Memory Blues

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Guest

I am thinking of increasing the RAM of my computer. It's a 256MB machine.
But, the actual physical memory the system seems to have is 192MB (system
properties). Is this caused by sharing? If so, can I change the settings to
increase the available memory? I use photoshop extensively.
 
Som said:
I am thinking of increasing the RAM of my computer. It's a 256MB
machine. But, the actual physical memory the system seems to have is
192MB (system properties). Is this caused by sharing?
Click to expand...

You do npt have a separate video card with its own onboard memory. Instead
you have video support of the motherboard, and it uses a portion of the
memory on the motherboard--in this case 64MB. This is very common on
inexpensive computers.

If so, can I
change the settings to increase the available memory? I use photoshop
extensively.
Click to expand...


If you use Photoshop heavily, even if you had a separate video card and had
the whole 256MB available to you, you would very likely experience poor
performance. Photoshop is a highly memory-intensive program. If you were
you, I would add a *lot* more memory, perhaps 1GB or so.
 
Thanks a lot Ken. But, can I make more memory available with my existing RAM
without affecting the performance of Graphic Display?
 
Som said:
I am thinking of increasing the RAM of my computer. It's a 256MB machine.
But, the actual physical memory the system seems to have is 192MB (system
properties). Is this caused by sharing? If so, can I change the settings
to
increase the available memory? I use photoshop extensively.
Click to expand...
Yes it is caused by sharing. The memory is being shared with the video
card, and the only way to change that is replace the current card with one
which does not need shared memory.
You will find that PS runs lots faster with 512MB and no sharing.
Jim
 
Som said:
I am thinking of increasing the RAM of my computer. It's a 256MB machine.
But, the actual physical memory the system seems to have is 192MB (system
properties). Is this caused by sharing?
Click to expand...

Probably. What kind of display adapter do you have? If it's an onboard adapter (built into the motherboard), then it is indeed
using the system RAM.
If so, can I change the settings to increase the available memory?
Click to expand...

You should be able to choose how much RAM is allocated to the video card in the BIOS options at boot time.

I use photoshop extensively.
Click to expand...

Photoshop is memory hungry, but it is also graphics heavy. If you reduce your video card memory it will slow down Photoshop's
display. If you reduce your system memory, it will slow down Photoshop's responsiveness (because it has to page to the disk more).
Either way, 256MB is not a lot for the latest versions (CS+) but should be okay for older ones (up to around 7).
 
Som said:
Thanks a lot Ken. But, can I make more memory available with my
existing RAM without affecting the performance of Graphic Display?
Click to expand...


You're welcome. Glad to help.

Whether you can allocate less memory to the video card depends on your
motherboard, but my guess is that you probably can. Check your
system/motherboard documentation to find out how.

But having less video memory will stop you from running at higher
resolutions/color depths and/or decrease video performance. That's not the
solution to your problem. You can make the full 256MB available to you by
buying a separate video card, but that still leaves you with only 256MB, and
the major issue is that even 256MB is not enough for Photoshop.

Photoshop eats memory. Again, if I were you, I'd put in a lot more memory.
I'd go up to 1GB if your motherboard supports it.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
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