardware RAMdisks I've read reviews of them, but I can't say I've ever tried one or even seen a review for Photoshop purposes for that matter. I do understand some of the basic theory behind it though. You could use it for either the scratch disk or the swap file. If you used it for swap than any operation that consumed more than available memory would speed up considerably (the ram is usually running pretty slow, but instant access and faster than any HD), If you used it for Scratch disk certain operations (I'm not sure which ones, somebody help me out here), especially history operations I think would speed up. Actually since the media is random access, you could commit what is normally a complete nono and put BOTH on the ramdrive because there's no disk heads to thrash, and fragmentation has fewer teeth when you can access any point on the drive instantly.

[philfx]

Thanks for the reply....

Bios sees the ram, once XP boots it eats it up I think according to these online findings....

 

"Windows XP SP2: When you have hardware-enforced DEP, Windows MUST run in PAE mode (Physical Address Extension), so it is automatically loaded, even without the /PAE switch. PAE mode is meant to take advantage of large amounts of RAM, but to improve driver compatibility, it now has a lower limit on RAM address space. So if you have a new AMD CPU, you may have access to less memory, possibly 3.5GB (EDIT: possibly 3.3GB), not 4GB.

 

Memory Hole: The BIOS on your motherboard automatically reserves address space for 32-bit devices and drivers, further reducing the 3.5GB available. That reserved space is called a memory hole.

 

Video RAM: As Kallex pointed out in an AMD forum, Video RAM seems to be the biggest culprit. It may increase the memory hole by 2 x Video RAM with a dual-core processor (I think it may only be 1 x Video RAM with a single processor). If you have 256 MB video RAM, system address space will be reduced by 512MB. So 3.5GB - 0.5GB = 3.0GB available.

 

AGP Aperture Size: This is the amount of system RAM that you allow the video card to use. It does not need to be the same as your video RAM size. Whatever amount you select here (between 32MB and 256MB) will increase the size of the Memory Hole by the same amount. With a 256MB Aperture, increase the memory hole by 256MB to 768MB. So 3.5GB - .75GB = 2.75GB available.

 

Dual-Channel Memory: As suggested by Kallex (again!), the memory that you lose above will be doubled if you use Dual-Channel Memory. So with Dual-Channel memory, you lose 2 x .75GB = 1.5GB! Big Memory Hole. Now you have 3.5GB - 1.5GB = 2.00GB RAM! Is all this doubling of address space really needed?

 

The information above is simplified, since other devices eat up address space too."

 

 

 

so oddly enough these apply, and I lose 2GB

 

 

Yes the Ramdisk is for scratch or swop....I would like to think that both will go to the same Ramdisk, or perhaps 2 seperate 4GB ramdisks.

 

THats 8gb of 1gb sticks of ddr2 400 ram and the cards. I am thinking of going with one as I dont even know if 2 will be supported...but either way...I was hoping someone would help out with exactly the point you brought up....what would benifit most??

 

My concern is the 600MB files I have and when I slap a 300point brush, or blurr, or run a filter....I want this to be faster.

[rffffffff]

sorry that I'm not much help here, but to answer the simple questions, xp64 works well with everthing in my computer, hard drives, software for the most part (except the adobe print to pdf driver, which really stinks, and some stupid shareware nonsense stuff) but for some reason, HP never made emt64 drivers for a couple of the printers that I have. It angers me to the point that I think about not buying HP printers anymore, but instead, I have just gone back to 32bit software until vista seems like its a good idea.

 

On the other hand, it seems to me that before you buy a ramdisk, which would cost a lot, you might benefit more from a motherboard and processor that doesnt have 'hardware enforced dep', a lowish memory video card and some bios tweaks perhaps?

[philfx]

I think maybe the new Mobo would be a option...I didnt realize vid cards could be mem hogs. I might switch this out also. I tto have a new HP printer that I just purchased recently, so I dont know if they have a driver or not, but 64bit, is a bit more scary than Vista...but some had mentioned, even Vista in my case would not fix the problem.

This weekend I am backing up my boot image. And getting the Vista to test out.

 

Thanks for the reply!

[redwoodtwig]

I got suckered into getting 8GB with my the new machine I had built primarily to run photoshop. But the chipset is 32bit, so I'm stuck with Vista and it doesn't have the switch so the max photoshop can see is 1.7GB. So I run out of memory doing photomerges.

 

2 questions: IS there anyway to get vista to show photoshop there is more than 1.7GB?

 

I have installed a ramdisk of 400MB that seems to help as the scratch disk, but that's the limit of the commercial product's free version. Is there anyway to use the ramdisk software in Vista to build a 4GB ramdisk? I keep seeing references to things like that being available, but nothing specific. Any pointers would be really appreciated.

[redwoodtwig]

In the meantime, Vista 32bit home basic will show 2.5GB or so to photoshop if you do the following:

type cmd in the search window, hit CTL-Shift-enter to put you in admin mode. In the command window, type

BCDEdit /set increaseuserva 3072

then hit enter.

After a reboot, photoshop will now show 2.5 something rather than the 1.7 it was showing before.

 

This is the Vista equivalent of the /3GB switch in XP

 

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906211.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2006/11/02/windows-vista-secret-10-open-an-elevated-command-prompt-in-six-keystrokes.aspx

 

My fledgling photo gallery site

http://redwoodtwig.com