topic Re: How much Ram? in Installation & update

How much Ram?

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 21:59:52 GMT

I am looking into upgrading the computers in our office. How much ram does AC10 utilize on the MAC G5 Dual machines?
THANKS!!!

Re: How much Ram?

Dwight — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 22:43:31 GMT

I am guessing that 2Gb would be the limit. I am using a dual G5 now and even my most complex renderings do not address more than 1.8 Gb.

If you are looking to economically max out your G5, fill the extra slots with 512 Gb chips to get a total of 3.5 Gb. That is a saw-off cost/benefit that uses the original ram.

Many Mac ArchiCAD users like Crucial

http://www.crucial.com/

Re: How much Ram?

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:22:11 GMT

I've found 2GB to be plenty so far; often with numerous sessions of ArchiCAD running.

I am one of those who likes Crucial for RAM, whether for Mac or PC. I have never had problems with it, but have seen plenty with RAM from other vendors. Besides, since they are a major OEM supplier, they are often the lowest cost as well.

Re: How much Ram?

Dwight — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:57:26 GMT

I refer to 3.5 Gb as optimal - a REAL user will have Photoshop open all the time - it can address way more than 2Gb, now.

Re: How much Ram?

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 13:31:38 GMT

Dwight wrote:
I refer to 3.5 Gb as optimal - a REAL user will have Photoshop open all the time - it can address way more than 2Gb, now.

So I guess I need a second MacBook for Photoshop (network by Firewire?).
I'm maxed at 2GB
Still a robust tool though.

Re: How much Ram?

Dwight — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 14:32:01 GMT

Well, that WOULD give you something to do with your second pair of hands.

Firewire is a master/slave thing - you'd use Ethernet.

The thread DID start because of G5 question. All those RAM slots gathering dust....

Re: How much Ram?

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 14:34:41 GMT

Thanks for all the feedback. We are running 1.5 gigs currently. I think we will get 1 gig each and then see if that makes any difference. We have a lot of Cadimage tools on a project and it seems to be running really slow (scroling in plan, moving doors and windows etc...). We were hoping that more ram would help that.
Thanks again,
Monica

Re: How much Ram?

Dwight — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 15:29:42 GMT

You might like to simplify the OpenGL plan view.

Re: How much Ram?

Dwight — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 15:31:32 GMT

Keep an eye on your processes using Activity Monitor. That will tell you what is happening between the RAM, CPU and drive.

Re: How much Ram?

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 15:33:53 GMT

How do I do that?

Re: How much Ram?

Dwight — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 15:49:18 GMT

Search your hard drive for "Activity Monitor."

It will probably be in the Utilities Folder unless it got thrown out becasue it did not look important. But you never know.

Start it up. There are a number of lists and graphs available to tell you what the machine is doing. When you ask ArchiCAD for a rendering, you can watch how the machine responds. If a gigantic warning light starts to flash at the back of your machine, that is a way to know the hot dogs are ready. I think this is an option your machine might not have, but this means "lunch" to me.

BTW: 2D plan issues WON'T necessarily be solved with a whack of extra RAM. Look also at the RAM in your display card, too.

Re: How much Ram?

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 02:50:55 GMT

Dwight wrote:
Firewire is a master/slave thing - you'd use Ethernet.

AFAIK Firewire can also be used as a network connection. Why else would it be listed as a network port in the System Preferences? I haven't tried it myself, but I believe the idea is that it works with X-Grid to make roll your own super clusters.

Re: How much Ram?

Dwight — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 03:05:49 GMT

http://www.macworld.com/2005/09/secrets/octmobilemac/index.php

I can accept being wrong.