ZBrushCentral

16 gig Ram :) Compact Mem ):

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi guys, I recently installed 16 gig of pc2 533 ddr2 into my Precision 690 Workstation. The overhead means I can run Max, Photoshop and Zbrush seemlessly and I recommend it highly…

My question is… I have compact mem set to its max but I get loong pauses with the message compacting mem in top left of screen any time I hit over 10 mill polys. Is there anything else I can do to better harness the extra ram I’ve got sitting there without the long pauses?

My system
16 gb ddr2 pc2-4200
2x Xeon 5050
Quadro fx4500

Humble thanks :+1:

#2

I recall someone saying that ZB will still only utilize 4GB of ram, even if you put more in. Hopefully this limitation is removed in the next release and the updated release is true 64 bit (assuming that’s the issue). You’re probably experiencing the same issue that anyone with 4GB of ram runs into with more than 10 million polys. Your system will seriously kick ass if they do fix that issue. I will have to get my Dual Quad XEON 3ghz, 8GB ram out and see how it hangs :slight_smile:

#3

Thanks for the reply Kosher… I knew about the 4 gig limit, the problem doesn’t happen when I max out the 4 gig tho… it seems to compact mem around the 2 gig mark sometimes so I was wondering if it was a setting I’m missing somewhere?..

#4

Does the operating system matter at all in this equation?

#5

32-bit XP can only give 2 GB to any application.
32-bit Vista can give 3 GB to an application.
64-bit Vista or XP have no such limit. ZBrush can use up to 4 GB of whatever is available.

Always be sure to set your Preferences>Mem>Compact Mem setting to be equal to or lower than the amount shown above, but also no higher than the amount of RAM in your system. Remember to save some RAM for your OS and any background apps.