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16GB RAM make any difference?
- Thread starter Calltrex
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Heavy video editing, 3d modeling and VM's are the main reasons to upgrade as far as I am aware. ANd I just found out 16GB RAM has dropped a lot in price XD
Well, take a screenshot of the Activity Monitor when you're editing video, and you'll see if your use needs more RAM
I was told that unless you're doin heavy long video edits, 8gb should be fine because the SSD is so fast in the rMBP. If you think that'll happen a lot tho, i'd go with 16gb, also I would think that would put lots of extra wear and tear on the SSD drive thats not needed. (unless that isn't really an issue with SSDs anymore)
I just upgraded from 8GB(1333) to 16GB(1600). I found that during my heavy usage I was getting a lot of page outs. The most I ever saw was 200k+. So for roughly $80, it was well worth it! If you have a early 2011 MBP or newer your CPU supports up to DDR3 1866. I personally went with the 1600 as I only trust Crucial with RAM and they don't offer 1866 speed.
The best way to tell if you need more RAM is to watch your page out's. If you have a lot of them (>20k), you will see a difference when you upgrade.
The best way to tell if you need more RAM is to watch your page out's. If you have a lot of them (>20k), you will see a difference when you upgrade.
What do you mean by 20k? 20KB total? Or 20KB/sec? Some small amount of page-outs is perfectly normal for the system (let's say when the page-outs are less then a few percent of the total RAM interaction). Having no page-outs at all simply means that you have way more RAM than your system needs. Of course, $80 is not much, but if your page-out count is very low with 8Gb already, the RAM upgrade won't affect your performance in any meaningful way. BTW, I have 16Gb and I never saw a page-out. Anyway, my employer payed for it, so no loss here ^^
Well, take a screenshot of the Activity Monitor when you're editing video, and you'll see if your use needs more RAM
How do u do that?
It definitely helps for running VMs. I can now run Windows virtualized with no performance loss from page-outs, and that was well worth the $59 I paid for the upgrade.
Usually just Win7 & Mac OS & give Win7 it's own 8GB. 4x2 paged out a decent amount on moderate usage on my 2011 cMBP-15.
I have found that 10.8.2 pages out a bit at 4GB without any VMs at all on our cMBP-13 (now upgraded to 8GB) and C2D iMac. ML's 4Gb = SL's 2GB, just barely makin' it.
1. Search up "activity monitor" in spotlight, and open the app with this icon:
2. When the app opens up, click on the "System Memory" tab, as shown below:
3. Take a screenshot of that window - If you don't already know how to take a screenshot click here.
4. Upload the screenshot to MacRumors.
Yes, you should run all the software that you expect normally to run and look for page outs
For me... with the 13" pro (no secondary graphics card), I believe it makes a difference. Based on what I've read posted here...and my seat if the pants feel gaming... the Intel HD 4000 graphics chip seems to benefit from more RAM (since it borrows from system RAM).
Granted, if your doing a bunch of graphics work, or any REAL gaming... Probably unlikely you bought the 13"...
Considering 2x8GB Kingston 1600MHz cards were only $71 through NewEgg... I think it was a good decision to buy.
Granted, if your doing a bunch of graphics work, or any REAL gaming... Probably unlikely you bought the 13"...
Considering 2x8GB Kingston 1600MHz cards were only $71 through NewEgg... I think it was a good decision to buy.
Incorrect. The memory bandwidth is the same regardless of how much actual memory is addressable. Ivy Bridge has about 21GB/s memory bandwidth (actual not theoretical) with DDR3-1600MHz in dual channel, this doesn't change if you put 8GB DIMMs or 16GB DIMMS.
Furthermore the memory allocation to the iGPU is the same with 8GB system memory and 16 GB system memory, namely 512MB.
If you have to ask, you probably shouldn't worry about it.
That is a very helpful answer, & a good guideline so as not to be caught by the "needless upgrade" bug. How is your computing experience right now?
Are you really hampered in any way?
Stuck when it comes to delivery times wait, that doesn't apply to you
If OTOH you have money burning a hole in your pocket or want to have the latest & greatest no matter what, that is another matter entirely.
RE: so that's the reason I'm suddenly such a bad typist...
Hi djdover,
I just love your signature:
"I blame iOS auto corect for all speiling and gamatical erors, even those not tiped on an iOS devise."
I can't tell you how many times I get through typing something only to reread it and wonder how I mistyped all of those words --- now I know.
Thanks,
Switon
Hi djdover,
I just love your signature:
"I blame iOS auto corect for all speiling and gamatical erors, even those not tiped on an iOS devise."
I can't tell you how many times I get through typing something only to reread it and wonder how I mistyped all of those words --- now I know.
Thanks,
Switon
This is the amount of RAM initially reserved for the GPU. The driver will allocate more if required. Not that amount if VRAM actually matters for the hd4000, as it can directly acces system ram.
Regardless, unless you are paging out it would make no difference because you will still be limited to the memory bandwidth of the DMI. Having a larger space to allocate isn't going to help when the constraint in this case is going to be memory bandwidth, or in this case more likely than not just pure raw graphical power.
The only way that 16 GB would perform better than 8GB is if you are using more than 8GB. Unallocated RAM does nothing for performance.
I agree totally. I was simply trying to comment on part of your statement (regarding VRAM size), not challenge it's overall validity.
Test I did to assure me 8GB was enough
I was regretting getting the 8GB (base model) for a bit as well, but I recently did a test. I ran every app I could that I would use...all at once!
I Ran: Final Cut Pro X (while exporting a video), Garage Band (recording), Safari with lots of tabs and youtube playing, Photobooth, iPhoto, iTunes, Mail, Notes, and Calendar....still had 2GB free memory! Including some inactive memory.
Perhaps if you are crazy about VMs you might need more memory? Which I have not gotten into yet but I believe I'll use Bootcamp when I need Windows.
I was regretting getting the 8GB (base model) for a bit as well, but I recently did a test. I ran every app I could that I would use...all at once!
I Ran: Final Cut Pro X (while exporting a video), Garage Band (recording), Safari with lots of tabs and youtube playing, Photobooth, iPhoto, iTunes, Mail, Notes, and Calendar....still had 2GB free memory! Including some inactive memory.
Perhaps if you are crazy about VMs you might need more memory? Which I have not gotten into yet but I believe I'll use Bootcamp when I need Windows.