(CS3 will only use 3G RAM max, then tags the scratch disk --- contrary to popular belief, CS3 does NOT utilize excess system Mac system RAM. Hopefully this and processor core utilization will be addressed in CS4.)
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This statement is just incorrect. The following excerpt is from an Adobe Tech note:
"When you run Photoshop CS3 on a 64-bit operating system, such as Mac OS X v10.4 and later, Photoshop can access up to 8 GB of RAM. You can see the actual amount of RAM Photoshop can use in the Let Photoshop Use number when you set the Let Photoshop Use slider in the Performance preference to 100%. The RAM above the 100% used by Photoshop, which is from approximately 3 GB to 3.7 GB, can be used directly by Photoshop plug-ins (some plug-ins need large chunks of contiguous RAM), filters, and actions. If you have more than 4 GB (to 8 GB), the RAM above 4 GB is used by the operating system as a cache for the Photoshop scratch disk data. Data that previously was written directly to the hard disk by Photoshop is now cached in this high RAM before being written to the hard disk by the operating system. If you are working with files large enough to take advantage of these extra 2 GB of RAM, the RAM cache can increase performance of Photoshop."
The full tech note is available here:
[a href=\"http://www.adobe.com/go/kb401089]http://www.adobe.com/go/kb401089[/url]
For this reason, my MacPro is equipped with 12 gigs of ram. This is a more efficient option for speeding up your system. I have no need for striped drives.
Jerry