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Utilizing your upgraded memory/RAM

R

ringoya

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 5, 2008
17
0
Tokyo
I recently bought 8GB of RAM from OWC. Now, I want to use it all, but Final Cut Pro 2 is only letting me use only 2568mb of memory in the System Settings>Memory&Cache. It is kind of frustrating because I want to see the macpro fly! It registers all 8GB of RAM in the ABOUT THIS MAC but... Could anyone give me some advice to point me in the right direction with this?
I am a converted Windows user and still a little lost from time to time.
 
An application will use what it needs dynamically grabbing RAM from the pool available. The real benefit of lots of RAM comes when working with very large data files or running several applications concurrently.
 
Checking RAM usage levels?

Thank you so much for you comment. So, does that mean OSX automatically will utilize this new memory without doing anything? Is there a way to see my memory usage when being used to check it is working properly? I wonder if that's a whole new thread...
 
Just open activity monitor and click "system memory" at the bottom, and you'll be able to see your memory usage info.
 
Want to use all your memory? Just compile and run the following program. It'll consume all your memory in a fraction of a second.

Code: 
/* 
 * memoryhog.c
*/

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
  unsigned long n;
  n = 0;
  for(;;)
  {
    malloc (1E6 * sizeof (void *));
    printf("Now I'm using %d bytes of memory!\n", n+1E6);
  }
}

compile:
gcc -O3 -o memoryhog memoryhog.c

run
./memoryhog
 
thank you

Thanks so much for your input! The activity monitor is really cool to know about. I guess I should study the manual more closely, but some of this just comes from experience, I guess. :D
 
ringoya said:
I recently bought 8GB of RAM from OWC. Now, I want to use it all, but Final Cut Pro 2 is only letting me use only 2568mb of memory in the System Settings>Memory&Cache. It is kind of frustrating because I want to see the macpro fly! It registers all 8GB of RAM in the ABOUT THIS MAC but... Could anyone give me some advice to point me in the right direction with this?
I am a converted Windows user and still a little lost from time to time.
Click to expand...

One great of use of RAM is to set up a RAM disk.

It's like a real disk but lives in memory. And you
can use that for files you want to read from and
write to rapidly.

For example, one of the limitations of screencasting
programs is disk speed. At large resolutions these
programs grab so much data it's hard to write it to
the disk in time. With a RAM disk you can eliminate
that bottleneck and increase the framerate of your
screen capture.

Instructions on how to create a RAM disk are here:

http://osxdaily.com/2007/03/23/create-a-ram-disk-in-mac-os-x/
 
.....Wow.

Edit: PS, how are you running Final Cut Pro 2 on your computer when it's a Mac OS 9 application? Or are you on a G5 running the classic environment? =/
 
Ram disk

Thanks so much for the RAM disk info!
I think many people rush to get all this memory, but realize that they don't use it (or need it). I am running multiple applications, but still don't near the 8gb mark. I really appreciate your help:)
BTW, I am working with a MAC PRO 8-core 2.8ghz with 8GB RAM.
 
I have the same setup, but have 10 gigs of RAM installed (8 from OWC, plus the default 2 gigs.) I keep several apps open all the time, the hungriest being Photoshop, Lightroom and Firefox.

I usually use around 5 gigs, 7 if I'm really pushing it. It's just nice to have the extra free RAM because you don't have to worry about running out. OS X is already so frugal with memory anyway (that must come from the FreeBSD base...*NIX boxes are nearly always good with memory usage.)

-Bryan
 
10 GIGS is okay?

GoKyu said:
I have the same setup, but have 10 gigs of RAM installed (8 from OWC, plus the default 2 gigs.) I keep several apps open all the time, the hungriest being Photoshop, Lightroom and Firefox.

I usually use around 5 gigs, 7 if I'm really pushing it. It's just nice to have the extra free RAM because you don't have to worry about running out. OS X is already so frugal with memory anyway (that must come from the FreeBSD base...*NIX boxes are nearly always good with memory usage.)

-Bryan
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply Bryan. I know this may be a new thread, but I thought RAM had to be from the same maker and of the same power. I have 8GB of RAM from OWC too, so can I use the 2-1GB sticks of RAM that came with my MAC PRO? They are just sitting on my shelf in a static proof box (I take my static seriously!)
 
Yes, of course you can still use the RAM that came with it - as sclough said, the RAM does need to be the same type, but *not* the same manufacturer. The OWC and Apple (Hynix) RAM work just fine together.

-Bryan
 
Same type?

Thank you for your responses!:D
So, let me get this straight -- RAM can be mixed with other manufactureres.
<check>
RAM must be the same sizes? If you have 2GB sticks, they must all be 2GB sticks? Is that what you mean by TYPE?
My MAC PRO came with 2-1GB sticks and I ordered 4-2GB sticks. I took the 1GB sticks out...but I can put them back in?
Sorry -- the question may seem so simple, but from what I've read, there are a lot of Man newbies with the same thoughts. :eek:
 
RAM needs to be in matched pairs; i.e., you can't have 512mb and 1gb running in the paired slots. By "type", the previous poster probably means the specs of the RAM (for example, my G5 takes matched pairs of PC3200/400mHz DDR sticks).
 
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