How much RAM is too much RAM?

[Jerry Hofmann]

Mama always said you cannot have too much RAM. That said, it all depends on how many apps you intend to run at the same time. Motion LOVES RAM so does Photoshop, After Effects… etc…

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer

Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here

Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D

[Mark Gringo]

more sweet RAM… auhhhggghhh

i think we’ll start with 2 gigs. maybe later we can shoot it up to 4.

[Jerry Hofmann]

Excellent idea… see if you need more. I’m running with 2.5 gigs, and feel the need for more, but also running a lot of apps at the same time. You can always add more as you need it too.

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer

Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here

Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D

[Mark Gringo]

is there anything to becareful about when adding memory? someone was telling me that you have to add it pairs? this is a pc person saying this. the g5 dual has 8 slots, right? can i mix and match 512, 1 gig, and 2 gig memory sticks? or am i restricted in some way, like adding memory in pairs?

[Richard Martz]

I am doing the same kind of workflow and I’m currently using 4 GB of RAM. I would prefer to have 8 GB. So I recommend having as much as you can afford. You just want to avoid having your applications slow down. SO the more memory the better. I’ve never heard of having too much memory. I found a cheaper source for memory so I’ve actually loaded up at a cheaper price.

Apple charges $1500 for 4GB 533 DDR2 ECC SDRAM- 4x1GB –

OR
$700 for 4GB 533 DDR2 Non ECC SDRAM- 4x1GB

You can get the same chips at MAXUPGRADES.com for around $500. I’ve been runing this memory chip set for 2 months with no problems so I recommend it.

They sell a 1 GB memory module for $119 so I bought 4 of them. They work great at around 40% off the price from APPLE.

I hope that helps.

BTW – I also installed their SATA drive array in my CPU bay. I purchased one extra 400 GB SATA from Apple and added 3 of 300 GB drives from maxupgrades.com. I striped these as a RAID 0 (zero). THat gave me 1.3 TB of disc memory and more than enough throughput to do DVCPROHD or HDCAM when I need to do a project in a higher quality HD medium. These drives have amazing throughput and I’m really impressed. The cost of the drives, PCX SATA card and mounting hardware was under $700. Also got all the advice I coudl stand and several follow-up calls to be sure I was happy and working well. AMAZING!

[Gary Adcock]

[Jerry Hofmann] ” see if you need more.”

IMHO 2 gigs for any HD work is a bare minimum,
remember that you need 1 gig of RAM just to be able to launch FCP for HD work.
In my experience 4 gigs is the sweet spot.

Gary Adcock
Studio37
HD and Film Consultation
Chicago, IL USA

[Richard Martz]

You WILL have to add memory sticks in pairs. However you can mix the cards. For example, you can have 2, 1 GB cards and 2, 256 cards and 2, 512 cards and they will work fine. See my other post for information on getting memory cheaper than the price from Apple.

[Mark Gringo]

i found 1 gig memory sticks on dealram.com for $89.00. they are generic though… i’ve used generic ram before and haven’t had a problem. what do you thinkg about putting 4, 1 gig sticks in a g5?

[Richard Martz]

That is exactly what I did and it is working perfectly. So I can’t recommend your chip supplier but I can endorse it in principle.

[Mark Gringo]

thanks for the advice!