Is it worth upgrading from LR 6 for performance alone?

[saulpaulo826]

Lightroom Version Number

Lightroom 6

Operating System

1. Windows 10

I use LR 6 standalone. I do some raw editing but don't have a real heavy work flow. Got a new computer recently, 16 gb ram, second gen i7, Nvidia 1050ti, ssd. Overall happy with it, but LR can still grind to a crawl in the library module, since my main pictures folder has over 20000 pictures. This is especially true in face recognition mode. I could use multiple catalogs, but that seems to be a pain. Would the subscription mode offer better performance in the library module?

 

[clee01l]

I use LR 6 standalone. I do some raw editing but don't have a real heavy work flow. Got a new computer recently, 16 gb ram, second gen i7, Nvidia 1050ti, ssd. Overall happy with it, but LR can still grind to a crawl in the library module, since my main pictures folder has over 20000 pictures. This is especially true in face recognition mode. I could use multiple catalogs, but that seems to be a pain. Would the subscription mode offer better performance in the library module?

I don't see where Lightroom Classic is going to offer you much advantage though lots of performance improvements have been in the 4 version releases since LR6. There are lots of factors that impact performance including the use of anti-malware apps sitting in-between Lightroom and the files it needs.

However, you will eventually reach software obsolescence with LR6 and you are going to be forced into a change.

Your question is simple enough to answer. Go to the Adobe site and download and install a trial of the Photography Plan that includes Lightroom Classic. Open your LR6 catalog with the Lightroom Classic version 10. It will read that catalog file and create a version 10 catalog file with your data. During the trial period you can evaluate the performance on your hardware to see if the improvement would justify the subscription. If it does not significantly improve , then you still have LR6 installed and the LR6 catalog file intact. Uninstalling the trial will put you back to where you are today.

 

[Replytoken]

I use LR 6 standalone. I do some raw editing but don't have a real heavy work flow. Got a new computer recently, 16 gb ram, second gen i7, Nvidia 1050ti, ssd. Overall happy with it, but LR can still grind to a crawl in the library module, since my main pictures folder has over 20000 pictures. This is especially true in face recognition mode. I could use multiple catalogs, but that seems to be a pain. Would the subscription mode offer better performance in the library module?

In addition to trialing as Cletus has suggested, what size previews did you create on import? This might be one cause for some of the lag you may be seeing, but as Cletus also pointed out, you could have a number of software/hardware issues that are also slowing performance down. Finally, you mentioned a second generation i7 in your OP, is this correct? I believe that we are now on the tenth generation of chips. If this really was a second generation, then that may also be an issue (but I doubt it is given how old that series is).

Good luck,

--Ken