Question about RAM

[J.D.]

Not sure if this is even an issue but I'll ask anyway.

I just upgraded my computer from 4GB of RAM to 8GB (i5 750, Win 7, Samsung SSD). Not much but a good deal quicker to boot programs like PhotoShop, which probably gets more use than any other I have.

While I was upgrading my Lightroom installation I kept the resource monitor open to see what would happen. The RAM use never went above about 2.6GB. The system infor is registering that it has 8GB and the page file is treated as the same.

Is there anything to unlock here or is that just the limit for that installer?

*EDIT* By the way, this is 1600MHz RAM but at the moment Speccy is reporting at 666.2MHz (which is what the old RAM was).

[J.D.]

Actually, I think I have the answer.

The i5-750 supports either 1066 or 1333MHz. Doubling the clock speed I have now would give me almost exactly that at DDR.

[AstrO]

I thought I had replied to this on my phone, but looks like it didn't come through. Anyway, if your OS is 64bit and your application is 64bit (this can be seen in task manager), then it will use more RAM if needed. But if, for example, it's a 32bit app, then it will be limited.

PS Just a heads up, programs like Photoshop come in both 32bit and 64bit versions (and both will be installed on the system). So you need to make sure you load the 64bit version of the app.

[AstrO]

Actually, I think I have the answer.

The i5-750 supports either 1066 or 1333MHz. Doubling the clock speed I have now would give me almost exactly that at DDR.

RAM will always run at the lowest speed of any other installed stick in the system. For example, you probably had a 4GB stick running at 1333MHz, meaning that any additional RAM added will run at that speed (and timings). But the CPU doesn't look like it supports 1600MHz anyway, so it sounds like it's running as it should.

[J.D.]

Many thanks AstrO!

I thought when I looked at the i5-750 page (which I should have posted a link to) that this would be the case.

I have removed all my old RAM.

And yes; it's a 64 bit system and my PS applications are all 64 bit.

[plastik8]

Maybe those apps don't need more than the 2.6GB of RAM they are using (in that scenario)? Did it ever use to use more when you only had 4GB? Do you have any intensive games to test it with? What if you open multiple Photoshop instances (with large images) simultaneously?

Call Of Duty last year had a minimum requirement of 6GB RAM available, It would stop people with only 4GB RAM from even playing the game. In the end, it only ever used about 2GB of RAM....

[DexterPunk]

He'll need it with his new Sony A7R (36MP RAW).

[J.D.]

Ha, ha!