How much RAM is enough?

[marcelodepetro]

Hi, I have an 8600/300 upgraded to G3/500, 560 Mb RAM.Not us much plugins as a G4 but it´s ok. Will I benefit from installing more RAM?, Will PT ever need more, before the CPU gets to its limit. Thanxs

[Doc]

I was of the opinion that the plugin limit was determined by the CPU and the minimum of 192MB of RAM would be adequate. This was the case for me before installing Waves. However, since then, I have had out of memory errors in busy sessions with lots of plugins. It seems the waveshell and PTle together need more than 192MB of RAM during busy sessions.
I have ordered another 256MB of RAM which should be arriving in a couple of days. It will be interesting to see the difference.

IMHO, I think you will find the CPU is the limiting factor on your system considering you have 560MB of RAM even if you are running Waves plugins. The only time I think you will see the benefit of more RAM would be running more than one app at a time. Even then, I still think your CPU will be the limiting factor.

______
Dannii.

[ThomCat]

From everything I've read and experienced there is a point where adding ram will not increase track count or plugin count, and in systems like this I think anything over 256/320 is probably not of a lot of help, which means that 560 should be plenty. I went from 320 to 832 and while it has helped in other ways, I didn't see a real performance boost.

Incidentally I too run Waves plugs, and was running them both before and after the ram increase and noticed little change.

On the other hand, I've added the EVP88 and plan to add the ESX24, so in my case the extra ram (512 for $79 from OWC) is probably a good idea.

David, on his Logic Users Forum, states that having too much ram can have negative effects, but that may be limited only to allocating too much of the ram to his DAW software (Logic).

[ September 08, 2001: Message edited by: ThomCat ]

[phamtec]

Does it matter?

I went to a computer fair on the weekend, and the going rate for RAM was $52 AUD for 256MB.

That's about $25 USD for 256MB of RAM.

Just max your machine out. It won't cost you hardly anything!

Anyway, I just have 512MB.

[Ben Jenssen]

Here’s my setup:
G4 400
192 Mb RAM
40 for PT 40 for DAE
90% of all possible RTAS plugs
smallest HW buffer size (most of the time)
40 Mb RAM free for a SW synth.
This runs smothly on the second year.

The only thing more ram would do for me would be to give me room to run more apps simultaneously, and give each a bit more.
It would NOT give me more simultaneous plugins!

I wouldnt say no to a 25$ 256 chip though. Its a bit more expensive were I løive.

[phamtec]

More expensive where you live?

I live in AUSTRALIA! We have the most expensive stuff in the world here!

[accession]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by phamtec:
More expensive where you live?

I live in AUSTRALIA! We have the most expensive stuff in the world here!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Amen! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Phil
Sydney, Australia

[where02190]

IMHO, you can never have too much ram. I got 1gb in my G-4, cost me about $150. It's so cheap, go for the gusto.
www.npstudios.com
A moment of silence for todays tragic and senseless loss of human life. For those who did it, no mercy.

[Doc]

I have just received and installed the extra 256MB of RAM I ordered (total of 448MB). I now have 120MB assigned to DAE and 120MB assigned to PT. This has fixed the constant out of memory error I was getting with one session (a complex orchestral piece) using lots of Waves plugins [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

Ben,

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR> The only thing more ram would do for me would be to give me room to run more apps simultaneously, and give each a bit more.
It would NOT give me more simultaneous plugins! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Are you running Waves? Your system is pretty much the same as mine. I didn't have a problem with 192MB until I installed Waves.