Question: Usage of Memory and RAM

[Peter2]

I opened a file with 297 MB and 3293 pages (DIN A4, A3 and some greater) and printed it to PDF with headers, footers and watermarks. On a standard PC (Win XP, 3 GB RAM, 4 cores) it takes approx. 40 min.

The first 300 pages were very quick, then the speed decreased very strong. RAM usage increased from 0.9 GB to 1.1 GB (not much ...).

So my question is:
How does the software handle these huge files?
Could the speed be improved by better usage of memory?

Regards

Peter

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Peter,

I am not sure it will help - but certainly you could try the memory management options under Edit -> Preferences -> Performance.

Also what is the printer you are printing to? Could it be that it is e.g. the one running low on memory, or why not even overheating - and slowing down to allow the toner baking drums to cool down a bit as 3300 pages is quite a print job

Best,
Stefan

[Peter2]

...I am not sure it will help - but certainly you could try the memory management options under Edit -> Preferences -> Performance....

I will try it, thanks.

...Also what is the printer you are printing to? Could it be that it is e.g. the one running low on memory, or why not even overheating - and slowing down to allow the toner baking drums to cool down a bit as 3300 pages is quite a print job ....

I used "PDF XChange 4.0" to create a new PDF; I didn't use a "real printer".

Peter

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Peter,

Then can you check the memory usage of the PDFSaver process as well - as the Viewer could use relatively the same amount of memory - but the PDFSaver could be eating a bit more in such scenarios.
Also have you noticed any Swapping occurring when the slowdowns start to happen?

Best,
Stefan

[Peter2]

...Then can you check the memory usage of the PDFSaver process as well - as the Viewer could use relatively the same amount of memory - but the PDFSaver could be eating a bit more in such scenarios.....

You mean in the Task manager when is already running? or is there an option in the software (which I can not find ..)?

...Also have you noticed any Swapping occurring when the slowdowns start to happen?...

No, I don't think so. But maybe I am wrong.
I see that CPU start with 20-25% and after 300-400 pages it runs with 8-10%

[EDIT]:- and after 900 pages with 20%. So this is maybe not depending on PDF-XChange.

Peter

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Peter,

I had in mind to monitor the pdfsaver memory usage while it is working on converting the file.

Also - how big is the resulting file? Maybe at the start the conversion goes fast as all the pages are stored in memory/ hdd cache - and then the bottleneck is the slow mechanical hard drive (you have not mentioned to be using an SSD).

Best,
Stefan

[Peter2]

Hi Stefan

I have to be more precise and have to correct a little bit:

Done before start printing:
- Set the standard-folder for PDF-saver to local drive.
- set the memory-usage in Preferences to 750 MB (765 MB is displayed as maximum)
- the PDF-file is a merged package of TIF-files, only few pages are text-files
- local drive is SATA

When converting
- progress of pages is different; from 10 pages/sec to 1p/sec. CPU swings between 8 and 25 %
- RAM is stable approx. 1 GB
- when all 3293 pages "are done", both progress bars (print-command with green progress; PDF-bar with blue-black-progress) stays on 100% for some minutes
- I cab see 3293 pages in print-bar, in PDF-bar (maybe that is the wrong word) and in PDF-saver
- then both bars disappear, the "optimization-bar" begins
- in some seconds I get "20% progress", total RAM increases from 1 GB to > 2.5 and

-> PDF crashes ..

- All PDF relating dialogues are closed
- RAM falls down to 800 MB
- no PDF result

So the real problem is the "optimization" feature which can not handle this huge package.

Peter

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Peter,

Yes - the PDFSaver uses a lot of memory during the optimisation phase - and with the specific load you have - it's not impossible to crash it. Please try "printing" this in e.g. 300 page batches - and then merge them together (with either the tools or the Viewer). Ver5 of the printing drivers about to be released will handle memory better.

Best,
Stefan

[Peter2]

.... Ver5 of the printing drivers about to be released will handle memory better....

Thanks for the help, Stefan

I will wait ...

Peter

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]