How Much RAM for PT HD Native?

[Media Man]

I just moved over to PC from an older Mac, and am wondering how much RAM is required ... or what is too much for practical purposes? I can add more later, no?

My re-furbed PC was supposed to come with 8GB, which is the Avid minimum requirement, but I discovered there is only 4GB on board.

So being out of the PC game for a while, I notice a huge difference in price points from various manufacturers ... and different sizes of course.

FWIW, I appear to have four RAM slots in this DELL Precision T5610, one has a 4GB stick in it.

FWIW, my current projects average about a dozen tracks requiring heavy editing, but little plug-in processing, with a video track. I expect that to expand very quickly. Past projects included 60-80 tracks and lots of processing. I was on HD TDM on the Mac, now on HD Native.

Any suggestions on RAM would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Media Man

[albee1952]

With 4 slots, I would go 16GB(or 32 if you can afford it). Pull the stick of RAM that is installed and get the exact part number(brand and model) and match it with 3 more identical sticks, or simply pull it out and buy a 16GB set of 4 matching 4GB sticks. Do you NEED 16GB? Maybe not, but 2 things to consider; 1-4GB is not enough at all, 8GB is minimum, 16 is better(I run 32GB here). Regarding matching the old stick or removing it; most any modern system is capable of running dual-channel RAM and that requires an even number of matching sticks(un-matched RAM can hurt performance)

[amagras]

I support the suggested 16gb + dual channel.

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by amagras

I support the suggested 16gb + dual channel.

Hell I support 16gb quad channel.....

but hey we play the hand we are dealt huh....

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by YYR123

Hell I support 16gb quad channel.....

As do I, but it sounds like the OP is maybe not to tech-savvy. So, by installing 4 matching sticks in the 4 slots he has, covers both dual and quad setups, Now, if the computer is an slightly older X58 rig(socket 1366), then it probably runs triple-channel, so I would do 12GB(3x4GB) or 24GB(3x8GB). It might be worth opening the case, finding the make/model number of the motherboard and checking with the maker to see what it is designed to handle

[Media Man]

My computer is a Dell T5610 workstation with two 12 core processors I believe. There are 8 slots for RAM and it turns out, I have two 4GB sticks. (I was only seeing 4GB earlier because a glitch of some sort happened and I had to reset something in the BIOS.

I think I found matching RAM for about $58 per 4 GB stick, so I can get up to 16GB for just over $100. It confusing when MOST of the numbers on the RAM stick match, but not ALL. I think I'll buy the RAM from a place that you can call in for tech support.

Thanks for your input.

Media Man

[albee1952]

Hmm, with a dual cpu system, the RAM slots are likely split between the 2 cpu's, so definitely download the manual for that motherboard and install the correct type of RAM and in the correct slots for best performance. I would probably look to fill all 8 slots with 4GB sticks so each cpu has 16GB available a quick google search shows it uses quad-channel ECC RAM at 1866 MHz(with quad-channel, you want to load it up with all 8 slots filled with the exact same part number). The good news is; this should be an absolute monster!!!

[Media Man]

You are correct about slots associated with CPUs. Each CPU has four numbered slots, for a total of eight slots. It arrived with one stick of 4GB/1866 in each DIMM slot #1 , for a total of 8 GB.

I purchased 2 8GB sticks of identical speed and specs RAM, which when it arrives, I will put in DIMM slot #1, and move the 4GB stick into slot #2 (of each CPU) and if all goes well, that should be 24 GB RAM. If they don't play nice, I'll get two more 8 GB sticks and pull out the 4GB.

Thanks for your input.

Media Man

[mesaone]

I'm unsure whether the motherboard in that computer supports dual channel or triple channel, and how many slots it has.

IMO you really want 16 GB or more. If triple channel, I think 24 GB hits the sweet spot for price-to-performance - you can get kits with 3x8 GB or 6x4 GB for fairly cheap, G-Skill and Corsair are good examples of this. Remember that PT 12 has disk cache (and PTHD has had it for awhile) so a bit of extra RAM makes a big, positive difference if you have memory to spare.