Lightroom Classic v.9 using HUGE amounts of CPU

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
December 9, 2019
3 replies
736 views

Hi there, I have been having a major ongoing problem for at least a year and maybe more with Lightroom Classic using ALL my CPU.

Whenever I do ANYTHING on Lightroom, even basic edits like cropping or changing white balance, my fans go mad, the CPU is 200% and higher and everything is impossibly slow. When exporting files I can't do anything else at all on my computer.

I have turned off writing metadata to xmp files and also turned off GPS but I don't know what else to try.

I'm a photographer, not a computer expert, so please be gentle with me!

Can this be fixed or is my computer too old and I need a new one?

I am using Lightroom Classic Desktop v 9.0 but this problem has been ongoing with older versions too.

Macbook Pro 2014 running Mojave 10.14.6

Processor 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5

Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics Intel Iris 1536 MB

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.

GoldingD

Legend

What is your MAC OS build?

see: http://osxdaily.com/2015/03/23/find-build-number-os-x-mac/

B

bellaf95161709Author

Known Participant

It's 10.14.6 (18G87)

Thanks for the advice on how to find it!

GoldingD

Legend

Point would have been to get build 18G87 as it corrected some memory use issues.

J

Jao vdL

Community Expert

How large are your raw files? Until recently my main machine was a 2012 MBP. It had 16 gigs memory (which I consider minimum for Classic) i7 processors and a better graphics card and it worked fine with 24 MP raws, but started crawling a bit with panos and 45 MP raws. Workable but not ideal. It definitely depends strongly on the raw size if you can work with this computer as it is somewhat underpowered but I would not expect quite as extreme the phenomena you describe. One thing that can happen is that the thing is choked with dust on the inside and the fans. This is fairly common and will cause it to overheat under load. If the computer overheats it will throttle processing leading to the slow response you describe. This can be solved by opening it up (not that hard if you have a torx screwdriver) and blowing the dust away.

B

bellaf95161709Author

Known Participant

Thanks for your helpful reply. I'm shooting on a Canon 5D IV so each RAW file is between 10 and 40 MB typically. So maybe my computer is just not up to the job?

Haven't done the dust thing - I'm too scared of breaking my laptop! And not convinced it'll make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. You think it will?

J

Jao vdL

Community Expert

The 5D mk IV is 30 MP so I would consider that edge case for this machine. Probably not a big suprise it spins its fans. Still blowing out dust might help a bit especially with the partly freezing phenomena you are seeing but I get the reluctance to open up your machine. I opened up my 2012 MBP a few years ago to put in a bigger SSD (great and pretty simple upgrade by the way to make it last a bit longer) and I was surprised how much really fine dust was everywhere coating all the electronics and the fans were pretty clogged with the same really fine dust.