The 3 gig switch - any regrets?

[Mike McCarthy]

I am considering taking the plunge.

Any long term side-effects? System instabilities? Horror stories?

I am putting a dual-core 4gig PC together, as a VSL dedicated slave, so hoping for 3 gigs of loadable ram.

I found all the setup info in the thread "memory configuration" at the top of the forum.

Just want to go into this with my eyes wide open [[:|]]

Thanks,
Mike.

[cm]

no - just don't forget to set the /USERVA= switch also, the precise value depends on your system then.
in any case follow the instructions editing your boot.ini to get a dual-boot system (with / without /3GB switch), so you can always return to a working config and adjust /USERVA
christian

[Mike McCarthy]

Thanks Christian.

I can get the following:

Athlon 6000 dual core

DDR2 800 RAM

A choice of two mobos: ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe (or)

GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI-S4 nForce570-SLI

What is your preference between these two mobos?

Thanks,
Mike.

[Tripit]

All good here on 4 PC's with 3gig.

[Mike McCarthy]

Thanks Tripit

Looks like everyone's happy.

It's just that when I mentioned to the guy who does my PCs that I wanted to do this, his eyes widened in horror [:D]

[DG]

@Mike McCarthy said:

Thanks Tripit

Looks like everyone's happy.

It's just that when I mentioned to the guy who does my PCs that I wanted to do this, his eyes widened in horror [:D]

You need a new guy then. [8-)]

DG

[Mike McCarthy]

You need a new guy then.

DG



[:D] [:D] [:D]

He's actually pretty good. But obviously new to the ram-starved world of sampling... [+o(]

Mike.

[cm]

didn't his eyes widen even more when you told him you're intending to upgrade to 64 GB RAM later this year? [:P]

[FireGS]

Only thing I had problems with, were programs that did NOT have LAA support working on files used and saved from programs that did. Like, for instance, I would save a Wave file in one app with LAA support, open it in another, then save in that one, and would get an error saying that the file had no file length, and everything i tried, would not open it. I cried for a few nights...

Then I realized I had to enable LAA support on that program. [;)]

[Mike McCarthy]

Thanks FireGS

So on a 3gig /switched machine, ALL progams need to be LAA enabled.

Duly noted.

Thanks,
Mike

[Trailerman]

FWIW, I tried the 3GB switch on our system, and it made no difference to the amount of RAM Windows XP could see. Before and after, it only sees 2.5GB, even though we have 4GB installed, and the BIOS sees 4GB. This on a Digi certified Dell workstation.

I haven't yet tried the USWERVA switch which Christian mentions though - perhaps that's the key?

The system does have a load of hardware on it - ProTools HD3 and two Universal Audio UAD-1e cards. Perhaps that's what's sucking up so much RAM.

Jules

[cm]

we would need to have a look into the specification of the mentioned cards ... it is highly probable that they are using a certain amount of memory space (2,5 - 3,75 GB) for mapping addresses, the range from 3,75 - 4 GB ist mostly used by the VGA card (also for address mapping).

if memory available to XP is 2,5 GB only also the /USERVA switch wouldn't change something. maybe digi can (and is willing to) provide more insight ....
christian

[Trailerman]

Thanks Christian. I may try and raise it with Digidesign, but I suspect you're right - the hardware is probably using a chunk of RAM above 2.5GB.

I did notice that when I tried the 3GB switch, my graphics drivers reset themselves, so perhaps it might be worth trying the USERVA switch .... ?

Thanks again for your help.

Jules