4GB or 6GB RAM?

[thesmartestkid]

Hello all,

I have an older macbook pro with only 2GB Ram. I'm thinking of upgrading it's memory but I'm not sure which option is better: 2GB+2GB Ram or 2GB+4GB Ram.
Of course I will have more memory if I choose 6GB but I read online that I would loose the dual channel memory capacity, and I'm not sure what is best for 3D work and rendering: 6GB or 4GB with dual channel...

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance,
T

[Anonymous]

>>>>..older macbook pro with only 2GB Ram...<<<
What are you hoping to gain? how old is "older"?

Why are you posting here in Windows-land, are you running AutoCAD/Windows in
emulation or separate partition?

--
Dean Saadallah
http://LTisACAD.blogspot.com
--

[thesmartestkid]

Hi Dean,

I wasn't aware that this was windows-land, since I am a native mac Maya user. But maybe i'm in the wrong forum. It's actually the first time I post.

My macbook pro is a unibody, and it supports 6gb ram, i was just wondering what would be better: 6gb ram or 4 ram with dual channel memory.

What I hope to gain is increased stability while using memory-intensive Maya.

If you feel the post doesn't apply to this forum please feel free to erase it, and maybe you can point me to the right one?

Thank you,
T

[Anonymous]

No problem posting here, you did not specify your app, so I assumed the
dozen Windows apps Autodesk produces.

Which exact Apple OS?

Which processor is your Mac using? HD size? HD free space remaining? Typical
File size? Video card?

What stability issues do you see right now? crashes or freeze-ups, or just
slow rendering performance? RAM may well be the fix for some of these, 4G
more than enough if you want performance.

--
Dean Saadallah
http://LTisACAD.blogspot.com
--

[thesmartestkid]

Thank you Dean,

I'm using OS Leopard (but thinking of upgrading to Snow Leopard).

Intel Core 2 Duo

150 GB HD

40 GB HD free

Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT 256 VRAM

It's not so much about the render (at this stage, because I'm newbie). What happens is that my computer got really slow when I tried to criate some particle effects in Maya, and wasn't responsive to other tasks (which is to be expected really).
This happens as well with other sotware: when I'm using Gimp to edit photographs (my work for now)...
It's not a big deal really, at least for now, since I'm still an amateur with 3D.
I just thought it could be good to upgrade now that I want to get into it, and was indecisive about these two options.
But I think I'll follow your 4GB advice (my inclination from the star as well).

Thanks again Dean,

T

[Anonymous]

More Ram should help those issues for sure: I'm not a fan of your very low
HD free capacity, it's below 30percent of the total. Consider storing your
unused content on external drives and try to free up more HD space, +/-75Gig
free.

Gimp user here too, in Windows, a great tool even though I find it a little
clunky at time, but the price is great :))

--
Dean Saadallah
http://LTisACAD.blogspot.com
--