Intel RAM: 1 or 2GB units?

[wvandyck]

Does it really matter unless one plans to (eventually, yeah right) install a full 16GB???

My plan is to add 4GB (for a total of 5GB). Is that enough for VIs such as PlugSound Pro, Sampler (???), synth emulations, MX4???

OWC says it has Apple Certified Modules.
Any known issues here???

Input appreciated.

[wvandyck]

I'm clear on the quality of OWC after reading some posts here.

How about buying ram in gb vs 2gb units. 2gb units cost more, but would be the way to go if 16 is in the future.

[Frodo]

True-- buying 2GB sticks now is quite cost effective down the road if maxing out your slots is in the stars as oppose to buying 1GB sticks now and then trying to sell them later at a loss.

But if you are sure that 4GB will do the trick now and are uncertain about how much more RAM you might get later, it's probably best to go with 1GB sticks now and wait until 2GB sticks come down in price.

You *can* mix the sticks as long as they are installed in pairs. Apple casually mentions some sort of benefit to installing sticks on fours (same size, same make), but little is known about just how much benefit that might be.

I added 4 x 2GB to start because it didn't make sense to start with less RAM on my MacPro than I had on my G5 for the kinds of things I'm doing. With the bundled 2 x 512, that gives me 9GB. I may go to 12GB some time after January (once I get a better idea of what's going on with Leopard and which apps I use will support 64-bit. Only after that point will I consider getting rid of my 2 x 512s to go all the way up to 16GB.

Seems like a lot of RAM-- but if what is printed about 64-bit addressing is true:

The fact that 32-bit systems only have 32-bits of data to work with means that they can only address up to 4 GB of RAM. A 64-bit system on the other hand could theoretically address up to 16 exabytes of RAM (That••™s over 16,000,000 GB of RAM). In reality though, there are few, if any, 64-bit systems that support 16 exabytes of RAM.

LINK--FULL ARTICLE



Exabytes aside, just being able to access 4 times what we can now put to good use is going to be the harbinger of smoother sailing.

And to think-- we laughed when we first heard about GB!!

[wvandyck]

Interesting points made.

This is all happening quickly as a result of a moment of insanity. I usually do my homework for weeks or months before acting.

True-- buying 2GB sticks now is quite cost effective down the road if maxing out your slots is in the stars as oppose to buying 1GB sticks now and then trying to sell them later at a loss.

Given that this is my first new machine purchased in years, the plan will be to use it as long as possible into the future. So it looks like I'll start off with 2GB units, adding RAM as software becomes more hungry. I was just looking for any tech-concerns pro/con or whatever.

The four stix at time sound interesting. Hopefully others will post if it proves to have some efficiency benefit.

I may go to 12GB some time after January (once I get a better idea of what's going on with Leopard and which apps I use will support 64-bit. Only after that point will I consider getting rid of my 2 x 512s to go all the way up to 16GB.

Exciting changes are in the winds. Yet, if 10.4.9 is any preview of Leopard, my existing system is being a good sport in terms of audio/hardware MIDI production. The pinch is really obvious with soft-synths and VIs. My hat is off the the venerable dp G4.

Exabytes aside, just being able to access 4 times what we can now put to good use is going to be the harbinger of smoother sailing.

And to think-- we laughed when we first heard about GB!!

I clearly remember reading about computer specs for audio production in the early to mid 90s. At that time, the Quadra 650 was considered the Mac of the gods

I do have another question: Are there any hard disk sizes issues with audio. I did see mention of 500GB possibly not being suitable for audio, but that a smaller size (350?) may be better???

The 2.66 macintel will arrive with a 250GB. I have two 80GB 7200rpm Seagate SATAs that I could install as separate drives for samples, and possibly a start-up drive, leaving the 250GB for audio files.

Thoughts?
Cheers

[mikebeckmotu]

OWC offers RAM trade-ins when you buy RAM from them. Worth considering, maybe? Easier than trying to sell it outright, I'd guess.

[Frodo]

I do have another question: Are there any hard disk sizes issues with audio. I did see mention of 500GB possibly not being suitable for audio, but that a smaller size (350?) may be better???

The 2.66 macintel will arrive with a 250GB. I have two 80GB 7200rpm Seagate SATAs that I could install as separate drives for samples, and possibly a start-up drive, leaving the 250GB for audio files.

Thoughts?
Cheers

At one time, at least, vendors of large VI libraries such as Vienna Symphony Lib. were recommending that their 550 GB collection be installed on two hard drives of at least 350 GB each.

While no one would or could access all of that data on one machine at once, it's a bigger data pool for your computer to search through. Smaller drives tend to have faster seek times. The Vienna people went further to recommend more than two drives with samples divided among them wisely according to usage.

The updside:

1. MacPros have bigger frontside busses and L2 caches, so a 500 GB drive may not pose the concerns they once did with seek and transfer rates-- but the same principal applies to smaller drives faring better even on faster machines. The nice thing is that bigger drives may fare better on the MacPro than they do on PPCs.

2. Many other VI libraries are not as big-- many are less than 150GB. This means that if you were well acquainted with your VI usage, you could put certain VIs on the same 500GB drive as long as you didn't try to use them at the same time-- for example, you could put 2-3 grand piano libraries on one drive because it would be a rare occasion that you would use more than one grand piano library at a time.

There was a series of months when I fought against buying a MacPro and explored better hard drive options for my G5. I first went with a 1.2TB eSATA II RAID setup, which helped greatly but didn't solve all the problems. I then added a pair of WD 10k rpm Raptors in an enclosure. That really helped to spread the workload out more.

For the MacPro I put in one 500GB drive and one Raptor 150GB (one empty drive slot remains). The Raptor is being used now for current project audio because of its performance. Because of its smaller capacity, it forces me to archive and offload projects once they are done, keeping the drive clean and clear.

In a nutshell, there is less to worry about now with a 500GB HD than there used to be where streaming audio on the MacPro is concerned. But one should take care not to overtax a single drive regardless of its size.

[HCMarkus]

What Frodo said.

[wvandyck]

OWC offers RAM trade-ins when you buy RAM from them. Worth considering, maybe? Easier than trying to sell it outright, I'd guess.

I just checked that out. Thank you.

[wvandyck]

The Vienna people went further to recommend more than two drives with samples divided among them wisely according to usage.

The updside:

1. MacPros have bigger frontside busses and L2 caches, so a 500 GB drive may not pose the concerns they once did with seek and transfer rates-- but the same principal applies to smaller drives faring better even on faster machines. The nice thing is that bigger drives may fare better on the MacPro than they do on PPCs.

2....This means that if you were well acquainted with your VI usage, you could put certain VIs on the same 500GB drive as long as you didn't try to use them at the same time-- for example, you could put 2-3 grand piano libraries on one drive because it would be a rare occasion that you would use more than one grand piano library at a time.

...In a nutshell, there is less to worry about now with a 500GB HD than there used to be where streaming audio on the MacPro is concerned. But one should take care not to overtax a single drive regardless of its size.

More excellent tips. Thank you.

My sample collection is pretty meager at this point, but I can see the wisdom of spreading "soundbanks" on different drives for reading efficiency. I plan to add more libraries in time.

I've been "archiving and offloading" since the "legacy days", keeping the hard drive as an open workspace. I have boxes of CDs and now DVDs as a result. DiskTracker has helped me keep a log of whats where.

To date, I have only run out of space (on the two 80GB drives {one system/apps, the other as workspace}) when messing around with iMovie. It seems like folks doing video need the huge drive capacities.
I can have two to three album length projects on the workspace without too much concern for offloading mid project.

So, it sounds like you're using the smaller hard drive for current project audio due to faster seek times, and the larger drive for sample libraries, interim archiving, etc?

For what I do, a 160 and a 320 (plus th included 250GB ) would give me a plenty of space for project audio, samples, and the occasional iMovie blockbuster.

Here's a question for HCMarkus: I used to partition my drives with different operating systems and a partition for crisis-troubleshooting on the same drive. At other times I placed a small partition for troubleshooting on the second drive in the event that the first drive had major problems. Then I finally installed TechToolPro e-drive on the main drive versus a regular partition.

Any thoughts on this?

I'll plan to partition the 250GB drive to have "space" for testing out updates and software revisions as you have suggested at this forum.

[Frodo]

So, it sounds like you're using the smaller hard drive for current project audio due to faster seek times, and the larger drive for sample libraries, interim archiving, etc?

Exactly right. For further offloading of all internal drives, I archive (upon completion) to DVD and to FW drives as well.

Ah, movies. That's the final frontier-- with one drive slot open, I'd love to jam in another Raptor but am feeling the need for larger capacity. Not sure which way to go just yet, but I've dumped a bundle recently on this computer and peripherals.

A favorite quote from Tolkien: "Let the unseen days be. Today is enough."

With my G5 networked to the MacPro, I suppose I could sync DP on both machines, but I'll cross that bridge down the road.

[wvandyck]

Many thanks for the awesome tips and information.
Cheers.