I want to upgrade to 16GB of memory

[GreyHippo]

I want to upgrade two computers, each has an Intel Core2 Duo 3.16ghz processor and 3GB of memory and Windows XP 32bit. I want to install Windows 7 64bit and dump 16GB of memory into each. We just upgraded to Acad C3D 2011. 80% of our workload is using C3D to prepared surfaces, profiles, and cross sections.

Is 16GB too much, will there be a benefit versus adding 8GB?

[jaberwok]

16 Gb is not too much; using C3D, it may even be a really good idea. I run 16Gb for vanilla acad but could use less.

[rkmcswain]

We run 12 GB in our C3D machines.... more is only better

[cdatechguy]

The only issue you might have is whether your hardware is 16gb capable....Some Core2 mobos were 8gb max...also check on whether the particular processor is 64bit..

[sinc]

Moving up to Win 7 x64 and adding more RAM will make a noticeable improvement to those machines, but the key factor is the CPU. There's only so much you can do with those CPUs.

Once you decide on an upgrade, it might be wise to also compare the cost of simply replacing those machines (or, if possible, replacing the CPU/MOBO in your existing machines) with a new 2nd-Gen i3/i5/i7 machine. A new Core i3-2120 with 8GB of RAM, Win 7 x64, and an inexpensive GeForce graphics card will run circles around your proposed upgrade, as far as performance, and you can often find such machines for under $1000.

[Liamnacuac]

This is an interesting thread. We are in the midst of testing Dell's new M6600 (when it arrives) with these specs;
Intel Core i7-2820QMGenuine Windows 7 Professional, 64
8.0GB, DDR3-1600MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMS (then add 8 Gb more ourselves)NVIDIA Quadro 4000M
17.3" UltraSharp FHD(1920x1080)
Primary - 256GB (SATA3) Mobility Solid State Drive
Secondary - 320GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load w/Roxio and Cyberlink PowerDVD
9-cell (97Wh) Lithium Ion Battery
Wireless LAN (802.11) Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 802.11a/b/g/n
Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Module
Light Sensitive Webcam and Noise Cancelling Digital Array Mic

Our in house testing suggests getting less video card and 12gb ram could save money, but the file swap to the hard drive was killing us on a 7200 RPM drive, so we want to test a solid state drive. The SSD is expensive and hard to get right now. One our techs started wondering why we would need this, and why I explained that during some recent testing, we found a lot more read/write to the hard drive than we expected as we used acad. He then suggested if its a swap file, then use a SD card instead of an SSD, and set the swap file to R/W to that..
Sounds like a very practical way to save some money. Can anyone explain to me why this wouldn't work (as in you can't set AutoCAD to swap to a specific drive, maybe,,I haven't looked)?

[sinc]

You would have to set your Windows system swap file (pagefile) to the SD. And it is very very strongly recommended that you never configure your Windows pagefile so any part of it is placed on a removable disk.

It seems wrong that you should be seeing so much swapping with 12GB of RAM, though, unless you are working on truly monstrous drawings...

[Liamnacuac]

We do make some pretty big Revit MEP files and some good size Acad MEP files, but nothing extraordinaily big. We had 24 Gb loaded on a test machine, and found somewhere around 13Gb was max used.
I also agree with the no external swap files, but even if the speed of a SD was slower than a SSD, and faster than a Mechanical drive, so maybe a way to save money and improve speed? Mostly, I am curious to know if I'm seeing swap files from AutoCAD or Windows..

[dgorsman]

The SD may be faster, but is likely rated for fewer write operations and may not be rated at all for continuous use. After all, if it starts failing its expected that the user would just plug in a new one.

And that looks like a mobile set-up; speed should be secondary to portability.

[cadtag]

look into ReadyBoost for Win7 or Vista. It enables the use of a flash memory device for caching frequently used data. I've never benchmarked it, but it seems to help