RAM - 2G or 4G?
I've got a G5 iMac that's now around 2 years old and i'm finding i'm regularly hitting the performance ceiling of the machine. I'm unsure if it's the CPU (Intel 2.33 C2D CPU) or the RAM (2 Gig) causing the problem, and it's left me pondering an upgrade... although if more RAM will lead to a noticeable improvement i'd prefer to go this cheaper route over buying a new computer (i'll wait until quad cores are standard in iMacs before getting a new machine).
I'm running PT LE 7.3.x (with DV toolkit) and OSX 10.4.1, and I record @ 48kHz & 24-bit. I'll generally stick in-the-box so to speak in regards to EQ comp and FX, and i'm not shy toward piling on plugins if need be. Upward of 15 to 20 tracks (loaded with plugs) I start to see my CPU performance peak - error alerts and prompt messages start appearing. Most of my plugins are Digi qualified although a certain few fall outside these bounds (I understand this is a part of the problem, but i'm on top of it). I also run Strike and Velvet regularly (i'm aware of their resource hunger and on top of it also).
What do people think? Will an upgrade to 4G RAM be a worthwhile expenditure, or is it the CPU causing the bottleneck, or a combination of both?
Hmmm...
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