3 GB ram

[skd]

I have a 17" MBP with 2GB ram. I use it for CAD and 3D modeling. Will i notice much of a speed bump going from 2GB ram to 3GB of ram. Thanks

 

[edesignuk]

Don't know. Do you use your 2GB? How many page outs do you have? (Activity Monitor will tell you)

 

[skd]

there is a slow down in large files, especially 3D files.....

 

[edesignuk]

That doesn't answer the question.

 

[skd]

pages out? I don't see that on the Activity Monitor....

 

[edesignuk]

Open Activity Monitor, click the Memory tab at the bottom, and see what it says for page outs.

 

[skd]

136.00 GB.....
does this need to be check while working on a large file?

 

[edesignuk]

Bloody hell, that's a LOT. Yes, max the RAM out.

When was the last time you rebooted btw?

 

[skd]

sorry....it was 136.00 KB not GB

 

[edesignuk]

Oh, well that's next to nothing.

Reboot, use your machine as you would normally for a day. Then see what the figure is.

 

[skd]

after restart - o bytes

is there a % of free space that should be maintained until you should consider increasing the ram? thnx

 

[edesignuk]

After reboot it will be 0, that's why you should then use it for a day and see what it gets up to.

Basically page outs are bad for performance, it means that data that was needed in memory there wasn't enough space for, so it was put out to a page file on your hard disk. When this data was needed again it had to be read from the disk back in to RAM and then other data written out to disk. All of this causes a slow down.

 

[88888888]

what does page out mean..?
my vm size is 46.84 gb
page ins is 757.77 mb
page outs is 739.77 mb
swap used: 1.62.

what do those numbers mean?

 

[skd]

thanks......I'm an older person and when I was in college we had punch cards to run a computer program. Is there a a size of pages out that will trigger the need for more ram?

 

[edesignuk]

thanks......I'm an older person and when I was in college we had punch cards to run a computer program. Is there a a size of pages out that will trigger the need for more ram?

There might be a "recommended" limit, have a google around, I'm not sure. The higher the figure the more your computer is having to use hard disk instead of RAM, the more it has to do the the worse performance is.

 

[deltaiscain]

Max it out. It is always better to max out the ram, especially why you are dealing with 3d applications

 

[jacobsm]

Page outs don't matter

I have been working in a virtual storage environment for almost 30 years and can state that page outs do not have much of an effect on performance, page in's however is where the pain is.

The operating system handles page outs in an asynchronous manor but when an application requires a page that has been moved out of physical memory it has to wait until the page can be read from the hard disk and back into memory.

 

[CanadaRAM]

It's not the total of the PageIns that matter, its the ratio of PageIns to PageOuts. You're looking for 10% or less, 5% or less would be ideal.

88888888 (can I call you 88 for short?) - you are seeing a 1:1 ratio, so you are an excellent candidate to increase your RAM. Your machine is having to swap memory on and off the hard drive pretty much continuously.

skd Testing it for just a day isn't really useful, you need a bigger sample size. (Kind of like saying - "My car hasn't needed any gas today, so it must be able to go forever between fill ups".)

You want to see what your ratio is like after spending some time doing all the things you normally do, including some of your heaviest multitasking / biggest programs.

 

[Muncher]

This is an interesting thread for anyone considering upgrading their ram. Candidate for a sticky?

 

[88888888]

CanadaRAM: lol yea. I'll look into upgrading my ram this holiday season or when i have enough $$