Efficiency: Faster processor or more RAM?

MnemosyneMnemosyne Registered Users Posts: 251 Major grins
edited January 21, 2013 in Digital Darkroom
I am looking to get a second computer eventually to help with efficiency, and the new iMacs would be faster than my 2011 iMac.

But until that time I'm wondering if upgrading my RAM on my current iMac would benefit that much and if so how much do I need?

I currently have 12 GB of Ram (2x2 + 2x4). But currently 2x8 chips are $110. Would it be worth it to by 4x8 and get 32 GB of RAM? Or would 2x4 + 2x8 (24) be sufficient. Or is there a plateau to when RAM stops helping with efficiency?

Thank you.
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Comments

  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,962 moderator
    edited January 9, 2013
    Assuming you're using Photoshop, it's easy to tell whether more RAM will help. Set the display in the lower left status bar to Efficiency. If you see that drop below 100% in the course of your work, that means that you are swapping to disk because you don't have enough RAM to do everything in memory. If it never drops below 100, more RAM won't matter. 24 GB sounds enormous to me, but then, I don't know what you are doing.
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  • MnemosyneMnemosyne Registered Users Posts: 251 Major grins
    edited January 9, 2013
    Batch edits with multiple layers, sizing and sharpening.
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  • MnemosyneMnemosyne Registered Users Posts: 251 Major grins
    edited January 9, 2013
    And what display are you talking about?
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  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited January 9, 2013
    In Photoshop, at the lower left corner of your image display, in the border, is a drop down dialogue box. Click on it, and select Efficiency which on my screen is the fourth choice form the bottom. Has nothing to do with your monitor, but tells you how often Photoshop has to use your PS swap drive for memory, if you run out of system memory.
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  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,962 moderator
    edited January 10, 2013
    i-vDNDhfB-XL.jpg
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  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited January 13, 2013
    Richard is a visual, and I am a textual thinker, apparentlyrolleyes1.gif
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  • MnemosyneMnemosyne Registered Users Posts: 251 Major grins
    edited January 13, 2013
    pathfinder wrote: »
    Richard is a visual, and I am a textual thinker, apparentlyrolleyes1.gif

    I just wonder if I will be able to tell when doing batch edits vs one photo. Because my issue is when I'm working on multiple photos en masse. But I'll give it a shot.

    Richard also posted something pre CS6, so it took me a second to find it, but I found it :D
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  • MnemosyneMnemosyne Registered Users Posts: 251 Major grins
    edited January 13, 2013
    Hmmmm, interesting. I am currently in my retouching phase. I have three layers, no mayer masks, or layer modes, just the background layer and 2 Ctrl + J dupes, and it's down to 93%.

    The lowest it's gone down to right now is 72%
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  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited January 13, 2013
    But how many images in the batch that you are running, and how many opened in PS?
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  • MnemosyneMnemosyne Registered Users Posts: 251 Major grins
    edited January 13, 2013
    pathfinder wrote: »
    But how many images in the batch that you are running, and how many opened in PS?

    It can vary from 10 to 20.
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  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited January 13, 2013
    It sounds like your computer is having to use the swap disc for temporary Ram augmentation, so more RAM will probably be beneficial.
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • MnemosyneMnemosyne Registered Users Posts: 251 Major grins
    edited January 14, 2013
    pathfinder wrote: »
    It sounds like your computer is having to use the swap disc for temporary Ram augmentation, so more RAM will probably be beneficial.

    Man, I can remember when my computer had 256 MB of RAM and I thought to myself "How am I going to use up all this memory?"

    :D
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  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,962 moderator
    edited January 14, 2013
    "640K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates, 1981
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  • MnemosyneMnemosyne Registered Users Posts: 251 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2013
    I ran the contact sheet batch, making the photos from 1500px photos, and the lowest I've seen it go so far is 13%
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