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Does 8gb of RAM make a major real-world difference for the time being?

Whackintosh

Whackintosh

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 8, 2009
435
14
Montreal, Quebec
Just wondering if it's worth getting a machine with 8Gb of RAM over the standard 4Gb for things like video editing, aperture etc. Can most of today's apps even use 8 gigs of memory? I assume the biggest advantage would be for running a virtual windows machine within OSX and things like that.
 
New iMac's can handle 16Gb of RAM. OS X can handle OOOOODLES more than that, and so can applications.

More RAM never hurt anyone.
 
For me, it's not a matter of what apps use
more memory...

It's a matter of how much multitasking I
can do without straining the resources of
my iMac.

If you have many startup programs that
you keep constantly running, open many
windows at once while encoding and
burning DVDs then the extra ram is well
worth it.

I can push the limits of my iMac with
8GB ram and not feel the sweat.
 
A good rule to follow it max out as much RAM as you can afford. I thought it would take years to see 8GB of RAM for $200 more in the iMacs (obviously the extra RAM slots made this possible). Any virtual machine (Parallels, VMWare, etc...) will eat as much RAM as you can give it and you will notice a definite improvement.
 
I have two macs with 4gb of ram and have never experienced swapping when not using a virtual machine. That's why I ordered an i7 with 4gb. It's easy to upgrade later.
 
googdot said:
There are some good benchmarks at OWC showing performance on the new iMac's with various configurations of RAM.
Click to expand...

Awesome link. Thanks for sharing! :D

From my reading, it seems in general like the biggest performance jump is seen from 4gb to 8gb, rather than from 8gb to 12gb (for both 32bit and 64bit). Am I seeing that correctly? Looks like 8gb is the way to go for now. :)
 
Sorry to go off topic, but which upgrade is more worth it? 3.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or 8GBs of RAM?
 
googdot said:
There are some good benchmarks at OWC showing performance on the new iMac's with various configurations of RAM.
Click to expand...

Thats an awesome link! It exactly answers my questions about how much benefit more RAM will give, thanks!
Answer: pretty much none, unless you are running dozens of apps hogging at least 50% system memory.

EliteF50 said:
Sorry to go off topic, but which upgrade is more worth it? 3.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or 8GBs of RAM?
Click to expand...

i5!
Ok that doesn't answer your question, but the i5 gives a significant power increase so if you can at all afford it i'd reccomend that!
Otherwise I would say go the CPU upgrade, in 6 months 8GB RAM will be $50 from 3rd party suppliers, and the CPU can not be upgraded later without voiding warranty.
 
Your original question involved video editing and Aperture. Both Motion and Aperture quickly gobble up more than the 3GB limit per app since they grab unused memory for caching.

If you are using Compressor or After Effects, both apps can spawn subtasks for each core that can grab 3GB of RAM each.

I say 8GB is the minimum for best all around performance and minimal virtual memory hits.
 
fruitpunch.ben said:
i5!
Ok that doesn't answer your question, but the i5 gives a significant power increase so if you can at all afford it i'd reccomend that!
Otherwise I would say go the CPU upgrade, in 6 months 8GB RAM will be $50 from 3rd party suppliers, and the CPU can not be upgraded later without voiding warranty.
Click to expand...

I would get the i5, but 27 inches is way too big for me. I don't want to have to move my head just to see the other side of my screen. :p

Do you think they'll put the i5 into the 21.5" iMacs?
 
EliteF50 said:
Do you think they'll put the i5 into the 21.5" iMacs?
Click to expand...

Nope. Temp + lack of room. Get the 27'' i5. Save your money up until you can afford the difference. You won't regret it.

meirvin said:
Im waiting for my i7 and ordered 4gbs for $85 when the machine arrives 5 mins before i turn it on it will be upgraded
Click to expand...

Wise decision. Imho I would recommend doing a benchmark with the 4gb so you have a reference and then put the 8gb in.
 
53x12 said:
Wise decision. Imho I would recommend doing a benchmark with the 4gb so you have a reference and then put the 8gb in.
Click to expand...

Is it just me or has RAM prices shot up since the iMac was announced?
I looked at crucial's website today and it was $115 for 2x2GB for the iMac, I distinctly remember it being around $88 when I was checking the day the new iMacs were announced.
Same thing with OWC.
Oh well that just helps to save me the cost of buying my RAM just yet.
I refuse to pay much over $70 since thats what that configuration cost about 4 months ago. I'll buy when it comes back down.
 
fruitpunch.ben said:
Is it just me or has RAM prices shot up since the iMac was announced?
I looked at crucial's website today and it was $115 for 2x2GB for the iMac, I distinctly remember it being around $88 when I was checking the day the new iMacs were announced.
Same thing with OWC.
Oh well that just helps to save me the cost of buying my RAM just yet.
I refuse to pay much over $70 since thats what that configuration cost about 4 months ago. I'll buy when it comes back down.
Click to expand...

Crucial is still $85.99 at Newegg.
 
I have noticed that my machine could use more RAM. When I get some more money I am going to upgrade to 8GB of RAM. Enabling Fast User Switching and having one user that has iPhoto and Photoshop open, and another user with multiple apps open, it eats up 4GB pretty fast. I am surprised at how much RAM iPhoto uses by itself.
 
I put an extra 4gb of RAM into my new i7 today to boost it up to 8gb and while I don't expect to see an appreciable boost in performance any time soon, I spent the whole time installing the RAM making Tim Taylor type grunts ("More Power! Gruh-gruh-gruh!") and that alone made it worth it for me.
 
gwhitta said:
I put an extra 4gb of RAM into my new i7 today to boost it up to 8gb and while I don't expect to see an appreciable boost in performance any time soon, I spent the whole time installing the RAM making Tim Taylor type grunts ("More Power! Gruh-gruh-gruh!") and that alone made it worth it for me.
Click to expand...

rofl.
classic :p
 
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