Thread closed, question answered.

Author	Message
Fuzzy Hollynoodles Send message Joined: 7 Oct 05 Posts: 234 Credit: 15,020 RAC: 0	Message 12836 - Posted: 30 Mar 2006, 16:09:28 UTC Last modified: 30 Mar 2006, 16:13:12 UTC Since Rosetta is the most RAM demanding project in my portfolio, I'm posting this here. So you, people out there, please give me some advise on this: I have decided to upgrade my computer with more RAM, more specific with 1Gb so I have 1.5 Gb all in all, so I took my computer to the nearest shop to see, what they could offer me. It turned out that my computer has two sockets with 256 Mb in each (cheap b*****ds at Fujitsu Siemens!), so I'll have to do some combinations. It can take up to 2 Gb all in all. You can see the specs of my computer here. The question is, what will I gain by going from 1 Gb + 256 Mb to 1 Gb + 512 Mb? Or take the full step up to 2 sticks of 1 Gb each? Every input is wellcome. Thank you. [b]"I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me[/b] ID: 12836 · Rating: 0 · rate: / Reply Quote

dag Send message Joined: 16 Dec 05 Posts: 106 Credit: 1,000,020 RAC: 0	Message 12838 - Posted: 30 Mar 2006, 16:44:21 UTC Hello: You're essentially asking, "Is it worth it?" which is a value judgement only you can make because you have to pay for it. BTW, give some numbers... what cpu & clock speed? How old is it? What's the cost of RAM? What do you use the box for? dag --Finding aliens is cool, but understanding the structure of proteins is useful. ID: 12838 · Rating: 0 · rate: / Reply Quote

Fuzzy Hollynoodles Send message Joined: 7 Oct 05 Posts: 234 Credit: 15,020 RAC: 0	Message 12841 - Posted: 30 Mar 2006, 17:21:16 UTC - in response to Message 12838. Hello: You're essentially asking, "Is it worth it?" which is a value judgement only you can make because you have to pay for it. BTW, give some numbers... what cpu & clock speed? How old is it? What's the cost of RAM? What do you use the box for? The info about my CPU is on my account site, I linked to, but anyway: It's a Fujitsu Siemens L6825 bought in July 2004 CPU type GenuineIntel, Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz Number of CPUs 1 Memory 503.36 MB The prices for RAM here is in Danish Kr. about 800 for 1 Gb and about 500 for 512 Mb of the unoriginal kind. But the supportguy didn't know if these will work in it, so he said, we could try to boot up with them in, and then see if they would. The price for Kingston RAM, which is recommended by Fujitsu Siemens, is about 1200 for 1 Gb and about 800 for 512 Mb. So the price difference will be about 700 ~ 100 US$. But price is really not the issue here, as I'm willing to pay, if I see the advantage of it. I use my computer for crunching and occassionally C++ compiling. But I don't compile very often, and I exit BOINC, when I need to compile anything. So all in all, crunching! And with Rosetta, the WU's need to stay in memory, at least for now! So the exact question is: What do I gain from now, where it's very sluggish sometimes due to the WU's left in memory, and also considering that the projects will require more and more from the hardware? Here at Rosetta, they actually recommend 1 Gb RAM. And I'll need to combine to the two sockets, so should I let one of the 256 Mb sticks stay and put one stick of 1 Gb in the other, so I have 1 Gb + 256 Mb combined? should I buy one stick of 512 Mb to one socket and one stick of 1 Gb to the other, so I have 1 Gb + 512 Mb combined? or should I go the full length and buy 2 sticks of 1 Gb, so I have 2 Gb combined? How will I feel the difference between 1Gb+256Mb, 1Gb+512Mb, and 2Gb? [b]"I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me[/b] ID: 12841 · Rating: 0 · rate: / Reply Quote

Dimitris Hatzopoulos Send message Joined: 5 Jan 06 Posts: 336 Credit: 80,939 RAC: 0	Message 12842 - Posted: 30 Mar 2006, 18:09:36 UTC Fuzzy, in your situation, I'd just swap one of the existing 256MB sticks with either a 512MB one or a 1GB one, for a total of: 256+512 = 768MB 256+1024= 1280MB The people who might get tight with RAM and the new "huge" WUs are those who have Hyperthreading or dual-CPU systems, which immediately DOUBLE the RAM requirements, as they run 2 WUs concurrently at any time. For a 1 CPU system as in your case, I think 768MB is fine and 1280MB is more than plenty, unless you do very memory-demanding apps (video processing, or desktop publishing a 16-page document full of hi-resolution photos etc). So, I'd buy just 1, either 512M or 1G. In my case, I just upgraded 2 of my Linux systems to 768M (they had only 256M until today), of which I used 128MB as RAM disk to mount some directory. A little smart tuning can help a lot. Best UFO Resources Wikipedia R@h How-To: Join Distributed Computing projects that benefit humanity ID: 12842 · Rating: 0 · rate: / Reply Quote

Fuzzy Hollynoodles Send message Joined: 7 Oct 05 Posts: 234 Credit: 15,020 RAC: 0	Message 12844 - Posted: 30 Mar 2006, 18:53:30 UTC - in response to Message 12842. Last modified: 30 Mar 2006, 18:57:01 UTC Fuzzy, in your situation, I'd just swap one of the existing 256MB sticks with either a 512MB one or a 1GB one, for a total of: 256+512 = 768MB 256+1024= 1280MB The people who might get tight with RAM and the new "huge" WUs are those who have Hyperthreading or dual-CPU systems, which immediately DOUBLE the RAM requirements, as they run 2 WUs concurrently at any time. For a 1 CPU system as in your case, I think 768MB is fine and 1280MB is more than plenty, unless you do very memory-demanding apps (video processing, or desktop publishing a 16-page document full of hi-resolution photos etc). So, I'd buy just 1, either 512M or 1G. In my case, I just upgraded 2 of my Linux systems to 768M (they had only 256M until today), of which I used 128MB as RAM disk to mount some directory. A little smart tuning can help a lot. Thanks. :-) This was what I needed to know. And I don't do that kind of work, at least not on this computer. Yes, I know that the dual CPU processors require more RAM than mine, and this comes as a surprise for several, who sign in on this project, but I still feel my system sluggish sometimes, compared to how it was before the "stay in memory" setting. So I'll settle with one 1 Gb stick then. But I'm still pretty p*ssed, because I thought there was one stick of 512 Mb and not two sticks of 256 Mb. >!-( Thanks for your time. :-) [b]"I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me[/b] ID: 12844 · Rating: 0 · rate: / Reply Quote

Fuzzy Hollynoodles Send message Joined: 7 Oct 05 Posts: 234 Credit: 15,020 RAC: 0	Message 12845 - Posted: 30 Mar 2006, 18:54:14 UTC Last modified: 30 Mar 2006, 18:55:17 UTC Thread closed. [b]"I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me[/b] ID: 12845 · Rating: 0 · rate: / Reply Quote