Can anyone tell me if there is a limit to how effectively Poser Pro uses RAM while rendering? Has anyone seen benefits while rendering in having more than 6 or 12 Gb for instance? I would be particularly interested in any info from people using multiple cores or processors.

Thanks as always

32-bit or 64-bit OS?

If you have a 32-bit system, Poser will only access 2 Gb of RAM no matter how much you have.

If you have a 64-bit system, the advantages are definitely there.  I just upgraded to 16 Gb (4x4Gb sticks) and I love it for rendering with IDL.  I have a Quad-core processor so I have my threads set to 8 for Poser Pro 2010.

I forgot to specify, but this would be for a 64 bit OS.

So Victoria_Lee, you saw improvement after the switch? What did you have before the upgrade in terms of RAM?

Before this last upgrade I was using 8 Gb and that was an improvement over what I saw before, when I had 2 Gb on a 32-bit system.

Changing to a 64-bit system was the best thing I've ever done, not only for Poser but for Vue, as well.  Granted, my Vue renders still take a while but nowhere near as long as they used to ... and the IDL renders in Poser run quickly, too.

Still on 4 gig on my Win7 64-bit system, but additional RAM is definitely something I'm saving up for, if only for another 4 gig.... ...if I can stay away from the RMP long enough, that is. :blink:

So, I have a question for you, Robyn ... how stable is Win7?  I'm still running WinXp Pro 64-bit and I know I'm going to have to upgrade my OS soon but after the Vista fiasco, I'm hesitant to go up to Win7.

Oh, I do have a few issues with Win7 (I have Home Premium), Victoria, not the smallest of which is its inability to remember network credentials (I have to log on to the desktop from the laptop every time I reboot the PCs) but overall it hasn't given my much trouble.

Well, after all, it is Windows. So, I guess I have to cut it some slack. It's doing a fabulous job protecting me from me.

In retrospect, i don't know that I'd be in to all to great a hurry to upgrade, especially if things are stable now for you. Yes, Win7 supposedly does manage memory better than previous versions did, but there are a few other annoyances (the network credentials a HUGE one for me!) and well, the cost?

When I first bought Poser Pro 2010 I was running 4 Gigs on an AMD 4 Core XP 64 system. I upgraded to 8 Gigs.

While I did not see a dramatic increase in speed, there WAS some speed gain. I notice that typical renders use about 3.5 Gig of Ram and really heavy scenes with over 6 or 700 Megs of content may use upwards of 5 Gigs according to the system monitor.

What I NEVER get any more is the dreaded "out of memory" error from Poser. That in itself is reason enough to upgrade to 8 Gigs of memory, IMHO.

"Cameron" has HyperThreaded dual hex processors and 96GB RAM;  Poser Pro 2010 renders 24 threads with this processor pack.  My personal record for using RAM rendering in Poser is a bit over 48GB, while doing a 5120x1600 pixel dual-monitor desktop background.  Lots of geometry, complex materials, six raytrace bounces.  OS is Win7 Ultimate 64bit.

More threads rendering will use more RAM, but obviously gets the job done in less time,  if you have enough RAM to keep all the cores running at 100% capacity.

RAM adds capacity, rather than speed.  You would only see a noticeable speed increase if your prior setup had been running short on memory and page filing to/from the hard drive.  Many of the scenes which I render on Galadriel and Cameron simply could not be done on any 32bit machine.

*  Galadriel has a core i7 HyperThreaded quad processor, 12GB RAM, Vista Ultimate 64bit.