Should I buy more RAM?

[ellery]

<p>How much boost in performance if I simply add 1gig of RAM to my current 32 bit OS.....? If only marginal improvment, then I would toss that idea...<br /><br />I thought about also leaving current system as is, but put in SSD....Ive read that this alone can boost things in a big way...I could do that and add 1gig of RAM - for <500 I could get this done...and the SSD could be used still when I upgrade if things do not turn out satisfactory....<br /><br />Will my current system accept such a SSD?<br /><br />If a 64 bit OS will make things so much obviously better, then I am bound to go for it....the more I think about it, the more I want the machine to be much snappier.<br /><br />Last night I dinked around and edited a few photos....it is very laborious due to the lag now, even after cleaning out registry key garbage, temp files, and all that (although this did help my computer boot up way faster and run generally faster....but these new RAW files though...oh my..when making certain adjustments, it is becoming painfully slow....when I adjust levels I have to wait like 10 seconds for each small adjustment (just one example)<br /><br />After I cleaned out all the garbage, the images did resolve quicker upon opening them though....</p>

[ellery]

<p>meh, wiki page seems to suggest that SSD no good for vista....</p>

[steve_dunn2]

<p>Long story short: you can probably make a modest improvement in your system's performance by upgrading some of your hardware and software, but I suspect that you'll need to replace the computer to be happy with the results. Here are some more specific comments and the rationale behind my thinking.</p>

 

<cite>How much boost in performance if I simply add 1gig of RAM to my current 32 bit OS.....?</cite>

 

<p>Probably not much. 32-bit Windows versions have a 4 GB physical address space limit, and some of the first 4 GB has to be reserved for stuff other than system RAM. Chances are you'll see at most 3.5 GB, and maybe as low as about 3.25 GB, as a result. I have 4 GB of physical RAM installed in my machine with a 32-bit Windows version, and only 3.24 GB of the RAM is visible to Windows.</p>

 

<cite>meh, wiki page seems to suggest that SSD no good for vista....</cite>

 

<p>Wiki page is misleading you. 7 and 8 do indeed make fuller use of SSD features, but Vista (and prior) can still benefit. My machine with Windows XP takes about 1/3 as long to boot now as it did before I replaced my boot hard drive with an SSD, and anything that requires disk access is much more responsive.</p>

 

<p>But the question is: what's slowing you down? If it's disk access (loading programs, swapping when Windows runs out of memory, the Photoshop scratch file, etc.), then an SSD will speed up your editing. Does the hard drive light blink while Photoshop is doing stuff that takes a long time? If so, then the hard drive is at least part of the problem, and the more the hard drive light is on, the more this will help; if not, it's not.</p>

 

<p>The Q6600 is a 64-bit CPU, so you could upgrade to your choice of 64-bit Windows version, add more RAM, and probably be happier. But as someone noted above, there's no in-place upgrade from 32-bit Windows to 64-bit Windows, and it doesn't matter whether you're going from 32-bit Vista to 64-bit Vista or to 64-bit 7 or 8; you'll be backing up your computer, installing a fresh copy of Windows, reinstalling your apps, etc.</p>

 

<p>The Q6600 is from the first generation of Intel quad-core CPUs. It's probably at least part of the bottleneck. I have a Q9550 (also a Core 2 Quad, a generation newer than yours with more cache and a higher clock rate but still a few generations behind current), and RAW conversion and similar CPU-intensive tasks with my 7D images (18 MP) are certainly not instantaneous; it's noticeably slower with these than with my previous 20D images (8 MP) because it's processing so much more data. And you can't just drop in a new CPU; your existing motherboard certainly doesn't support any of the Core i3/i5/i7 generation, and it may not even support the generation that my CPU is from.</p>

 

<p>So I think you're probably better off with a new computer than with upgrading some of the parts in the current one.</p>

[ellery]

<p>that seems legit.....ill start very soon devising on where to go...I am a pretty loyal and happy HP customer...I know little of mac OS, so Ill avoid it to be honest I think...and I think capture NX2 will not load on mac? not sure of that. <br /><br />As it relates, whats the diff with these i3 vs. i5 vs. i7 for my needs anyway? can I get away with using an i3 or should I go for the i7...I want to get one that will be very fast...but not so much that I would not notice the difference anyway....then with the extra money I can get a quality large monitor....like a 27 inch.....another topic I am massively ignorant about....I just know that I will very likely enjoy a larger, higher quality, and color calibrated new screen so my prints actually print out as I see them on the darn screen.<br /><br />I recall some program people recommended...something like spyder or something for monitor calibration...<br /><br />So its a new PC then and a monitor...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.costco.com/CTOUpdateCmd?model=C9D52AV%23ABA&catalogId=10701&langId=-1&storeId=10301&refine=&categoryId=&viewsummary=%3CSPAN+class%3Ds1%3E%3CSPAN+class%3Ds2%3EView+Summary%3C%2FSPAN%3E%3C%2FSPAN%3E&SOFTWARE_OS=C9D13AV%23ABA&PROCESSOR=QC467AV&MEMORY=C9X22AV&HARD_DRIVE=A9F47AV&OPTICAL_1=B4J14AV&GRAPHICS_CARD=C9D34AV&SOUND_CARD=LD824AV&PORTS=LR081AV&KEYBOARD_MOUSE=D5H84AV%23ABA&SOFTWARE_APP_R=C2Q54AV%23ABA&SOFTWARE_SEC_R=C2Q55AV&TV_ENT_R=XM543AV&MODEM=C1V09AV&SOFTWARE_HDX=C3R81AV%23ABA&POWER_SUPPLY=LV230AV&HARD_DRIVE_2=B3M71AV&OPTICAL_2=None_OPTICAL_2&MONITOR=None_MONITOR&SOFTWARE_DVD=None_SOFTWARE_DVD&HARD_DRIVE_3=None_HARD_DRIVE_3&offset=0">http://www.costco.com/CTOUpdateCmd?model=C9D52AV%23ABA&catalogId=10701&langId=-1&storeId=10301&refine=&categoryId=&viewsummary=%3CSPAN+class%3Ds1%3E%3CSPAN+class%3Ds2%3EView+Summary%3C%2FSPAN%3E%3C%2FSPAN%3E&SOFTWARE_OS=C9D13AV%23ABA&PROCESSOR=QC467AV&MEMORY=C9X22AV&HARD_DRIVE=A9F47AV&OPTICAL_1=B4J14AV&GRAPHICS_CARD=C9D34AV&SOUND_CARD=LD824AV&PORTS=LR081AV&KEYBOARD_MOUSE=D5H84AV%23ABA&SOFTWARE_APP_R=C2Q54AV%23ABA&SOFTWARE_SEC_R=C2Q55AV&TV_ENT_R=XM543AV&MODEM=C1V09AV&SOFTWARE_HDX=C3R81AV%23ABA&POWER_SUPPLY=LV230AV&HARD_DRIVE_2=B3M71AV&OPTICAL_2=None_OPTICAL_2&MONITOR=None_MONITOR&SOFTWARE_DVD=None_SOFTWARE_DVD&HARD_DRIVE_3=None_HARD_DRIVE_3&offset=0</a></p>

[JDMvW]

<p>I've been following this, and while more RAM will usually pep things up - it couldn't hurt, right? - there is a time when a new computer/processor AND more RAM is called for.</p>

<p>More RAM may help, but a new machine will definitely do so. All it takes is money.</p>

[MichaelChang]

<p>I think part of the problem is we don't really know where the bottleneck is and whether the system is optimized in terms of running background services. </p>

<p>The 3GB RAM can definitely be upgraded, but simply swapping the drive to an SSD might do the trick as it renders the Virtual Memory (swap file) read/write much faster, making it a reasonable substitute for more RAM - at least worth a try. </p>

[ellery]

<p>that is an attractive notion....as If I did the SSD and it did not work out...it will not be wasted....I could use it as a primary drive on whatever PC I buy...<br /><br /><br /></p>

[curtis_bouvier]

<p>wow ram is so cheap these days lol, I remember paying for 256GB in 1999... anyone remember those prices? =D</p>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>My computer was lagging too. I deleted the temporary files and did a disc defrag using the Windows built in utility, even though when I ran the defrag check the thing said that it wasn't necessary. It helped a LOT.</p>

[ellery]

<p>Steve, yeah, a month ago I went through all the cleanup...temp internet files...cookies, registry keys....defragged both with the window utility, but also with the auslogics one - <br /><br />Doing this made my boot up time MUCH MUCH better...overall, I am happy with the performance of my PC for general use....when I edit shots from my D90, it is "fast enough" (although it always was 'fairly' lagging with certain actions)....but with RAW files from D7100, its becoming more annoying....especially when I want to sit down and tinker with more than just a few select images....it becomes too time consuming and turns me off big time<br /><br />I am circling around the idea of trying a SSD as a new primary hard drive....I dont know....still contemplating....</p>

[cabbiinc]

<p>Install CleanMem. It's free, runs in the background, does not act like other memory manager programs that just send RAM items to cache, and actually just puts Windows own memory management services on a set schedule. I've set my computer to clean the memory every 5 minutes. It's what Windows OS's should be doing already.<br>

http://www.majorgeeks.com/CleanMem_d5993.html<br>

I could make a whole bunch of suggestions on optimizing a PC but this one program seems to really help out just about any computer I've put it on over the last couple of years.</p>

[ellery]

<p>cool, thanks for that heads up...ill be checking it out!</p>