RAM question for graphic developers

[designer22]

Hello all,

I am looking to buy a Mac Pro next month. As the RAM seems to be the most expensive upgrade option, I'm wondering what is recommended by those who are graphic artists. I usually have Photoshop and/or Illustrator open, plus Flash, Dreamweaver, Acrobat, Word and/or Powerpoint as well. On my pc, I have 2 Gigs RAM, and for the most part it handles having all of this open at one time. Obviously, more is better when it comes to RAM, but I'm looking for your experiences on the Mac side. What would be comparable for the Pro? Should I spring for 4 or 8 Gigs, or something else?

Many thanks for replies....cheers!

 

[Miffle]

I'm going to think of this in a Leopard perspective, it will be 64bit (Well, advertised that way!)

with 64bit OS and 64bit applications one program can address more than 2GB of RAM - fairly recently on a developers blog Adobe stated that there wouldn't be a 64bit photoshop any time soon, I can only guess same applies to the other applications with them being Adobe

in theory, if the OS can handle the RAM you can have 2GB for each open application - apparently Tiger still contains 32bit binaries and I don't know much about how much RAM it can handle but for a Leopard perspective you should be good to go installing 8GB or so

I hope i've helped there, its quite an ildealistic answer, but still.. It might be followed up

 

[snoslicer8]

Hello all,

I am looking to buy a Mac Pro next month. As the RAM seems to be the most expensive upgrade option, I'm wondering what is recommended by those who are graphic artists. I usually have Photoshop and/or Illustrator open, plus Flash, Dreamweaver, Acrobat, Word and/or Powerpoint as well. On my pc, I have 2 Gigs RAM, and for the most part it handles having all of this open at one time. Obviously, more is better when it comes to RAM, but I'm looking for your experiences on the Mac side. What would be comparable for the Pro? Should I spring for 4 or 8 Gigs, or something else?

Many thanks for replies....cheers!

First off, welcome!

For your purposes, it appears to me that 2 GB would suffice at the minimum. I would recommend staying in even number pairs (2, 4, or 8 GB) to take full advantage of matched pair RAM, as the processor will make full use of it better. I wouldn't say that you need to go as high as 8 GB without doing tons of video editing.

Good luck!

 

[Alexis]

1 gig would see you right, 2 gig would make life a bit easier and anything above would be pointless unless you're into Final Cut or 3D rendering.

 

[NanoBite]

The more memory your computer has, the more programs you can run simultaneously, and the better performance you get from your computer.

How much memory is right for you?

Choose 512MB of memory (two 256MB modules) to support most day-to-day tasks such as email, word processing, spreadsheets, web browsing, and basic iLife '06 tasks.

Select 1GB of memory (two 512MB modules) if you'll be photo editing, creating illustrations, or building complex presentations.

Upgrade to the 2GB option (two 1GB modules) if you plan to use your system regularly for sound design, video editing, DVD authoring, animation, and other intensive tasks.

 

[designer22]

Thanks to all for the replies - much appreciated advice!

 

[giulio]

Equally imprtant is the video card, and the amount of dedicated ram it has. You'd be amazed how dependant on a video card photoshop is. Even just making marquee selections.

 

[designer22]

I was planning on the ATI Radeon X1900 unless there are more choices added next month...

 

[DaYCEnt]

Just remember that with the MBP's you can upgrade the RAM anytime you want, but the video card and processor are pretty much locked in. On my iMac, I sprung for the upgraded video, and now i'm looking for RAM at my leisure.

 

[designer22]

DaTCEnt, I'm referring to the MacPro, not the MacBookPro......

 

[designer22]

sorry...DaYCEnt

 

[DaYCEnt]

my most sincere apologies, designer22!!!! seems like everything i've read about just about any subject has been MBP. guess my desire to expand to another more mac made a freudian slip into what i thought would be some useful advice... best of luck on the Ram, though... i saw someone that went with 4x2Gb for about $850 earlier today... something tells me you're not going to THAT much of an extreme... or are you?