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Recommended RAM/Memory allocation for VMWare?

K

Koolio27

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 28, 2008
59
0
Somerville, MA (Boston)
Hey Everyone,

I'm planning on getting my first Intel-based Mac when the MBP is updated and am doing some research while I wait. I'm planning on using VMWare (although I'll prolly still give Parallels a try, too) and am wondering:

If I have 4GB of RAM on my MBP, how much RAM would you recommend I allocate to VMWare?

Thanks!
 
I would suggest a minimum of 1GB given that you'll have 4GB, but as the first reply indicates, it really depends upon what you plan to do. I haven't used VMWare (I use Parallels), but you can probably change the allocation if you restart the VM.

Lastly, if you are thinking of running Linux, then pick a flavor and a release and check for VMWare install issues. I've had some unexpected install troubles in the past...
 
I have a quick question about this. I have allocated 2GB to Fusion, which leaves 2GB for my iMac. Am I correct in assuming that this Memory split only happens when Fusion is running? and that as soon as I shutdown Vista and close Fusion then my iMac gets back all 4GB to itself?

Thanks,
Mark Morb
 
Mark Morb said:
I have a quick question about this. I have allocated 2GB to Fusion, which leaves 2GB for my iMac. Am I correct in assuming that this Memory split only happens when Fusion is running? and that as soon as I shutdown Vista and close Fusion then my iMac gets back all 4GB to itself?

Thanks,
Mark Morb[/QUOTE

Not sure how you check this but i have fusion on my bootcamp partition when i shut these down a go back into OS X i dont notice any speed decrease so i presume so
Click to expand...
 
Mark Morb said:
I have a quick question about this. I have allocated 2GB to Fusion, which leaves 2GB for my iMac. Am I correct in assuming that this Memory split only happens when Fusion is running? and that as soon as I shutdown Vista and close Fusion then my iMac gets back all 4GB to itself?

Thanks,
Mark Morb
Click to expand...

Just like any other application the memory is freed up once the application is quit. You can watch how memory is allocated using the Activity Monitor.app
 
512 MB for Vista
512 MB for XP
256 MB for Linux (Ubuntu)
512 or 768 MB for x64 Vista
512 MB for x64 XP
512 MB for x64 Linux (Ubuntu)

All of the Windows have a virtual memory of 1024MB, swap of 768MB for x32 or 512MB for x64 linux

My preferred settings. Runs smooth after the VM is booted up, then again, I only have probably about 4-5 programs opened at once, no more, and nothing is extremely ram intensive (except Acid Pro..). Spec of notebook in sig.
 
Good questions you guys raised about what apps I'll be running in the virtual server - totally forgot to mention that! Let's see, I'll only be running simple apps and only occasionally - like, Visio, IE (for those times I visit a non-Mac supported website), Quicken/MS Money, and...hmm, I think that's it.

So, given the very helpful responses :), it sounds like 512MB or 1GB should be more than enough. I think I'll allocate 1GB to ensure I don't have any performance issues while running XP (and I have zero desire to load my copy of Vista Ultimate onto it). And, practically speaking, I'll fire up the virtual server *maybe* once per month.
 
For XP, I think 1024MB is overkill. Sometimes (not always), I find more ram = slower performance in VMs. But thats upto you.
 
ayeying said:
For XP, I think 1024MB is overkill. Sometimes (not always), I find more ram = slower performance in VMs. But thats upto you.
Click to expand...

I have the same experience. I increased the total amount of ram of my sr mbp recently. I found that the vm runs faster when I allocate 1GB (rather than 2GB) to it. Anybody knows the reasons?
 
1GB is not ideal!

Hi,

I'm very surprised to hear everybody talking about 1GB being enough. I have a brand new Powerbook and am running Fusion with a boot camp partition of Windows XP. Although I use it on a daily basis with 1GB allocated to the virtual machine, I'm wishing that I upgraded the ram from 2GB to 4GB when I was in the shop.

XP runs fine, but it could be faster. When using Outlook for example it can often hang for a while or freeze for a minute or so, I presume this is because of the RAM used. I think it would run much better with twice the allocation, but of course if I boot in XP then it is fine!

Nick
 
se1media said:
Hi,

I'm very surprised to hear everybody talking about 1GB being enough. I have a brand new Powerbook and am running Fusion with a boot camp partition of Windows XP. Although I use it on a daily basis with 1GB allocated to the virtual machine, I'm wishing that I upgraded the ram from 2GB to 4GB when I was in the shop.

XP runs fine, but it could be faster. When using Outlook for example it can often hang for a while or freeze for a minute or so, I presume this is because of the RAM used. I think it would run much better with twice the allocation, but of course if I boot in XP then it is fine!

Nick
Click to expand...

If your actual ram is only 2GB, its NOT a good idea to use 1GB for a virtual machine. If you ahve 4GB actual ram, then 1GB is fine, even 2GB is fine, but I would almost never leave OSX with less then 1.5GB of ram.
 
ayeying said:
If your actual ram is only 2GB, its NOT a good idea to use 1GB for a virtual machine. If you ahve 4GB actual ram, then 1GB is fine, even 2GB is fine, but I would almost never leave OSX with less then 1.5GB of ram.
Click to expand...

I have a spare 1st gen MBP that i sometimes use, when i first set up/installed fusion on it i allocated 1GB and 1 core to Fusion & it runs like a champ
 
If you've got 4 GB of RAM, there's no good reason not to allocate at least 1 GB to XP. In my experience, XP is a real dog with anything less, even running basic Office apps. They need more than you might think. 3 GB should normally be plenty to run your Mac. It all depends on what apps you are running simultaneously on both platforms. And this is not a big deal. It's pretty simple to change the configuration if I remember right. (sitting in front of my XP work box, so I can't check right now)
 
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