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Slow PC issue easily fixed, once you understand the problem



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 10th 16, 05:58 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
PeterN[_6_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,254
Default Slow PC issue easily fixed, once you understand the problem

I have an HP PC. After PS CC2015 came out, it has been getting slower,
to the point where it was becoming unusable. I just am not in the mood
for a new machine. I tried added 16G memory, no joy. While i have a
reasonable working knowledge of software, I have not that knowledgeable
about hardware. The solution. I got a new graphics card. The first had
to be returned because it requires more power than can be supplied by
the slot, and my machine did not support the additional power. The
second graphics card has 2gig graphics memory and the machine now runs
like a gazelle.
Total cost of the fix:
Memory $79, after rebate.
Graphics card $69.
Time to fix, under one hour, including two trips to Microcenter, removal
of the side panel, and sticking in the new hardware. The driver
installation time took and additional 45 minutes.
Much less time than reinstalling software on a new machine and a lot
less expensive.
I am posting this to help anyone who may have a similar issue.


--
PeterN
  #2  
Old January 11th 16, 01:18 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
Ken Hart[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 569
Default Slow PC issue easily fixed, once you understand the problem

On 01/10/2016 11:58 AM, PeterN wrote:
I have an HP PC. After PS CC2015 came out, it has been getting slower,
to the point where it was becoming unusable. I just am not in the mood
for a new machine. I tried added 16G memory, no joy. While i have a
reasonable working knowledge of software, I have not that knowledgeable
about hardware. The solution. I got a new graphics card. The first had
to be returned because it requires more power than can be supplied by
the slot, and my machine did not support the additional power. The
second graphics card has 2gig graphics memory and the machine now runs
like a gazelle.
Total cost of the fix:
Memory $79, after rebate.
Graphics card $69.
Time to fix, under one hour, including two trips to Microcenter, removal
of the side panel, and sticking in the new hardware. The driver
installation time took and additional 45 minutes.
Much less time than reinstalling software on a new machine and a lot
less expensive.
I am posting this to help anyone who may have a similar issue.


Not incredibly unusual.
The old rule of thumb for speeding up a computer was to max out the RAM,
so to avoid the computer accessing the (slower than RAM) hard drive.
In your case, apparently the RAM was needed for graphics processing.

Allegedly, fonts and saved URL's can also chew up processing power. But
that might be from "the good ol' days" and no longer valid.

Of course, if you really want your computer to run like a more athletic
gazelle, you could dump Windows and load Linux, but that solution brings
you a whole new set of problems!

Congrats on your successful and economic fix!

--
Ken Hart

  #3  
Old January 11th 16, 02:06 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
PeterN[_6_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,254
Default Slow PC issue easily fixed, once you understand the problem

On 1/10/2016 6:09 PM, RichA wrote:
On Sunday, 10 January 2016 11:58:53 UTC-5, peterN wrote:
I have an HP PC. After PS CC2015 came out, it has been getting slower,
to the point where it was becoming unusable. I just am not in the mood
for a new machine. I tried added 16G memory, no joy. While i have a
reasonable working knowledge of software, I have not that knowledgeable
about hardware. The solution. I got a new graphics card. The first had
to be returned because it requires more power than can be supplied by
the slot, and my machine did not support the additional power. The
second graphics card has 2gig graphics memory and the machine now runs
like a gazelle.
Total cost of the fix:
Memory $79, after rebate.
Graphics card $69.
Time to fix, under one hour, including two trips to Microcenter, removal
of the side panel, and sticking in the new hardware. The driver
installation time took and additional 45 minutes.
Much less time than reinstalling software on a new machine and a lot
less expensive.
I am posting this to help anyone who may have a similar issue.


--
PeterN


I thought higher-end graphics cards included their own power input?


It seems the lower end. At least at Microcenter.


--
PeterN
  #4  
Old January 11th 16, 02:24 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
PeterN[_6_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,254
Default Slow PC issue easily fixed, once you understand the problem

On 1/10/2016 7:18 PM, Ken Hart wrote:
On 01/10/2016 11:58 AM, PeterN wrote:
I have an HP PC. After PS CC2015 came out, it has been getting slower,
to the point where it was becoming unusable. I just am not in the mood
for a new machine. I tried added 16G memory, no joy. While i have a
reasonable working knowledge of software, I have not that knowledgeable
about hardware. The solution. I got a new graphics card. The first had
to be returned because it requires more power than can be supplied by
the slot, and my machine did not support the additional power. The
second graphics card has 2gig graphics memory and the machine now runs
like a gazelle.
Total cost of the fix:
Memory $79, after rebate.
Graphics card $69.
Time to fix, under one hour, including two trips to Microcenter, removal
of the side panel, and sticking in the new hardware. The driver
installation time took and additional 45 minutes.
Much less time than reinstalling software on a new machine and a lot
less expensive.
I am posting this to help anyone who may have a similar issue.


Not incredibly unusual.
The old rule of thumb for speeding up a computer was to max out the RAM,
so to avoid the computer accessing the (slower than RAM) hard drive.
In your case, apparently the RAM was needed for graphics processing.

I first upped the ram to 20G. That did nothing. Apparently the newer
versions of PS are more graphics intensive. What is strange is that the
processor is an 8 core I7. Apparently PS doesn't do multi threading very
well.

Allegedly, fonts and saved URL's can also chew up processing power. But
that might be from "the good ol' days" and no longer valid.

Of course, if you really want your computer to run like a more athletic
gazelle, you could dump Windows and load Linux, but that solution brings
you a whole new set of problems!


True, but I also want the machine to do things. Solaris is also a lot
faster. Both Linux and Solaris have too much of a futz factor for this
old fart. At this stage I just want to play with my photos, and Win best
suits my needs. If I decide to intensively pursue my poking into
relativity I will probably reinstall my old Linux and run a dual boot.


Congrats on your successful and economic fix!


Thanks.

--
PeterN
  #5  
Old January 11th 16, 02:51 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
Bill W
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,692
Default Slow PC issue easily fixed, once you understand the problem

On Sun, 10 Jan 2016 11:58:30 -0500, PeterN
wrote:

I have an HP PC. After PS CC2015 came out, it has been getting slower,
to the point where it was becoming unusable. I just am not in the mood
for a new machine. I tried added 16G memory, no joy. While i have a
reasonable working knowledge of software, I have not that knowledgeable
about hardware. The solution. I got a new graphics card. The first had
to be returned because it requires more power than can be supplied by
the slot, and my machine did not support the additional power. The
second graphics card has 2gig graphics memory and the machine now runs
like a gazelle.
Total cost of the fix:
Memory $79, after rebate.
Graphics card $69.
Time to fix, under one hour, including two trips to Microcenter, removal
of the side panel, and sticking in the new hardware. The driver
installation time took and additional 45 minutes.
Much less time than reinstalling software on a new machine and a lot
less expensive.
I am posting this to help anyone who may have a similar issue.


One caveat should be added. Some of the cheaper graphics cards are not
much of an improvement over the integrated graphics on some main
boards. This is usually a smart upgrade, and apparently worked very
well for you, but anyone thinking of doing the same should do some
research first. It would be easy to spend $100 on a card, and get no
improvement. One other bit of advice, and this has come up before
regarding LR, is to uncheck the "Use GPU" box in preferences. That
cures issues for lots of people, and helped me some.

I'm bringing this up because I've also started to look into this for
the same problem. I was about to buy a card that was on sale, but I
did some research first, and found that I would have gained nothing at
all. Luckily, mine is only a little slow, and I can easily live with
it. It's a tough decision because I know I'll probably have to spend
close to $200.

I am glad you posted this. With the dramatic improvement you saw, I'm
more convinced that this might help me out, and be worth the
investment.


  #6  
Old January 11th 16, 03:16 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24,165
Default Slow PC issue easily fixed, once you understand the problem

In article , PeterN
wrote:

The old rule of thumb for speeding up a computer was to max out the RAM,
so to avoid the computer accessing the (slower than RAM) hard drive.
In your case, apparently the RAM was needed for graphics processing.

I first upped the ram to 20G. That did nothing.


then the bottlenecks were elsewhere.

Apparently the newer
versions of PS are more graphics intensive.


that makes no sense.

newer versions of photoshop offload to the gpu when needed, if that's
what you mean.

What is strange is that the
processor is an 8 core I7. Apparently PS doesn't do multi threading very
well.


photoshop does multithreading quite well and has done so since the
1990s.

however, not all actions benefit from multithreading.
  #7  
Old January 11th 16, 03:16 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24,165
Default Slow PC issue easily fixed, once you understand the problem

In article , Bill W
wrote:

One other bit of advice, and this has come up before
regarding LR, is to uncheck the "Use GPU" box in preferences. That
cures issues for lots of people, and helped me some.


if you don't mind slowing things down, go for it.
  #8  
Old January 11th 16, 03:16 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24,165
Default Slow PC issue easily fixed, once you understand the problem

In article , Ken Hart
wrote:

The old rule of thumb for speeding up a computer was to max out the RAM,
so to avoid the computer accessing the (slower than RAM) hard drive.
In your case, apparently the RAM was needed for graphics processing.


graphics processing is done in the gpu.

Allegedly, fonts and saved URL's can also chew up processing power. But
that might be from "the good ol' days" and no longer valid.


that was never valid.

Of course, if you really want your computer to run like a more athletic
gazelle, you could dump Windows and load Linux, but that solution brings
you a whole new set of problems!


namely the lack of software, which has the net effect of making the
system slower.
  #9  
Old January 11th 16, 03:46 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
Bill W
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,692
Default Slow PC issue easily fixed, once you understand the problem

On Sun, 10 Jan 2016 21:16:21 -0500, nospam
wrote:

In article , Bill W
wrote:

One other bit of advice, and this has come up before
regarding LR, is to uncheck the "Use GPU" box in preferences. That
cures issues for lots of people, and helped me some.


if you don't mind slowing things down, go for it.


It can slow things in the develop module, and yes, it's the most used
things. But... some of us have serious issues with either spot
removal, or working with the brush. There is way too much latency, and
unchecking that box can help. Fortunately, my system is fast enough
that whatever slowing there is in the other adjustments is not
noticeable. I also haven't had any crashes since I unchecked it, but I
need to spend more time with it before I know if that issue is fixed.
I'm going through an older set of photos tonight, so I'll know more.

I also tried to set my BIOS so that 2 GB of ram is dedicated to
graphics, but the highest setting is only 1/4 of that. I realize
that's adjusted dynamically, but I think it slows things in some
cases.
  #10  
Old January 11th 16, 03:56 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
Eric Stevens
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13,611
Default Slow PC issue easily fixed, once you understand the problem

On Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:09:58 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

On Sunday, 10 January 2016 11:58:53 UTC-5, peterN wrote:
I have an HP PC. After PS CC2015 came out, it has been getting slower,
to the point where it was becoming unusable. I just am not in the mood
for a new machine. I tried added 16G memory, no joy. While i have a
reasonable working knowledge of software, I have not that knowledgeable
about hardware. The solution. I got a new graphics card. The first had
to be returned because it requires more power than can be supplied by
the slot, and my machine did not support the additional power. The
second graphics card has 2gig graphics memory and the machine now runs
like a gazelle.
Total cost of the fix:
Memory $79, after rebate.
Graphics card $69.
Time to fix, under one hour, including two trips to Microcenter, removal
of the side panel, and sticking in the new hardware. The driver
installation time took and additional 45 minutes.
Much less time than reinstalling software on a new machine and a lot
less expensive.
I am posting this to help anyone who may have a similar issue.


--
PeterN


I thought higher-end graphics cards included their own power input?


Most graphics cards get their power from the PCI bus. It is quite
usual when upgrading graphics cards to have to also upgrade the
computer's power supply.

The reason your computer seems to have been getting slower is that LR
(in particular) tries to make use of the graphics processors on the
graphics card to get increased processing capability. If the graphics
card is not up to the demands they are bypassed with much of the
processing left to the CPU.

These sites may help you

Photoshop
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro...uirements.html

Lightroom
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/sy...uirements.html

Premier Pro (Video)
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro...uirements.html

Adobe Tests and compatability: Important
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb...-card-faq.html


--

Regards,

Eric Stevens
 




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