OSX Memory Requirements

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Bozola

macrumors regular

Original poster

• Mar 14, 2003

• #1

So at what point does adding memory become irrelevant under OS X. I know there is a minimum of 128 required, but is more better? Until your maxed out? or at some point you don't benefit?

Just curious

 

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus

• Mar 14, 2003

• #2

It all depends on what you do, 128 is not really enough, especially if you have more than one app open at a time. 512 is a better number and more if you're using apps that require using large files, iMovie, FCP, photoshop, Lightwave, Maya. And then you might need to go to a gig or more.

Memory is really cheap, so there really isn't much of an excuse not to max out.

D

 

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crassusad44

macrumors 6502a

• Mar 14, 2003

• #3

You will always benefit from more memory under OS X. Don't stay under 256 MB, and pump up the RAM as much as you can afford. You'll see the difference in speed and overall performance.

 

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Bear

macrumors G3

• Mar 14, 2003

• #4

Re: OSX Memory Requirements

Originally posted by Bozola
So at what point does adding memory become irrelevant under OS X. I know there is a minimum of 128 required, but is more better? Until your maxed out? or at some point you don't benefit?

Just curious

Click to expand...

For some people 512MB is enough, for others, 2 GB is not enough. It all depends on what you do with your computer and how many of those at once.

 

MacBandit

macrumors 604

• Mar 14, 2003

• #5

As a basic rule I think the minimum should be 512MB. This is the point at which you have enough ram to run the system and an app or two without it using hard drive caching for memory. With anything less you will see a serious speed loss.

 

bousozoku

Moderator emeritus

• Mar 14, 2003

• #6

I agree with MacBandit (again! 🙂) about memory requirements.

Speed in Mac OS X is usually a factor of how fast your hard drive and controller are and how much RAM you have. 512MB should be a minimum for all-round usage. Maxing out the machine should be used for those who do graphic, audio, and video work. Playing games can sometimes be work, but not always; however, you should aways max out the RAM for that as well. For 3D games, OpenGL is more intense that if you're doing work with Maya or Carrara Studio.