Thanks for the quick response - don't know about Superfetch - but I don't have it with XP64 - so I'm guessing it will use as much as it wants with XP 64 - and I can limit the Pagefile size to 16mb I think in XP64 without asking for an illegal size. 4x 4gb is about $400 now for PC 6400 / DDR2 800 - I'm guessing it will come down quick once the i7 chip is out this month and DDR3 starts selling more.

srode
If you don't mind me asking -
What motherboard are you using? All the boards I've come across max out at 8GB

Oh shucks...didn't notice that you were using XP 64! You're right--you don't have Superfetch with XP, although I am not sure if that's such a good thing or not. I can't say that I understand all there is to know about Superfetch, but from what I do understand it seems like a pretty useful feature; at least in terms of making the applications start and run more efficiently. Now the part I don't know about, is what happens when Superfetch has cached all that RAM with applications and the silly user decides he or she would like to use a *different* application? Obviously it has to switch the active application with something that's been cached, but how long does this take...and how is it accomplished?

How does XP 64 work with 8.1? I was actually going to order that OS, but then opted for Vista 64 when I found out here that SCS doesn't support XP for 8.1-related problems. But I am pleasantly surprised at how much I like Vista 64. I have been using it for over a month now, and it really is a pretty nice OS.

TB

eVoke, is that a published mobo limitation (the 8gb you mentioned) or what? I am unaware of any such limitation on my mobo, and thought that I could simply install 4 sticks of 4gb DDR2 RAM and get up to 16gb?

I will dig out my motherboard manual and have a read, but I don't recall seeing it mentioned before. I'm glad you mentioned it though, as now you got me curious.

TB

EDIT: DANG! It does only take 8gb! Wow, I did not know that... Thanks again for posting.

There are a few that support 16, especially server boards. Also, many boards are specked at 8GB but would would have been specked for 16 if 4GB dimms had been a practical choice.

If your board supports 8GB on paper it might be able to support 16GB later on with a BIOS patch.

Rob Mack

Check for a BIOS update. Some systems will eventually support 16GB.

I wondered about that; a BIOS update to upgrade the board.

I also spent some time tonight researching how XP handles fetching data. It turns out that it does indeed utilize this action. I found http://www.audioforums.com/resources/windows-xp-optimization.htmlthis[/link] link about how to optimize Windows 2000/XP for audio use like a DAW. If you look on that page in the Defrag Often section, there's this:




Now I am not sure how this differs from the "Superfetch" feature used by Vista, but it sure sounds similar.

That's an interesting read, btw. I have made most of the recommended changes, but not the ones that directly affect graphics or video performance in some way.

TB

eVoke - the motherboard I have is a Gigbyte EP45-DQ6 - the North bridge is an intel p45 chip which is designed to handle 16Gb max - I believe the P35 Nortbrige will handle 16 Gb also - these are also on some Foxcon, DFI and Asus motherboards. The X38/x48 boards northbridge chipsets are limited to 8Gb according to Intel. 4 DIMM slots and can run 800, 1066, 1333, or 1600 FSB - I have a Q6700 running 3.33 Ghz with only a couple changes in the bios on this board - the original Bios not one of the 5 updates that are available. RAM is at 800 but the board is spec'd for up to 1333 - but 1200 is the highest I can find right now in DDR2.

Icbetka, XP64 works fine with 8.1 - not problems at all - a simple video of about 20 clips lasting 15 minutes, standard 1 second cross fades renders in about 25 minutes on my computer at 8 bit pixel format - 32 bit takes twice as long. What is noticable is the page filing is reduced quited a bit compared to 8.0c on these types of clips - if there are not transitions and using 8 bit pixel format there's not much difference - with transitions and 32 bit pixel it's about half the time for rendering in 8.1 vs 8.0c.