Dena Dendy Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 Hello! My PC has gotten terribly slow. I have cleared out over 300GB hard drive space to get me below the 80% mark and run Glary Utilites on the regular. I run Lightroom and Photoshop at the same time. It worked fine when it was new. I now have to restart several times a day when it grinds to a hault. I have been working on using select and mask inside photoshop to make better selections and it is so slow to finish the calculation it's hard to learn. Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4570 CPU @ 3.20GHz 3.20 GHz 12 GB Ram, 1 TB HD with 369 GB free 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor Windows 10 Home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dena Dendy Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 I realize that 12 GB Ram isn't great. I'm not sure that it has an expansion slot but I can look. I have an older PC that I'm nearly positive I added RAM to. It's probably 10 years old. I've kept it because there are some personal images on it. Would it be dumb to rob that machine of it's extra RAM? At some point I need a more powerful system but I'm just trying to get by for a few more months if I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 Chances are you have multiple things going on here. First off, you are correct, 12GB RAM isn't enough by today's standards. 16GB is the bare minimum and in reality, I'd recommend something along the lines of 32GB. Also, your choice of camera body plays a role in your computer's performance. How so? The more MegaPixels you have, the larger the Raw files. So if you have upgraded your camera withing the last 10 years, the resources that are required for said camera have also increased and you are using the same computer. This is the same reason that I have 64GB in my fancy iMac computer; when I purchased my D850 and it's 45.1MP, my Raw images went from 27MB to around 100MB each. So if I wanted to load more than one image at a time to edit, my computer came to a screening halt. So my point is, you need to look at your entire Eco-system as a whole to pick the right computer for your needs. Oh, one more thing, each time you duplicate a pixel layer in Photoshop, like the background layer, YOUR FILE SIZE DOUBLES. This is especially true if you are using store-bought PS Actions that Duplicate and Flatten A LOT. It's very possible your editing habits are killing your computer's performance. The next thing that we need to look at, is your choice of Video Card. With today's Photoshop, it relies on the Graphics Processing Unit and Dedicated Video Memory for a performance boost. If you have an integrated video card that utilizes the RAM for it to work, chances are Photoshop will start to complain that it doesn't like your card, or will flat-out not work at all. Especially if you are using the current versions of Photoshop CC. If you do not have a beefy video card, both Lightroom and Photoshop will slow to a crawl, and some tools like liquify may not work at all. Third, your Hard Drive has a few things going on. Sure, it's great that you have freed up some space, but Windows tends to get bloated over time and slows down. Also if you are one of those folks who never runs Windows Update and installs patches because, "...each time I run Windows Update, it screws my computer up, so I never update." If your Windows gets too out of date it will also come to a screeching halt in terms of performance until you run Windows updates. I have no idea of the reason why, it's just something that I've discovered over the years and is the first thing I check with a customer's PC that is working "Too Slow." Now, we still aren't done with the Hard Drive. I'd also turn off Windows Search. Even though those instructions were meant for Windows 7, the steps are nearly identical and you should be able to muddle through. That should help with the speed a little, but we aren't out of the woods yet... Unfortunately, you have your answer right here: 5 hours ago, Dena Dendy said: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4570 CPU @ 3.20GHz 3.20 GHz 12 GB Ram, 1 TB HD with 369 GB free There is no way around it. If you are looking for performance, you need a new computer. It's just too old by today's standards and the software is out-performing the hardware. Honestly, you are right on schedule. Every 3 years the latest-and-greatest thing hits the shelves. Phrases like "Game Changer" and "Ultimate" get thrown around a lot, along with other BS Marketing Terms. Every 5 years something like a HD, RAM or even a Video Card is upgraded (along with a power supply to support the new video card). This gives the Computer a temporary performance boost. Every 7-8 years, Software overtakes the Hardware and the computers become "Too Slow." Then the process begins shopping for a new computer. The Cycle Repeats. So at 10 years...yep, you are due for a new computer. The sucky part is...it's 2021 and now is THE WORST TIME TO BE IN THE MARKET FOR A NEW COMPUTER. Prices are triple and quadruple to what they should be and you are looking at spending around $3000 for a computer "That's good for Photo Editing." (...and that's for a Stinkin' Dell Computer!! Not a Custom-Built Gaming Rig. A Stinkin' Dell!! Three Grand!! SMDH.) Why? it goes back to the video card. With the chip shortage and people using fast video cards to mine Bitcoin, prices are skyrocketing. A $500 Super Fast Card is now selling between $1500 - $2000 all by itself. It's insane. What does Photoshop CC need to work well? A fancy Video Card. Now we have Windows 11 on the horizon, which will require even more resources than you think you will need. Windows 10 is being "Put out to Pasture" in 2025. Well, in 2025 it's going to be taken behind the Proverbial Barn and shot dead. Just like Windows XP. Just like Windows 7. So unless you buy a current super-fast i7 or an overpriced i9 CPU, you will more than likely be purchasing a new computer in the next 4-5 years. Now even more bad news. You can't take the RAM out of your existing Computer and put it in another one. It won't work. You could try and find how much RAM your computer can be maxed out to and we can see if we can get you to 32GB of RAM, that would help, but in the end, you still need a new computer. Clearing out files and such, that only works for a computer that is just a few years old, not one that is 10+ years old. Another possibility is to upgrade the HD to a SSD Model from a traditional spinning platter HD, which is what you have. We also have to figure out who to take your computer to that will clone the HD (transfer the data on the HD from the old to the new.) Even though you have 369GB free...no you don't. You see, both Windows and Photoshop have their "Scratch Disks." Windows calls their cache area the "Windows Swap File" or "Pagefile.sys." Photoshop has the Scratch Disk that gets full at the worst possible time. Each of these areas are competing for resources, usually at the same time. So you think you have 369GB free, but in reality...it's much less. Try clearing out even more files and maybe even un-install programs that are just sitting your HD taking up room. I'd shoot to have 600GB free if it were my computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 One more thing: Try to close Lightroom and just use Photoshop. With 12GB of RAM, that's not enough for both programs to run at once in 2021. You might also want to try and create a new Catalog file or dump LR altogether and use Bridge / ACR. Of course, doing this will kill all of your edits and organizational things in LR, but it will make it faster. But first, let's see if we can increase the RAM. What Make/Model is your computer exactly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dena Dendy Posted September 30, 2021 Author Share Posted September 30, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dena Dendy Posted September 30, 2021 Author Share Posted September 30, 2021 I read a thread yesterday about RAM on here and did the crucial scan. They said it's an HP ENVY 700-414. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 OK. It looks like your computer has two slots and you will have to replace the 4GB. Will that give you a huge performance boost? No. BUT! It will help and for $42...that's a lot cheaper than forking out the money for a new computer right now. As I mentioned above, you can upgrade the main HD to a 2TB SSD Drive and have a computer shop transfer the data for you. That should cost about $100-$150. I found your computer specifications. Take a look. Remember how I said the current versions of Photoshop CC are utilizing a video card that has it's own dedicated GPU and dedicated Video Memory, and to NOT get a computer that has "Integrated Video?" Here is a screen shot: See where it says, "Integrated graphics are supported by the installed processor." That means your computer's CPU (the Intel i5) is doing the Video Processing in addition to all of the other things, and the video card is using a portion of the RAM in order to work. So you really don't have the full 12GB of RAM to play with. When it comes to the current versions of Photoshop, your computer can't simply keep up. Understand? This is why I'm recommending you purchase a new computer and besides the RAM upgrade and SSD replacement, there isn't a whole lot you can do. I know, it sucks. But I really don't want you throwing money into a machine that's 10 years old. Sure, $42 bucks for a RAM upgrade is reasonable. Hell, that's Dinner out at some places. The SSD Drive...you can uninstall that and put it into a new computer so you aren't throwing your money away. But if you did upgrade the video card, you would have to upgrade the power supply, and those HPs take custom made power-supplies, so if you went out and bought one, chances are it won't fit inside the case. Now do you see what I'm recommending a new computer? LOL!! I'm trying to save you aggravation and headaches. Life is too short. It just sucks to be in the market right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dena Dendy Posted March 9, 2022 Author Share Posted March 9, 2022 Hello again. I'm done limping and ready to buy. I've been reading threads to try and figure out which pc to pick. The problem is trying to read through other people's requirements when mine don't line up. So I hope you'll forgive me for asking yet another recommendation for a great machine under 4k? Under 3k would be even better but I know right now that's asking a lot. I am working on sports composites with lots of layers. Thank you very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dena Dendy Posted March 9, 2022 Author Share Posted March 9, 2022 How about this one? https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/desktop-computers/xps-desktop/spd/xps-8950-desktop/xd8950adl40h 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 On 3/9/2022 at 3:31 PM, Dena Dendy said: How about this one? Buy it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 The ONLY thing I would bump up is the Warranty. The basic is just that, basic. Meaning you are shipping your computer to Dell for Warranty work. I'd get the Premium Support (Middle Column) for 2 Years for an extra $199. This way a Dell Tech will come to you. Everything else is fine. So the new cost will be $2,778.99, plus tax and possible shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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