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How Much RAM for Mac Pro?
I know that some heavy users on this forum have ordered their 3Ghz MP with 4GBs of ram; yet, I wonder of I could benefit from having more than 4GB. BTW: Ordering directly from Apple more than 4 equals 8Gb. I would do a 4 X 2 configuration such that I’m only using 4 DIMMS (the highest performance configuration) if I were going with 8Gb now.
I expect that I can get a lot of bang from 4Gb; yet, running: Adobe CS2, AE, FC Studio, MX Studio, 4D Database, MS Office, Safari, email… Rosetta… Anyway, I can see that having 8Gb would ensure that a ram shortage would never be an issue. Yet, with the price of ram is an issue and with some pro users choosing only 4Gb, it makes me question my desire for GOBS of ram.
Thoughts?
Thanks,
Robert
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5 Replies
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4GB is enough for most situations/users. However, Photoshop alone can use up to 3gb and app’s like Motion & AfterEffects are also memory gobblers, so I if you think you’ll be running multiple app’s of that nature regularly, 8gb of RAM or more might be useful for you.
Tony!
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Good idea…! To help keep my budget down, I settled for 6 gig at the moment and if I need 2 more, I’ll get it then.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com -
Good idea…! To help keep my budget down, I settled for 6 gig at the moment and if I need 2 more, I’ll get it then.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com -
I ordered mine with 4GB to start with. That amount has worked out very well with the other three systems we run so it’s a good place to start. I figure if I want some more in a few months, the prices will have dropped some and then I’ll load more.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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[walter biscardi] “I want some more in a few months, the prices will have dropped some and then I’ll load more.”
Yes, this makes sense and it may be the way that I go; however, there is one issue with that approach, the Mac Pro memory architecture is already much slower from a latency standpoint than the G5 and it is made worse by going with more than 4 DIMMS. Less than 4 DIMMS does not use the full bandwidth…. so the key number is 4, no more no less. Now, the 6ms hit for each DIMM-hop might not be noticeable in real-world operations; yet, just a thought. So, if you know you need more than 4gb, and want the best possible performance you will want to get the 4 X 2, 8gb configuration.
Also, there may not be much of a price drop as many are expecting… This memory is not as widely used and it is more complex (more expensive to manufacture) than previous DIMMS used in the G5.
Another thought, I think the Mac Pro will require more ram due to Rosetta and possibly other reasons related to the quad-core Intel architecture.
Thanks,
Robert
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