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Trying to decide between 8 or 4 gigs of RAM in imac

F

f64

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 21, 2009
20
0
Hi,

I'm coming from a PC and not quite sure what to expect as to the RAM in a mac.

I'm planning to run Final Cut Express and I'm wondering if 8 gigs of RAM is going to make that much of a performance difference with the application. I know FCE recommends a minimum of 4 gigs or will having 8 gigs be like a putting a skinny guy in a fat man's pants. Sure, it's nice to have the room, but it's just not going to get used that frequently.

I'll be getting the 3.06 GHz with the ATI 4850 video card and looking to edit HD video.

Thanks for any help and advice you can give. The 24 inch imac looks incredible. Looking forward to it.
 
f64 said:
Hi,

I'm coming from a PC and not quite sure what to expect as to the RAM in a mac.

I'm planning to run Final Cut Express and I'm wondering if 8 gigs of RAM is going to make that much of a performance difference with the application. I know FCE recommends a minimum of 4 gigs or will having 8 gigs be like a putting a skinny guy in a fat man's pants. Sure, it's nice to have the room, but it's just not going to get used that frequently.

I'll be getting the 3.06 GHz with the ATI 4850 video card and looking to edit HD video.

Thanks for any help and advice you can give. The 24 inch imac looks incredible. Looking forward to it.
Click to expand...

While you probably don't "need" it, might as well get it if it won't cost you too much. Extra ram never hurt.
 
f64 said:
Hi,

I'm coming from a PC and not quite sure what to expect as to the RAM in a mac.

I'm planning to run Final Cut Express and I'm wondering if 8 gigs of RAM is going to make that much of a performance difference with the application. I know FCE recommends a minimum of 4 gigs or will having 8 gigs be like a putting a skinny guy in a fat man's pants. Sure, it's nice to have the room, but it's just not going to get used that frequently.

I'll be getting the 3.06 GHz with the ATI 4850 video card and looking to edit HD video.

Thanks for any help and advice you can give. The 24 inch imac looks incredible. Looking forward to it.
Click to expand...

Up until this month you couldn't PUT more than 4GB of RAM into an iMac, and folks have successfully been using FCE for a while on iMacs. Also, it's quite a hefty upgrade, particularly if you get it from Apple.

At the very least, I'd do it myself (it's a 3 minute job and it doesn't violate your warranty), and prior to spending the $700 to do it, I'd run FCE with 4GB to see how it works.

InkMaster said:
While you probably don't "need" it, might as well get it if it won't cost you too much.
Click to expand...

It's $1000 from Apple, or $700 from OWC. Not the cheapest upgrade...
 
I've been wondering myself if 4GB is the new 2GB when it comes to performance. Right now 8GB is so expensive that it just isn't practical for most of us, but with programs becoming ever more demanding, will 4GB soon be obsolete? Seems like only a few months ago that people were oo-ing and aw-ing about 4GB...

I personally am waiting till the prices on DDR3 come down before I upgrade my MBP to the latest gen. As I want 8GB
Click to expand...

Good point, and I can say I'm grateful that I have bought a machine that can at least support the better performance RAM in the future :)
 
teamzissou said:
I've been wondering myself if 4GB is the new 2GB when it comes to performance. Right now 8GB is so expensive that it just isn't practical for most of us, but with programs becoming ever more demanding, will 4GB soon be obsolete? Seems like only a few months ago that people were oo-ing and aw-ing about 4GB...



Good point, and I can say I'm grateful that I have bought a machine that can at least support the better performance RAM in the future :)
Click to expand...

Ditto, I will wait until the price drops as it will....
 
Wow, thanks for the quick replies. That's what's great about this forum. $700 after market or $900 from Apple is still alot to pay for no noticable performance increase. It doesn't look like anybody knows for sure so maybe I'll just get the 4 and expand later. Looking forward to more input on this issue.
 
As people have said, wait. Always before adding more RAM check current usage of RAM. If it's over 70% buy more, but if it isn't do not.

Wait for ~half year, the price of 4GB DDR3 sticks should go down.
 
I'd say 4gb. I do a lot of video editing, and while the extra ram does help a bit, it is definitely not worth the cost to go to 8. If you're really that serious about speed, I'd just go for a Mac Pro. But the iMac does just fine, and 4gb is more than enough for everyday use.
 
I've been using final cut pro for over a year now and I mostly edit in hd. And so far I do not see the need for more than 4gb. But heavy compositing in after effects might require more than 4gb.
 
Tesseract said:
I'd say 4gb. I do a lot of video editing, and while the extra ram does help a bit, it is definitely not worth the cost to go to 8. If you're really that serious about speed, I'd just go for a Mac Pro. But the iMac does just fine, and 4gb is more than enough for everyday use.
Click to expand...

Celedral said:
I've been using final cut pro for over a year now and I mostly edit in hd. And so far I do not see the need for more than 4gb. But heavy compositing in after effects might require more than 4gb.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting posting your experiences. That gives me a good idea of what to expect. Do you think I should hold out for the ATI 4850 video card or just go with the 130 for a HD video editing. I'm thinking the upgraded video card would make the most difference performance wise.
 
Hellhammer said:
As people have said, wait. Always before adding more RAM check current usage of RAM. If it's over 70% buy more, but if it isn't do not.

Wait for ~half year, the price of 4GB DDR3 sticks should go down.
Click to expand...

Thanks, good tip!
 
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