RAM Upgrades: Are you ready to run Adobe Creative Suite 5

For those who work in multimedia applications, Adobe Creative Suite 5 has been much anticipated.

Adobe Creative Suite 5 — one of the most popular platforms for various media-related tasks — is a demanding software package, featuring a vast array of programs including Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Fireworks, Dreamweaver Soundbooth, Encore, After Effects and Flash Builder, Catalyst and Professional; depending on which version of the suite a user buys.

Minimum Requirements
Photoshop, one of the most popular programs in Adobe's Creative Suite 5, has system specifications similar to games. For PC users, minimum specifications include a 2 Ghz or higher processor, at least 1 GB of RAM, an Open-GL graphics card capable of providing at least 256 MB of VRAM, Shader model 3.0, DirectX 9.0 or higher for some functions and 1 GB of hard disk space.

Flash Professional, a high-performance tool for developing flash content for websites and gaming, has similar requirements. Users must have an Intel Pentium 4 processor or better. Video requirements are not as high as they are for Photoshop, but Flash Professional also requires 1 GB of memory.

The system requirements for other CS5 products are fairly similar as well. However, these are just the minimal requirements and do not necessarily give users a clear vision of what they really need to run the application well. Instead, these specifications merely identify what users must have to use the program. Users need to make sure they have enough RAM at all times.

Optimal RAM for advanced processes

Adobe expert Todd Kopriva, who blogs on Adobe software, recently wrote about managing RAM needs while running After Effects, part of the CS5 suite. He said computer systems need enough RAM to manage all of the processes involved in rendering frames. This must be accomplished while simultaneously managing other programs running on the same computer. To help figure out how much RAM is really needed to make all of these processes work, the report recommends understanding how to assign RAM to each active CPU core.

Kopriva writes: "If you don't set your Minimum Allocation Per CPU high enough, or if you don’t set RAM To Leave For Other Applications high enough, then you are going to experience the inevitable problems of multiple components both within and outside of After Effects fighting over memory, which slows things down. One of the things that can really kill your performance is essentially telling After Effects to fire up all eight cores in an eight-core machine and then starving those cores of RAM."

More with Adobe expert Todd Kopriva.

When working with high definition, the blog post recommends 2 GB or RAM per process. As a result, a system with eight processing cores and 8 GB of RAM will be able to adequately handle 3 After Effects processes without slowing down.

How much RAM you really need
The minimum system requirements for such programs as Photoshop and Flash Professional, as well as the impact of After Effects, illustrate the memory needs of Adobe's Create Suite 5. Performance is critical when engaging in photo, flash, video and sound editing. As a result, users should invest in the highest-quality components possible and make sure they have enough RAM to handle the processes they will need to complete. As a general rule, upward of 8 GB of RAM is advisable for CS5 users.

For more information on RAM memory and Adobe Create Suite 5, visit our RAM and SSD news and information page. If you have additional questions on RAM memory and Adobe Create Suite 5, visit our product information section or contact our support center. If you’re ready to take the plunge, you can use our Crucial Memory Advisor™ tool or Crucial System Scanner tool.