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Ram

hello all, i am looking into purchasing a powermac for producing edm and atm will be using all soft synths

as far as ram is concerned i am looking to get 2gb...

for this amount of ram there are 2 options

2 x 1gb

or

4 x 512mb


does anyone know what setup would be preferrential for my needs and why?

thanks

you definetely need 2x 1gb ram. your motherboard has usually about 4 spaces so its definetely better to have an extra 2 space for the future. plus you said you use all softsynth so thats really necessary.

Yea I have 4 gigs.

Still not enough.

I want a terabyte

4 gigs not enough?

so if i had a quad core power mac with 4 gb of ram... you are suggesting that that will not be enough???

what is the reason that 2 x 1gb is better than 4 x 512mb?

its essentially the same amount of ram but in different rations...

quote:

Originally posted by mylespower what is the reason that 2 x 1gb is better than 4 x 512mb? its essentially the same amount of ram but in different rations...

2 x 1gb saves 2 slots on ur board

oh i see, i really don't know all that much about macs yet but i tried one out and loved it

the reason why you want 2 x 1GB instead of 4 x 512mb is that the access to the ram will be faster.

Lets take one easy and simple example.
Lets say that you work in a grocery store where you fetch all the things people want to shop for them. Imagine a store that has 4 shelves spread out that is a bit smaller, it will take some time to fetch all the wares for the customers if you need to run between the shelves. It will also take more time and thinking when you place new wares in the store so you have room for the different kind of wares on the same shelves.

Now if you instead have 2 longer shelves it will be much easier to access them and storage will need less thinking and planning.

The same goes for RAM, fewer modules equals lower access time and faster write time (and less fragmentation over the modules).


Besides, I think even mac have some stability problems running 4 RAM modules at once.
And the memorysize, 2gb will be enough. The crucial think in a DAW isn't the ammount of memory, it's how fast the memory is rather (unless you work with shitloads of samples).
Go for 2gb and the best CPU you can get

quote:

Originally posted by mylespower 4 gigs not enough? so if i had a quad core power mac with 4 gb of ram... you are suggesting that that will not be enough???

Nothing is EVER enough for me.

Next build will be even crazier with RAM, and processing.

quote:

Originally posted by Vizay the reason why you want 2 x 1GB instead of 4 x 512mb is that the access to the ram will be faster. Lets take one easy and simple example. Lets say that you work in a grocery store where you fetch all the things people want to shop for them. Imagine a store that has 4 shelves spread out that is a bit smaller, it will take some time to fetch all the wares for the customers if you need to run between the shelves. It will also take more time and thinking when you place new wares in the store so you have room for the different kind of wares on the same shelves. Now if you instead have 2 longer shelves it will be much easier to access them and storage will need less thinking and planning. The same goes for RAM, fewer modules equals lower access time and faster write time (and less fragmentation over the modules).

you are a poet and a gentleman

and THAT ^^ was a very good example

quote:

Originally posted by mylespower and THAT ^^ was a very good example

OK, you should go for the 2 x 1Gb sticks of RAM, i think most motherboards only run 2 channels in "dual channel", which is where u'll get the advantage, i dont think they run all 4 channels in this mode, it's been a while since i looked inti motherboards though tbh, so if i am wrong sorry, either way u'll have room to add more ram later this way

Secondly, that example could not be more wrong, thats just not how searching algorithms with computers work, effectively you're making a "tree like" structure when searching, you never want to linear search which seems to be what you're suggesting. By your logic, 1 x 2Gb stick would be the best cause it would all be in the same "shelf". There's always gonna trade offs, but basically you're method doesnt work.

quote:

Originally posted by ���|E OK, you should go for the 2 x 1Gb sticks of RAM, i think most motherboards only run 2 channels in "dual channel", which is where u'll get the advantage, i dont think they run all 4 channels in this mode, it's been a while since i looked inti motherboards though tbh, so if i am wrong sorry, either way u'll have room to add more ram later this way Secondly, that example could not be more wrong, thats just not how searching algorithms with computers work, effectively you're making a "tree like" structure when searching, you never want to linear search which seems to be what you're suggesting. By your logic, 1 x 2Gb stick would be the best cause it would all be in the same "shelf". There's always gonna trade offs, but basically you're method doesnt work.

i see your point

so how about 2 x 2 gb sticks?

would that be as far as i could push it using 2 channels?

quote:

Originally posted by ���|E Secondly, that example could not be more wrong, thats just not how searching algorithms with computers work, effectively you're making a "tree like" structure when searching, you never want to linear search which seems to be what you're suggesting. By your logic, 1 x 2Gb stick would be the best cause it would all be in the same "shelf". There's always gonna trade offs, but basically you're method doesnt work.

I know it's not correct at all if you know anything about this (I'm studying it right now so I know I'm totally off with that description) BUT the description works for people that don't want to waste a month studying system architecture

Forgive me for being lazy earlier. It's not that I didn't care. But I was too sleepy.

Who ever made the grocery store metaphor is spot on.

More ram is better, but don't forget to take in consideration FILE FRAGMENTATION. That's not good times either.

And also. You can have 4 gigs of ram. But if you have a celron chip (i exaggerate but you get the point) your boned.

ohh yeah btw. how does OS X handle al RAM sizes over 3gb?

I know that windows have some major problems finding and working with anything above without using hotfixes and stuff, does OS X have the same problem?

quote:

Originally posted by Vizay ohh yeah btw. how does OS X handle al RAM sizes over 3gb? I know that windows have some major problems finding and working with anything above without using hotfixes and stuff, does OS X have the same problem?

well i know that you can purchase a powermac from the apple website which is obviously assembled by apple... and you can get up to 14gb (something like an $11,000 usd upgrade!!!)of ram

i would imagine that since the ram is installed by apple and since they will be backing the computer with a warranty, it probably works quite well

Myles, this is it so listen up

The more RAM you buy the better. You wanna buy 11Gb of RAM, be my guest

However, if you're talking about which is better, 2 x 1Gb sticks, OR 1 x 2Gb stick, the answer is this; 2 x 1Gb.

Reasons;
1: Allows you to run your RAM in dual channel and can reap big performance rewards.
2: Sticks that are less dense (ex. 1 GB compared to 2 GB) usually have tighter timings, ie quicker/more reliable access times.
3: Give you some fault protection if 1 stick gets fried for whatever reason you can still get the machine to work, unlikely but stranger things have happened.
4: Room to upgrade when better RAM comes out, which it will
5: Should you be running a dual processor machine, you'll get a really nice boost in access times. (though i doubt you are running dual processors)

Ignore the advice if you want, or use it, it's upto you

quote:

Originally posted by ���|E Myles, this is it so listen up The more RAM you buy the better. You wanna buy 11Gb of RAM, be my guest However, if you're talking about which is better, 2 x 1Gb sticks, OR 1 x 2Gb stick, the answer is this; 2 x 1Gb. Reasons; 1: Allows you to run your RAM in dual channel and can reap big performance rewards. 2: Sticks that are less dense (ex. 1 GB compared to 2 GB) usually have tighter timings, ie quicker/more reliable access times. 3: Give you some fault protection if 1 stick gets fried for whatever reason you can still get the machine to work, unlikely but stranger things have happened. 4: Room to upgrade when better RAM comes out, which it will 5: Should you be running a dual processor machine, you'll get a really nice boost in access times. (though i doubt you are running dual processors) Ignore the advice if you want, or use it, it's upto you

thanks for the advice and yeah this summer i plan on buying the powermac quadcore and going more or less "all out"

as i said before i plan on going all software for the time being and given that you all are edm producers and that you have suggested 2 x 1gb...

2x1gb it will be!!

quote:

Originally posted by mylespower i plan on buying the powermac quadcore and going more or less "all out"

dammmmnnn, lucky you

hahah well its not quite luck.... but i am willing to make the necessary sacrifices to obtain such obscene toys lol



as i am studying at this moment... micro economics... its all about trade offs


its all about substitution people!!! and I am a "substituter"

haven't heard about their mega upgrades on RAM, prolly works good then (not suprising since they are basing their OS on BSD (can't remember if it's freeBSD or another version).

quote:

Originally posted by ���|E Reasons; 1: Allows you to run your RAM in dual channel and can reap big performance rewards. 2: Sticks that are less dense (ex. 1 GB compared to 2 GB) usually have tighter timings, ie quicker/more reliable access times. processors)

1: True in theory, in practice the difference is so little that you never feel any real difference. But if you want nice benchmarks this is neat.

2: Totally true, and unlike nr. 1 it's a big difference in practice too.

can't really disagree with the other points either, good info there ���|E

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