Dual Core Processor & RAM assignment

[JamesTaylor]

With a desktop machine that has a dual core processor, if it has 4GB of RAM in does it require a 3GB switch or is it only assigning 2GB or RAM to each core and as such not going past the traditional windows limit of only recognising 2GB of RAM??

 

Hope that makes sense....?

 

thanks

James

[BrianKitts]

you can always just pop open your task manager (right click on taskbar or ctrl-alt-del) and click on performance to see your ram count as to available, used etc....

 

but to answer your question we have dual dualcores with four gigs of ram using the 3 gig switch we get about 2.9 usable ram, can't get all four we just bought the machines w/ four for when we switch to 64bit OS when all the software catches up...

[JamesTaylor]

I don't actually have this machine yet, but its something i'm considering for a machine that'll be ordered soon.

 

i'm not sure i've actually explained myself that well originally to be honest, and i'm just trying to get things straight in my head......

 

originally CPU's were all single core and windows would recognise 2GB of RAM by default. This 2GB RAM could all be assigned to the single core / thread whilst rendering etc.

 

now that we have dual core CPU's is it the case that if the machine has 4GB RAM each core / thread will recognise a maximum of 2GB RAM by default or does windows only recognise 2GB RAM irrelivent of how many cores there are, meaning that a dual core CPU will only have 1GB RAM / core and so on.

 

to follow this further thro......we add extra RAM to our machines to be able to cope with larger scenes that need more calculations etc. So if we have a single core CPU that has 2GB RAM to use it'll be able to render a larger scene than a dual core CPU that has only 1GB RAM / core available, although it will obvisiously be slower.

 

The machine that i'm ordering will be a dual core AMD and i would like it to have 2GB available to each core (or as much as possible as i'm aware some gets taken up by other resources) for rendering larger scenes.....

 

please bear with me if i'm miles of the mark!! like i say just trying to get it straight in my head!!

[BrianKitts]

windows only recognise 2GB RAM irrelivent of how many cores there are

 

bingo.... its not a "core" limitation, it's that 32 bit windows alone can't manage more than 2gigs of ram (3 with the 3g switch).

 

another note.... by default on a dual core system with 2 gigs of ram, it's not one gig per core. Ram is available for whomever needs it unless you use settings to lock in who gets the memmory. For instance, if I'm rendering in the background with 3dsMax dedicated to two of my processors, and also working in photoshop with the other two, it's possible for max to use as much ram as it needs (more than just 1 gig if necessary) and the rest will be available for all other running applications.

 

hope this helps

[Elliot]

Guys

 

My machine keeps crashing when I render a Premiere Pro 2.0 movie. It also crashes on some small Viz models. I am starting to think it is something related to memory.

 

When the machine was built 16 months ago, I purchased the most sophisticated memory I could find. That was a Corsair stick with the Low Latency rating. What I have learned know from Corsair, is that these memory sticks require 2.7 volts and very few motherboards provide anymore than 2.5 volts. Corsair think this under voltage could cause temperature problems that could lead to an unstable stick.

 

I noticed my memory sticks get very hot and at random they crash without previous warning. Have you heard of these kind of problem. Lack of stability because of the memory. Is this constant crashing a symptom of bad memory...?

 

Thanks

Elliot

[JamesTaylor]

Brain, thanks that helps clarify the thoughts i had!! one last question at this point......is implementing a 3GB switch quite straight forward?? i'm not a computer genius but i can generally work things out with a little help here and there!! as i understand it (without researching it further) the 3GB switch is a piece of code in the boot file (or somewhere similar) rather than an additional piece of hardware which goes into the machine, is this correct??

 

Elliot, memory can be serious cause of system instability, if its not working properly however i don't know how to best test it.....perhaps start a new thread to get best coverage of the subject.

[Elliot]

James,

 

Thanks.... I talked with a technician last night. He build workstations.... He thinks there could be three main factors.... something wrong with the motherboard, or with one of the CPU or the memory.

 

This all started with not being able to address the whole amount of memory. I placed ther 3gb switch, activated the NUMA and PAE switches and still not much luck.

 

Today I am going top change the motherboard, cpu's and memory.... I hope that will take care of the problem..... I am thinking of installing Windows XP64 to see if I can have the promised better acces to memory.

 

Thanks

Elliot

[JamesTaylor]

hehe!! sounds like your technician is hedging his bets!!! those three components are the three main components in a machine anyway!!!

 

trail and error changing one component at time etc is proably the best way to track down any errors.......as it sounds you are doing anyway

[Elliot]

We found the problem. One of the CPU was not contacting very well with it's base. There was no heat transfer. Upon trying to render big file the CPU will overheat due to lack of thermal transfer and was shutting down to prevent further damage. We put a small amout of the Artic Silver and re-seated the CPU and the mistery of three months has been solved.

 

Regards

Elliot