CS4 very slow and laggy.

[Johnboy2978]

50 views and no comments on the graphics program section leaves wanting to post here for increased views and perhaps some insight. Mods feel free to delete if it violates whatever.

So I just downloaded the trial of cs4 extended. I have been using cs2 which works fine w/o any problems. On cs4, I notice a very distinct lag and also a weird thing w/ the crop tool in which it won't allow me to click in the dimensions window and type in the dimensions I want to crop. Instead, if I go to the left of the window, I can drag like there's an invisible slider there. Really strange. So any guesses why I am having these problems? I think my pc should still be up to the task and am not really willing to invest more money in my pc right now.

Specs:
Running Win XP Pro SP2
Pentium 3.0GB core 2 duo processor
4 gb DDR ram
nVidia GeForce 7100/nForce 630i 512mb(which may be the culprit)

 

[SpeedTrap]

It is the 4 gb DDR ram that is causing you the problems.
Your system can only access just over 3 gig of ram and CS4 is a memory hog.
So depending on you current RAM usage you may be falling short.
CS4 was designed with 64bit systems in mind, I know when I changed my system over to 64 bit Photoshop quadrupled in speed because it can now access the 8 gig of ram I have installed..

 

[NateWagner]

I dunno, for the most part your system is better than mine, and mine running cs4 has no problems like what you mentioned. The only time I've experienced slow down or crashing is when I'm doing a basic resize and for some reason or another have 300-400 open photos.

(my setup is 2.5 ghz dual core, 256 mb video card ati 1650se, 6gb ram, windows 7 64bit)

 

[ANDS!]

CS4 will only take as much memory as you give to it. You can reduce the amount of memory that CS4 will use, but you should never really see that unless you've got multiple files open.

The video card shouldn't necessarily be the problem unless you're allowing CS4 to take advantage of the video card you have. That might be causing your issues as it is letting the video card run aliasing and other graphical goodies on your images.

As the previous poster said, memory isn't the problem, although you are wasting 1gig of it. Windows 7 can only use 4G worth of ram, so most definitely Windows XP is going to only let you use less.

 

[Johnboy2978]

I think the most annoying thing is the issue w/ the crop tool. Have you heard anything like that? I can't type anything in that window. I don't know. CS2 works fine, no problems or issues. I've unistalled and re-installed cs4 w/ the same issues. Maybe I'll just bag it and wait for the cs5 which I'm sure can't be too far down the road.

 

[SpeedTrap]

CS5 is rumored to be 64 bit only........

 

[Johnboy2978]

Just for kicks I downloaded the trial on my work laptop and it works fine. The specs for it are as follows:
Win XP pro SP3
Pentium Mobile 2.1GHZ
2GB ram
video card on board - mobile intel 965 Express chipset family w/ 384 mb ram

do you think updating to SP3 would make a difference or is it just a fluke?

 

[frXnz kafka]

Your specs are fine. I would guess there is a corrupt file somewhere or something. Maybe try uninstalling it and installing it again.

 

[ANDS!]

CS5 is rumored to be 64 bit only........

Theres no way they are going to cut out a MAJORITY of their buying public by pushing to a 64-bit only system. Not a chance. It's like all major movie studios saying they are switching to Blu-Ray only and ditching DVD.

I think the most annoying thing is the issue w/ the crop tool. Have you heard anything like that?

Never, but Photoshop is prone to doing retarded things so I wouldn't put it past it. I would say it is most definitely nothing to do with your system, and the actual program itself.

 

[Johnboy2978]

Well after some tinkering and updating to SP3 (which did nothing but update me to SP3!) I found the problem. When I unchecked the box to link to where my cs2 filters/plugins were, everything worked fine. Not sure why this did anything, but that's the way it goes. After doing that, and reinstalling my plugins to CS4, it works fine, or seems to, at least.