6GB memory vs 8GB memory
 

All other things being equal, will I notice a differennce in rendering times upgrading to 8GB memory over 6GB memory?

Windows 7 Ultimate, 64 bit, Vegas 9.c.

Hi Stephen,

This will be dependent upon several factors, such as actual system configuration, the nature of the projects you are working on, and what else is running on the system.

(This link shows some of the O/S configuration considerations:

Memory Limits for Windows Releases (Windows)

It also illustrates Microsoft's penchant for placing arbitrary restrictions on various versions of their products, but I'll not start on that!)

Looking at the 2nd row of the table shows that if IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE is not enabled, then it doesn't matter how much ram you have, Vegas will only get 2 Gb. The default is to allow large addresses, but still worth being aware of.

Are you still running with a pagefile? Previous versions of Windows have insisted on writing to it if it was there, even if it was not necessary. Disk I/O is the enemy of high performance. Disabling it would probably be beneficial.

If nothing else (large programs/processes -- After Effects, Lightroom, Photoshop, Acid) are competing for the memory resources, then you are unlikely to see any difference.

The nature of your project will also have an impact. E.g. if you are using several clips in a multi-cam edit which all reside on the same drive, you are likely to experience I/O contention; the project will be competing with itself for access to the clip data. Lots more ram will be only of limited assistance, whereas spreading clips across many drives might.

CPU Cores (number and speed) are still very important.

So, chances are it will not make a significant difference, but on the other hand, I would always prefer to have more rather than less.

If you decide to go with it, I would be interested to hear your experience.

Ciao,

mark

But wait, doesn't Vegas use a maximum of 3.5 gigs of RAM?

I'm going to say... odds are NO.

No. Not unless for some reason you had so many other programs open you were actually hitting your swap file. But that's unlikely with 6g ram in a 64 bit OS.

You will notice absolutely NO difference in rendering time. Don't waste your money.

Thanks for the feedback!