I am wondering if the new G5 technology and other related advancements in processor/mobo design will bring this back in vogue again.
It seems to me that in a "real world" work environment (esp. DV editing) the speed and productivity bottleneck is now in the area of storage. We are still using spinning platters with magnetic media and scratching to that stuff constantly takes time. While other storage technologies are still under development to replace the venerable HD (which is the computing world's equivalent to the cassette tape--old tech with Methuselah-like staying power), I am wondering if huge RAM disks might again be the answer.
According to Apple's own G5 hype, the processor could theoretically address 4 TERABYTES of physical RAM. Seeing that writing to RAM is currently about 40x faster than writing to HDs, it would seem that loading an entire DV project into RAM to work on it and only using the HD for periodic back-ups (every 5-10 minutes or so, in the background) might be a way to get the most out of the proc/mobo. That would also save on HD life--heck, you'd only be using it during start-up and momentary back-ups.
Yes, you will all probably laugh at the cost of 4 TB RAM, but in a few years that may not be unheard of. RAM is all about the R&D anyway--they're just silicon wafers, after all! And I am not suggesting the theoretical limit anyway--just something like 50 GB or so. That would be plenty for a RAM disk application. And RAM speeds would ensure no "dropped frames" during video imports!
I have heard of PCI based solutions, but those don't run as fast as system RAM, do they?
Anyway, you all can blast away now.
It seems to me that in a "real world" work environment (esp. DV editing) the speed and productivity bottleneck is now in the area of storage. We are still using spinning platters with magnetic media and scratching to that stuff constantly takes time. While other storage technologies are still under development to replace the venerable HD (which is the computing world's equivalent to the cassette tape--old tech with Methuselah-like staying power), I am wondering if huge RAM disks might again be the answer.
According to Apple's own G5 hype, the processor could theoretically address 4 TERABYTES of physical RAM. Seeing that writing to RAM is currently about 40x faster than writing to HDs, it would seem that loading an entire DV project into RAM to work on it and only using the HD for periodic back-ups (every 5-10 minutes or so, in the background) might be a way to get the most out of the proc/mobo. That would also save on HD life--heck, you'd only be using it during start-up and momentary back-ups.
Yes, you will all probably laugh at the cost of 4 TB RAM, but in a few years that may not be unheard of. RAM is all about the R&D anyway--they're just silicon wafers, after all! And I am not suggesting the theoretical limit anyway--just something like 50 GB or so. That would be plenty for a RAM disk application. And RAM speeds would ensure no "dropped frames" during video imports!
I have heard of PCI based solutions, but those don't run as fast as system RAM, do they?
Anyway, you all can blast away now.