Replies to post #68822 on Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[mmoy]

> Most programs don't use 16GB of memory. In fact, most programs
> don't use 0.5GB of memory, which makes the whole mention of
> memory here a red herring. I was mostly thinking about a system
> with Core Duo beating a system with G5, regardless of the
> amount of memory in each.

Yes, but are you going to sell a flagship system that is a
successor to your previous flagship as a 32-bit system that
suppors far less memory than your previous flagship?

I just read a review of the Quad PowerMac and they do recommend
it for their target audience.

They had a LightWave test on a 4Kx4K pixel image which should use up 64 MB per frame.

[sgolds]

wbmw -

Most programs don't use 16GB of memory. In fact, most programs don't use 0.5GB of memory, which makes the whole mention of memory here a red herring. I was mostly thinking about a system with Core Duo beating a system with G5, regardless of the amount of memory in each.

Apparently you don't use Photoshop or Illustrator, which do grab huge chunks of memory.

I do agree that "most programs don't use 0.5GB of memory". That misses the point. Are most users helped by >1GB memory? Let's look at some applications:

Adobe applications (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.)
CAD
Video editing
New photo-realistic video games
etc.

Doesn't matter if the user doesn't need the memory for twenty programs, only that he needs it for one of his programs.

Yes, I agree there are a lot of key pushers out there running no more than Word, Excel, email & browser. Heck, if you look around the world you will see all sorts of old (ancient?) systems running creaking applications sufficiently. Does not represent the buyers of new computers, though.

[gollem]

wbmw, if the previous bloatware OS's from Msft are any indication then 1 GB of memory will be the minimum for Vista, probably 2 to keep it smooth, add some swapspace and you're running into the limits of 32 bit addressspace.