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    Why would you need more than 4GB of RAM?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by glindawantsme17, Apr 7, 2009.

  1. glindawantsme17

    glindawantsme17 Notebook Consultant

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    I see people with 6-8GB and the Mac Pro can have up to 32. What would you need that much for?
     
    glindawantsme17, Apr 7, 2009
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  2. CuriousN

    CuriousN Notebook Evangelist

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    heavy computational use/bragging rights
     
    CuriousN, Apr 7, 2009
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  3. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    CAD appliactions, computing for world community grid.
    If I crunch 8 units on my system, stressing all 8 cores, memory usage goes over 4gb.
    In CAD, running "make 2d" or just working with 20,000 or more polysurfaces at the same time requires 4gb or more of memory

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Apr 7, 2009
    #3
  4. aan310

    aan310 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Most any "professional grade" CAD, Video, Picture, or audio editing would like 4gb+
     
    aan310, Apr 7, 2009
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  5. glindawantsme17

    glindawantsme17 Notebook Consultant

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    Oh I see. K-TRON, why do you have so many computers?!
     
    glindawantsme17, Apr 7, 2009
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  6. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Running enterprise virtual machine can suck up all 32GB of ram easily if you want. It can also suck up to 128 cores per machine, i think. You can chain the machine up to create a main frame.

    Also, you're doing media, say after effects, ram previewing a 1080P hdv for about 30 seconds with a couple effects will easily suck up 4-8GB of the ram that most "professional" computer have.

    Also, previous users have mentioned AutoCad. The samething goes with all 3d modeling software such as maya which can take up 8GB of ram easily (provided that you have 64bit maya).
     
    jackluo923, Apr 7, 2009
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  7. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    Most in my signature I do not use. For example, the M360 and the M855 are dead. My T61 I gave to my brother, but its still technically my laptop.
    My U709 still works but I do not use it because it will probably die again if I use it.
    I only use my Dell E1505 and the octitron. Those are my primary systems which I use on an everyday basis.

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Apr 8, 2009
    #7
  8. eurasianbro

    eurasianbro Notebook Consultant

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    What's been said above is true. Notice that there is no such thing as a video editing workstation with less than 16GB of RAM. But for your uses, 4 should be quite enough.
     
    eurasianbro, Apr 8, 2009
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  9. glindawantsme17

    glindawantsme17 Notebook Consultant

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    Will I get by with 3?
     
    glindawantsme17, Apr 8, 2009
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  10. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    jackluo923, Apr 8, 2009
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  11. eurasianbro

    eurasianbro Notebook Consultant

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    What do you mean? Do you need to edit high def? If so, then definitely upgrade!
     
    eurasianbro, Apr 8, 2009
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  12. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Most of the schools/people cannot afford ultra-high-end computers with 16gig of ram. Workstation with quadcore processors and 4gigs of ram is the norm.

    Also, I edit in 1080P and quadcore with 4gigs of ram seems to handle it pretty well.

    I use my netbook to edit standard def videos with adobe premiere pro. Haha. It's actually pretty good. It performs much better than I thought.
     
    jackluo923, Apr 8, 2009
    #12
  13. eurasianbro

    eurasianbro Notebook Consultant

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    Hey there, yes, I agree it may not be very noticeable since CPU is a bigger determinant in the performance of your editing. However, any -professional- workstation is rarely seen with less than 16GB RAM. I'm not saying I have it, I'm just saying that during my time in the industry, that's what I've seen :)

    I suppose for a student film, 3-8GB should work fine. I believe the reason why industrial workstations are addicted to lots of RAM, Xeon procs, and RAID setups is because they have very demanding deadlines.
     
    eurasianbro, Apr 8, 2009
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  14. tylerdurden51

    tylerdurden51 Newbie

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    so you can watch multiple pornos at once :)
     
    tylerdurden51, Apr 8, 2009
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  15. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    You won't need 4gigs of ram even if you're watching 10 1080P pornos simulatneously.
     
    jackluo923, Apr 8, 2009
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  16. boypogi

    boypogi Man Beast

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    lol :D :D :D
     
    boypogi, Apr 8, 2009
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  17. davepermen

    davepermen Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    you only heard that of course.. :p
     
    davepermen, Apr 8, 2009
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  18. beige

    beige Notebook Deity

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    CAD, design programs and ofc GAMING
     
    beige, Apr 8, 2009
    #18
  19. Mormegil83

    Mormegil83 I Love Lamp.

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    What game requires more than 4gb of RAM?
     
    Mormegil83, Apr 8, 2009
    #19
  20. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Bragging rights in every game of course :p
     
    sgogeta4, Apr 8, 2009
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  21. Bog

    Bog Losing it...

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    Running multiple virtual machines or insecurity about wedding tackle.
     
    Bog, Apr 8, 2009
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  22. RobertFontaine

    RobertFontaine Notebook Guru

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    .... but can I get 8gb ddr2 pc-6400 200 pin SODIMMs :)
    16 gigs in my laptop would be very very nice for virtual machines.
     
    RobertFontaine, Apr 8, 2009
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  23. Bog

    Bog Losing it...

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    Do you know why you need to run virtual machines?
     
    Bog, Apr 8, 2009
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  24. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Can you supply a link to any product or screen shot? As far as I know, there are no companies that currently make a single SODIMM w/ 8GB.
     
    sgogeta4, Apr 8, 2009
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  25. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    The current limit right now is probably 4GB Sodimm and 8GB Dimm
     
    jackluo923, Apr 8, 2009
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  26. RobertFontaine

    RobertFontaine Notebook Guru

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    Development Environments
     
    RobertFontaine, Apr 8, 2009
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  27. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    What? You install IDEs on your virtual machines?
     
    jackluo923, Apr 8, 2009
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  28. davis1234

    davis1234 Notebook Geek

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    its another way for apple to get money having multiple cores does not stress the processor cores thats what the cache memory is for you don't need that much ram unless your a gamer or you like running a lot of resource hungry programs at once to show off to your buddys one of my friend has an intel core i7 processor and it runs just fine on 2gbs of ram and will play any game on the market or your a professional that is running a pricey goverment funded research program
     
    davis1234, Apr 10, 2009
    #28
  29. RobertFontaine

    RobertFontaine Notebook Guru

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    yessir, it's very nice to have the right version of a dev environment available on demand.
     
    RobertFontaine, Apr 10, 2009
    #29
  30. Hualsay

    Hualsay Notebook Evangelist

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    Yeah I agree, much more convenient.
     
    Hualsay, Apr 11, 2009
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  31. stevezachtech

    stevezachtech Notebook Evangelist

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    The 8 GB capacity components are very expensive, besides most heavy applications such as video games only require 4 GB, unless you want to open 2 GTA IVs at the same time...
     
    stevezachtech, Apr 16, 2009
    #31
  32. davepermen

    davepermen Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    reminds me of the one having 32 wow characters running at the same time because he couldn't trust other gamers in his team. crazy guys existing on this world :)
     
    davepermen, Apr 16, 2009
    #32