"Alfred Molon" wrote in message
...
Just wondering if there is image processing software which can make full
use of 64 bit processors with more than one core (i.e. Core 2 Duo, Core
2 Quad or equivalents from AMD) and which can use more than 4GB RAM (I
know for instance of mainboards which take 8GB RAM)? Intel is planning
to have a processor with 32 cores by 2009.
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
Olympus 50X0, 7070, 8080, E300, E330, E400 and E500 forum at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyOlympus/
Olympus E330 resource - http://myolympus.org/E330/

First you need an OS that can handle 64 bits. Windows XP, for example is 32
bit and can read 4GB of ram in which 2GB is given to the OS and 2GB is given
to the apps. There is a startup switch to give 1GB to the OS and 3GB to the
apps, however the max RAM per app (per session) is still limited to 2GB. The
64 bit versions, of course, are not limited this way, but you need a 64 bit
app (like you asked about). I'm not sure if PS is truly 64 bit.

You must have a lot of images open or do a lot of stitching of many smaller
files to need such a large amount of RAM.

Don't know about 32 cores! Quad cores are just getting started and they will
likely run for the next couple years. 32 cores may be used for mini and
super computing uses. I don't see it in the desktop market for many more
years.
-S