Skip to main content
D
DavePinMinn
Inspiring
October 23, 2021
Question

Photoshop frequently throwing "out of memory" errors

  • October 23, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 864 views

Windows 10 Pro, 32GB of memory, Quadro RTX 3000, all SSD drives, including images, Photoshop 22.5.1

I may be missing something simple, but I frequently have a problem with Photoshop running out of memory.  I may even have asked about the problem in the past, but I'm currently traveling in an area where the Internet thinks it's still 1987, so searching past posts or even downloading a new version of Photoshop is NOT going to happen 'til we get back to an area where it's the 21st century.

 

Currently, I’m using a Dell 7740 with 32 GB of memory.  And a scratch disk with 508 GB free.

As far as I can tell, I’ve done all the “normal” things in the “Makin Photoshop run better” topics, but I still regularly get the “Could not <fill in operation> because there is not enough memory.

 

For example, shut down Photoshop and sent a simple, 5-image panorama from Lightroom.  Selected “Content aware fill transparent areas”.  Panorama goes fine – all 5 images get loaded, and they end up with masks for each layer.  I DON’T get a new layer with the “Unnamed” label, and it just sits there with the small transparent area selected but not filled.

 

If I then do a Edit>Fill>Content-Aware, I get the error “Unable to fill because there is not enough memory.”  Not sure if it’s relevant, but if I attempt to do a Purge, all thee sections are GREYED OUT.  Nothing in Clipboard, Histories or All.

 

It doesn’t have to be a panorama.  I can take a single, normal D850 image (which may have been "large" a generation ago, but isn't anything special these days), do a selection, fiddle around a bit, and depending on what I’m doing I’ll get a “Could not <whatever> because there is not enough memory”. 

 

At the moment, the two largest memory users, by far, are Lightroom with about 4.1GB and Photoshop with 11.8GB.  Total memory in use is about 27 GB.  The system ALSO has 16GB of Virtual memory configured on the SAME scratch disk so it seems to me there NO way it could be "out of memory".

 

I’ve tried leaving PS with about 75% of the memory and currently have it set to use 96% (no difference).

It’s got to be something I’m missing…  Are there specific settings for the GPU I should have?  Use OpenCL?  Anti-Alias Guides and Paths?  30 bit display?  Some other performance settings? 

 

What dumb thing am I missing?

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

D
DavePinMinnAuthor
Inspiring
November 12, 2021

The original post was made from the laptop while traveling, but exactly the SAME THING happens with the desktop.

 

It's also Windows 10 Pro, 32GB of memory, AMD 5700XT GPU.

 

I’m not sure it’ll help with the out-of-memory problem in Photoshop, but Lightroom won’t create a 5-image Nikon D850 panorama either.  Photoshop creates the pano, but can't do content-aware fill. 

Lightroom doesn’t tell you WHY, it just dumps a generic “error” message popup.  4 or 5 years ago it may have been because they’re “large” images, but these days, I think 45 megapixels is about middle of the road…

 

BTW:  On this system that is complaining about insufficient memory, I NEVER see the Efficiency at less than 100%, even when it’s displaying the error.

 

By FAR, the largest memory consuming applications are Lightroom and Photoshop.

The system has 32GB of memory.

Based on a previous topic, Virtual Memory is set to “System managed size”

The Windows recommended paging file size is 4981 MB

Currently 14GB is configured on the O/S drive and another 7.8GB on a separate SSD for a total of 21GB.

 

Is there some particular way memory needs to be configured on Windows 10 to ENSURE that Photoshop does NOT complain about a lack of memory?  If so, what is it?

PECourtejoie
Community Expert
PECourtejoieCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 12, 2021

Hi, is it the case also if you open and merge those 5 files while Lightroom is not running? (from Bridge, or from the finder/explorer)

D
DavePinMinnAuthor
Inspiring
November 13, 2021

Ran a couple panos from Bridge and they worked.  So if there 10+ GB of available memory it seems fine.  Opened some other applications to eat some memory, ran a third one and it DIDN'T do the fill - out of memory.

Messed with one of the other applications and locked the whole system up tight and had to crash it.

So, if there's a lot of free memory it appears to work, but thats never the way it gets used.  BTW:  Even when it failed, PS still said the Efficiency was 100%.

D
DavePinMinnAuthor
Inspiring
October 26, 2021

This is becoming a major PITA, so some kind of fix would be helpful...

Anything rational.

D
DavePinMinnAuthor
Inspiring
November 12, 2021

I got an email a week or so ago recommending I update to the new Photoshop (which was 2021 at the time).  I've since updated to 2022 and today I installed 23.0.1, so I'm as current as can be.

STILL does exactly the same thing...  Send 5 normal D850 images to Photoshop from Lightroom (which started Photoshop, so it wasn't sitting there), and it does the pano then fails on the content aware fill of the empty areas (very small areas).  Same old "Could not fill because there's not enough memory" error.

I've got a couple TERABYTES of free SSD on the scratch disks.  Photoshop is getting 85% of the memory (based on the recent How to make 2022 work better entry), and there's 32 GB of real memory and 32GB of virtual memory sitting there.

It would be nice to be able to do a lousy 5-shot pano without having Photoshop puke every time.

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices