Posted by Rafael Rojas on November 30, 2009 at 9:24 AM
Hi all. I have been thinking to upgrade my computer. The reason is nowadays with the scanned 617 slides, I get to use files in photoshop of several gigas. Take layers and so on, and I end up with master files of 2 gigas and a half. I have now Vista with 4 GB of RAM. As I use windows 32 bits, PS or any other application (tell me if i am wrong) just uses 3 GB of RAM. With LR, I have the same problem...it is getting very slow when managing a big library of huge images...
So, I am thinking on whether it might be a good idea to buy an new computer, with windows 7 64 bits and some 8 GB of RAM. My question is: I will be using Photoshop-Lightroom-Monitor calibration Spyder 3 - some plugins for photoshop like photokit sharpener, genuine fractals, etc...What will happen when I upgrade?
I understand photoshop and lightroom are developped for 32 bits, although they can be used with a 64 bit operative system. I understand that the fact of using 64 bits will make PS and LR able to use up to 4 GB of RAM (instead of 3 GB with my current computer)...but there will be another gain in speed?
Will I have severe problems to find compatible some other software in a 64 bit operative system? (plug ins, drivers for calibration system, etc)?
Well, let me know. I really see there is a lot of knowledge in this forum!
Thanks very much in advance all for your contribution
Take care and great light to you all,
Posted by John Mumaw on November 30, 2009 at 9:54 AM
I had no problems with acquiring drivers to work with Vista 64 bit OS, but none of my favorite plugins will work in PS 64 bit.
Fortunately, CS4 came with both 32 and 64 bit installers included.
Lack of 64 bit support for plugins will surely change in the future, so check the websites of the creators of your favorites.
For instance, I found that PhotoKit now has a beta 64 bit installer available for the Sharpener.
Posted by Rafael Rojas on November 30, 2009 at 11:22 AM
Thanks, that is a great info about photokit sharpener...;)
The thing is, are PS and LR much faster when working on a 64 bit OS (and more RAM installed)? How much faster?
Posted by Tim Visser on November 30, 2009 at 12:34 PM
I agree with John. If you upgrade to Windows 7 or Vista using 64 bit, you will have issues running your favorite plug ins. I do the same as John, I run the 32 bit versions when I want to use those plug ins else I am running 64 bit mode. I was running Vista since November of last year and just upgraded to Windows 7 and have no issues with drivers or functionality with PS CS4 or Lightroom. I use NIK Software and they have been saying for a year that they are close to having 64 bit version but have yet to release it. I have 8 GIG of memory which helps but I never use the additional ram because of how I am using my system configuration with scratch disk. If you setup per the specs on Adobe and use a scratch disk primarily for Adobe, then you will see the enhanced performance. Before you purchase a faster CPU, check the various sites to determine the performance of the different CPU's. In other words, do not spend more on the CPU than what you will use.
Posted by Mark Caton on November 30, 2009 at 2:33 PM
In terms of speed, I ran a utility you can get from http://www.retouchartists.com/ to compare speed of running PS4 on Win XP Pro 64 bit and Win 7 64 bit, and the answer was - exactly the same (same PC set up for both OS's, 8GB ram, Quad core) give or take a second. CS4 64 bit on Win 7 - 25.7sec, on Win XP Pro 64 - 26.2sec, PS4 32 bit on Win 7 27.3 sec, Win XP Pro 29.7 sec.
I then ran it on an alternative PC running Win 7 64 bit with CS3, with half the ram/dual core, and the answer was twice as slow - 57.6 sec. I don't now have a 32 bit OS to run a test on, but I imagine it would be a fair bit slower.
My take from this is that you need PS4 to get the most out of a 64 bit PC, whichever version, and that memory does make a difference too. You will need a mother board and processor that can run 64 bit.
I use the Photokit tools as well, and they work well, also Noise Ninja and Imagenomic Noiseware have 64 bit versions. Scripts and most actions should be ok, but other utilities, as has been said need to run under 32 bit version.
I occasionally edit scanned images (35mm, 6x7, 6x9) and these can get up to a few GB as you say - the wait is now almost bearable.
I also found that my Matrox P650 vga card and old HP printer not now supported on Win 7 64 bit - you might want to run the MS compatibility check to see if your hardware (scanner?) will work in that environment.
Mark
Posted by David Bostedo on November 30, 2009 at 4:00 PM
I understand photoshop and lightroom are developped for 32 bits, although they can be used with a 64 bit operative system. I understand that the fact of using 64 bits will make PS and LR able to use up to 4 GB of RAM
That's not true Rafael. PS and Lightroom are 64-bit applications that can use as much memory as you can throw at them. Either one could easily use 8 GB when working on large files, so a lot of the speed up you might see is simply that the disk doesn't have to be read as much. I would imagine that could be significant. The actual code/program won't likely run much faster (unless you're also upgrading your hardware) but the memory usage could really help.
Posted by Wim Reyns on December 14, 2009 at 5:38 AM
If you download the lightroom installer from the adobe website and extract it, it will auto start, but...
that's the 32 bit installer, if you close that one and go to the folder where you extracted the install, there you'll find a 64bit installer.
Discussion
6 repliesSo, I am thinking on whether it might be a good idea to buy an new computer, with windows 7 64 bits and some 8 GB of RAM. My question is: I will be using Photoshop-Lightroom-Monitor calibration Spyder 3 - some plugins for photoshop like photokit sharpener, genuine fractals, etc...What will happen when I upgrade?
I understand photoshop and lightroom are developped for 32 bits, although they can be used with a 64 bit operative system. I understand that the fact of using 64 bits will make PS and LR able to use up to 4 GB of RAM (instead of 3 GB with my current computer)...but there will be another gain in speed?
Will I have severe problems to find compatible some other software in a 64 bit operative system? (plug ins, drivers for calibration system, etc)?
Well, let me know. I really see there is a lot of knowledge in this forum!
Thanks very much in advance all for your contribution
Take care and great light to you all,
Fortunately, CS4 came with both 32 and 64 bit installers included.
Lack of 64 bit support for plugins will surely change in the future, so check the websites of the creators of your favorites.
For instance, I found that PhotoKit now has a beta 64 bit installer available for the Sharpener.
The thing is, are PS and LR much faster when working on a 64 bit OS (and more RAM installed)? How much faster?
I then ran it on an alternative PC running Win 7 64 bit with CS3, with half the ram/dual core, and the answer was twice as slow - 57.6 sec. I don't now have a 32 bit OS to run a test on, but I imagine it would be a fair bit slower.
My take from this is that you need PS4 to get the most out of a 64 bit PC, whichever version, and that memory does make a difference too. You will need a mother board and processor that can run 64 bit.
I use the Photokit tools as well, and they work well, also Noise Ninja and Imagenomic Noiseware have 64 bit versions. Scripts and most actions should be ok, but other utilities, as has been said need to run under 32 bit version.
I occasionally edit scanned images (35mm, 6x7, 6x9) and these can get up to a few GB as you say - the wait is now almost bearable.
I also found that my Matrox P650 vga card and old HP printer not now supported on Win 7 64 bit - you might want to run the MS compatibility check to see if your hardware (scanner?) will work in that environment.
Mark
That's not true Rafael. PS and Lightroom are 64-bit applications that can use as much memory as you can throw at them. Either one could easily use 8 GB when working on large files, so a lot of the speed up you might see is simply that the disk doesn't have to be read as much. I would imagine that could be significant. The actual code/program won't likely run much faster (unless you're also upgrading your hardware) but the memory usage could really help.
that's the 32 bit installer, if you close that one and go to the folder where you extracted the install, there you'll find a 64bit installer.
Wim