Benefit of 64gb RAM vs. 32gb?

[Tripi]

I have a mid-2012 Mac Pro (last model before the new 2013 ones came out). Been using 32gb of RAM with it since I purchased, and it's been ok. Working on a new film with a large template in VEP, and DP, and Live all at the same time. Noticed things are getting a little sluggish sometimes. My activity monitor shows this:
Physical Memory: 32 GB
Memory Used: 31.98 GB
Virtual Memory: 32.35 GB

So, it looks like my memory is maxed out. VEP is using 17GB alone. The memory handling and display in Yosemite is a bit confusing to me (i'm on 10.10.2 btw). It's only about $175 to fill up the last 4 slots with another 32GB (for 64GB total). Just wondering if anyone has experience with changing from 32 to 64, and if DP, and the Mac in general, benefit from it.

Thanks

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Well I don't know the answer but I do know that managing your VIs will help. I'll find the thread about that if you need it.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Here's a quick explanation: viewtopic.php?p=473700#p473700

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Somewhat clearer...

viewtopic.php?p=451075#p451075

[mikehalloran]

If following the links referenced above reduces your RAM consumption then probably not. If running anything else, yes, get more RAM.

Learn to run sudo purge often as you bump up against your physical RAM. This thread has more info
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=61938&hilit=Sudo+purge

After going from 20G to 32G RAM on my iMac, my use of physical RAM went from 19.6G to 22G and I noticed a small speed bump. My iMac is running cooler even in this heat wave.

[Killahurts]

I went from 24GB to 48GB not long ago. The difference didn't seem obvious at first, but after a while I noticed everything was running better and faster. I use VE Pro as well, on the same machine as DP. Different VI libraries handle the RAM/HD thing differently, but you can't go wrong installing more RAM.

[Tripi]

Thanks for those links. I remember seeing them back when they came up. I guess I should be a little more detailed about my setup. I usually don't have virtual instruments in DP. Everything is hosted in VEP, so my DP template is mostly MIDI tracks, and a lot of AUX tracks (for bringing the audio back from VEP) and routing. My VEP template has a mix of Kontakt and Omnisphere. So, I understand how DP handles multi-timbral instruments, but I guess it doesn't relate to my setup since I only open a VI in DP when I want to use one sound. All of the multi-timbral stuff is in VEP. Both DP and VEP are on one machine.

I know the old standard answer was "more RAM more BETTER", but does doubling your RAM from 32GB to 64GB give the computer as a whole something it can work with?

[labman]

When I moved from 24 to 48GB on Mac Pro, I had the same experience as Killahurts. Everything smoother. (Use tons of VEP too, and slaves)

[mikehalloran]

You mentioned you have 4 slots free. I don't see that you need to double. An additional 16G should do the trick.

[Tripi]

That's a good point. The difference in price between 16 and 32 is almost worth it to go ahead and fill it up. Not exactly an easy task to get my computer out of the rack and reconnect everything.

Has anyone used the memory upgrades from OWC? They look pretty solid.

[mikehalloran]

OWC is good and warranty service is top notch—I can vouch for that. They claim that the heat sink they use on their MP RAM is superior—perhaps it is.

They are not the least expensive game in town—Crucial is often less. Since iMac RAM doesn't have heat sinks and is easy to change out, I saved about $50 buying from them last week.