Lightroom — RAM vs. CPU
Lightroom — RAM vs. CPU
Every couple of weeks, I get an email that asks:
What's more important RAM or CPU when running Lightroom?
The same question comes on regular basis on the various Lightroom forums. My answer is:
Spend your money on the biggest and the fastest CPUs. Don't worry about RAM. Here is a screenshot of my Windows Task Manager. The Lightroom catalog is fairly standard around 10,000 photos and 1500 keywords. as you can see from the screen capture:
Task Manager: Ram & Cpu Usage
- The CPU usage is 100%, all as Kernel times1. This means that it's not Lightroom itself but Lightroom relying on the Operating System functions. The green line on the top portion is the total CPU usage. Maxed out at 100%.
- The total memory usage is only 468 megabytes that includes the memory used by Lightroom, Microsoft Windows, and the antivirus. The Lightroom catalog is fairly typical around 10,000 photos with 1500 keywords. Lightroom itself "only" uses 210Mb of RAM.
- So you will need a computer with the fastest CPU you can afford. There won't be much improvement in speed2 from going from a Core 2 Duo to a Quad Core, there will be some but not that much. On the other hand going from a 2.2Ghz to a 3Ghz will make a huge difference.
- The amount of memory that you should use is how much memory you should to run your computer comfortably.
- In the 32 bit world, Microsoft Windows and Apple OSx, the maximum amount of usable is 3Gb of RAM3.
- In the 64 bit world, Microsoft Windows Vista 64 or Apple OSx leopard, you can use more than 4Gb of RAM4. Not only the CPU has to be a 64 bit CPU, the operating system must be a 64 bit operating system, both Windows and OSx Leopard have 64 bit versions. You must also purchase the Lightroom 64 bit version.
- Depending on the weather, the age of the captain and where the wind comes from, switching to 64 bit will give you a speed improvement from 15% to as much as 50%. Running a 32 bit application on a 64 bit computer and OS will be slower than a 32 bit application on a 32 bit computer.
1 Most of the kernel times are IO, input outputs, as memory IOs and disk IOs basically reads and writes between the SQLite database, the photos on the disk, and the operating system ↑
2 My own test gave a 15% speed improvement. This was a completely unscientific test since too many variables were changed between the 2 computers. ↑
3 Not 100% true. It's possible to go past the 3Gb of memory by using PAE: Physical Address Extension ↑
4 In theory, you can use 128Gb of RAM ↑
Tags: Dam | Lightroom | Lightroom-Why | Lightroom-How-To | Technical
Lightroom — RAM vs. CPU
Every couple of weeks, I get an email that asks:
What's more important RAM or CPU when running Lightroom?
The same question comes on regular basis on the various Lightroom forums. My answer is:
Spend your money on the biggest and the fastest CPUs. Don't worry about RAM. Here is a screenshot of my Windows Task Manager. The Lightroom catalog is fairly standard around 10,000 photos and 1500 keywords. as you can see from the screen capture:
Task Manager: Ram & Cpu Usage
- The CPU usage is 100%, all as Kernel times1. This means that it's not Lightroom itself but Lightroom relying on the Operating System functions. The green line on the top portion is the total CPU usage. Maxed out at 100%.
- The total memory usage is only 468 megabytes that includes the memory used by Lightroom, Microsoft Windows, and the antivirus. The Lightroom catalog is fairly typical around 10,000 photos with 1500 keywords. Lightroom itself "only" uses 210Mb of RAM.
- So you will need a computer with the fastest CPU you can afford. There won't be much improvement in speed2 from going from a Core 2 Duo to a Quad Core, there will be some but not that much. On the other hand going from a 2.2Ghz to a 3Ghz will make a huge difference.
- The amount of memory that you should use is how much memory you should to run your computer comfortably.
- In the 32 bit world, Microsoft Windows and Apple OSx, the maximum amount of usable is 3Gb of RAM3.
- In the 64 bit world, Microsoft Windows Vista 64 or Apple OSx leopard, you can use more than 4Gb of RAM4. Not only the CPU has to be a 64 bit CPU, the operating system must be a 64 bit operating system, both Windows and OSx Leopard have 64 bit versions. You must also purchase the Lightroom 64 bit version.
- Depending on the weather, the age of the captain and where the wind comes from, switching to 64 bit will give you a speed improvement from 15% to as much as 50%. Running a 32 bit application on a 64 bit computer and OS will be slower than a 32 bit application on a 32 bit computer.
1 Most of the kernel times are IO, input outputs, as memory IOs and disk IOs basically reads and writes between the SQLite database, the photos on the disk, and the operating system ↑
2 My own test gave a 15% speed improvement. This was a completely unscientific test since too many variables were changed between the 2 computers. ↑
3 Not 100% true. It's possible to go past the 3Gb of memory by using PAE: Physical Address Extension ↑
4 In theory, you can use 128Gb of RAM ↑
Tags: Dam | Lightroom | Lightroom-Why | Lightroom-How-To | Technical
