Applications running very slow on Power Mac G5

[buh]

I am having a little trouble with my MAC machine. Right now, it is running very slow, and I usually work on application including Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. When I opened a file there (file size could be large), I timed it, it took 12 minutes to open & 5 minutes to print. Such situation wouldn't be normal? I was wondering if I add more memory into the system, will it help at all (increase the response time overall)? Or do I need to tune up anything to reduce the loading time?

Here are the main configurations on the MAC machine:
-Power Mac G5
-Dual 2GH z Power PC GS (2.2)
-1 GB DDR SDRAM

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[iShater]

My first feeling would be the RAM, for the amount of work you seem to be doing 1GB is not enough.

But, a couple of questions first:

1) Has this always been the case? or did it open up faster in the past and just start acting up recently?
2) How much disk space do you have?
3) Have you checked activity monitor to see what other processes are running and how much of the CPU(s) they are taking?

 

[FF_productions]

A few questions...

Are you running Leopard/Tiger/Panther?

Is the hard drive you are working with clogged with data (near full capacity)?

Do you have processor settings at highest in System Preferences?

From your post, you should consider some more ram as well.

What year G5 is this? This is so I can get you a good price on some ram..

 

[buh]

I do think the computer generally slowed down after having Leopard and Illustrator CS installed, but it has just recently gotten worse.
The capacity on my computer is 152.55 GB, and currently there is 55.22 GB left available. I have already closed all other unused applications, so the computer is only running Photoshop and Illustrator.

But seems like my only option will be a memory upgrade?

 

[irishgrizzly]

12 minutes to open a file is worryingly slow, even with 1gb RAM. When you say "files could be large" what size are you talking about 50mb, 500mb or higher?

I'd think about testing your HD for errors – you could open the same file from a flash drive to see if there's a difference.

If all else fails think about a fresh install.

 

[iShater]

And to add to irishgrizzly's thoughts, make sure you have a current backup of your files, in case we are talking about a hardware failure waiting to happen.

 

[matt321]

Definitely get a backup! Also, open Disk Utility and click on the hard drive. Make sure S.M.A.R.T = Verified... otherwise your hard drive is probably failing.

On another note, 1Gb is a little low. Since RAM is so cheap I'd at least get a 2gb kit to give yourself some breathing room.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I agree with above. Your hard drive could be ready to fail. Backup and do a clean install and just install those programs to be sure it isn't software related. Finding the problem is half the battle. This is when it is nice to have free time and spare parts lying around the house.

 

[FF_productions]

I'm thinking its a bad upgrade to Leopard...if the hard drive isn't the culprit, do a CLEAN install of Leopard, start fresh...