Bad ram

jumpthewire

jumpthewire

Well-known member
so i thought i would post here before contacting Apple care to see if anyone had some insight...

i recently found out i have bad "video ram" as detected by apple care's tech tool deluxe.
im a bit puzzled tho what "video ram" is compared to RAM?

i have 8gb of RAM but from what i gather "video ram" is related to the video card?

since im pretty sure it is the video card-
any advice on a top notch card out there?

any insight would be greatly helpful!
thanks
shawn
 
It is memory on the video card itself. You might be fine, you might have serious issues, and it might die all of a sudden. RAM tends to have issues before completely burning out. You could wait til it is necessary if it doesn't affect your renders and other issues aren't unbearable.

I think people say the best is the ATI Radeon HD 4870 512M, as sold on the new Mac Pros. Or whichever is biggest and baddest ATI card that is compatible.
 
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thanks!

hey, did those laugh tracks work out for ya!?

ive noticed some video cards are $800...
why the heck are some so damn expensive?

are they geared more towards gaming?

i do editing & motion graphics only

thanks
shawn
 
well the reason i ran the utility is because ive been having some motion problems and then photoshop issues, which made me thing it was the RAM

i did the test and it said it failed
: (

seems like its progressively getting worse
$300 isnt too bad if that card is solid
 
Yea, that is the sound of dying RAM. You might lose your picture all together soon.

Make sure you have space for air to get into and out of the case. Heat doesn't help RAM live long.

I'd make sure there isn't a better one that is compatible before pulling the trigger. But you should be a happy camper with that one. Upgrade! :)
 
ah...
funny you say that about heat....

ive been running my machine pretty hard.....dont have the best air-flow going on either....
so that kinda makes sense!

ill do a little more research...
thanks for the info!!

appreciate it!
s
 
I just read through an other thread on RedUser that seems to clearly point to the ATI Radeon HD 4870 512M.
 
Thanks DJ. i do in fact have an intel machine.

can you tell me what you mean when you say "run a couple of cycles?"
just doing multiple testing?

thanks again!
shawn
 
well you were right....upon further testing the "video RAM" passed using apple's tech tool.....

i did that test while the computer was just turned on vs. when the comp. was on for
several hours (heat related?)

i ordered a new ATI card so ill throw that in and see if that fixes the issues. if not, then
its obviously a bigger issue....

havent had a chance to run memtest yet.

thanks again!
shawn
 
i have an eSata PCI card (2 eSata ports to an external enclosure)

Rear Firewire - DigiDesign 003 audio interface
Front Firewire 800- Lacie drive/OWC drive (daisy)
Front Firewire 400- External Monitor display


it seems like my issues started when i did the FCP7 upgrade.
before that i had the same setup for at least 6 months w/o issues.

the freezes are random, makes me think heat related.
with that in mind- are their any options in regards to heat?

more frequent shutting down?
fan option?

shawn
 
I bet you won't regret the video card anyway. :)

I have never ran Memtest on an Apple, but if it is an Intel I suppose you could practically the same way. Memtest runs before going into your OS, it is a little program that runs different tests on your RAM. It is designed to find problems. You boot from a CD with Memtest on it, a memory stick, whatever, and off it goes. All you do is let it run. A solid computer should last 12hs or more without errors. If you get errors you will know that it is your RAM and not your Video Card.

To get it and to get instructions just Google it. It is free.

This is highly inaccurate, but, since you say that problems happen after a while it very well could be heat, maybe if you feel like it, try this: Run your computer for a LONG time, allowing for all the components to get nice and toasty through and through. Then, shut off your AC for a second and quickly re-boot. Hopefully the components won't cool off too much. Once it is booted, get it running hard again and quickly switch the AC back on. Hopefully you will have not lost a lot of temperature. Then run it for a while longer and if you get issues sooner than from a fresh boot then, maybe, it might point towards heat a little more than if you didn't. But, if it takes about as long as before to run into issues then, maybe, it might be software going out of wack over time. Probably not worth the hassle though.

For heat:
_ Lower placement, it will pick up more dust but cool air is closer to the ground.
_ Dust clean up. Open it up and take a can of air to all of it. Heat sinks mainly.
_ Obstruction of the fans. Give the air room to create a short stream.
_ Make sure all your fans are working. :)
_ Fans in your house to even out the temperature. It will lower the temperature peaks right before the AC kicks in.
_ AC vents, make sure they are well balanced. The thermostat room should match your computer room perfectly for the temperature you set to be the effective one.
_ Lower your AC a degree or two.
 
Thanks for all the info!

I've read good things about the 3870, but just heard it doesnt do "open CL" like the 5870.
Regardless it SHOULD be a bit of a bump in performance (in color/motion)

My tower right now sits on the floor, fans working. Maybe ill try to give it a bit more "room"
to breath since its about 5 inches from the wall.

Installing tonight!!

Thanks again.
Shawn
 
If you have 5 inches to the wall you are good to go.

So would the 5870 be fully compatible with Mac OS? It is out of stock everywhere but HERE for $400.

I wouldn't know enough to say if it is a better purchase. But perhaps you could still return it and get the more powerful 5870?

I wish I could give you more info on that but I am a PC guy.

Take a look at this thread HERE. It might have a bit more specific info.
 
i noticed the 5870 was hard to track down!!

so i did the install last night. havent had a chance to put it through the tests, but
i did notice the fan is a bit louder than my previous Nvidia card

on the packaging they had 2 cables coming off the card.
1. power supply
2. HD Hard drive

i couldnt figure out for the life of me why they had the HD Hard drive?
or even the purpose? Our IT guy at work was perplexed and said it had
to be a typo of some sort.

anways-
testing this weekend!

shawn
 
so i did a test-

did a "RAM Preview" on my work machine > Radeon X1900
did a "RAM Preview" with the new card> 3870

VAST improvement!

hopfully i wont have any further issues with the freezing
more tests!

thanks for all the info
shawn
 
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