Photoshop CS6 Win 32bit TIF limitations advice please.

[Ewan]

Hi i thought maybe i could get some advice / tips on how to set up PS a little better or do i really need to go to 64bit ?

First my Desktop PC:-

Windows 7 Ultimate 32Bit

3 Terrabytes of HD space on 3 drives.

4 GB DDR2 @ 1066Mhz

AMD Hex Core (6 cores can run at 4.1Ghz if needed)

2 x Geforce GTX460 in SLi Mode (not sure if PS would use 2 cards but Black Op's does :-))

Problem;-

When DSS has finshed stacking my subs (say 40 in all) the resulting grey tif file is approx 190mb, there is no problem saving this out & manipulating in DSS but when i save the file out & try to load it into PS i get an out of memory error.

Now i can load an image that is 100 - 140mb & even load 2 at @ 100mb but not a single tif if it was 200mb on its own, i can only assume it's the way PS is coded ?

This has meant i cannot load a finshed stacked Tif file from DSS straight into PS as they are too big.

When saving a tif from DSS after stacking i presume the 'Embedded' save option is prferable & not the 'Applied' save option if you don't carry out changes to thew tif in DSS ?

I can switch over to 64Bit if i really have to but i have it set up just how i like it but it would be worth it i'm assuming.

I only use my Laptop for when i'm taking the subs & for storage from the Dslr & all processing is done on the desktop as it has 6 cores & makes this pretty quick.

I have set the PS scratch discs to drives with quite a bit of room, i have large swap files as well & defrag the drives regulary.

Appreciate any advice.

[andrewluck]

Have you set the Photoshop memory utilisation slider in the performance settings too high? The default value is 70%. Try that and see if the issues go away.

You'll need a new OS to move to 64bit.

Andrew

[Guest]

32 bit windows can address a max of 4Gb memory. having 2 x GTX460s will reduce the total amount of memory available to programs to around 2Gb - given that each GTX460 has 1Gb of memory and the OS has to address that. Once you start loading windows and PS and anything else that might be running then you could realistically be hitting a memory problem.

Try removing one of the GTX460s and see if that cures the problem. If it does consider moving to a 64bit OS (PS you cannot upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit, it has to be a clean install)

[Ewan]

Thanks so far, i will probably do a clean install as i have 64bit avail as well, this will have to wait i guess or i might put it on my laptop instead.

[IanL]

32 bit windows can address a max of 4Gb memory. having 2 x GTX460s will reduce the total amount of memory available to programs to around 2Gb - given that each GTX460 has 1Gb of memory and the OS has to address that. Once you start loading windows and PS and anything else that might be running then you could realistically be hitting a memory problem.

Try removing one of the GTX460s and see if that cures the problem. If it does consider moving to a 64bit OS (PS you cannot upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit, it has to be a clean install)

Nearly but not quite. A 1GB (not 1Gb, B=byte, b=bit) video card won't necessarily use up 1GB of the available 4GB address space, usually quite a bit less than that (e.g. 256MB); basically the video card manages its own memory, but the processor needs some of the available system address space as a 'window' through which it can pass data to the video card. That said, other hardware and O/S reservations will typically reduce the available memory for user applications to about 2GB on a 32 bit operating system.

The upshot is that removing one of the two cards won't result in an extra 1GB of your installed RAM becoming available to applications, more likely a much smaller amount if anything at all. More details here if you are interested:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2008/07/21/3092070.aspx

Nonetheless, the answer to your problem is to install a 64 bit operating system

[Guest]

I stand corrected

[Ewan]

Tbh i have built all of the PC's in my house so i am accustomed in configuring the units, i was just trying to see if anyone else who had a similar setup / problem had a workaround to improve things without changing the system.

2 GTX's take approx 750mb up from your installed ram so it will leave you approx 2250 from 4gb after the system has 'hogged' it's bit, all things not being equal the more physical ram you install the more windows like's to use.

I will try disabling a card from SLI but i have a feeling as it's still physically installed it will still register.

Like i said previously the best bet is for me to install 64bit & also throw some more ram into the equation as well i just didn't fancy de-registering my company software & reinstalling it all.

My system could probably do with re-doing in all honesty so it will give me something do over then next month or so.

[russellhq]

If you only have 4GB of RAM will an upgrade to 64bit help without adding more RAM?

[Ewan]

If i do install 64bit i would also go upto 16gb probably then there should be no problems.