Ideal amount and configuration of Ram for Native Pro Tools on Mac PRo

[jdjustice]

i am on a G5 but in my experience 4GB is optimal, more than that possibly overkill.
RAM should be in pairs so if you currently have 1GB is it configured as 2x512MB?
you should have 8 slots for RAM so i would go with a 2x1GB upgrade.
3GB total should boost your performance and it may be all you need.


cheers.
~j.d.

[nikki-k]

Hi!
For the Mac Pro, populating the first two slots in BOTH risers is best. Stock is the top riser with 2 512M sticks. Grab two more sticks- 512M each, 1G each or 2G each. Put them in the first two slots on the bottom riser, and walla! Top memory performance, regardles of you "needing" extra memory/RAM for any app. It is the architecture of the Mac Pro that makes this so.

Pro Tools with no virtual instruments does not (usually) make high RAM demands, certainly 1G would suffice. But, as I said- architecture.

Hit OWC and grab Apple approved RAM from them is my suggestion. I'd grab 2 1G sticks. Enjoy the smile the first time you fire that Mac Pro up after installing them...

[jeremyglover]

BUMP for 2012!

things have certainly changed since 2007

so what's the answer now?
my mac dealer says the ram should be in groups of 6 .. is this true?
there must be a point of diminishing returns as far as pro tools goes right?

any help us greatly appreciated.

i have 6GB on a 2010 mac pro 8 core running pro tools native.

[E.rOk.stA]

Until PT native goes 64bit, it can't use more than 4GB of RAM, even if you have more.

[mattjew24]

I run pt9 on my i7 8gb ram PC..Win7 64...

It runs flawlessly so far. The 8core i7 helps.

[jeremyglover]

do you think it is best to install ram in groups of 3? 3 x 4GB for example.

i've read groups of 3, groups of 2 and my dealer says groups of 6.

i want to get a good amount for PT10.

[BOP]

Originally Posted by jeremyglover

do you think it is best to install ram in groups of 3? 3 x 4GB for example.

i've read groups of 3, groups of 2 and my dealer says groups of 6.

i want to get a good amount for PT10.

I have never heard about groups of 6 - I think that might be just your dealer trying to squeeze more money out of you since people overvalue the importance of loads of ram for audio and shops cash in.

I have 6 gigs and I never run out. 2x1GB stock and then bought 2x2GB from crucial and it is as good for all manners of video editing and photo work too.

Some motherboards do ram in pairs and some in thirds (some old ones or cheap ones might not do that at all) and if you have the newer Mac Pro then I would expect it to be in 3rds since they offer 6GB as stock on those machines.

Forget your local dealer and ask apple directly.
You can also go to Apple Memory Mac Memory Upgrades for PowerBook PowerMac G4 G5 Mac Mini iBook iMac Memory

wow that is a long link, anyway, go there, select your machine and see what they offer, when I got mine the form on the site mentioned that stuff has to go in pairs.

Good Luck,
B

[VWYF11]

Originally Posted by E.rOk.stA

Until PT native goes 64bit, it can't use more than 4GB of RAM, even if you have more.

Yep. Realistically you get to about 2.5GB ram usage and pro tools starts having problems. I have 6GB ram and pro tools is always having problems prior to coming close to that 6GB. It will be nice when PT goes 64 bit!

[jeremyglover]

thanks for you responses guys and thanks for the link BOP.

jeremy