Newbie Question about RAM

[Troy Bakewell]

So I'm just starting to learn how to edit with my Scarlet RD3 files.

I have a relatively older Dell Precision workstation with 2 Xeon dual core 3.2 processors and 8gb of RAM running Windows 7 with two internal stripped Raid 0 scratch drives. I have CS5.5 and it puked when I first started to play with my Scarlet files. I have since upgraded my graphics card to a Nvidea GTX580 which has helped a lot but my computer is still very doggy.

My question is this:

Will adding RAM make a big improvement in performance or am I better off budgeting for a newer machine and possibly a RED Rocket Card?

Thanks in advance for your advice everyone.




Edit:

I should make clear that I have a total of 4 cores.

Also, what I'm mostly looking to improve is smoother previews at higher resolution. (Perhaps 1/4 resolution?)

 

[Troy Bakewell]

Anyone?

 

[L. Langer]

Get a new machine. What you have isn't going to cut it.

 

[Troy Bakewell]

Ugh Was afraing that was the case.

Thanks though!

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

L. Langer is probably right... He's definitely correct if you have dreams of running 1/4 res or higher. Sure, more RAM helps, but if you're running 2 x dual core chips, then you're behind the curve as it is. The latest and greatest dual-core offering was the Xeon 5100 series and offered a 1066MHz front side bus and is 40% slower per core, per clock than the current E5-2500 series is offering now. We can only guess which configuration you actually have. At 3.2GHz, dual core Xeons came with either an 800MHz or 1066MHz bus speed. However, the 3.33GHz Xeon 7100 had a 667MHz bus, so be sure you know what you have.

Sad thing is, the current i7 quad-core chips found in mobile systems, laptops, Mac Mini, etc.. with their 1600MHz bus and quad-channel memory system, will outperform your box.