how bypass 2gb limit on Photoshop cs?

[NoBob]

Hi,

I understand there's a 3GB switch to get PS on Windows to see more RAM, but how do you get PS CS to use 3GB on a Mac?

Thanks,
NoBob.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

As far as I am aware, Mac OS X 32-bit processes (such as Photoshop CS) are limited to 4GB of RAM (not 2GB, as Windows is in 32-bit mode), so you don't actually have to do anything to get Photoshop to make use of as much RAM as it is able to. However, if you happen to have 8GB of total RAM, Photoshop can't use more than 4GB of it. This is not a limitation of Photoshop, but of 32-bit addressing.

 

[NoBob]

The trouble is I have 4GB of installed and PS CS says Available RAM: 1567MB

 

[Cromulent]

The trouble is I have 4GB of installed and PS CS says Available RAM: 1567MB

There is a difference between installed RAM and available RAM.

 

[NoBob]

Yeah, I see, but that's troubling, because even when I close all apps, there's still only 1575MB of available RAM.

Why should there be only that much available?

 

[iMeowbot]

See here for a brief explanation of how Mac Photoshop uses memory. And here for current dimension and file size limits.

[ You get that giant PSB thing if you pick Large Document Format at save time. ]

 

[NoBob]

Interesting, I read the page on PS memory usage, but I've been looking at the Activity Monitor and the other processes are nowhere near using 2.5GB of Real Memory, so why's PS limited to 1.5?

 

[iMeowbot]

One other detail: have you given Photoshop permission to use gobs and gobs of memory? there is a setting in its preferences under the peformance section that will keep it from getting too piggy.

 

[NoBob]

This is CS, so I only see cache and memory settings. Can't see anything that gives that permission.

 

[iMeowbot]

This is CS

Oh, okay, so CS as in the first one (8)? Yeah, you need a more modern version to get at more memory.

 

[NoBob]

Okay, thanks, that's clearer. I dropped back to CS because the Kekus LensFixCI plugin makes my PS CS3 crash (if it's not a flattened file) and the older, previous version of LensFix makes CS2 crash. Have used the plugin in CS and it's not crashing. I'm wondering if I had the memory usage set too high in CS3 and CS2. If the apps were trying to grab too much RAM (more than 1.5/6GB), and the OS was saying, "no, you can't have that much", PS shuts down. Is that possible? But then wouldn't I just get an 'out of RAM' message?