stories777
09-27-2001, 11:00 PM
Have read most threads on vcache. My question : Is there (on some systems) an upper limit on non-vcached RAM for non-crash stability?
Case in point: P3-700, Asus P3V4X, 640Meg PC133 RAM, Win98, Maxtor 20G ATA-100 7200 rpm boot drive, 2nd Gigs drive same type. Sampler LE, HolyGrail (364 Meg) piano as main sound, M-Aud. Audiophile 24/96, BlasterLive, etc.
CacheMan ver. 5. most settings set to max. VCache min/max further tweaked to 25% of RAM (163840) chunk 512. This is rock stable, and there are no clicks/pops. I only use 1 or two instruments at a time, and LE has a 48 poly limit. Non-vcached RAM is 476 Meg (notice how this is just below 512 Meg)..
But, I have bigger future loads & GS-96 planned so....
O.K. so, I put in 768 RAM, adjust vcache back to 25% again (this is now 196608, max & min, chunk still 512), and, left over non-vacached RAM is 571392k (572 Meg). (notice this left-over RAM is now past 512 Meg). This set up lasts 5 minutes - even in Office stuff, and the system dies, shuts off. (Same of course for 896 & 1024 Meg RAM -which I tried)... 640 Meg is the limit.
-What about this?: Could I use 768, but increase the vcache to around 31%, so that the non-vcached RAM stays at or below 512 Meg? I.E: at 768 Meg RAM installed, I would min/max vcache 256Meg (or 256000k). What\'s the harm in going over 25%? Someone wrote in here with 1 Gig RAM, and had max vcache at 50% (512). If there\'s tons left over for applications, isn\'t this o.k.? Also, the Grail piano is a busy complex dynamic beast, and getting upwards of 70% of it cached into RAM is just more sensible from a clean/fast standpoint.
So, is - for my ancient 1-year old system - the upper stable limit of non-vached RAM, 512 Meg? Is it something else causing the crashes? The RAM is good (no bad blocks). You guys with stable 768 or 1Gig RAM systems and Win98 - what\'s the catch? Someone mentioned tweaking I/O voltages in BIOS, but I\'m loath to go in there. Besides, the board I have is fairly automated.
Any help would be really appreciated!
p.s. that slider we have read about in Halion - where you can bring over piles of the sample into RAM - is that effectively the same as setting a big vcache?
p.s.2: I ordered Studio96 in early July - not arrived yet. Order went through at site fine - no bounce back etc. I made 6 or more inquiries to Nemesys/Tascam, no result. Any one else in similar spot?
p.s.3: If anyone is interested, the HolyGrail Kawai (platinum giga 364 Meg load) is very nice to play - the inter-string sympathetic resonance is the real secret - chords sound like chords, and individual notes have other notes ringing in them - this is key to realism (esp. jazz). I layer mine with outboard GEM Pro-1 module & Oberheim mini grand (both have added cross-string sympathetics). I\'d like to run the Grail out at 24/96 for even more dynamics - need GS96. Anyone doing this yet?
p.s.4: Yamaha has (finally!!!) added sympathetic resonance to its top Clavinovas!!
The CLP-990 I believe, has sympathetics, all 88 notes sampled, 5 velocity layers, and it reserves about 81 Meg for piano-1 (not bad, considering where things were just 2 years ago - a few hundred k per sound & no sympathetics). Maybe, in 5 years, we\'ll see
3 gigs, 24-bit, 30 velocity layers, etc. It\'s not unthinkable.
Cheers all! & happy music making! -Stories777.
Case in point: P3-700, Asus P3V4X, 640Meg PC133 RAM, Win98, Maxtor 20G ATA-100 7200 rpm boot drive, 2nd Gigs drive same type. Sampler LE, HolyGrail (364 Meg) piano as main sound, M-Aud. Audiophile 24/96, BlasterLive, etc.
CacheMan ver. 5. most settings set to max. VCache min/max further tweaked to 25% of RAM (163840) chunk 512. This is rock stable, and there are no clicks/pops. I only use 1 or two instruments at a time, and LE has a 48 poly limit. Non-vcached RAM is 476 Meg (notice how this is just below 512 Meg)..
But, I have bigger future loads & GS-96 planned so....
O.K. so, I put in 768 RAM, adjust vcache back to 25% again (this is now 196608, max & min, chunk still 512), and, left over non-vacached RAM is 571392k (572 Meg). (notice this left-over RAM is now past 512 Meg). This set up lasts 5 minutes - even in Office stuff, and the system dies, shuts off. (Same of course for 896 & 1024 Meg RAM -which I tried)... 640 Meg is the limit.
-What about this?: Could I use 768, but increase the vcache to around 31%, so that the non-vcached RAM stays at or below 512 Meg? I.E: at 768 Meg RAM installed, I would min/max vcache 256Meg (or 256000k). What\'s the harm in going over 25%? Someone wrote in here with 1 Gig RAM, and had max vcache at 50% (512). If there\'s tons left over for applications, isn\'t this o.k.? Also, the Grail piano is a busy complex dynamic beast, and getting upwards of 70% of it cached into RAM is just more sensible from a clean/fast standpoint.
So, is - for my ancient 1-year old system - the upper stable limit of non-vached RAM, 512 Meg? Is it something else causing the crashes? The RAM is good (no bad blocks). You guys with stable 768 or 1Gig RAM systems and Win98 - what\'s the catch? Someone mentioned tweaking I/O voltages in BIOS, but I\'m loath to go in there. Besides, the board I have is fairly automated.
Any help would be really appreciated!
p.s. that slider we have read about in Halion - where you can bring over piles of the sample into RAM - is that effectively the same as setting a big vcache?
p.s.2: I ordered Studio96 in early July - not arrived yet. Order went through at site fine - no bounce back etc. I made 6 or more inquiries to Nemesys/Tascam, no result. Any one else in similar spot?
p.s.3: If anyone is interested, the HolyGrail Kawai (platinum giga 364 Meg load) is very nice to play - the inter-string sympathetic resonance is the real secret - chords sound like chords, and individual notes have other notes ringing in them - this is key to realism (esp. jazz). I layer mine with outboard GEM Pro-1 module & Oberheim mini grand (both have added cross-string sympathetics). I\'d like to run the Grail out at 24/96 for even more dynamics - need GS96. Anyone doing this yet?
p.s.4: Yamaha has (finally!!!) added sympathetic resonance to its top Clavinovas!!
The CLP-990 I believe, has sympathetics, all 88 notes sampled, 5 velocity layers, and it reserves about 81 Meg for piano-1 (not bad, considering where things were just 2 years ago - a few hundred k per sound & no sympathetics). Maybe, in 5 years, we\'ll see
3 gigs, 24-bit, 30 velocity layers, etc. It\'s not unthinkable.
Cheers all! & happy music making! -Stories777.