My Ram Plan!

[msmth928]

I currently have 3GB in my e2009 MP. And it's actually fine - I don't need more, I just found that having istat on made me want more

So since turning istat off, everything feels better again as I don't have that silly - you are using 70% of your ram - look me in the eye every few seconds!!!

So I'm just going to get a 1GB stick to take my ram to 4GB, and then when the 4GB sticks drop in price (maybe in the next year or two), will get 3 of those to take me to 12GB

I had 4GB in my PC and that was absolutely fine - I'm sure 4GB will be fine in here too, and the best bit is it will only cost me £15 !! As opposed to £101 if I want an extra 2GB (to take me to 6). The money saved will go on a fourth HD, a 1.5TB disk that will be used for timemachine, with my two 500GB disks going into raid to hopefully double my performance on disk!

Well that's my plan, thought I'd share it with you

 

[geoffreak]

Sounds good to me, but if you aren't using close to 100% of your RAM there really isn't a point to upgrading. Your computer only gets speed benefits from RAM if you have used all the existing RAM.

 

[iVoid]

The 2009 MacPros actually access memory slightly faster if the RAM is installed in groups of 3, so adding that 4th DIMM will theoretically slow you down slightly (whether you would notice it, is another thing altogether).

I wouldn't bother unless you really need more memory.

Your 3GB MacPro is better than any 4GB PC any day.

 

[msmth928]

I notice a slow down when I have a lot of apps open and more than 40 tabs in Opera. I think the speed difference will be so minute that I'll notice the gains more tbh.

 

[geoffreak]

I have a lot of apps open and more than 40 tabs in Opera.

Talk about excessive!
What on earth do you do, trade stocks?

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

I notice a slow down when I have a lot of apps open and more than 40 tabs in Opera. I think the speed difference will be so minute that I'll notice the gains more tbh.

It's Opera. I bet if you used Firefox or Safari, there would absolutely no slowdowns at all.

 

[Loa]

(whether you would notice it, is another thing altogether).

Indeed. All the real-world tests I've seen on the net (not that there are all that many) and the ones I've done on my on 09 Quad (jumping from 6GB to 8GB) show the same thing: no real world difference in speed between triple or dual channel...

Loa

 

[msmth928]

Talk about excessive!
What on earth do you do, trade stocks?

Internet stock? lol, I work in the web industry so have a lot of tabs open, along with a few code editor windows, photoshop, terminal windows (and itunes!) etc

It's Opera. I bet if you used Firefox or Safari, there would absolutely no slowdowns at all.

Opera can be a bit of a hog - but its the best browser on the web for any platform. None of the other browsers come close - well firefox does if you add a lot of plugins but that does bloat it up a bit as well as making it a security risk. I just like how everything I want is standard in Opera. (And don't think the others wouldn't hog with that many tabs open too - they do!)

Indeed. All the real-world tests I've seen on the net (not that there are all that many) and the ones I've done on my on 09 Quad (jumping from 6GB to 8GB) show the same thing: no real world difference in speed between triple or dual channel...

Loa

I think you're right Loa - for most people the millisecond difference is a non-issue!

 

[Loa]

I think you're right Loa - for most people the millisecond difference is a non-issue!

Well it's even worse: most of the time in real world applications, you actually gain performance by going with more ram at the cost of triple channel memory. In other words, as my tests shows for my 09 Quad, going from 6GB (triple channel) to 8GB (dual channel) will make PS4 go faster.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/736539/

Loa

 

[msmth928]

I would happen to agree Loa - the way I (and I guess most people) use their PCs is where more ram would be better (i.e. because we have lots of apps open - or big files, such as in CS4) - rather than doing critical math, that would benefit from that speed bump.

Thanks for doing that test!