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Mac Heads-> Memory question/help!

4YearGraduate4YearGraduate 2,945 Posts
edited December 2006 in Strut Central
How much of a difference will it make for me if I upgrade my G5 dual core from 1gb of ram to 8gb? It seems like overkill but i use it audio file managing and mastering at high sample rates. Anyone have any suggestions or analogies? I recently upgraded my laptop ram and it is noticeable kind of but not WAAAAY faster.thanks in advance

  Comments

  • pjl2000xlpjl2000xl 1,795 Posts
    8 gigs though is a real big jump from one. I would say if you have the loot to do it, then defiantly do it. It will make that shit fly and give you crazy amount of track counts and effects so anything of that nature would not even be a concern.
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    8 gigs is a huge jump. As towards what you said about your laptop. Basically your speed is going to bottleneck somewhere else. 8 gigs could feel identical speed wise as 3 gigs. If that makes sense. For someone with 128 mb of ram going to 1 gig is a huge difference. Going from 1 gig to 8 gig numerically sounds like an even faster jump. You won't necessarily notice the speed difference in a lot of cases. Mostly dependent on your processors speed. I'm sure you can find a happy medium between 1 and 8. Though again it's your money.

    - spidey
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    damn dogs, you might as well get an intel mac if you want to drop 8gb on ram
  • dollar_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
    I couldn't say whether 8 Gigs would be the panacea, though, as always more memory couldn't hurt, particularly in memory hungry apps like sound and graphics. I've found this page to be pretty helpful on mac performance: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/performance.html
  • luckluck 4,077 Posts
    8 gigs is a huge jump. As towards what you said about your laptop. Basically your speed is going to bottleneck somewhere else. 8 gigs could feel identical speed wise as 3 gigs. If that makes sense. For someone with 128 mb of ram going to 1 gig is a huge difference. Going from 1 gig to 8 gig numerically sounds like an even faster jump. You won't necessarily notice the speed difference in a lot of cases. Mostly dependent on your processors speed. I'm sure you can find a happy medium between 1 and 8. Though again it's your money.

    - spidey

    I second this re: processor speed. If you're at, say 2.33GHz, I'm guessing that you're not going to notice a whole ton of difference once you get past 3 gigs. I would recommend at least 2 for what you do.

    And never buy memory from Apple.
  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts
    2-3 gigs is the right amount for that application. Past there what's really going to help you is when Apple integrates 64-bit processing to its next operating system, and other applications follow suit. If you're willing to drop a lot of money, I'd consider buying some TC electronic or Waves external processing stuff so that some of the load isn't just on your CPU.
  • cascas 1,484 Posts
    i don't know shit about ram. but i do know that 8 gigs is 8 time more than 1 gig. i polished off half a bottle of kettle one and i'm faded as phuckkk. i also know that thes one is the mutherphuckinggg man and can rock the kidnplay jump thru the leg jumpoff jawn like no ones business. so in retrospect 8 gigs is more than 1 gig, so run that shit and up it up and rock the funky beats and so on. peace to doublay k.

    shouts to eat street.
    i proof read my post like a fucking champ to make sure it's easy on you guys eyes and i can't even remember whenn my birthaday is.. that's some soulstrut dedication for your uppity asses. thug motivation 102.
  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    Some programs (like Photoshop CS2) can take advantage of 8GB of RAM, but most can't right now. I'd say 4GB will give you as much benefit as you are likely to notice, and spend the rest on a big HD to back your data up.

    DONT FORGET TO BACK YOUR SHIT UP PEOPLE!!!!
  • TabneticTabnetic 206 Posts
    Some programs (like Photoshop CS2) can take advantage of 8GB of RAM, but most can't right now. I'd say 4GB will give you as much benefit as you are likely to notice, and spend the rest on a big HD to back your data up.

    DONT FORGET TO BACK YOUR SHIT UP PEOPLE!!!!



    don't buy mac ram. google crucial memory. they are the shit.


    also, props asstro on the 1968 olympics avatar.
  • prof_rockwellprof_rockwell 2,867 Posts
    8 gigs is a huge jump. As towards what you said about your laptop. Basically your speed is going to bottleneck somewhere else. 8 gigs could feel identical speed wise as 3 gigs. If that makes sense. For someone with 128 mb of ram going to 1 gig is a huge difference. Going from 1 gig to 8 gig numerically sounds like an even faster jump. You won't necessarily notice the speed difference in a lot of cases. Mostly dependent on your processors speed. I'm sure you can find a happy medium between 1 and 8. Though again it's your money.

    - spidey

    I second this re: processor speed. If you're at, say 2.33GHz, I'm guessing that you're not going to notice a whole ton of difference once you get past 3 gigs. I would recommend at least 2 for what you do.

    And never buy memory from Apple.

    I third this. The thing to remember about RAM vs. how fast your processor is, is that more RAM increases the ability of your computer to run mulitiple programs simultaneously. So if you're running Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, Ableton, and mixing down a 32 track song at the same time then 8 gigs might be worth it. If you are only running one major program at a time, 2-3 should be fine.
  • E_DailyE_Daily 812 Posts
    Caught this over at the gearsluts forum from a dude testing his new Mac Pro CPU utilzing the Waves SSL Bundle (cpu hungry!) with Logic Pro using:

    -Mac pro Quad 2.66
    -1 GB Ram
    -Audio running at 44.1 Hz



    Here's the screen shot, sorry for the low quality, but I have limited tools on this new computer for image editing. 150 Waves SSL Channels at under 1/2 CPU... I can't wait to get some ram in this thing.


    IMG SRC="http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1700/attachmentqe0.jpg" WIDTH=700>

    OK...so, I got my Mac Pro and installed Logic and my Waves & URS bundles....

    I just loaded up 175 x SSL Channel strips and 175 x URS A series EQ's... When playing back, the processors are at about 3/4, but one of them spikes up higher than the others... And this is with only 1GB of RAM.

    I could only get 32 SSL Channels alone on my Dual 1.8 G5...

    So unless you're using tons of VSTi or plan on using Pro Tools with TDM, I guess there are more effective ways to blow your cash on Studio related gear.

    If you have ALOT of tracks with in the box effects patched across them you might want more than 1 GB due to the space needed for bouncing and printing mixes.

    I'd much rather spend a few G's on Apogee Converters
  • 4YearGraduate4YearGraduate 2,945 Posts
    Thanks everyone for the info, it has definately changed my buying strategy. I am an analogue guy when it comes to audio but i am feeling my way through the DAW world out of necessity, so this information comes in very handy. I think I'll cut back and go for 4, 1 g across each slot.

    As far as AD goes I would drop the money on the Cranesong Hedd if I had the balls/brains to get the best aD converter IMO out right now for under 10K.

    Running all those waves plug-ins was impressive except for the fact that he's running at 44/16. Show me that shit at 24/48 or better yet 24/88.
  • 4YearGraduate4YearGraduate 2,945 Posts
    i don't know shit about ram. but i do know that 8 gigs is 8 time more than 1 gig. i polished off half a bottle of kettle one and i'm faded as phuckkk. i also know that thes one is the mutherphuckinggg man and can rock the kidnplay jump thru the leg jumpoff jawn like no ones business. so in retrospect 8 gigs is more than 1 gig, so run that shit and up it up and rock the funky beats and so on. peace to doublay k.

    shouts to eat street.
    i proof read my post like a fucking champ to make sure it's easy on you guys eyes and i can't even remember whenn my birthaday is.. that's some soulstrut dedication for your uppity asses. thug motivation 102.

    f**ing awesomest post man! thanks g.
  • edulusedulus 421 Posts
    if its DDR then 2 gigs is pretty much as much as you are gonna need at this point. after that no diff (based on ripping DVDs)
  • E_DailyE_Daily 812 Posts
    Running all those waves plug-ins was impressive except for the fact that he's running at 44/16. Show me that shit at 24/48 or better yet 24/88.

    Yea but hes running OVER 300 plugins... so what you only have like 100 left at 24/96 (which noone really needs nowadays unless you're an aspiring 5.1 Surround producer

    I know some people would kill me for saying this but...
    I don't think rap related music needs anything above 24/44.1. There isn't really much use for the extra headroom or higher range freqs, since most of us prefer warm and raw sound to crystal clear.

    About the AD... Dude, I doubt anybody needs a Converter for over 5 G's...
    most people that really care about your music probably listen through some muddy hifi system in a nontreated room,... so they will never even notice the difference between a RME or a 10k AD.

    Get some extra HDs though. You have no idea how fast the GB's sum up on a DAW

    hope you have fun with the new box - I'm planning on copping a Mac Pro next year so keep us posted
  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts

    I know some people would kill me for saying this but...
    I don't think rap related music needs anything above 24/44.1. There isn't really much use for the extra headroom or higher range freqs, since most of us prefer warm and raw sound to crystal clear.

    Yeah, you probably don't need it for mixing/mastering but for processing crazy effects/eq its crucial, otherwise your high-end is gonna get garbled. Those upper harmonics can't be forgotten.
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