How much computer memory

[maginter]

Hi Guys -

Just curious as to how much computer memory(RAM) you guys are running? I have what I would consider a lot. However I am creating a 4' x4' file with a bunch of cut out letters and it is taking forever. It is taking close to ten minutes to save the file in V-Carve. I don't have anything running in the background so I am assessing it is the lack of memory.

TIA

Mark

[harryball]

I never run less than 2GB in anything anymore, but at least 1GB will probably suffice. Memory is cheap, buy a lot.

/RB

[srwtlc]

Mark,

When you say "Save", do you mean saving the .sbp file, .crv file, or calculating/previewing the file in VCP?

I have only 512mb ram in both my computers and have never had a problem. Although some previews can take longer depending on the toolpath, but file saves don't take that long. The size of the .crv file can get quite large sometimes, maybe that's the problem.

I do need to get some more though.

[Gary Campbell]

Mark...
When I built the SB control computer, I put 1GB in it. We do do some minor design and toolpathing on it also. It was pretty sluggish previewing anything in any of the design programs. I noticed a substantial difference by going up to 2GB. All the design comps have 4GB
Gary

[curtiss]

Seems like the new I-phones they are selling now have 16 gig.

I believe Bill Gates once said a while back that no one would ever need more than 8 megs of ram...

[harryball]

A good mainteance routine is to change to no paging file and do a full chkdisk /f on the hard drive followed by a full defrag. After the defrag turn the page file back on and reboot.

This can improve performance on windows systems dramtically that have been running a while.

If you can, on the design system go with 4GB which is the largest amount of memory 32 bit systems can address.

/RB

[maginter]

Scott -
Saving a crv file.

[harryball]

Check your free hard drive space and how fragmented it is. If you have very little space left and/or it is highly fragmented the save times can increase as it breaks your large file up into lots of small blocks saving and indexing them all over the drive.

Free memory can also have a bearing on this as well so you should still make sure you have enough memory in the system.

A periodic chkdsk /f is a good idea too. This is completed when you ask it to scan the disk and fix errors in the properties - tools of a drive. It will do this on reboot.

/RB

[srwtlc]

What RB said. ;-) I defrag about once a month.

One thing to check with defraging is if you have System Restore set at max, you can end up with a bunch of stuff that won't defrag and can also take away a lot of harddrive space. If you don't need a recent restore point, turn off System Restore and then defrag. Afterwords, turn System Restore back on and set the slider about halfway or 6% (Right click on my computer and go to properties and then system restore. You may be asked to reboot).

At one time, I gained 50+ GB on an 80GB drive by doing this and defrag finally had enough space to do what it needed to do.

Depending on your file, a lot of information etc., some .crv file can get pretty big, but shouldn't take that long to save.

[Gary Campbell]

Guys...
You might want to think about disabling the system restore, automatic updates and every other windows backround program not neccessary to run the bot.(control computer) there are a few posts about this. And it works!
Gary

[maginter]

Found the problem on my Design machine....well at least part of the problem. I have Carbonite running in the background and even though you move it to low priorty, it still limits the V Carve processing to 50%. So I need to open up the limits and shift Carbonite to stand by when doing large files. It did speed things up, but I think I am going to still add memory. I may go to 4Gb, but will probably move to 8Gb. It is a Vista machine, but I am running XP Pro and that should help alot!

Thanks for everyone's input on this.....

Mark

[harryball]

Unless you are running a 64 bit system and OS or have special software to map the memory and allow your system to access it, anything over 4GB will go unused. You can't address more than 4GB of memory with 32bits.


/RB

[maginter]

RB -

Again, it is a Vista machine and is 64 bit, so the extra memory would be useful on running multiple apps.

[harryball]

Not trying to argue... but I guess I don't understand. You said "It is a Vista machine, but I am running XP Pro..." That doesn't make any sense.

XP and Vista are the names of Microsoft Operating systems. Both are available as either 32 bit (sort of the default) or as x64 versions which is 64 bit. The hardware must be 64 bit to support them. I'm not aware of a Vista emulator that will allow you to run XP Pro as a guest operating system.

From reading the post and since you didn't state otherwise, my advice applies to a 32 bit system running Windows XP Pro. If you are running Vista x64 on 64 bit hardware it brings a whole new meaning to the discussion. By all means, install 8GB. If both the hardware and OS are not 64 bit, then anything above 4GB will go unused no mater how many programs you run, the OS simply can't manage the extra memory.

Perhaps I just feel I'm not being understood or I'm just trying to help where I'm not wanted.

/RB

[maginter]

RB -

Please don't feel like you are in an argument. I think we are both on the same page and I do understand and appreciate what you are saying.

Looking at the post, I have left off an important piece of information. The XP Pro I am running is the 64 bit upgrade. The machine I am running was originally configured with Vista and is a 64 bit processor. I can't stand the bug in Vist and have opted to stay with XP. Therefore, the machine and OS both support 64 bit. If I am able to use the 8Gb then it is worth it ot upgrade, but if not, you are right, I would be throwing my money away....

[cnc_works]

How do you configure XP to see more than 3.25gb of RAM? Even though the bios sees 4gb, the OS reports 3.25gb.

Donn

[harryball]

I just read a MS or Tech Republic article about that, even though XP only reports 3.25GB it is still using the full 4GB. I'm tryhing to back track the article, if I find it I'll post it.

Mark, that makes more sense. By all means, 8GB can be utilized by the OS.

/RB

[mitch_prest]

just thought I would chime in here.. as just having bought a new computer with vista.. I ran into all kinds of problems right away.. only lasted a few days before I upgraded to XP.. or is that downgraded.. anyway.. the computer is actually much faster with the xp system.. no problems with speed or running any of my cad programs.. you may want to look at running xp 64 instead

mitch

[acb]

Admittedly a bit of topic drift but...

Given that Microsoft seems to have jumped the shark with Vista, how do folks feel about the heavy dominance of Windows-only application for shopbotting?

Will the world run on Windows forever, do we think? If not, what should we be asking ShopBot and other software vendors to do about it?

[harryball]

I use Vista for everything except my bot PC. I admit it takes some getting use to and it has a few quirks... but on clean installs I actually prefer it to XP and have never had a serious problem with it. Upgrades, however, are a nightmare.

/RB

[khaos]

If anyone is having issues with speed there are a few things you can do with an XP box to help increase the performance. The thread with the tutorial is here http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/26/32297.html?1215604790