Getting the most out of RAM

[bully712]

Hello,

 

I just upgraded my RAM to 1.5gb from 512mb. How do I get the most out of my RAM? After installing the memory, I did a few test renderings and it's only using around 400mb. Is there a setting somewhere which allows me to specify how much memory is used by VIZ?

 

I know this is probably a simple questions for most. I would appreciate any help.

 

Thanks,

Marc

[bully712]

Well I guess it's not that simple of a question. Maybe I have to go to the hardware/technical section

[Life Style]

As far as I know, the amount of ram used only relates to the amount it needs (kind of like gas in a car, only a higher quality gas/ram will make it perform better, not more).

 

If you want to see a real performance gain, render a very large scene which before required the system to use virtual memory. More ram will also allow multitasking on another program while rendering.

[bully712]

Well the scene that I did the testing in was that of the Library scene that comes with VIZ. It had raytracing in it, and I thought that it would be a good scene to test. I guess I should render something out with High face count. It would be awesome if you could use all the memory you have regardless of the size of the scene.

 

Thanks Craig,

Marc

[Jason Matthews]

Hey Marc, souns like you are upset with your purchase. You will find that the extra RAM comes in handy when you Viz doesn't free up you RAM. There is a way around this, but that is in another thread. I have found that if you want the best performance, its all about the processor (dual, HT, network, etc.). Also, the cooler the RAM runs, the more effective.

 

-Jason

[Island J]

Perhaps you could try using some of the ram as a "ram drive" and tell us how it worked. I've heard about it but never got around to trying it. I heard you can place your rendering file in the ram drive and it will be accessed faster thanfrom the hard drive so you can get a speed boost while rendering.

 

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