# How Much RAM do YOU have?!



## vic (Mar 24, 2002)

i would like to know how much ram do os x users use on their hardware, and how do their machines perform (ya know, the x resizing snailiness thing, etc)


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## vic (Mar 24, 2002)

i use 384 ram


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## themacko (Mar 24, 2002)

I've got 640 megs in my iBook 500, it runs pretty good for me.  Window resizing isn't exactly great ... but it's not horrible either.


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## Bluefusion (Mar 24, 2002)

256 here (stock 800 MHz LCD iMac) and it runs fine. Window resizing is as fast as I need, but still not perfect.


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## mpconnick (Mar 25, 2002)

I've got 1.5 GB in my G4 733 (non-Quicksilver) at home.  I filled it up before RAM prices started going back up.  

It performs better than my Quicksilver 733 G4 with 768 MB that I have at work when using pure Java development environments (JBuilder, IDEA).  Not sure if it's because of the amount of RAM or because my home machine has a 1 MB L3 cache.


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## voice- (Mar 25, 2002)

It's all in the sig.


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## rinse (Mar 25, 2002)

640MB and the computer is overall pretyy fast... can't wait for 10.2 though...


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## didde (Mar 25, 2002)

768Mb


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## jaeyongdavid (Mar 29, 2002)

My ibook has 640MB.


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## vic (Mar 29, 2002)

have any of you started using os x with low ram, and then upgraded your ram, and noticed any  speed improvments?


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## Bluefusion (Mar 29, 2002)

I used a Blueberry iBook/300 with 64 MB of RAM (I know, I know... but it was actually surprisingly fast even with so little) and then upgraded to 192 and noticed a HUGE difference


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## AdmiralAK (Mar 29, 2002)

704Mb of RAM


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## PCSMASHER (Mar 29, 2002)

I started out with 256 and a month or so later bumped it up to 896. I noticed a little differece but not a ton. Then again I wasn't using Photoshop and Freehand alot then either.


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## nkuvu (Mar 29, 2002)

1GB in my new flat-panel iMac.  

I noticed a *huge* difference in speed between my iMac and my roommate's iMac -- hers is the CRT type, 600 MHz (IIRC) with 256MB RAM. (mine is an 800 MHz G4, so the 600 MHz G3 is probably another factor   )


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## voice- (Mar 31, 2002)

> _Originally posted by vic _
> _have any of you started using os x with low ram, and then upgraded your ram, and noticed any  speed improvments? _



In deed, my PowerMac started out with 128Mb RAM and OS 10.0.3. First thing was doubling the RAM. I was impressed.
Then I got 10.1 and I was impressed.
Then, I got a bunch of RAM, and I love the speed. I dunno what all you guys complain about...


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## dricci (Mar 31, 2002)

My QuickSilver 733 has 640 and my 500 iBook has 384. My iBook started out with 128 but it was far from enough to have a good experience in X (I used 9 on it for months with 128 and it was fine). 384 makes it pretty useable.

I'm sure it'll get better and faster in time. Let's hope Steve & Co. are super tuning 10.2!


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## vic (Mar 31, 2002)

Yah! Seriously!


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## oscar (Mar 31, 2002)

I have 384 in my tibook,  but i think before i  get more ram i really want to see what 10.2 brings. (in speed that is)
that would probably make more of a difference than adding more ram,

 or not?


oscar


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## satanicpoptart (Apr 2, 2002)

768... i need more..... photoshop and final cut beg for it along with flash mx.  when those prices come back down im in for a 512 chip. but what i really need is a dual g5... the dual g4 500 isnt cuting it for me anymore.


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## Krisneph (Apr 2, 2002)

I have 512 on my new iMac(By the way) it just arived a couple days ago it runs great !!!


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## z4ph0d (Apr 2, 2002)

512Mb. Window resizing is a tad sluggish in my opinion, but I dont mind


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Apr 2, 2002)

1.0GB in a 400 Yikes! machine.

Started with 256MB... then to 640MB... then to 1.0GB... noticed a difference every time I upgraded -- not so much in speed (well, 256 to 640 was a great improvement) but in usability when switching back and forth in applications and what-not.


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## ksv (Apr 2, 2002)

I got 320 MB with my G4 GigEthernet 400 MHz, OCed to 500 MHz, and it runs OS X pretty fine in my opinion. In fact much better than my fathers iBook/500 with 384 MB.
Can't wait for the RAM prices to lower, though, would rock to have 2 GB in it


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## googolplex (Apr 2, 2002)

I have 384 in my ibook 500. I should have gotten 512 more.


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## divibisan (Apr 2, 2002)

I've got 704 Mb and OSX runs great (450 Cube, Radeon) Window resizing is not jumpy at all and it follows pretty closely with the mouse unless I move it too fast, Minimizing is perfect, Classic is good, Folders open quickly


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## genghiscohen (Apr 3, 2002)

I have 768MB in my 350MHz slot-loading iMac.  Had 128MB when I first installed OS X.  Very soon after that, I went up to 320MB and noticed a *big* improvement in speed.  Then when RAM prices were at an all-time low last year, I upped it to the current amount.
Window resizing is pretty good.  The main speed-related annoyance right now is slow opening of very long menus.


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## <SNIPER> (Apr 4, 2002)

i use 352Mb in my beige G3 and window resizing is amazingly fast

                                          WHO WOULD OF GUESSED



*Beige G3 W/600Mgz G4 Upgrade*
352Mb 15Gb HD  ATI Radeon 8500 PCI


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## vic (Apr 4, 2002)

"WHO WOULD OF GUESSED"

it's HAVE not OF


but anyway. i'm probably gonna stack up on more ram as sson as i have established a way for paying my college tuition.


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## level9 (Apr 4, 2002)

> _Originally posted by vic _
> *it's HAVE not OF*


Gotta love pet peeves.


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## ulrik (Apr 5, 2002)

1.5 gig on my Quicksilver
768 on my Cube
768 on my Celeron 
512 on my B&W G3 
512 on my Pentium 2
512 on my TiBook
256 on my AMD K6
64 on my iPaq 3660
0.5 on my Siemens SL45 Cell Phone


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## vic (Apr 5, 2002)

> _Originally posted by ulrik _
> *1.5 gig on my Quicksilver
> 768 on my Cube
> 768 on my Celeron
> ...



yah, and the list oes on and on and on...  (*cough*showoff*cough*)


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## Bluefusion (Apr 5, 2002)

Quiet, you fool. 

512 in my Dad's G4/400
256 in my LCD iMac
192 in my Blueberry iBook
128 in my iceBook Combo Drive/500
32 in my SuperMac C600
32 in my iPod
20 in my Quadra 605
16 in my Olympus D-230 camera
12 in my Yamaha digital piano
8 in my Visor Prism
4 in my Mac II
2 in my Canon printer
0.5 in my Samsung cell phone
 in my Canon printer

hehe


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## vic (Apr 5, 2002)

i bow down before the master...*bows down* - (then takes gun and adress to bluefusion's hous wit robery in mind*


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## Securion (Apr 6, 2002)

Do you really need more than 512k ram and a 7 mhz processor to resize a window? (Amiga)


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## ulrik (Apr 6, 2002)

if the window is live-resized and ripped as a PDF all the time...yes.

A window in OS X needs around 2 to 5 megabytes, regardless if it is actually drawn or hidden behind something. And since you can't store all these infos in the VRAM, you have to store it in the RAM.


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## dricci (Apr 6, 2002)

I wish Apple would offer a "classic" theme. OS X is great on my Power Mac G4 733 (640 MB Ram) but on my iBook w/ 320 MB Ram the eye candy just chokes it.


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## ulrik (Apr 6, 2002)

> yah, and the list oes on and on and on... (*cough*showoff*cough*)



If I need to show-off, I would put them in my sig


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## ulrik (Apr 6, 2002)

> _Originally posted by dricci _
> *I wish Apple would offer a "classic" theme. OS X is great on my Power Mac G4 733 (640 MB Ram) but on my iBook w/ 320 MB Ram the eye candy just chokes it. *



compress the windows! It really helps on such systems! Search versiontracker for tools which do this. Apple will officially support compressed windows in 10.2 I heard, the disabled the feature due to some incompatibility with older hardware, but the people who enabled it said it not only helps, but works without any flaws.


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## Hypernate (Apr 6, 2002)

Well, my 700mhz iMac (LCD) has 512mb, but I am thankful for the VE in the G4! I feel bad. I froze my mac 2 hours after unpacking it lol!   

ey, has anyone noticed how the Force Quit key shortcut never works? (Control, Command, ESC)


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## vic (Apr 6, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Hypernate _
> *Well, my 700mhz iMac (LCD) has 512mb, but I am thankful for the VE in the G4! I feel bad. I froze my mac 2 hours after unpacking it lol!
> 
> ey, has anyone noticed how the Force Quit key shortcut never works? (Control, Command, ESC) *



now it's option comand escape. and it works better and all the time.


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## ksv (Apr 7, 2002)

Now I've got 576 MB in a 500 MHz, and window resizing flies (ok, almost...). Photoshop is also a lot faster.


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## senne (Apr 9, 2002)

Will the speed increase of os x when you put extra ram (256mb for example) to a 700mhz iMac G3 with 256MB RAM?



senne.


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## Bluefusion (Apr 9, 2002)

Yeah, it will certainly help, but honestly you're gonna want to think about upgrading to a G4 in the coming months... a 700 G3 is capable of running OS X, and 512 MB would certainly help it, but you're going to find slowdowns in a lot of places you wouldn't expect. Of course, maybe it's just cuz I'm jaded 

Anyway, G3s really were designed to run OS 9. They work better in OS 9 than G4s due (at least with the same amounts of RAM) because OS 9 is much better optimized for the backside cache, which is present but not nearly as efficient on the G4. However, X is optimized for the Velocity Engine, and there is a HUGE performance increase.

As long as you're above 500 MHz, I suppose anything will do. Can anyone explain to me why my iceBook/500 with 128 MB of RAM runs OS X so dog-slow? It's truly pathetic. My Blueberry iBook/300 with 192 MB of RAM runs OS X much better, sadly enough. (Which, by the way, is an UNSUPPORTED machine, as the minimum OS X requirement is a 300 MHz processer). However, the two G4 machines in my house, a Sawtooth G4/400 and an LCD iMac G4/800, kick ANY G3 out of the water... even G3s with much higher clock speeds (the G4/400 is MUCH faster than a 700-MHz G3 iMac; more proof of the Megahertz Myth!)


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## vic (Apr 9, 2002)

does your iBook have abus speed of 66Mhz?


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## Jasoco (Apr 12, 2002)

384MB here. One 128+256.

iMac DV+ 450MHz.

When I get my new computer (I'm going for the iMac LCD instead of a PowerMac) I'll probably put 512 in it.


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## CoolHead (Apr 13, 2002)

I got my G3 450Mhz B&W maxed out at 1GB of RAM... but it appears there are some problems either with the hardware or OS.... OS9.2 can boot but OS9.04 crashes. OSX (10.1.x) seems to handle it, but with enough apps running will get either get kernal panics or CRASH... yes CRASH. The mouse gets stuck and any sound gets stuck in a skip like a broken record. 

I figured it was the last 256 module I put in but this is the third one I got from 1800 4-memory.  So I figured I'd make sure that was the problem this time. I took out one of the 256 modules I had in there before I had these Crashes and panics and put the new 256 module in its place. No problems for months at 768 Megs. At one point I loaded OSX with every app I could launch(pretty impressive, front app still very responsive). I later put the old 256 module back in and a couple of days later OSX gave me a kernal panic, followed later by a crash and then mutiple Death beds(Computer can not wake up from sleep, caps lock on keyboard wont even light up when pressed).

I think it might be some type of addressing bus issue with this B&W's when the RAM is maxed out...


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