Getting out of memory errors while rendering (5gig ram)

[Mark Maness]

How much memory do you have? Is the memory installed correctly across risers?

FCP uses memory in multiples of 4, starting with 2 gig as the only exception. In order for your systems to run properly with FCP, you need to install the memory as 2 gig, 4 gig, 8 gig, 12 gig (newer systems ONLY), 16 gig, 32 gig. Anything else and you’ll end up with weird results or errors.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com

[Terry Simpson]

Wayne,

I looked at the article and I’m not sure it is as clear as you seem to be saying. What it definitely says is that “Note: DIMMs must be installed in pairs of equal size from the same vendor. For instance, you must not have one or three DIMMs on either riser at any time. Additionally, two DIMMs from different vendors should not be combined and used as a pair.” which almost confirms what you say about pairs (except if you have 512mb sticks, it could get you to an odd number.

It does NOT seem to categorically state that only 2, 4, 8, 16, 32gb is most compatible. It does NOT state that you have to do things in quads (2 matched pair in each riser), although the chart seems to indicate that quads might be best(as you say), 2 matched sticks in each riser.

My MacPro currently has 6gb, all risers full (4 sticks of 512 and 4 sticks of 1gb–2 of each size in each riser). The way I read the chart, it should be highly compatible, best use for FCP. I am wondering if my next upgrade could be to pull 2 of the 512 and put in 2-2gb for a total of 9gb, meaning I would have 2-512, 4-1gb, 2-2gb. I would rather do that ($160) than replace all 4-512’s with 4-1gb for a new total of 8gb ($212). The other would be to replace ALL my 512mb’s with 2-gb for a new total of 12gb ($320). I might be reading it wrong. Anyone know?

BTW, I had never had an “out-of-memory” error until I recently downloaded/bought Black Magic Denoiser. I saw a post saying that the culprit is plugins that won’t let go of memory. Re-booting seems to clear it. Annoying, but good to know.
Terry

Terry

[Mark Maness]

Terry,

I think you’re missing the point here. Look at when this was originally written. I responded to a post back in 2007. At that time, the Mac Pro systems on the market were built very differently than today. The Mac Pros were new and the architecture of the system boards are vastly different than today. Memory had to be inserted in a particular way in order for Final Cut Pro to work effectively.

Today, Mac Pro systems are built much better and offer more flexibility than in 2007. Basically… The original post would not apply to you UNLESS you have one of the older systems.

Now, one thing I will say that still applies. When working with ANY form of memory in odd sizes, problems can and will occur more than having your memory in a standard even size. I’ve seen this many many times over the past 30 years in computing. I would have to imagine that playing on the safe side will keep you from pulling your hair out when working on a large project.

Here’s something you can try to test this out. When you have some down time that you can experiment, try removing the odd sized memory and render out some footage with filters applied to see if you gain any speed. If there’s no speed change in your renders, that’s awesome. Otherwise, you may want to leave that odd memory out of the equation.

Good luck.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com