What is the ideal amount of RAM for Logic Pro 7.1.1? I'm using a dual core 2.3 gHz G5 with 2.5 Gb of RAM but wondering if it's worth buying more. I find that I am using less external modules and more plugins (EXS24 etc) than I used to. How much RAM is overkill and what are the benefits of say increasing to 4.5 Gb of RAM. Thanks.

At 04:10 PM 11/07/2005, you wrote: >What is the ideal amount of RAM for Logic Pro 7.1.1? I'm using a >dual core 2.3 gHz G5 with >2.5 Gb of RAM but wondering if it's worth buying more. I find that I >am using less external >modules and more plugins (EXS24 etc) than I used to. How much RAM is >overkill and what are >the benefits of say increasing to 4.5 Gb of RAM. Opinions still seem to vary on this. Some on the Apple forums say OSX thrives on RAM and to pack as much as you can into your system. Last I heard from Emagic was that 2Gb was as much as the program could use, but many sample users (including myself) have reported successfully using 3.5Gb and more. I doubt we're going to get any updated official specs from Apple until a 64 bit version of Logic is released, at which time, theoretically, the sky will be the limit.

"Jeremy Smith" <smallfry@bigpond.net.au> wrote: > What is the ideal amount of RAM for Logic Pro 7.1.1? Every Mac except for G5 desktops should be maxed out to 100% RAM capacity for best results. 2.5GB is the minimum I'd want to use in a G5 desktop - more if you're using large sample libraries like BFD, Ivory, Drumkit From Hell, lots of EXS stuff. I bumped a G5 from 2.5GB to 4.5GB and it made an obvious difference. It's true that the application itself can only use 2GB maximum, but there are many other things that use up RAM also, like the plugins and OSX itself. Lots of RAM is the single best thing you can do to make any OSX Mac behave much better. f-erenc szabo, smarty pants Z+E+R+O+B+E+A+T "NOW POWERED BY THE MIRACLE OF THE TRANSISTOR!" <http://home.goodmedia.com/~zerobeat>

From: "f-erenc szabo" <zerobeat@...> > It's true that the application itself can only use 2GB maximum, but > there are many other things that use up RAM also, like the plugins > and OSX itself. Here's the story on OS X RAM. I was totally confused by all the conflicting stories being bandied about, so I did some research - which mainly involved talking to Andrea from Redmatica, who explained it to me once and for all. The application itself can use up to 4GB maximum in Panther or Tiger (not 2GB). That includes plug-ins, or more to the point samplers loading sample starts (because nothing else uses RAM at that rate); to the OS, the plug-in is part of the application. However, you won't see 4GB assigned to Logic in Activity Monitor, because there are system libraries that use some overhead. On my 5GB machine, I can load Logic up to about 3.25GB, but it's only reliable up to between 2.75 and 3GB (closer to the former); at 3.25GB it's relying heavily on virtual memory, meaning that it uses the hard disk - not a good thing for a real-time program. Boom. The remaining RAM outside that 4GB is used by the OS, but you can also run other programs outside Logic in it as well without affecting Logic. Things like Reason being ReWired into Logic are in that category, but the same goes for just running a browser or email program. You could theoretically run something like Kontakt in stand-alone mode outside Logic and trigger it by IAC MIDI. But in reality I found the processor load to be too heavy, even on my 2x2.5 G5. OS X will use the full 8GB installed (or 16GB in the latest models) in place of virtual memory. Andrea agreed with me that it's probably not worth bumping my 5GB up to 8, though, because at that point the performance/sample-loading gains would be minimal. 64-bit memory access, which OS X currently only allows for programs that don't use its graphics (i.e. UNIX programs), can access more memory than we'll ever need. That's the Holy Grail of sampling right now, and I'm sure it's coming. Nick Batzdorf, editor/publisher Virtual Instruments magazine - the world of softsynths and samplers www.Virtualinstrumentsmag.com 1-877 VImagzn (846-2496) 818/905-9101, cell 590-9101

Very useful info Nick. I've got a new G5 Quad and want to run it with as much RAM as is useful (for Logic & Plugins etc). Am I right in thinking I should get 4 x 1GB (533) + 1 x 512 Mb (533) and add it to the 512Mb it was shipped with?? Or should I get 5 x 1Gb (667) and get rid of the original RAM?? Will the Ram speed make a difference?? I'm very confused!! What would you do?? Any advice gratefully recieved!