Ram and XP Pro

[TBaker]

I keep seeing all these XP PTle8 machines profiled on here with 6 gigs of ram. If XP can only deal with less than 4 what is the advantage? II have just casually checked this topic out before, but now I am running into situations where Strike is running out of memory to load the sounds I need. I kinda feel like I should have gone the Mac route where if I understand correctly, this would have been an issue, just install more ram. So my other delimma is: should I buy a used hd-1 setup for my pc or getinto a 4 processor mac and keep my ptle8 and just add ram? It seems the cost to go one way or the other would be very close to each other. What would the difficulties be in either approach? I have thousands of dollars invested in plugins and I would want to used them as well? Am I missing something here?

[MikeX]

Your ram isn't the issue... I mean... well it is but my point being is by the time you get to the point where you need more ram for plugins you already have maxed out your CPU... so you're stuck either way.

Sure go with Mac, but CPU speeds and power will cause you to use less plugins in the end.


Oh and having more ram is more of a personal preference for the OS as a whole. I mean just because I run PT doesn't mean I have other applications to run in the background. Most people don't have the money for a dedicated pro tools machine, they share it with other tasks.

[Socrates]

win 32 can only address about 4 gig. Since maybe a half gig of the address space is reserved for communicating with the video card and other devices, only about 3.5 gig is available for ram usage.

More than that is really doing nothing.

With a 64 bit, all of the ram can be addressed.

[TBaker]

I do have a dedicated ptle machine....What good does the 8gig of ram do you if nothing is able to use it?

[MikeX]

Bragging rights?

I'm sure in a few years it will support 64bit OS.

[TBaker]

ok, so I still have the question of where to go from here...should I buy a used hd-1 setup for my pc or get into a 4 processor mac(that I can add another 4core to later) and keep my ptle8 install it on a mac, that has more ram? It seems the cost to go one way or the other would be very close to each other. What would the difficulties be in either approach? I have thousands of dollars invested in plugins and I would want to use them as well? Am I missing something here?

system info:\
PTle8
pro factory bundle
Waves native platnium
drumagog
Eleven LE
DrumAgog
and a bunch of others
Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9650 @ 3.00GHz
Speed : 2.57GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Quad-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 4x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 2x 6MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 24-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
System
Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5K WS
BIOS : American Megatrends Inc. 1201 (06/26/2008)
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 3.25GB DIMM DDR2 DDR3
Chipset
Model : ASUS P35/G33/G31 Processor to I/O Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 285MHz (1.14GHz)
Total Memory : 4GB DIMM DDR2 DDR3
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 342MHz (684MHz)
Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Samsung M3 78T2953EZ3-CF7 1GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)
Memory Module : Samsung M3 78T2953EZ3-CF7 1GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)
Memory Module : Samsung M3 78T2953EZ3-CF7 1GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)
Memory Module : Samsung M3 78T2953EZ3-CF7 1GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)
Graphics Processor
Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT (32SP 1.46GHz, 256MB 2x720MHz Integrated Graphics)
Storage Devices
ST3500320AS (500.1GB, SATA150, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ) : 466GB (C:)
ST3500320AS (500.1GB, SATA150, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ) : 466GB (E:)
ST3500320AS (500.1GB, SATA150, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ) : 466GB (D:)
Generic USB SD Reader (USB) : N/A (G:)
Generic USB CF Reader (USB) : N/A (H:)
Generic USB SM Reader (USB) : N/A (I:)
Generic USB MS Reader (USB) : N/A (J:)
ATAPI DVD A DH20A4H (SCSI, DVD+-RW, CD-RW) : 326MB (F:)
Logical Storage Devices
WinXP (C:) : 462GB (NTFS) @ ST3500320AS (500.1GB, SATA150, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ)
Library (E:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ ST3500320AS (500.1GB, SATA150, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ)
Audio (D:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ ST3500320AS (500.1GB, SATA150, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ)
Audio CD (F:) : 0bytes (CDFS) @ ATAPI DVD A DH20A4H (SCSI, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS (ICH9) LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : Winbond W83627DHG
Audio Device : ASUS (ICH9) HD Audio Controller
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ASUS (ICH9) 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1
Disk Controller : ASUS (ICH9) 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2
Disk Controller : ASUS 6121 SATA2 Controller
USB Controller 1 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 3 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 4 : ASUS (ICH9) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Controller 5 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 6 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 7 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 8 : ASUS (ICH9) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Avlab Technology TSB43AB23 1394a-2000 OHCI PHY/link-layer Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 2 : ASUS VT6306 VIA Fire II IEEE-1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel 801xx/63xx SMBus

Network Services
Network Adapter : Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport (Ethernet, 1Gbps)
Network Adapter : Marvell Yukon 88E8052 PCI-E ASF Gigabit Ethernet Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport
Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line
Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 3)
Platform Compliance : x86

[TOM@METRO]

It looks like you have a pretty good combination of components here. One thing I might look at is RAM speed; I know you could do better for very little investment.

[aus scott]

Originally Posted by TBaker

I do have a dedicated ptle machine....What good does the 8gig of ram do you if nothing is able to use it?

Check out Shan's work with RAM disks - have your whole session running out of the extra RAM. He swears it's super fast (and I believe him).

I have a feeling it's more of a 'tweak issue' with your setup. Don't get lulled into thinking that having a Mac eliminates all set-up issues.

Cheers,

Scott

[TBaker]

Ok, well thats good to know. I will look into that. I have really never had a cpu issue except when running 13-14 instances of Eleven. I've only just started using Strike and I don't seem to have enough memory to load the sounds I want. I'm not a hobbyist, this is one facet of my business and it has to perform, so if I have to make some hardware changes its got to happen. I just need it to be as cost effective as possible. What ram would be better?
I thought it was a matter of amount of ram.

[MikeX]

Originally Posted by TBaker

Ok, well thats good to know. I will look into that. I have really never had a cpu issue except when running 13-14 instances of Eleven. I've only just started using Strike and I don't seem to have enough memory to load the sounds I want. I'm not a hobbyist, this is one facet of my business and it has to perform, so if I have to make some hardware changes its got to happen. I just need it to be as cost effective as possible. What ram would be better?
I thought it was a matter of amount of ram.

Well it looks like your ram is underclocked for some reason... unless I'm reading it wrong...