Do I need 6Mb or 8Mb DDR3 for Laptop? CS3 & Video

tcwave · Mar 25, 2009

Hi Guys,

I am not a professional, but I use CS3 and do HDV editing (mostly family stuff). I just ordered a laptop with a :

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T9600 (2.80GHz)

6MB DDR3 RAM

1G Nvidia 130 Graphics card.

Running Vista 64 professional

The max this machine can take is 8Mb DDR3. It would cost me an extra $200 for them to upgrade from 6 to 8. Do you think I will need it or notice it? Is it worth me upgradeing for $200 in your mind?

Note: I am no expert, but I have read that CS3 can only use something like 3.5Mb of RAM and benefits more from a Duo as opposed to a Quad. I am typically not multitasking while I work so other than the OS, I am not won't be running tons of apps at once.

Thanks,
TCwave

gangaskan · Mar 25, 2009

tcwave said:
Hi Guys,

I am not a professional, but I use CS3 and do HDV editing (mostly family stuff). I just ordered a laptop with a :

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T9600 (2.80GHz)

6MB DDR3 RAM

1G Nvidia 130 Graphics card.

Running Vista 64 professional

The max this machine can take is 8Mb DDR3. It would cost me an extra $200 for them to upgrade from 6 to 8. Do you think I will need it or notice it? Is it worth me upgradeing for $200 in your mind?

Note: I am no expert, but I have read that CS3 can only use something like 3.5Mb of RAM and benefits more from a Duo as opposed to a Quad. I am typically not multitasking while I work so other than the OS, I am not won't be running tons of apps at once.

Thanks,
TCwave

are we still in the 1980's?

j/k

you mean Gb not Mb by the way.

i would say 6 gigs of ram is plenty for what you're doing.

Evilsizer · Mar 25, 2009

the biggest thing you can do to speed up editing of video is getting a SSD drive. no amount of ram is going to help the xfere speed of the hd for video editing. since it would be streaming the data from the hd as fast as possible. the biggest killer for a computer is the mechincal hd's access time being so insanly high compared to a SSD. samsung has a 64gig for $175 or get one of the OCZ vertex drives...

juane414 · Mar 25, 2009

I do some photo editing with Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, which is not as elaborate as Adobe Photoshop CS3, but I never use more than 50% of my available physical memory while I'm using it. I'm using the laptop in my sig, which has 4Gb of DDR2. I doubt you would need more than 6Gb of DDR3. I feel the drag more from my CPU than I do from my ram. I would go with Evilsizer's recommendation and look for an SSD for faster data rates.

If you're lucky enough to have gotten a laptop with an eSATA port, you could probably get an SSD and put it in an external enclosure to use as an external drive. You shouldn't notice any difference between using an SSD as an internal or external as long as both are running on SATA.

Evilsizer · Mar 25, 2009

juane that is a good idea too, just use the ssd as a external drive.. the ocz "solid" line has USB ports on them so no need for a enclosure. from going over the pics at newegg the vertex doesnt have a usb port so you would need a enclosure for it...

juane414 · Mar 25, 2009

Well, when I bought my laptop I was planning on going with the cheap HDD and upgrading it myself, since I would be able to do it for less than Dell was asking for the upgrade. I asked if that would void the warranty before I placed the order, and it would. It's a little absurd, but it makes sense.

So, if taking your laptop apart to replace the HDD with an SSD would void your warranty, then getting an SSD and using it as an external drive would be the way to go. It's also a lot easier to install an external drive than an internal one

deathman20 · Mar 25, 2009

Evilsizer said:
juane that is a good idea too, just use the ssd as a external drive.. the ocz "solid" line has USB ports on them so no need for a enclosure. from going over the pics at newegg the vertex doesnt have a usb port so you would need a enclosure for it...

But the point of getting a SSD is to have fast speeds which USB ports don't offer. Great for transfering between PC's if the other PC doesn't have a eSATA or you don't want to open the case to get to a SATA port.

I got 6Gigs of ram an have used CS3 on occasion with things for work at home. I've used 3-4Gigs a few times but I typically have multiple files open within Photoshop to get that high, my photo's aren't big or complex by any means but it does start chewing up alot if you have quiet a few files open.

6Gigs I'd say is more than enough, if anything you can upgrade at a later date to 8Gigs but you should easily be able to work around a 6Gig cap.

Evilsizer · Mar 25, 2009

deathman20 said:
But the point of getting a SSD is to have fast speeds which USB ports don't offer. Great for transfering between PC's if the other PC doesn't have a eSATA or you don't want to open the case to get to a SATA port.

I got 6Gigs of ram an have used CS3 on occasion with things for work at home. I've used 3-4Gigs a few times but I typically have multiple files open within Photoshop to get that high, my photo's aren't big or complex by any means but it does start chewing up alot if you have quiet a few files open.

6Gigs I'd say is more than enough, if anything you can upgrade at a later date to 8Gigs but you should easily be able to work around a 6Gig cap.

umm the point of SSD is access time.... .1ms vs 4.7 for a raptor or 8ms-10ms for a seagate perp drive... you can get the same xfere rates on a rotating hd as you can a SSD. the big problem with current HD's is how fast it can get to the info to send to the cpu. it would be like using SD-ram on a i7 and wondering why its so slow as accessing and loading programs..

even if my SSD only did 80mb/s read-write, i would still have bought it. For the fact i can load into windows xp in about 30secs vs 1-2mins on my old 80gig 7200rpm seagate drive.

tcwave · Mar 25, 2009

you guys are awesome...thanks for the help. I got a:

640GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (320GB x 2)

I wonder if I will have room in the laptop for a SSD. It wasn't an option from HP. I got the HDX18t. The SSD connects via miniUSB right? Is there a better way to connect it?

Thanks,
Ted

zbo · Mar 25, 2009

Well that means you have two hdds in the laptop. You could replace one, or both, with ssds. I think that would be the best way forward.

deathman20 · Mar 25, 2009

Evilsizer said:
umm the point of SSD is access time.... .1ms vs 4.7 for a raptor or 8ms-10ms for a seagate perp drive... you can get the same xfere rates on a rotating hd as you can a SSD. the big problem with current HD's is how fast it can get to the info to send to the cpu. it would be like using SD-ram on a i7 and wondering why its so slow as accessing and loading programs..

even if my SSD only did 80mb/s read-write, i would still have bought it. For the fact i can load into windows xp in about 30secs vs 1-2mins on my old 80gig 7200rpm seagate drive.

The point I was getting at is USB is sloooow as in there is lag and throughput isn't the best in the world. Yes access time flys but its still all limited by the USB plug. If dealing with large images eSATA/SATA is the only way to go with that. Getting a SSD and having it limited by USB is like getting a Race Car and putting it into a traffic jam. All the potential to go fast, yet limited.

Do I need 6Mb or 8Mb DDR3 for Laptop? CS3 & Video

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