How Much RAM Might I Need?

[Michael J. Brown]

Having a new 64bit system configured and just wondering if anyone here has ever had memory issues when running with just 12GB RAM.

 

I'm running MAX 2010 with Vray (considering the upgrade to Vray 2.0) on mostly small to medium sized interiors and medium sized exteriors.

 

Should I play it safe and go to 16GB, or are most people running smoothly on 12?

 

(I know it all depends upon the demands my scenes are placing on my system, but my workload and scene types falls pretty nicely into the median of what can be found on the WIP forum - if that helps at all.

 

Thanks!

[Camby1298]

I have 12 gb on my machine, and really havent had any scene close to using all 12 gb of ram. And Ive rendered out scenes with 30,000+ Proxies of Plants.

[Dave Buckley]

Buy as much as you can afford. Simple.

[Nic H]

if you can afford 16 then yes.

we have 12 in our workstations and have no problems at all

[AJLynn]

"Just" 12GB? That's silly. If 12GB isn't enough, work on scene optimization because a scene that won't work in 12GB has other problems.

[Michael J. Brown]

"Just" 12GB? That's silly. If 12GB isn't enough, work on scene optimization because a scene that won't work in 12GB has other problems.

 

 

That did occur to me, but I'm coming from a 32bit system with the Window's-limited 3GB ceiling. When I upgrade my system I intend on also upping my levels of detail and polygon counts (more trees, grass and such) - as I have been waiting on a more robust system to generate vast cityscapes and landscapes. Even proxied, I just want to make certain I'm not running out of RAM when I render 6000 pixel-width stills.

 

But I think I've read enough user comments here to convince me that 12MB is quite likely going to be enough.

 

Thanks everyone.

[F J]

yep, if u'r coming from a 32bit environment 12GB will feel pretty comfy for quite some time..

 

i currently have 12GB n only a handful of times i've come really close to depleting those..

although the scene in question was taking up over 3GB by itself, this wasnt the reason..

at render-time those 3GB will go up even higher, but i also had other applications open, plus i even opened 1 or 2 more instances of 3dsmax because i needed to for a moment..

 

i almost cant imagine myself working on a scene requiring more than 12GB, but if it came to that it wouldnt be so hard to employ some scene management techniques to get around that.. although i must admit it would be annoying not to have the room to open applications freely, having to chose 1 to be closed in order to open another..

[alias_marks]

I've come close to maxing out my 12 GB in a 3d render, but never had it be a problem. Gone are the days of 3ds max memory crashes = Lovely. I'm excited for you to move from a 32 bit to 64

 

Just got a call from a client though wondering if I had enough ram to cover a huge Navis Works model, and they recommended I possibly get some more ram to handle it. We'll see how it goes and I'll report back.

 

I'm not too seasoned in the area of optimizing after effects renders, however I've maxed my memory often when enabeling multithread renders often. Something to consider if you use after effects a lot...