Adobe Photoshop CS2 - CPU or RAM?

Okay I have a quick question. I know that CS2 doesn't use GPU (okay), but what does it depend on the most? RAM or CPU?
I started up Adobe Photoshop CS2 and created a new document (the LARGEST document at 3000000px x 3000000px).
Then I created a black and white gradient across the page.
I noticed that making a gradient on a document this large took up to 1 minute!

I started up task manager and looked at the performance tab.
CPU is running at least up 21% and Memory at 2.27GB!

I also have a VLC movie running, streaming music on firefox, and playing music on VLC as well. I'm trying to push this computer to the max though most of the CPU usage spikes to 93% and drops immediately back down to around 20%.

Why is it then SO SLOW to process the photoshop gradient?? What is taking so long?

What if I upgraded my RAM to 8GB? Will that help it go any faster?
What if I upgraded my CPU (imagining that it's possible). If it be any faster?


Anything to make this computer fast would be great.

Thanks guy!

 

I'm inclined to say "silly boy"

What you didn't notice is that photoshop also uses a temp file - it gets larger the larger your photo/image gets.

The largest I ever had on CS4 was 33-34GB.

Photoshop's performance is a combination of CPU, RAM and the temp file.

If you HDD is slow a faster CPU or a bit more RAM won't change anything.

If in your normal use your tep file is say up to 2GB - and you can expand your RAM by 2GB then that will give you an increase in performance.

But like that I'd say you need a fast SSD

If you have a performance issue, monitor your CS2 a bit - but also keep an eye out on the HDD light.

I moved my temp file to drive D - but I'd need something that can be written on faster...

 

Photoshop will use as much ram as you give it, there is a setting in the program where you can define how much ram you allot it, I think it defaults to like 60% or so.

But it uses the cpu to do the rendering and things, like say run a filter or produce a gradient in your case.

And also if you run out of ram or when reading a file or saving a file its of course your HDD speed, so you really need a combination of all the above.

If you had a slow computer and had to pick just one thing to upgrade, the ram is probably the cheapest & easiest, but the cpu would matter the most I think if you had a slow one and could get a much faster one cheap.

 

has cs2 multicore support? if not, that would maybe explain the low cpu usage.

 

Only if you look at overal usage - that would still see one core spiking in the task manager, resulting in closer to 50% usage.

In heavy tasks I found my HDD to be the "weak point" - i.e. very large panoramas.

 

i never have hdd's as weak point *ssds rule haha*..

but no, on vista, you don't see a spike per se, vista often switches processes from one core to another, resulting in a more even cpu usage of 50% or 25% depending on the system (depending on how many cores/hyperthreads the system has).

but yes, memory management is key on such large images. and often, photoshop goes to disk for such big images. espencially in the elder versions. i think cs4 handles memory a bit better, as it has the option to go 64bit, and remove all need for a swapdisk if you have enough ram.

 

You can run out of space on our SSDs - at least what, 20GB for Windows, 10GB min for some more software... if you then have a 30GB temp file you run into space trouble (unless you spend a few hundred on a 256GB SSD)

 

.. hm. i have 7gb for vista, not 20.. and i have 128gb ssd's so no, 30GB temp file would not be a problem (and soon-ish 160gb ssd's.. ).

as i never ran out yet, no problem


but we're getting offtopic. detlev, you bad boy!!

 

More than a few hundred unless you find a deal on one of the old crappy SSD's with studdering issues.

A few hundred + a bit more can get you a decent 120gb one now.

 

Sorry guys, but here are my system SPECS;

2.53 P8700 GHz C2D
3GB RAM
Intel x25-M 80GB
nvidia 512MB 9600M GT


Now tell me whats wrong...

Why is it so slow. I should practically have a powerful enough computer to run this kind of stuff...

Should I increase my temp file? If so, what are the down side of it?

 

Try to use Adobe Photoshop CS 4 Extended to render 3D(maximum)...
Enjoy the lagness LOL!(feel free to try)

On topic,
Once you switch on your photoshop, you can notice the RAM meter raise to 60%(basically default for windows 32bit is 40%).

Last time, I did manage to set my RAM usage to 28-30%. Now, I cant do it already.
If you do set the ram to 30%, I guess it would raise to 50% only when you open your photoshop.

If you want to use more RAM, such as 8GB.
You need to have Windows 64bit.

 

I understand I will have to have 64 bit which can be simple.
But how do I adjust the default settings so that I can use more RAM for CS2?

 

Every hardware component matters when I use photoshop CS4. I tend to use up to 7.5GB of RAM every time - especially on photostitching.

I'm using CS4 though. For CS2 I believe it's the same. Edit>Preferences>Performance

 

I give my system like 85% of my ram for CS4, I dont think 100% would be a good idea....