Does more RAM on Mac really improve performance?

mac memory

20,541

Solution 1

Yes! Mac OSX loves RAM and so does Premiere. Max out the memory if performance is important to you.

Do you "need" 8GB or 16GB? As others suggested, best thing to do is look at memory usage during actual usage. Without upgrading, it might be hard to tell but give it shot. A couple nice articles about OSX memory and performance might be worth reading: Problems with lack of memory in OSX & OSX Performance Tuning

I couldn't find a definitive answer, so please verify, but I think you can add 2x4GB SO-DIMMS giving yourself 12GB. That would let you upgrade without having to throw away your upgrade later if you do upgrade to 16GB. Unfortunately, there is currently a significant price premium for the 4GB SO-DIMMS.

Lastly, if you have the GeForce 9400M version of the 21.5" iMac, chances are good you'll see a large boost from 8GB since your video is sucking up system memory.

Solution 2

Open up Activity Monitor (it's in Applications/Utilities) - select the Memory option - run the program you're interested in (Premiere) - stress it as much as you can. If you still have a green segment (unused RAM) then you don't need to add any more RAM.

20,541

Simon Hughes

iOS Engineer Website | GitHub | Careers | App Store

Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

Simon Hughes over 1 year

I'm coming from a PC, loaded with a Core 2 Quad CPU and 8GB of DDR2 RAM. I was running Premiere CS3.

I'm new to Mac so I'm not sure if this will help performance: Will increasing my 21.5" Core 2 Duo iMac's memory from 4GB (DDR3) to 8GB improve performance of Premiere CS4 significantly? I am not impressed with Premiere as it is now. The iMac is the newest one as of this post.
- Simon Hughes about 14 years
  
  @Joe Thanks for an informative link. +1.
Simon Hughes about 14 years

Will it run smoothly with 8GB or 16GB?
akid about 14 years

The question was if performance will be improved significantly. Which is debatable starting at 4 GB..
Nathaniel about 14 years

Although you might want to consider fluctuations, e.g. one might be using a whole lot more RAM later after one checked the Activity Monitor. In other words, do thorough testing to make sure you really have enough.
Simon Hughes about 14 years

@akid - Well, I'm doing motion graphics related activity which can never have enough memory. I'm just new to Mac and all, hence the question.
Simon Hughes about 14 years

@akid - btw, Mac OS X is slow at certain points on 4GB of RAM. (Logging back in, for example) Start up is long too...
Always Asking about 14 years

Moshe - It's hard to say whether you need 16GB, or just 8GB. It really depends on how much you need. That said, you can never have too much RAM.
akid about 14 years

@Moshe - I get that. I was just pointing out that although correct, this answer doesn't help you a lot in determining if an upgrade is worth the cost and effort.
Paul R about 14 years

@Nathaniel: yes, that's what I meant by stress it as much as you can
Simon Hughes about 14 years

@akid. - True. I hear you.
Simon Hughes about 14 years

Actually, when running PRemiere, I shut everything else down for memory's sake. I wonder if a reboot would be better...
Simon Hughes about 14 years

@ipaulo - I have the Radeon HD version of the iMac.
Chealion about 14 years

@Moshe: A reboot would be better if you're wanting to squeeze every possible byte available (as it will reduce the amount of the OS libraries loaded because of other programs).
Nathaniel about 14 years

Whoops. I think I might have missed that. Sorry.
Paul R about 14 years

@Nathaniel: no problem - it's easy to miss details when you're "speed reading" ;-)
Simon Hughes over 13 years

@Nathaniel Must have a lot of RAM in him. :-)