# Is anybody using FoCal on a XP SP3 with 2GB of ram?



## rpt (Jun 13, 2012)

I figured I needed FoCal but the website says one needs 3GB for XP SP3. I am going to do AFMA on my lenses for the 5D3 so XP SP3 is fine. However, as I have just 2GB of ram I am not sure if it will run. I have posted a question on their forum but was wondering if anybody is running it on a 2GB XP machine.

Yes, I know the config is low  I did not need more ram earlier so I stayed with 2gb.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 13, 2012)

It requires all the memory and horsepower you can give it. Its does sone very complex computations.

Spend $50 or less and get more memory. For DDR3, its under $25 for 4GB, but older memory is a bit more expensive.


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## rpt (Jun 13, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> It requires all the memory and horsepower you can give it. Its does sone very complex computations.
> 
> Spend $50 or less and get more memory. For DDR3, its under $25 for 4GB, but older memory is a bit more expensive.



 I guess I will need to shell out the time to get my old laptop or desktop upgraded the $50 is not an issue, both my laptop and desktop are over 3 years old...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 13, 2012)

rpt said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > It requires all the memory and horsepower you can give it. Its does sone very complex computations.
> ...


 
You are in luck, memory is priced low. If you have SATA drives consider buying a 128gb SSD and install your programs on it while you put your data on the rotating drive. Then, when Windows switches out memory to the drive (virtual memory), it will speed up things a lot. You will be using a lot of virtual memory trying to edit 5D MK III images on a 3GB machine. When you upgrade computers, just move the SSD to the new one and use it the same way. Many new computers are starting to come configured this way, with a small SSD for the OS/Programs and a large rotating hard drive for data. I've reconfigured all of mine to operate like this, except for laptops, I just use a SSD.


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## rpt (Jun 13, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> rpt said:
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> 
> > Mt Spokane Photography said:
> ...



I need to get LR 4.1 too and it does not run on XP 

So I will need to update my setup anyway... Will take your suggestion then. Thanks.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 13, 2012)

rpt said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > rpt said:
> ...


 
At some point, it just becomes easier to buy or build a whole new computer. I've been looking at upgrades, benchmarks, etc for the last few weeks. If you buy a machine with windows 7 now, you will get a upgrade to windows 8 for $14 when its released. I really do not see a whole lot of improvement over my 3 year old i7 generation 1 computer, but maybe enough that I can cut 25% off my editing time. I'd have to step up to a 6 core processor to actually have a big difference in rendering times.


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## rpt (Jun 13, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> At some point, it just becomes easier to buy or build a whole new computer. I've been looking at upgrades, benchmarks, etc for the last few weeks. If you buy a machine with windows 7 now, you will get a upgrade to windows 8 for $14 when its released. I really do not see a whole lot of improvement over my 3 year old i7 generation 1 computer, but maybe enough that I can cut 25% off my editing time. I'd have to step up to a 6 core processor to actually have a big difference in rendering times.


I don't know about windows 8. I am skeptical about windows versions. Once I latch on to a stable version, I stay there for a loooooooooooong time. Hardware is different. I recycle every 3 to 4 years and it is due now...

Thanks for the info though.


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## kasperj (Jun 13, 2012)

I have very recently been running FoCal Pro v1.4.3.105 on my work pc only because the otherwise excellent app doesn't support Mac - WTF!? 

Anyway, just checked my configuration and lord and behold I actually has FoCal Pro running on 2GB ram on XP SP3. Didn't experience any issues after testing 6 lenses on a 5D mkiii

Cheers


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 14, 2012)

rpt said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > At some point, it just becomes easier to buy or build a whole new computer. I've been looking at upgrades, benchmarks, etc for the last few weeks. If you buy a machine with windows 7 now, you will get a upgrade to windows 8 for $14 when its released. I really do not see a whole lot of improvement over my 3 year old i7 generation 1 computer, but maybe enough that I can cut 25% off my editing time. I'd have to step up to a 6 core processor to actually have a big difference in rendering times.
> ...


 
Windows 7 is very good, a huge improvement in many ways over XP. (Vista was a dog). Windows 8 is more of a minor upgrade, but better supports SSD's and touch screens. SSD's are one of the low cost ways to boost performance in a pc, but the operating systems haven't fully caught up yet, so any improvements that improve use with a SSD are welcome to me. 

It doesn't hurt that I have a relative at Microsoft, so I can get Windows at his cost.


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## rpt (Jun 14, 2012)

kasperj said:


> I have very recently been running FoCal Pro v1.4.3.105 on my work pc only because the otherwise excellent app doesn't support Mac - WTF!?
> 
> Anyway, just checked my configuration and lord and behold I actually has FoCal Pro running on 2GB ram on XP SP3. Didn't experience any issues after testing 6 lenses on a 5D mkiii
> 
> Cheers


Thank you! so I'll take a shot at it and if for some stupid reason it needs more memory, I will upgrade ram then.


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## rpt (Jun 14, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> It doesn't hurt that I have a relative at Microsoft, so I can get Windows at his cost.



Yes, that always helps. My friend's husband works at M'soft in Seatle but she divorced him and we dont like him any more so there! Full upgrade price for me!


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## rpt (Jun 24, 2012)

Just to close the loop, it works on my 2GB laptop running XP SP3 (with other programs hogging memory ALL the time... Oh! AND I do not have any dedicated memory for graphics either - you know what that means... Yes, I have a day job that pays for my hobby...).

Another thing, FoCal actually did a test and ran the 1.4 version on a 1.5GB VM and got back to me. I was impressed by their responses. At least 4 responses to my mails on this topic alone!


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## RLPhoto (Jun 24, 2012)

rpt said:


> I figured I needed FoCal but the website says one needs 3GB for XP SP3. I am going to do AFMA on my lenses for the 5D3 so XP SP3 is fine. However, as I have just 2GB of ram I am not sure if it will run. I have posted a question on their forum but was wondering if anybody is running it on a 2GB XP machine.
> 
> Yes, I know the config is low  I did not need more ram earlier so I stayed with 2gb.



I feel your pain. Still running xp pro because it just works but will be due soon to upgrade. Windows 8 looks like a joke of an OS. I'll probably just buy a copy of windows 7 pro.


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## rpt (Jun 24, 2012)

RLPhoto said:


> I feel your pain. Still running xp pro because it just works but will be due soon to upgrade. Windows 8 looks like a joke of an OS. I'll probably just buy a copy of windows 7 pro.


  I never get the latest MS OS. Would not jump to 8. Made the mistake with 95 and learnt...


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