NUCLEO + RAM + PCI Express and 32-bit WINDOWS

[Steve Forde]

Go for the 4GB. Nucleo Pro will use it. Each 32 bit process on 32 bit windows can use a max of 2GB. Since Nucleo Pro will start 3 processes (along with the instance of AE that you use), it will use up all available RAM.

The PCI express black hole is dependent on motherboard. Many motherboards that support the AMD chipset have the “black hole” – meaning that although you have 4GB in the machine – windows will not “see” all of it. You will be able to see in the BIOS how much of your RAM is going to the black hole.

Steve
GridIron Software Inc.

[Jimmy Brunger]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for fast response – I *think* it’s an ASUS A8N-SLI board, will have to double check.

So, with this black hole thing – does that affect Nucleo’s use of the full 4GB? I mean, will Nucleo use what it left after the PCIe has pinched it’s share, or will Nucleo see the 4GB regardless?

Also, if Nucleo is running 3 more instnces of AE (4 AE’s running in total on a dual-core machine then?) and using up all the RAM, does that mean I wouldn’t be able to keep Photoshop & Premiere open at the same time? Or could I just keep them open, but not use them while Nucleo is working?

Thanks for your help,
Jim.

*Production Studio Premium / *Combustion 3
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Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation / 110GB boot/80GB media/600GB RAID-0

[Steve Forde]

Unfortunately, the black hole does have impact on how much RAM Nucleo Pro can use. We are still an application running in Windows. This means that we can only see RAM that Windows can see. If the black hole exists on that motherboard, the black hole will take the RAM away before Windows even boots up.

The key feature of Nucleo Pro (vs. Nucleo standard) is that you can work in other apps, and not have your machine eaten by AE rendering. Nucleo Pro will manage all the RAM that the 3 instances it controls (which are doing all the hard work when NP is rendering), and make sure there is a mimimum amount left over for others.

That said, if you have your RAM cache completely full in AE – as well as using 2GB in Photoshop, another 2GB in Premiere – well….the math doesn’t really help no matter what in that case.

You can also set Nucleo Pro to use less RAM, and less CPU if you find that there just aren’t enough resources to go around in your workflow.

Steve
GridIron Software Inc.

[Jimmy Brunger]

Thanks Steve, sounds good. I guess I just wanted to know if I could say, quickly alter a composition in PS whilst rendering/building a preview in AE..sounds like a go-er as long as I’m not pushing it too hard. Playing out a timeline in Premiere whilst rendering might be a bad idea I guess, but worth a try!

Last thing Steve (I promise!)…Is there anywhere I can find out if the motherboard in question is a ‘black holer’?!? It is the ASUS A8N-SLI:-

https://uk.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=148&model=382&modelmenu=1

Thanks again,
JIm.

*Production Studio Premium / *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation / 110GB boot/80GB media/600GB RAID-0

[Steve Forde]

Unfortunately a quick google search doesn’t come up with results. I don’t recall sitting down to that exact motherboard either – so I could be wrong….but…

I haven’t seen an AMD chipset using the Nforce4 stuff WITHOUT the black hole. So odds are….

I routinely do demo’s on my laptop doing playback in Premiere and rendering in the background in AE. It will all depend on the project though.

Steve
GridIron Software Inc.

[Jimmy Brunger]

Thanks Steve,

But either way (black hole or not) I am still better off getting 4GB as oppossed to 3GB yeah?

*Production Studio Premium / *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation / 110GB boot/80GB media/600GB RAID-0

[Steve Forde]

Yep – go for the 4GB.

Steve
GridIron Software Inc.

[Whitlock Dunbar]

Does the black hole issue only apply the AMD chipset? Also with Nucleo Pro is there an upper limit to how much RAM can be utilized. I’m using CS3 Production Bundle, if that makes a difference

[Steve Forde]

The black hole is irrespective of Intel or AMD. It has to do with motherboard configuration etc. As an example- we have not seen this issue on the 8 core Mac Pro – as it uses a different motherboard than say the Tyan MB for an AMD system.

In 32 bit windows – upper limit for RAM (irrespective of NP2) is 4GB. Hard Stop.

In 64 bit windows – NP2 can use up to 4GB per Core max +4GB. Therefore – if you had an 8 core system = 36GB (4GB X 8 Core + 4GB = 36GB) would be the max. Many motherboards will not support that much RAM though.

Steve
GridIron Software Inc.