How much memory should my computer have for digi scrapping?

[Scrapper007]

My DH said that all of my files, pages, etc. are clogging up the computer

When I use Photoshop Elements 8, the computer does run very slowly and sometimes shuts down. He mentioned that we probably don't have enough memory to support everything. I asked if it would help if I kept everything on an external hard drive and just plugged that in to the computer when I want to scrap and he said it wouldn't make a difference.

How much memory do you have and how much do you think is enough to be able to digi scrap without slowing things down?

[Gemma]

I only have 1gb of memory and CS3 and the CS5 trial run ok for me, but I want to upgrade eventually.

[Megan Turnidge]

Well, memory isn't too expensive, so I'd go for at least 4 GB RAM. I personally have 8 GB RAM in my new iMac, but I know 4 would probably be sufficient!

[lauren grier]

lol ... I ONLY have 768 mb of ram.. and i design I do crash sometimes-- but tbh.. I see people crashing who have WAy way way way way way way more ram than me too- and more often. So..

[Nettio]

Well first up, hard drive space and memory aka RAM are two different things. So if it's your files that are clogging up your computer, than your issue would be hard drive space and getting a bigger hard drive or moving files to an external hard drive would help speed things up.

But, if your issue is not enough memory aka RAM, then moving files isn't going to completely solve your problem. Do you have a desktop or a laptop? The amount of memory you can install is going to be dependent on what the motherboard in the computer can support. In general a laptop won't have room for as much memory as a desktop. My old laptop had like 1GB of memory and it was brutal. I'm much happier with the 4GB I have now. So I would check to see how much RAM your computer can support and if it's less than 4GB, I would max it out. Otherwise I would probably go with 4 and see how it runs.

[Gabbina]

I just have 2.. And i run cs5 with no problem.

[Gemma]

Originally Posted by lauren grier

lol ... I ONLY have 768 mb of ram.. and i design I do crash sometimes-- but tbh.. I see people crashing who have WAy way way way way way way more ram than me too- and more often. So..

Haha, my old laptop, that I only stopped using about 2 months ago, had 512mb of RAM, and rarely ever crashed, I only replaced it because it was starting to look old!

[LenaGardner]

I've been running smoothly for a few years on 3 gigs. 2 gigs was ok too.