Lightroom 4 slow to render in Develop mode; what part(s) of my PC is/are dogging it?

Question

I made the jump from Picasa to LR4 and switched to shooting RAW in the process.The software boost did not come with a PC boost, but I didn't think it would be necessary; my machine seems adequate for all other tasks (gaming, software development, etc). However, I'm finding that switching from image to image in Develop mode seems to take a while, especially with images that are noisy. The "Loading..." message pops up and stays onscreen for 5-10 seconds for each image I switch to.Now, I'm not against a PC upgrade, but I'm not sure what component is slowing me down. I can say, comfortably, that it's not RAM; LR only seems to use about half of what's available. What's the best way to determine where my PC is lacking?Current specs, if necessary: Core2 Duo E7500 4GB PC3-10600 GeForce 9800 GTX+ Photos on a RAID 0 pair of 7200RPM 320GB WD Blue Drives OS and Apps on a single 10000RPM 300GB WD Veliciraptor

Answer 1

Congratulations on the transfer! To make things run smoother, I have some recommendations. The CPU is the piece of hardware that is looking at the RAW file and converting the binary text into an image which you can actually see. How fast and efficiently it does this depends on two things (1) its processing power (2) the rate at which the RAM can feed the CPU (so you may still be limited in this scenario as well). Considering that you're running a duo-core CPU from Q1-2009, I would say that you're past due for a CPU upgrade. The only issue with upgrading such an old PC is that you may also need to upgrade to a newer motherboard as the old one may not support new CPU SKUs on the market. This also means that you may need to purchase new RAM and the new motherboard may not support it. If you do find a quad-core CPU supported by your motherboard, it would still feel wrong investing in that upgrade as it would be a much older SKU and would get outdated again very soon. The other specifications look as though they are good enough but I do not expect that this system can keep you running for much longer and would not suggest investing money on upgrading its hardware. Save up, and buy a modern quad-core CPU used system if need be (~$300-400 on the low end).