reasonable RAM

[MAC-simus]

hi guys
I have a kinda technical question. we have G4 867 DP tower at work. we mostly do image procesing in photoshop. my question is, if I max up the RAM, can the computer utilize all of it? or is there a real, visible diference in performance between 1GB and 2GB RAM when lets say CPU is maxed up on some process.
thanks

 

[Padawan]

hi guys
I have a kinda technical question. we have G4 867 DP tower at work. we mostly do image procesing in photoshop. my question is, if I max up the RAM, can the computer utilize all of it? or is there a real, visible diference in performance between 1GB and 2GB RAM when lets say CPU is maxed up on some process.
thanks

You can always use Activity Monitor to see how much memory you're already using, then buy a 1 GB (or whatever you're planning) and check again to see if you still need more before investing in both sticks. My guess is you won't see any noticible difference after you reach 1 GB, because as you said, other areas of the system then become the bottlenecks.

 

[witeshark]

You can always use Activity Monitor to see how much memory you're already using, then buy a 1 GB (or whatever you're planning) and check again to see if you still need more before investing in both sticks. My guess is you won't see any noticible difference after you reach 1 GB, because as you said, other areas of the system then become the bottlenecks.

I agree with this and also suggest that each RAM slot be fitted with the largest RAM card it can hold

 

[Osiris22x]

There's a very simple way to tell if adding more RAM will speed up your system. Open the "Activity Monitor" on your system, and go to "System Memory". You'll see a line titled "Page ins/outs:" and it will have two sets of numbers "xxx/xxx". That second set of numbers, is the important one. Ideally, it should never get above zero...realistically it should stay under a couple hundred. If the number is above zero, then you can benefit from having more RAM.

 

[MAC-simus]

There's a very simple way to tell if adding more RAM will speed up your system. Open the "Activity Monitor" on your system, and go to "System Memory". You'll see a line titled "Page ins/outs:" and it will have two sets of numbers "xxx/xxx". That second set of numbers, is the important one. Ideally, it should never get above zero...realistically it should stay under a couple hundred. If the number is above zero, then you can benefit from having more RAM.

thanks, that was really helpfull, where did you get this knowledge? can you give me a hint where can I get more info about that? i would like to dig into detales.
thanks again

 

[nicholas]

There's a very simple way to tell if adding more RAM will speed up your system. Open the "Activity Monitor" on your system, and go to "System Memory". You'll see a line titled "Page ins/outs:" and it will have two sets of numbers "xxx/xxx". That second set of numbers, is the important one. Ideally, it should never get above zero...realistically it should stay under a couple hundred. If the number is above zero, then you can benefit from having more RAM.

With all due respect, Osiris, are you sure about that? I have 4GB of RAM in my DP 2Ghz G5, and often times when I'm running several applications, the number is either 0 or 1. NEVER is it below 0, much less negative several hundred?

 

[witeshark]

With respect, yeah he's right, 4 gigs is mondo RAM and your results are no surprise

 

[MAC-simus]

With all due respect, Osiris, are you sure about that? I have 4GB of RAM in my DP 2Ghz G5, and often times when I'm running several applications, the number is either 0 or 1. NEVER is it below 0, much less negative several hundred?

he never said it should be below 0, you just misread it.

 

[nicholas]

Oh, my bad then. I just thought the part that said "realistically it should stay under a couple hundred" meant negative numbers. Nevermind me. Carry on.

 

[mysteriousal]

I don't get it!

I'm on a dual 2.0 G5, with 512MB ram, and my numbers read:

771852 / 739648

Undera couple of hundred!?! I am in serious trouble!