is 9GB of RAM on a Mac Pro enough to run PT 10.1

[S9uga]

I have a Mac Pro with 9GB of RAM, I'm not sure if it's me but it feels a bit slow. Of course it's a silly question to ask should I upgrade the RAM to 16GB, more is always better, but is it really necessary?

My Mac spec is:
Mac Pro dual core (2.66) 2008
1GB video card
4x1TB HD
2x Cinema Displays
10 TB external RAID drive
OSX 10.7.3

Running PT 10.1

Thanks

[DRC Music]

9 gig is a odd number... what exactly do you have and in what slots?

[Syn-g]

[QUOTE=S9uga;1922865]I have a Mac Pro with 9GB of RAM, I'm not sure if it's me but it feels a bit slow. Of course it's a silly question to ask should I upgrade the RAM to 16GB, more is always better, but is it really necessary?

Just went from 10 gigs up to 18gigs for the same reason. Running 10.7.3 on a quad, things seemed to have increased in speed a bit. I have buffer set to 256/3 processors at 99% and the disk cache set to 8 gig. Overall the responsiveness of the system is better. I would say PT now runs ever so slightly slower than 8.1 on OSX 10.6.8.
Next move will be to get an SSD for the system drive.

[WernerF]

It depends on the size of your sessions if you're using disk cache. You need enough RAM to cache your entire session's audio files and still have a bunch left to handle the OS's needs and other tasks, such as background applications and VI's. I have 26 gig and it's beenn enough to cover every session so far with plenty left over for other tasks.

I agree though that 9 gig is an odd number for RAM that needs to be installed in matching pairs. I can't imagine that it would even work.

[lancemcv]

9 gigs is an odd number, you should only have matching pairs of ram in the slots, sounds like you have 4/ 2 gig chips and a 1 gig, that s not a good configuration. For optimum performance you should have all the ram slots full with matching pairs. Have a look at Other World Computings website for your best ram configuration for your specific Mac pro. I have 16 gigs in my 2008 all matching 2 gig chips. Pro Tools 10 is still 32 bit and can only use 4 gigs max, but more ram gives your system and other apps room to breath along side PT.

[DRC Music]

Originally Posted by lancemcv

9 gigs is an odd number, you should only have matching pairs of ram in the slots, sounds like you have 4/ 2 gig chips and a 1 gig, that s not a good configuration. For optimum performance you should have all the ram slots full with matching pairs. Have a look at Other World Computings website for your best ram configuration for your specific Mac pro. I have 16 gigs in my 2008 all matching 2 gig chips. Pro Tools 10 is still 32 bit and can only use 4 gigs max, but more ram gives your system and other apps room to breath along side PT.

+1

[mattpete]

Nehalem (and Westmere) machines use triple channel memory and should optimally only have the first three slots for each bank filled with identical memory. If you have a dual proc, ideally fill slots 1-3 and 5-7 with identical memory. Leave slots 4 and 8 empty.

[sonixstudio]

YES it is enough to function but as always with ram more is always better but it will work. IT exceeds AVIDS recommended system requirements so your fine

[S9uga]

9GB is made up of:

2x 512 4x 1GB 2x 2GB, yeah its very odd but I had the 2x 512 so I thought I'd may as well add them..

My sessions are small I guess but I'd like to use PT to add sound to my video projects. Not sure if I'm setup correctly, in terms of system optimisation for both recording and mixing.. i'm still very new to the world of PT..

Thanks for all the help..

[S9uga]

Memory allocation is:

DIMM Riser A/DIMM 1:

Size: 512 MB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 667 MHz
Status: OK


DIMM Riser A/DIMM 2:

Size: 512 MB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 667 MHz
Status: OK


DIMM Riser B/DIMM 1:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 667 MHz
Status: OK


DIMM Riser B/DIMM 2:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 667 MHz
Status: OK


DIMM Riser A/DIMM 3:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 667 MHz
Status: OK


DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 667 MHz
Status: OK


DIMM Riser B/DIMM 3:

Size: 2 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 667 MHz
Status: OK


DIMM Riser B/DIMM 4:

Size: 2 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 667 MHz
Status: OK