Need a Review - Workstation build

[True_Avery]

I would go with 6gigs right now, unless it was a server. Even a workstation doesn't need 12gigs. Honestly, you will see a bigger bump in performance by using a good SSD instead of getting a huge amount of ram.

Reason I'm getting the SSD (thanks for the SSD links by the way. Switching to an OCZ) is, like you said, to cut down on RAM use by installing the applications on the SSD.

The 12GB, while I've heard over-kill, is primarily to Render. I'm aware that the applications themselves will not take all that much Ram to operate, but the render times will be significantly cut down with some settings tweaking as well as giving me the ability to work while a Render is in progress, along with running tutorial dvds and so on. I plan to render at high resolution, which is also a huge system drag as well as a long process.

Plus, the pricing on the 12GB I found is really nice considering their speed. Leaves room for future upgrading, as well as pulling out 6GB if I get another rig in the future.

But, If I've made any mistakes on the above assumptions feel free to correct me. Trying to get this computer right.

 

[zmatt]

Reason I'm getting the SSD (thanks for the SSD links by the way. Switching to an OCZ) is, like you said, to cut down on RAM use by installing the applications on the SSD.

The 12GB, while I've heard over-kill, is primarily to Render. I'm aware that the applications themselves will not take all that much Ram to operate, but the render times will be significantly cut down with some settings tweaking as well as giving me the ability to work while a Render is in progress, along with running tutorial dvds and so on. I plan to render at high resolution, which is also a huge system drag as well as a long process.

Plus, the pricing on the 12GB I found is really nice considering their speed. Leaves room for future upgrading, as well as pulling out 6GB if I get another rig in the future.

But, If I've made any mistakes on the above assumptions feel free to correct me. Trying to get this computer right.

You probably know more about the applications you are working with than I do. The SSD will be good for applications, but if you get a big enough one, or two in RAID, then you can install the OS and the applications, and then the overall system performance will really take off.

 

[meat_helmet]

Reason I'm getting the SSD (thanks for the SSD links by the way. Switching to an OCZ) is, like you said, to cut down on RAM use by installing the applications on the SSD.

The 12GB, while I've heard over-kill, is primarily to Render. I'm aware that the applications themselves will not take all that much Ram to operate, but the render times will be significantly cut down with some settings tweaking as well as giving me the ability to work while a Render is in progress, along with running tutorial dvds and so on. I plan to render at high resolution, which is also a huge system drag as well as a long process.

Plus, the pricing on the 12GB I found is really nice considering their speed. Leaves room for future upgrading, as well as pulling out 6GB if I get another rig in the future.

But, If I've made any mistakes on the above assumptions feel free to correct me. Trying to get this computer right.

Your correct that rendering will benifit from using 12GB. Some render files can be massive - i personally have had issues when trying to render images in excess of 15-20 megapixels with 4GB of ram.

Also if you work in a few different programs at once it helps alot. Photoshop files with many layers can eat up memory very quickley...

What render are you using??