Minimum ram for video editing

[EB66]

Ive got a friend that has a mac pro 2.66 quad core and it came stock with only 2gb of ram. He wants to order some today but is not sure how much to get. If getting it from OWC what would be the best bang for the buck? is there a point where more ram wont make that much difference?

oh and his has 4x512mb sticks, what are your opinions on not matching the sticks? (such as 1gb with 512mb)

 

[EvanLugh]

Match the sticks where possible and max it out as much as he needs.

 

[nick9191]

Stick another 4gb in 6gb in total.

 

[cheekybobcat]

I do a lot of video editing with iMovie and plan on getting Final Cut soon. I have 2GB RAM. I am going to buy another 2GB stick soon, however, for what I do (mostly 5-10 minute videos), 2GB is alright. I definitely suggest getting at least another 2GB stick.

 

[FF_productions]

I'd recommend at least 4 gigs of ram to take advantage of the Mac Pro. It's hard to multitask without the ram, you won't reap the benefits of the machine if you don't get lots of ram.

 

[CanadaRAM]

I do a lot of video editing with iMovie and plan on getting Final Cut soon. I have 2GB RAM. I am going to buy another 2GB stick soon, however, for what I do (mostly 5-10 minute videos), 2GB is alright. I definitely suggest getting at least another 2GB stick.

The OP is talking about a MacPro, not a MacBook.

The MacPro requires RAM in pairs. Although you could get 2 x 1 GB FB-DIMMs, going with a 4 GB kit (2 x 2 GB FB-DIMMs) is more cost effective and allows you to add more total memory in the future.

The 512 MB FB-DIMMs are slower than the 1 GB and 2 GB FB-DIMMs, so it's a tug of war between more total RAM, and slower RAM. Also; install your largest RAM in the A1 A2 and B1 B2 sockets. The 3 and 4 sockets are slower (higher latency).

The fastest configuration would be 4 x 2 GB FB-DIMMs across A1 A2 B1 B2 and nothing in the 3 and 4 positions.