4gb, 6gb or 8gb of RAM?

[sjkuessel]

So I have read a lot that Ableton being a 32 bit program can only use 4gb of RAM. I run windows 7 64 bit sp1. Right now I got 4gb in my computer. Everything runs perfect. No dpc drops or crackles at all. Would there be anything wrong with using 8gb of RAM or is 4gb ideal?

[ScudMan]

Only add more ram if you need it...watch your physical memory in task manager. I've got 6gig and never seem to go above 3...I've never seen live over 2gig in my setup.

The other thing to watch is disk I/O (disk speed can impact you here).

[golemus]

So I have read a lot that Ableton being a 32 bit program can only use 4gb of RAM. I run windows 7 64 bit sp1. Right now I got 4gb in my computer. Everything runs perfect. No dpc drops or crackles at all. Would there be anything wrong with using 8gb of RAM or is 4gb ideal?

There goes a saying (which in my opinion applies very strongly to DAW setups):
- if it ain't broken don't fix it.

So if you don't have any problems do not touch it. Anyway even that Live can use max 4GB (I think in reality 3GB is absolute max and even at that point there is a crash probability), the OS can utilize the rest of the 6GB or 8GB of RAM, but other programs there, background programs, drivers, etcetc...., which means less virtual memory swapping. So yes it definitely will make the computer faster & more stable if you are a heavy plugin user (in which case Live requires a lot of RAM).


Anyway

[Gab]

Given the low price of RAM (you can get 8 GB for ~40€) and the fact that prices are likely to go up, it can be good to upgrade now. Even if Live is 32 bits, your OS will certainly make good use of the extra memory.

edit : 40€ for 8 GB is for DDR3. If you have DDR2, the price will be two to three times as much, so you might want to stay with 4 until you really need to change your whole system (my situation currently).