Ram upgrade +SSD or Not

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I have a Dell Inspiron 2368 with INTEL i5 -7400 CPU @3.00Hz - 300Ghz 64 bit OS 8Gb RAM and 1 TB HD, around 3 years old

I noticed of late Photoshop 2021 + Bridge 2021 take some time to open images ( Sony a7RIV - images around 9500 pixels) so quite large

My question is: If i swap out the HD for an SSD plus a RAM upgrade to 16Gb will this improve the performance of my editing suite?? The PC runs fine on all other programmes

Also what size SSD would suffice?

Thanks in advance

Les :)
 
Hi Les,

Not 100% on the RAM but a ssd will definitely help.
 
Short answer yes and as big an SSD as possible -but Win 11 is on the horizon, personally I would check if it will run that as a lot won't before spending any money.
 
Yes, the ram upgrade will help a bit. The SSD will improve boot up times and speed when moving files around but won't make an awful lot of difference otherwise.

Realistically you would be better of with a new computer with a much faster processor and 32 GB ram.

Lightroom and Photoshop are very processor and ram hungry.

Just to give you an idea a while back I upgraded to this specification for my main editing p.c.

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 3.4GHz 16 Core CPU – 4.9GHz Turbo
64GB CORSAIR VENGEANCE LPX 3600MHz (4x16GB)

It is lightning quick for LR and PS, it is however complete over kill but I wanted the best I could afford at the time.
 
If it keeps your machine working ok for another 2 years then it's worth it. I'd get a 1TB SSD for about £85ish and another 8GB of ram for now.
 
Lez325 said:
I have a Dell Inspiron 2368 with INTEL i5 -7400 CPU @3.00Hz - 300Ghz 64 bit OS 8Gb RAM and 1 TB HD, around 3 years old

I noticed of late Photoshop 2021 + Bridge 2021 take some time to open images ( Sony a7RIV - images around 9500 pixels) so quite large

My question is: If i swap out the HD for an SSD plus a RAM upgrade to 16Gb will this improve the performance of my editing suite?? The PC runs fine on all other programmes

Also what size SSD would suffice?

Thanks in advance

Les :)
Click to expand...

You say the images are around 9600 pixels but the a7RV has an image size of 61 MP which I would say would certainly need a much more powerful PC then you have, including a more powerful processor - at least i7 7700 or above with 32GB RAM with (hopefully) a 250GB NVME as the boot drive and maybe another 500GB NVME for fast storage etc.
 
f/2.8 said:
Yes, the ram upgrade will help a bit. The SSD will improve boot up times and speed when moving files around but won't make an awful lot of difference otherwise.

Realistically you would be better of with a new computer with a much faster processor and 32 GB ram.

Lightroom and Photoshop are very processor and ram hungry.

Just to give you an idea a while back I upgraded to this specification for my main editing p.c.

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 3.4GHz 16 Core CPU – 4.9GHz Turbo
64GB CORSAIR VENGEANCE LPX 3600MHz (4x16GB)

It is lightning quick for LR and PS, it is however complete over kill but I wanted the best I could afford at the time.

Thank you Tommy, I don't really have the cash for a new PC of that spec - having just bought another Sony a7RIV body ( Brand New) and and a Sony 90mm macro lens- :)
Click to expand...


ancient_mariner said:
If it keeps your machine working ok for another 2 years then it's worth it. I'd get a 1TB SSD for about £85ish and another 8GB of ram for now.
Click to expand...

I did hope for that Toni- my local PC repair shop thinks a 1TB SSD installation and 16Gb RAM will help improve the issues with Photoshop, I could use a smaller application like Affinity or similar, but I have used Photoshop for as long as I can remeber :)

Thanks all for your suggestions and input

Les
 
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troutfisher said:
Short answer yes and as big an SSD as possible -but Win 11 is on the horizon, personally I would check if it will run that as a lot won't before spending any money.
Click to expand...


Now theres something I did not consider :) although I could just stick with Windoes 10- but I'll enquire at my local PC repair outlet
 
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W11 is on the horizon but doesn't seem to add that much over W10 and end-of-life for W10 is October 2025. I'd go with Plan A.
 
I went onto the Adobe site and found this:

Aim for a quad-core, 3 GHz CPU, 8 GB of RAM, a small SSD, and maybe a GPU for a good computer that can handle most Photoshop needs. If you're a heavy user, with large image files and extensive editing, consider a 3.5-4 GHz CPU, 16-32 GB RAM, and maybe even ditch the hard drives for a full SSD kit.

Les :)
 
They both will definitely help.
SSD is pretty much a must in this day and age. They are cheap enough now that you can pick one up without breaking the bank.
RAM price will depend on your PC.
Try https://uk.crucial.com/ for RAM upgrades. They'll scan your PC and tell you what's the maximum you can get in you laptop.
 
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Lez325 said:
I did hope for that Toni- my local PC repair shop thinks a 1TB SSD installation and 16Gb RAM will help improve the issues with Photoshop, I could use a smaller application like Affinity or similar, but I have used Photoshop for as long as I can remeber :)

Thanks all for your suggestions and input

Les
Click to expand...
I upgraded the RAM in our Dell Inspiron desktop a few years ago, and swapped the HD for a SSD a couple of weeks ago. Difference after the latter was really significant. I'm definitely not a techie, so if I can do it, so can you! (Got both from Mr Memory, I think).

BTW if you've too little memory on board, you're likely to be doing lots of page swapping, so with the HD it's a double hit!
 
nandbytes said:
They both will definitely help.
SSD is pretty much a must in this day and age. They are cheap enough now that you can pick one up without breaking the bank.
RAM price will depend on your PC.
Try https://uk.crucial.com/ for RAM upgrades. They'll scan your PC and tell you what's the maximum you can get in you laptop.
Click to expand...


PC Booked in for Friday for a 1TB SSD installation - chap there thinks that would be a good move @a cost of £165 inc VAT- He's not sure If my PC will accept a RAM upgrade ???

see how I get on from there

I sent the website details to the repair centre they can scan my PC once they have it - hopefully RAM upgrade will be available- according to the site I can install another 8Gb RAM - 16Gb in total

Les :)
 
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Using Photoshop 2021 is like wading in porridge. I run a Ryzen 9 3600, 32gbs of hight speed memory, a 1tb M.2 4.2gb transfer speed and an Nvidia 2070 super video card. It still seems to take a fortnight to open files. I even did a complete reinstall of Windows 10 pro when I noticed the problem. With just Photoshop and nothing else it still bogs down. Lots of users have complained, earlier versions including the 2020 version are vastly quicker.
 
I did install the 2020 versions of both photoshop and Bridge. Still slow though

Les
 
OK I have around £600 - £700 to lay out on a new pc for photoshop editing tower only.

I'm no techie. But I think SSD is the way to go with a 1TB hard drive and maybe a minimum of 16gb RAM i5 etc

Suggestions please? I really an not a technically minded chap

Thanks all

Les :)
 
Lez325 said:
OK I have around £600 - £700 to lay out on a new pc for photoshop editing tower only.

I'm no techie. But I think SSD is the way to go with a 1TB hard drive and maybe a minimum of 16gb RAM i5 etc

Suggestions please? I really an not a technically minded chap

Thanks all

Les :)
Click to expand...

For the RAM I'd personally advice going with maximum you can afford.
SSD is useful too I can make it work with 500GB, 1TB is comfortable, 2TB is perfect :D
 
In your position I'd save for another 2years, then spend around£1000-£1300.

I'm looking at upgrading my 7 year old XPS, probably to a Ryzen 5 3600X, Nvidia 3060 16gb ram a 2TB nvME SSD and 4TB HDD. I already have the nvME drive and I'm waiting for the right deal to come along on the rest.
 
ancient_mariner said:
In your position I'd save for another 2years, then spend around£1000-£1300.

I'm looking at upgrading my 7 year old XPS, probably to a Ryzen 5 3600X, Nvidia 3060 16gb ram a 2TB nvME SSD and 4TB HDD. I already have the nvME drive and I'm waiting for the right deal to come along on the rest.
Click to expand...


I don't need to save Toni. I just don't want to spend more than £700 mate :)
 
nandbytes said:
For the RAM I'd personally advice going with maximum you can afford.
SSD is useful too I can make it work with 500GB, 1TB is comfortable, 2TB is perfect :D
Click to expand...

OK thank you. I did find an HP Desktop with 1TB HD and 250gb SSD i5 it's one from pc world I think
 
I understand, but I think we're seeing another rise in performance at the moment which will make future proofing require a higher spec. My XPS was about a grand, and I'd spend that again for another 7 years of good performance, rather than £700 for 3 to 4 years.
 
Talk to ccl computers about what you want they will build it and you get 3 year warranty.
They built mine some 4 years ago and it has never missed a beat
 
Lez325 said:
OK thank you. I did find an HP Desktop with 1TB HD and 250gb SSD i5 it's one from pc world I think
Click to expand...
Wouldn't buy a cable from PC World never mind a PC. They have terrible CS and will try very hard to sell you a warranty that is worth squat.
 
One thing to consider is that it's common in that the high street options will come with a standard 5400/7200rpm HDD (usually 1Tb) as a storage solution alongside a smaller SSD (usually 256Gb) for your boot drive.

I recommend keeping an eye on the Dell Outlet (link) as they update their stock often and you can get a beefy specced machine considerably cheaper than usual and there's often some sort of discount code being promoted (anything between 10-20%) too.
 
LeftyXXIII said:
One thing to consider is that it's common in that the high street options will come with a standard 5400/7200rpm HDD (usually 1Tb) as a storage solution alongside a smaller SSD (usually 256Gb) for your boot drive.

I recommend keeping an eye on the Dell Outlet (link) as they update their stock often and you can get a beefy specced machine considerably cheaper than usual and there's often some sort of discount code being promoted (anything between 10-20%) too.
Click to expand...


Link does not go to DELL :) But I got to it via Google - mostly Gaming PC's for sale
 
tijuana taxi said:
You might find something here https://www.itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Computer-base-units-and-systems.html

Used them earlier this year and all went smoothly, equipment as described.
Click to expand...

Thank you I'll have a look ;)

My pc has issues now. Hardware problems were detected it's telling me as I do a Windows memory diagnostic. May explain why it won't run Photoshop

So a repair with 16 Gb RAM and 1TB SSD installed,or new pc???


UFZvQSC.jpg



Les
 
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New All in one PC now bought, with 16 Gb RAM( upgradable to 32 Gb which I'll certainly install) -AMD Ryzen i5 -256GB SSD- + I bought 1TB SSD External Drive for additional storage all arriving tomorrow + Free update to Windows 11 as and when its available

Thank all for your comments & advice

Les :)
 
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Lez325 said:
OK I have around £600 - £700 to lay out on a new pc for photoshop editing tower only.

I'm no techie. But I think SSD is the way to go with a 1TB hard drive and maybe a minimum of 16gb RAM i5 etc

Suggestions please? I really an not a technically minded chap

Thanks all

Les :)
Click to expand...
How about an M1 Mac mini £650
 
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