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Backburner only seeing 2 gig of RAM


ktm07
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I was monitoring some project running on backburner (MAX 8) this past weekend and noticed that it only shows 2 gig of ram on each rendering node. This was a bit confusing since each system has 4 gig of Ram and our sys admin assures me that they have the 3 gig switch applied (XP professional 32 bit). I understand that it won’t see the full 4 gig but don’t get why it’s not seeing the 3 gig. Any thoughts?

 

Tom

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Backburner is only showing you want each system is able to recognize, so if you've got 4 gigs on each machine and it's only showing that 2 gigs are available it is a machine problem not a backburner problem. I've always wondered why they sell more than 2 gigs of ram on a windows machine since they can't really use more than that. The only sure way to get around the problem is to install Windows XP64.

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Even with the 3 GB switch, I believe the limitation is 2 GB for any single application. It just means windows overhead has an extra GB to play.

 

XP64 hs given very odd results for me (translation: unstable w/Max). I would suggest waiting for a native 64 bit compile of Max before shelling out the cash.

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Hi John,

 

An application can see 3GB when using the switch if it's compiled with one switch enabled. MAX is compiled with that switch and it should see 3GB in that case. I'm not sure if Backburner has been compiled that way, nor I am sure if there's a business case to do so.

Detecting the amount of RAM in the system should not be dependant on how the app was compiled, so I think it's probably a defect that should be reported to Autodesk.

 

As for having 32 bit OS with 4GB, think about this: if an app is using 3GB of memory, where is the OS and other applications? So there is a use for more RAM - it will ensure you are not swapping.

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At this time max is not supporting 64Bit processing. It runs on those machines but is not officially supported by Autodesk, meaning it might not be able to use the power of 64Bit processing.

 

RAM for max usually depends on the scene requirement and availability. If max/backburner thinks 2GB is enough to process a certain job then it will only use 2GB and leave some for the OS and other apps.

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Yea but you can install much more than 4 gigs of ram on most higher end machines, if your running a 32bit OS like windows what good does it do to have 8 gigs of ram?

 

I am not sure if 8GB is usable, but 4GB is usable. If you have 4GB you can have 3 apps using 1GB each and the OS and drivers using the other 1GB without swapping.

If you have 2GB, then you'll be swapping 2GB.

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