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.

[ariesfl326]

I may not be the best example in the world b/c I intentionally have as much memory as possible on my laptop but here's my specs, RAM=1gb, HD=120gb, external hard drives: 1tb, 400 gb, and 20gb. Hope this helps.

Debbie

[nikkiARNGwife]

I have 8GB of RAM and it runs smooth as silk ...but I also had 2GB on my old laptop and it ran well enough that I rarely crashed..and that was usually with PSP and lightroom open at once plus many file folders lol

[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.

[sarahbhb]

I'm guessing he's probably talking RAM...

I had issues running with the PSE 7 trial running smoothly on my computer with 1 gig RAM (I think my processor at the time was 1.8 ghz)....ran very smoothly on DH's 2.2 ghz with 2 gig RAM however. Hehe I have a better system than DH now so he'll inherit this one when and if I can ever afford my laptop.

[jessica31876]

I have 1 gig of RAM and am running PSP XI. If you have Vista though you can add virtual RAM I believe by plugging a thumbdrive in. So if you have like a 1 or 2 gig thumbdrive you can plug it in and itll give you an option of speedboost or something like that? That is supposed to help speed things up for you

[Scrapper007]

I just checked and this computer (desktop) has 1 GB of RAM. I know *nothing* about all of this so your replies to me are very helpful (thank you)! Please don't laugh, but I really don't know...how do you put more memory into the computer...do you buy it online and somehow load it in??

[jessica31876]

Here ya go here is an article that explains it all for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost

Its nice because you can get the drive fairly cheap and most people have them already and you dont have to physically open the computer and install anything at all. Just click on the use as ready boost option when you plug in the flash drive (found out it can be virtually any type of storage like an SD card even though which I did not know).

[rachaelsscraps]

I have 4 GB of ram which does well for me. I design (extracting mostly) so I'm always working with 50MB files at a time... My biggest problem is my computer (laptop) getting too hot. I'm always afraid of overheating it cuz I never turn the thing off!


My old laptop only had 1 GB ram, and I killed it! lol! I kept getting those blue screens that said "memory management" problems....