Does anyone have any tips on how to get Photoshop to not be so laggy? I get the feeling there's a setting or something that I have set up wrong.
Within about 5 minutes of opening photoshop (cs6) to work on photos, my fan starts sounding like my laptop is about to reach liftoff and everything slows to a crawl. I don't know if me having so many brushes and actions and stuff would make a difference? If there's something in the settings I need to fix.
Can someone please help me, in idiot proof terms? I'm easily frustrated at the moment haha
I have an Asus N73SV laptop if you want to look at the specs. It's not that old so I would think it should be able to handle photoshop MUCH better than this! I have to keep saving photos, closing PS and reopening it again just to be able to finish editing a single pic, it's absurd!
It used to get bad after a period of time, but I could work for quite a while on a lot of photos... it's gotten progressively worse to the point where it's getting almost unusable. I will open one photo from bridge to work on and before I've been at it for 5 mins things start locking up and I have to save the project, close PS, reopen it, do a bit more, save, close etc.
The only things that have changed is that I downloaded a bunch of brushes from DeviantART and some actions and things like that. Would that slow it down?
It's making me insane because I'm a PS-aholic haha
When I go to the task manager it shows my memory being completely used up by Photoshop. Argh.
Add more ram
Clear some space on your hard drive
I assume you only have one hard drive? PS uses your hard drive as virtual memory (scratch disk) this is probably what's slowing it
I don't know how PS works, but I imagine adding "a bunch of brushes from DeviantART and some actions and things like that" migth well eat more memory, yes. Why not try removing those, or just moving them to a different directory, and seeing what effect that has, if any?
Thank you for asking this... I'm running into this issue w PSE and Lightroom... The wired thing is, it's not consistent... Sometimes it happens... Sometimes not... I really need to go in and clear out some of the raw files to see if that helps... Just never seem to find the time and energy
@northy When you say go in and clear some of the raw files, what do you mean? Does that affect performance? I keep all of my RAW files (and saved photos) on the external 2TB drive... I have a heaping crapload of both. haha
Memory (ie RAM) is different to hdd space. Sounds like you have plenty free space on your scratch disks anyway. I'd uninstall the action scripts and see how much free memory you have. Then install them one at a time. Might be worth investing in a ram upgrade in the future too (although then we have to start introducing 32bit vs 64bit windows into the discussion).
32bit windows can only use a maximum of 3.5gb ram. 64bit can use 256gb. The more ram you have, the more tasks your pc can do at the same time. When you max out your ram, it then tries to use your hdd (scratch disk) to work from. The hdd is substantially slower than ram, hence the performance hit.
In simple terms, the more ram the better your pc will run. This is particularly true of photoshop.
@dtigani ooooh - very helpful info... I'd been wondering about the difference... Now don't laugh, but can you explain how I chk whether my puter is 64 or 32 bit? I've been assuming 64... But it occurs to me I really don't know
Ok switched the scratch disk to the D drive and deleted all the brushes (guess I'll install and remove as I need them, easier than having about 200 on there at once). We'll see if that makes a difference. If not hubby says we can look into getting some more ram. I think I have a pretty good laptop, though, I feel like it should be capable of running PS without these issues.
I have only 4gb of Ram on my laptop and way to many brushes and actions (that I never use! but that is another vent lol)) and I only have an issue when my HD is to full (I am talking mb left on my 150gb hd) then it will lag. So really 6gb should be enough. Photoshop is very memory intensive it will slow down if you have to many other applications open.
It could be that you have background programs open also....some programs open unnecessarily on start up and can take up memory. You could also try doing a defrag on your laptop, doing spyware/virus scans frequently can help increase the performance.
@mummarazzii Yeah my husband makes sure it's defrag'd and all that regularly. I don't know what the problem is... the HD's definitely aren't full either. Yeah, I'm lost.
Don't install your brushes and actions directly into Photoshop. Load them each time you want them. I have mine all saved in a folder on my external drive. As I want to use an action or a brush I load them and just before I shut down I reset the brushes and actions back to factory default. Do you have additional applications running at the same time as Photoshop? If so they will be using your RAM as well. Have you considered the graphic capabilities of your computer? That will also impact Photoshop. I purchased a gaming laptop because of the RAM and graphics ability of it so I no longer have the issues I had with Photoshop on my old computer.
@breigh up to you but I imagine 200+ brushes would be a little memory hungry. I currently have 16gb ram in mine and I must say its fantastic. Used to have 4gb and it wouldn't take much to come to a grinding halt. Couldn't imagine going back now.
@k1w1 Yes I have an Asus N73sV which I bought specifically because I want to be able to game with it, so the graphics were something I was definitely concerned with.
I often have other things running, like Chrome, Skype and my email, sometimes my Utorrent is still running but it is only downloading in the morning usually.
Any other applications running at the same time will slow it down. Utorrent will be sharing any files in your shared folder due to the seeding process that those applications use. I would try it with all applications closed and see if that helps.
I'm using it now, seems somewhat better after reverting back to the default brushes and switching the scratch disk. Hopefully it'll keep up! I also reduced the allowed memory use a bit.
@northy Hi Northy, I might be remembering incorrectly, but I think Elements is a 32-bit application regardless of whether your OS is 32- or 64-bit. I think it's one of the reasons why HDR Efex Pro doesn't work in it (I have to use HDR Efex Pro direct from Lightroom).
@dtigani tx! and indeed, as i expected, 64 bits...
@humphreyhippo you could be right, but i wouldn't have a clue how to confirm that (there's nothing on the PSE box or disk that says anything that i can see) nor do i have a clue what it would really mean... i've mostly been ignoring the whole "bit" thing of computers, but we're trying to buy some software at work and for some reason the "bit" thing is an issue and so i've been trying to follow along ;p
If you have tried everything and are still having a slow down issue iregardless of what application you are using but more dependant on how long your laptop is running you could very well be running into an overheating issue which will definetly cause a bogged down feel to your laptop...laptops are notorious to this. It is caused by dust and dust bunnies building up on the heat sink or your exhaust fan getting clogged up and not able to efficiently cool your higher powered system.
I have had to reverse engineer two separate laptops to get to the heat sink for this reason. I will say that every now and then taking some compressed gas and blowing out your exhaust fan and vents can do a lot for you as well as never ever placing your laptop on a bed, couch, or even your lap..you need to keep your exhaust fan clear...I used to hang mine off the edge of a lapboard after having overheating issues.
An overheating system that is not dealt with shortens the lifespan on a system that already has a short shelf life...an overheating system that is used too much will inevitably fry itself out and become a door stop. I am going to say it sounds like you are dealing with more a ram/system resources issue but I would love to pass the advice to practice good air flow to protect your investment. I managed to squeeze an extra year of life out of two laptops that are designed only to make it two
p.s laptops are also designed not to be on 24/7 but more of a couple hours of use here and there. Another tip is shut her down and unplug it completely for an extended session before a photo edit session and when your system bogs down after a couple hours....save....shut your system down...unplug it...it will cool down faster and then reboot after a cool down period
Photoshop is a memory hog. It always has been, and it needs a lot of virtual memory. If you can get Task Manager up (right click on the status bar at the very bottom of your computer screen and choose it from the little pop-up menu) and go to the Processes tab you will be able to see all the programs that are running and how much memory each is currently taking up.
Despite the fact that PS only needs a certain amount of physical memory, it may in practice need a huge amount more of virtual memory. You'll see the size for yourself. I find it runs more smoothly if I close down any other application I started - email and the internet can cause holdups as they usually need to check for newer versions of things and there are other programs that may be competing for memory, possibly in the same space.
Also I find Photoshop works a bit better if I don't keep too many images open at any one time. It has to remember how you edited each one.
But just in case, I suggest running an anti-virus and anti-spyware scan on your computer as well because sometimes these things can sneak in when you download software, and slow performance down.
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The only things that have changed is that I downloaded a bunch of brushes from DeviantART and some actions and things like that. Would that slow it down?
It's making me insane because I'm a PS-aholic haha
When I go to the task manager it shows my memory being completely used up by Photoshop. Argh.
Clear some space on your hard drive
I assume you only have one hard drive? PS uses your hard drive as virtual memory (scratch disk) this is probably what's slowing it
I think you may be right @Cheesebiscuit maybe if I remove the brushes it will help a bit...
the C drive has 108 of 196 gb free and the D drive has 243 of 244 gb free
I have an external 2 TB hard disk that I use for storage...
Should I do something differently?
Memory Useage:
Available RAM: 5252 MB
Ideal Range: 2888 - 3781 MB
Let photoshop use: 3151 MB (60%)
In simple terms, the more ram the better your pc will run. This is particularly true of photoshop.
It could be that you have background programs open also....some programs open unnecessarily on start up and can take up memory. You could also try doing a defrag on your laptop, doing spyware/virus scans frequently can help increase the performance.
I often have other things running, like Chrome, Skype and my email, sometimes my Utorrent is still running but it is only downloading in the morning usually.
@humphreyhippo you could be right, but i wouldn't have a clue how to confirm that (there's nothing on the PSE box or disk that says anything that i can see) nor do i have a clue what it would really mean... i've mostly been ignoring the whole "bit" thing of computers, but we're trying to buy some software at work and for some reason the "bit" thing is an issue and so i've been trying to follow along ;p
I have had to reverse engineer two separate laptops to get to the heat sink for this reason. I will say that every now and then taking some compressed gas and blowing out your exhaust fan and vents can do a lot for you as well as never ever placing your laptop on a bed, couch, or even your lap..you need to keep your exhaust fan clear...I used to hang mine off the edge of a lapboard after having overheating issues.
An overheating system that is not dealt with shortens the lifespan on a system that already has a short shelf life...an overheating system that is used too much will inevitably fry itself out and become a door stop. I am going to say it sounds like you are dealing with more a ram/system resources issue but I would love to pass the advice to practice good air flow to protect your investment. I managed to squeeze an extra year of life out of two laptops that are designed only to make it two
p.s laptops are also designed not to be on 24/7 but more of a couple hours of use here and there. Another tip is shut her down and unplug it completely for an extended session before a photo edit session and when your system bogs down after a couple hours....save....shut your system down...unplug it...it will cool down faster and then reboot after a cool down period
Despite the fact that PS only needs a certain amount of physical memory, it may in practice need a huge amount more of virtual memory. You'll see the size for yourself. I find it runs more smoothly if I close down any other application I started - email and the internet can cause holdups as they usually need to check for newer versions of things and there are other programs that may be competing for memory, possibly in the same space.
Also I find Photoshop works a bit better if I don't keep too many images open at any one time. It has to remember how you edited each one.
But just in case, I suggest running an anti-virus and anti-spyware scan on your computer as well because sometimes these things can sneak in when you download software, and slow performance down.