Hello.

I just recieved a dual 2ghz G5 from Apple and am pretty excited.
I had them install two 250gb internal drives
BUT
I failed to order more than the basic 512mb of RAM.
Am I seriously impaired?
I have a lot of capturing and editing ahead of me. Will I be fine as is, or should I absolutely order more memory before even thinking of starting a massive project?
I've tried to get the best thing I can get, but I don't know a great deal about these systems.

Thanks!

Shawn

Get more memory. I would get no less than another 512Mb. But really that is not near enough. I usually recommend 2Gb total and if you want an optimum amount 4Gb seems to really be the peak for performance. G5's require that ram be installed in pairs.

You pretty much absolutely need more memory.
And remember, you need to buy them and install them in pairs.
For instance, if you want 1GB more of memory, you need to get (2) 512MB sticks. That's what I did and i'm at 1.5GB.


Here's what I got and from this place too. They have great prices, quality and speedy service. I have memory from them on my PC and my G5.



http://www.crucial.com/store/MPartspecs.Asp?mtbpoid=1F69CEB4A5CA7304&WSMD=Power+Mac+G5+%28Dual+2%2E0GHz+DDR%29&WSPN=CT322476

Thanks guys.
I will definitely check out Crucial.
What does (more) memory do for the overall performance of a system?
Good for things like rendering, audio sync, whatever?
Can I feel, I don't know, safe, with 2gb until I'm able to afford another 2?

<<<-- Originally posted by Shawn Mielke : Thanks guys.
I will definitely check out Crucial.
What does (more) memory do for the overall performance of a system?
Good for things like rendering, audio sync, whatever?
Can I feel, I don't know, safe, with 2gb until I'm able to afford another 2? -->>>

Definetly, 2GB should be more than fine.
Even 1.5GB will be fine.

Alright, $300 for 1500mb at Crucial. I'm GLAD I forgot to have Apple preinstall more RAM! I haven't cracked the manual yet; is it a cinch to self install stuff?

<<<-- Originally posted by Shawn Mielke : Alright, $300 for 1500mb at Crucial. I'm GLAD I forgot to have Apple preinstall more RAM! I haven't cracked the manual yet; is it a cinch to self install stuff? -->>>
Yes it's pretty easy. The hardest part is actually putting the memory in the ram and latching it, it's always a very tight hard fit.
The manual has pics and guides you through it.

Remember, you have to install 2 sticks at a time and in the proper order (it's in the manual)
So if you want to add 1.5GB to your 512MB, you would need,

(2) 512 sticks
(2) 256 sticks

ramjet.com

you need pairs so get another 512 (you only have one?) and since you have 2 256 chips get get 4 more 512s...

slots as follows:

512 512
512 512
512 512
256 256

install the slowest chips last (so I've been told).
should be smokin... if you're running compositing or 3D, etc... you should look into 2gb modules... get the 3200 chips too...

Got it. Can't wait to read the manual! Thanks!

Might as well ask a similar question here :

My G4 Powerbook (1.25 gHz) has 512 megs of RAM.

Should I upgrade and what's the max upgrade I can do on a powerbook? Mind you, I use FCE and will soon get FCP. What type of memory should I get?

If yours is the 15" PB w/FireWire 800, it will hold up to 2GB of ram. You would have to replace your original 512MB because it only has 2 slots. You nee PC2700 DDR333 200 pin SO-DIMM's. Order from sources suggested in the posts above. I would recommend a minimum of 1GB total ram for editing in FCP and the more the better.

I believe you can roughly figure out how much RAM you will with a formula like the following:

( # of undos+1 * your project size ) + overhead

So if your project is 30MB and you have 30 layers of undos and the overhead is 100MB (I have no idea what the overhead is), then that's 1030GB. Performance will be slow when you run out of RAM. You can get around this by making your project size smaller, by doing things like avoiding excessive nesting.

Haven't tested things but I'm fairly sure that's how it works.

512MB I would consider to be the minimum based on experience with FCP3 / DP500mhz G4 doing a multicam edit.

PowerBooks have slower hard drives and performance really takes a hit if you run out of ram. If you set up an external drive for you scratch disk you'll also see better performance.

It makes more sense to load up on RAM or to avoid running out of RAM, as an external scratch drive versus an internal is like slow versus slower.

The OS and application are on the 5400rpm internal drive and your scratch disk is on a 7200rpm FireWire 800 or 400 drive. I don't see a slow vs. slower here. My PowerBook definitely slows down without a scratch disk. What PowerBook are you using Glen and how do you have it configured?

I don't own a Powerbook.

What I can tell you is that RAM is many times faster than hard drives- roughly 60X faster. Hard drives are decently fast, but RAM is much, much faster. The difference between a 5400rpm and 7200rpm drive is not great compared to any hard drive versus RAM.

External drives have a place in editing and vastly improve the performance when editing with FCP on a PowerBook. I've had three PowerBooks over the years, 400Ti, 800Ti and now a 1.25 Al like the original poster. All have benefited from increasing the ram to at least 1Gb and using an external FW drive for capture and as a scratch disk. I'm not trying to debate the speed between ram and an HD. But external drives add speed, convenience and safety to your projects.

Anyone tried using that RAM Disk program from Apples' website yet?

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/ramdiskcreator.html

RAM is almost 100x faster than 5400 rpm HD. Too bad I have only 512 megs of RAM.

Joe, In addition to my desktop system I edit remotely from time to time and used to do so on a 550mhz tibook with 256mb of ram. It worked. I'm currently on a 1ghz with 512mb. If you do end up getting 2gb of ram I'll possibly take your spare 512...


as far as multiple undo's go as a measurement of ram usage- never heard that one before. I always assumed the machine 'remembered' steps and repeated them unless it was render based.

In photoshop if you're working on a 100mb file and you create 5 more adjustment layers- guess what? 500mb of ram would be a good place to start... video ediitng is a snap next to photo imaging or video compositing. Unless you do lots of that I'd focus on faster storage or more storage... then ram (actually then cards (just not on the lappy) than ram)...
good luck

Adjustment layers in 8 bit Photoshop files don't increase the file size significantly. In 16 bit the change is pretty dramatic(more than double).

I have heard that for Photoshop usage you should have three to five times the amount of ram as the file size you are working on.

Hmm I never really tried things out. But I did notice that on large complicated projects (where the project size gets up to 11-30MB), more RAM does improve performance. From 256MB to 512MB is a night and day difference. From 512MB to 768MB seems to be an improvement, but I might have been imagining it.