16Gig Ram VS 32 Gig Ram

[animationlife]

Hello Everyone.

I am buying this computer as Follow:

XPS Tower Special Edition | Dell United States

Also, I am upgrading the Graphic card to:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDRX Graphic Memory.

I work with After Effects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Modo. My friend told me if I am running each program separately , going from 16 Gig to 32 Gig of Ram, is not going to make that much different. Is that true?

Thanks.

[eikonoklastes]

After Effects is a hungry, hungry RAM monster. The more you feed it, the happier it will be. 16 GB can quickly become a bit of a bottle-neck, especially if you don't have a dedicated SSD drive as your media cache. Go for 32 GB or beyond if possible.

[animationlife]

Dear. eikonoklastes.

This computer is coming with 512 SSD Drive

[eikonoklastes]

Just to clarify what I said earlier, Adobe recommends a separate (from your OS and project files), fast SSD drive to use as a media cache. If you have just 1 SSD, housing your OS, project files and the media cache, it's not the most efficient setup for AE.

[animationlife]

This computer has 512 GiG SSD Drive, and 2TB Regular Hard Drive. Is that good? In other words, I am going to put my Application's In the SSD Drive, and all the Files in the Other Hard Drive.

[eikonoklastes]

With that setup, you would ideally want a 3rd SSD drive (even if its only 100 GB or so), dedicated as a media cache. I don't know how much of a benefit you would get with that, but it is what Adobe recommends.

[dbDavideBoscolo]

I have the nvidia gtx1060 and I think it's more than enough for Ae,  Premiere and Photoshop.

I would go for the 32gb of ram. That processor is perfect. In a custom build pc you could overclock it (to 4.8ghz maybe), don't know if you can do that with a dell pc.

[animationlife]

Dear Zulkifar.

As I said this computer comes with::  512GB M.2 Solid State Drive + 2TB 7200 rpm Hard Drive,  I can put all my Adobe Creative Clouds Apps In the SSD Drive, and I can put all my files In the other 2TB Drive,  I can create a shortcut of my files from the 2TB Drive in my Desktop. In other words all the folders that are in my 2TB Drive, they have shortcuts in my Desktop. Is this the correct way of doing it?

[dbDavideBoscolo · Accepted solution]

Yes thatvs fine.

I have a m2 ssd too, with Windows and all my software there. That's my C drive.

You'll use your 2Tb drive for your files. I have the same setup.

You need one extra step:

move your user folders to your 2TB drive. You can easily do that:

How to Change the Location of User Folders in Windows 10 - dummies

This way you can leave everything you want on your Desktop (without using shortcuts if you want), which will now be on your 2tb drive.

If you'll need to format your ssd drive in the future, your user folder files will be safe ( the ones on your Desktop folder, Documents folder, and so on.. they will stay on your 2tb drive).

Sorry for my English, a bit messy.

[animationlife]

Dear Zulkifar.

Thank you very much. I will try that when I receive my new computer.

[animationlife]

Dear Zulkifar.

I moved the User folder to my 2TB drive. Now, every file that is in my Desktop, is from The 2TB Drive, I have Installed my Adobe apps in the C Drive the SSD Drive. I have few questions please. The computer came with Two Eight Gig Rams Total of 16 Gig Of Ram. When I ordered the additional 16 Gig Of Ram, Dell did send me one 16 Gig Ram, Instead of Two 8 Gig Rams, I have Installed the 16 Gig Ram in the Third Slot, I contacted Dell and told them about this situation, and they told me they are shipping Two 8 Gigs Ram, and I can Send them the 16 Gig Ram Back. At this point I have Two 8 Gig Rams, Plus One 16 Gig ram Installed In my Computer the Total of 32 Gig of Ram. Dose It make any different if the Rams are Different Size ?

Also, Inside After Effects, I did exported few Movies with bunch of Effects on top of them, and I did not see that much of different from my older computer. how can I test to see if this computer is performing faster than my older computer.

thank you very much for your help.

[dbDavideBoscolo]

Hi animationlife,

this is what I know. But I'm not an expert!

I don't know if you can mix your Ram. I personally have two sets of 16GB.

If you want to test your pc and if you have your old pc with you, just try to render the same sequence with your old and the new machine and compare. What are your old pc specifications?

AE is not going to use all your cpu cores, so it's better to have a high cpu clock speed (your cpu runs at 4.2ghz which is really good) rather then a lower clock speed but more cores. So the first thing you want to look is your old cpu clock speed.

If you download a software like HWMonitor you can see how much your cores work while rendering. You should see there is one core making all the hard work and the other cores working less intensely.

HWMonitor also tells you how much GPU you are using. There are some effects that now are working on your GPU (fractal noise, fast blur, levels and others... ). In the features we are all hoping to see AE using more cores and GPU.

I bought a pc with the i7-6800k cpu recently, which runs at 3.4ghz. Then I realized the 4.2ghz i7-7700k cpu, which is what you have, would have been better for AE.

If you want to test your pc outside AE, I think there are some benchmarks you can do. Don't know very much about this.

( If you want to increase your cpu performance you can overclock your cpu, but here you need some expert help. And I'm not an expert. I overclocked mine from 3.4ghz to 4.2ghz and I really see some improvement here. You could mildly overclock your cpu too. There are some pro and cons in overclocking, so get a lot of information first and help from someone who knows how to do it! Your pc would use more power, it would get hotter and less stable too... so you have to know what you are doing.)

Hope this helps you. Hopefully someone else joins this discussion.

[animationlife]

Dear. Zulkifar.

I just Downloaded HWMonitor, and its very Interesting, but Its kind of complicated for me, I need to learn them.

when you run the HWMonitor, do you have to have After Effects loaded or not ?

Thanks.

[dbDavideBoscolo]

Just leave it open yes. There are lot of stuff there I know.

You want to look at 'Utilization' (there you see your cpu cores and the percentage. When you render the percentages increase. One of your core should bump to 100 percent or so).

Further down you should have your NVIDIA GeForce infos. Also in 'Utilization' --> GPU you should see how much GPU you are using. Mine usually stays very low.

You can ignore the rest.

You can see how this parameters change when you render with Premiere, Cinema4D or any other software.

[animationlife]

Dear. Zulkifar.

I remember years ago working with Lightwave 3D, there was this thing called RENDER FARM, In other words, you could let your program use all the computers at the same time for Rendering, can you do that with After Effects also ?

Also, If can add Two more Hard Drives to this computer. This is my Question please:

If I add a another 2TB hard Drive to this computer, for example Drive E, so I can add all my old files to that Drive,  is that going to effect the slowing down of this computer ?

In other words, Instead of going back to my older computer files, just have them in a separate Hard Drive In my new computer. what do you thing ?

I do have bunch of External Drives, I was thinking just put them In a separate Drive such as E Drive.

Thanks.

[dbDavideBoscolo]

Never used a Render Farm for After Effects sorry.

A new drive wouldn't slow down anything I think. If you have a slot in your pc for an extra drive and if you think you need it just go for it.

[P.M.B]

Zulkifar  wrote

I don't know if you can mix your Ram. I personally have two sets of 16GB.

You can mix RAM sticks as long as they are the same speed.  For example you can have an 8gig stick and a 16gig stick as long as all the other specs are the same.  The only caveat is that they won't be able to take advantage of the dual channel technology.

[animationlife]

Yes,  My Memory Sticks are all same.

Thanks

[animationlife]

Dear Zulkifar.

I have done what you told me, moving my user folder to my 2TB Drive D Drive, Therefore everything that I have in my Desktop, and my Pictures, Musics  and other files are pointing to my D Drive, I have also Installed another 2TB Hard Drive So I can put my old files into that Drive,  Its Drive E. Therefore, only Application files are remaining in my C Drive which is the SSD Drive. With 32 Gig of Ram It is faster.

Thank you very much.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi animationlife,

Did you get all your questions answered? Let us know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[animationlife]

Thanks Kevin.

[meganc6868614]

Kevin-Monahan​ - Do you recommend a 32GB RAM to run multiple Adobe programs - or is 8GB RAM sufficient?

[Ussnorway]

8g is the min I would use in a Windows system and should run any Adobe app + Windows

to be clear, any single app i.e, one at a time

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Megan,

Thanks for your question. I would go for 32GB RAM. 8GB is too low for even one program, in my opinion. Let me know if I can help at all with anything else.

Thanks,
Kevin

[animationlife]

I remember starting this Discussion Last year. Since I purchased my new computer, I am using 32 Gig of Ram, Instead of 16 Gig Of Ram, and It does make lots of different, and It is not only In After Effects, It also works better with Premiere, I noticed If I am Editing with lots of Clips, and effects its much smoother.

Thanks.