#More than 16mb RAM?
4 messages in this thread
I'm a 3DSr4 user with a hardware question about rendering speed.
I have an opportunity to "trade" my trusty 486/66 with 32mb RAM for a 90 mHz
Pentium with 16mb RAM. My primary motive would be to improve 3DSr4 rendering
times. In most situations, is the Pentium's performance gain apt to exceed the
real-world effect caused by the reduction in RAM?
(I realize this may depend a lot on the kind of rendering one tends to do. I
often render animations which include globes and or topographical maps which
can contain materials containing at least 3-10 mb of bump maps, opacity maps,
etc. For these jobs my 3DS rendering times often range from 10-20 minutes per
frame.)
Thanks for any shared insights!
Gratefully,
Lee
Lee,
In the past, have you kept an eye on the memory usage status during
renderings? If you render stuff that sends that count near or over 16 megs,
then you're going to page to disk when you drop to 16 megs in the Pentium
machine, and at that point you've lost ground, speed-wise. No matter how fast
the processing chip is, rendering is going to be really slow if the renderer
has to swap to disk. You'd be better off with your present system. If, on the
other hand, your renderings don't cause disk swaping, more RAM won't make
things any faster. Buy as much RAM as you need to keep the "Swap: ___" line
at zero. Within that parameter, get the fastest chip you can afford.
Lee,
You're right that most, if not all, of the speed gains will be eaten up by the
increased swapfile access. It MIGHT even be a little slower!
I think the question to ask yourself is, does it look like you'll be able to
increase the RAM any time soon if you get the P90? Anywhere from probably to
definitely, I think I'd go for it, and make getting more RAM a top priority. If
the chances are less than that, I'd think twice.
Remember, you won't be able to run MAX with only 16 megs, so if you're planning
to get MAX and know you won't be able to swing the extra RAM, sticking with the
486 for a while longer looks to be the wiser decision.
Hope this helps.
SCL
Stephen,
Thanks for your prompt reply. I'm sure my system hasn't needed to swap during
rendering on my 32mb 486 but I'm afraid I haven't kept track of how close I was
coming. So, I don't know what that would be like with only 16mb.
Since posting my original message I think I've discovered a way to acquire the
Pentium with 32mb RAM. Thanks again!
Gratefully,
Lee