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Help me explain the need for RAM? Please???

Hi, I work on a G5 in my new job as a 'Mac operator' (I'm in pre-press). At first I thought this has to be one of the original G5's that had issues, because it is pretty slow for a G5. So I decided to check the profiler and see just what my little Mac is made of. I must say my jaw hit the floor and my two co-workers were probably thinking I had just had a stroke.

Without further ado, the specs:
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 1.8 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 900 MHz

Now you see why I need help? I have to wait for Quark to draw palettes ALL the time. I'm usually running InDesign, Quark, Illustrator, Photoshop, Suitcase, Thunderbird, Acrobat (the real one), and connected to FTP. Switching apps takes forever. I told my supervisor that it needed more RAM and she said, 'we can burn some stuff off and give you more room if you want'. So that's what I'm dealing with here. Anyone explain it for someone like that??? PLEASE? I've now dubbed the G5 "Smalls" - as in, "You're killing me, Smalls!"

Thanks so much for any help that leads to Smalls and I getting more RAM. 🙂


12" PB 867, G4 Sawtooth D450, Indigo iBook Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Posted on May 25, 2006 6:07 AM

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Posted on May 25, 2006 6:40 AM

You don't have Universal Binaries yet. That hurts a lot. And the programs you use love memory, and Rosetta needs a GB too.

Your Mac would run some of those programs faster than Windows box IF you were to use Boot Camp, install Windows XP, and the windows versions.

There are some sites with benchmarks of programs and comparing MacBook Pro vs others.

www.hardmac.com
www.barefeats.com
www.xlr8yourmac.com

512MB of memory is minimum of what OS X requires. Most users found 1.5GB to be the 'sweet spot' for general purpose.

CS2 gets along fine with its own 3.5GB, and best with 7-8GB of memory - as OS X uses memory cache first before needing to use scratch.

You can show them how many swap files there are. just do a Finder Go To (command shift g)
/private/var/vm/

that would be one way. Monitor real and virtual in Top and Activity Monitor.

Monitor disk usage.

Ask for a 150GB Raptor! 🙂

Quark is coming along with a new UB version. CS3 is still about 9 months plus away.

You really really need a G5 Dual or Quad Core, with support for more drives and 8-16GB RAM.

there is no reason NOT to max out the RAM in your system! 🙂
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Question marked as Best reply

May 25, 2006 6:40 AM in response to alexaswell

You don't have Universal Binaries yet. That hurts a lot. And the programs you use love memory, and Rosetta needs a GB too.

Your Mac would run some of those programs faster than Windows box IF you were to use Boot Camp, install Windows XP, and the windows versions.

There are some sites with benchmarks of programs and comparing MacBook Pro vs others.

www.hardmac.com
www.barefeats.com
www.xlr8yourmac.com

512MB of memory is minimum of what OS X requires. Most users found 1.5GB to be the 'sweet spot' for general purpose.

CS2 gets along fine with its own 3.5GB, and best with 7-8GB of memory - as OS X uses memory cache first before needing to use scratch.

You can show them how many swap files there are. just do a Finder Go To (command shift g)
/private/var/vm/

that would be one way. Monitor real and virtual in Top and Activity Monitor.

Monitor disk usage.

Ask for a 150GB Raptor! 🙂

Quark is coming along with a new UB version. CS3 is still about 9 months plus away.

You really really need a G5 Dual or Quad Core, with support for more drives and 8-16GB RAM.

there is no reason NOT to max out the RAM in your system! 🙂

May 25, 2006 8:36 AM in response to The hatter

Huh? You must of replied to the wrong message.

"Burning stuff off" has nothing to do with the RAM (Random Access Memory).

You are doing digital imaging which requires LOTS of RAM and is VERY processor intensive, particuliarly with ALL of the imaging Apps you are using. 4 Gigs would not be too much with all of those programs open at once. You probably should have at least 6. You have a major bottle neck with only 512mb ram. You have this huge amount of information that the CPU needs to have access to yet it can only see 512megs, including what is running the system. Everytime it needs to do something it needs to take information it has on the RAM, write it to the hard drive (which is on the order of a magnitude slower) and then read from the hard drive back into RAM, can you say slow, very slow. Just tell her she'll make the money back in increased production within a week..... It's like having a Porsché and giving it gas through a straw.... It can go fast as **** but only if it is getting enough fuel...

Good luck....

May 25, 2006 8:43 AM in response to donland1

Brooke - you can demonstrate that not enough RAM is causing the problem by opening Applications|Utilities|Activity Monitor. Switch to the System Memory panel, and watch the number for 'page outs'. If that number keeps growing whenever you try to do anything, not enough RAM is slowing you down.

Adding 2Gig of RAM would cost about $150, and probably speed things up a lot.

May 25, 2006 8:46 AM in response to Team Photo

CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs: 2


For some reason my foggy brain was telling me this was a Dual Core iMac ;-(

Dual 1.8 G5s have some really really horrible issues with PCI thruput making them a dog, and limited to 4GB of RAM - and that is a real limit to what he wants to do.

Your PCI writes are limited to 75MB/sec MAX even with a RAID of Raptors.

Optimizing a workstation takes some work and $$$. Upgraded memory, more disk drives (4 drive RAID, 300-500GB 2nd drive, 74GB Raptor or something). The 500GB Hitachi would be nice - for now, avoid Seagate until they ship the 'Cuda .10s, and I thought Maxtor's problems with 300GB were behind them, but all these new SATA 2.5 features seem to have bitten them.

May 25, 2006 2:39 PM in response to donland1

Thanks, this is exactly what I needed - a good metaphor! The people with the company credit cards around here aren't the most Mac-savy, **** they really aren't even computer savy at all. And we don't spend much money on anything if we can help it, as we are just getting off the ground. Thanks for actually telling me something I could use!

I know RAM and hard drive space aren't related... I was trying to show you the level of understanding of the folks around me. I bet they'll try to send my mac off to install the **** sticks too... I'll pop it in while they aren't looking!

And whoever called me a him, I'm a GIRL! Pre-press girl (by the name of Brooke, as you can see). So there. 😉

12" PB 867, G4 Sawtooth D450, Indigo iBook Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Help me explain the need for RAM? Please???

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