Where's my bottleneck?! HD or RAM?

[markwhite1980]

Hi All,

 

I've read numerous similar posts but as it's system-specific, I hope it's ok to post.

 

I'm getting the sudden motion/disk is too slow error message a lot recently.

 

The all important specs:

 

Late 2009 iMac 27" quad 2.6 i5

12GB Ram (4/4/2/2)

1TB internal drive - Logic/projects running from here

Logic 9.1.8

FW800 external - containing all sample libraries

Presonus Firestudio Project (FW400 Daisy chained, so Mac-FW800 Drive-FW400 interface)

OS 10.8.5

 

Most projects tend to feature as many sample library channels as I can run - a normal project might be something like 8 omnisphere/4 RMX Stylus/1 Cinestrings/a few other channels/various FX plugins.

 

So, I'm wondering where the bottleneck is? Can it be pinned down to RAM or HD? Having initially considered purchasing/installing a 2nd internal drive - SSD, I'm now wondering whether that would give me the best 'bang for buck'. It's also a somewhat arduous task so I;d rather avoid unless it's clearly the Achilles Heel. For around the same price as a 500GB SSD I could purchase 2x8GB sticks, pushing RAM to 24GB RAM.

 

Specifically to running a lot of sample libraries, what is my best upgrade option within a £200 budget?

 

(I've done the usual tweaks with buffer settings etc., might try an OS upgrade, also would Logic X upgrade benefit?)

 

Any help greatly appreciated.

[triplets]

Having the projects on the internal drive is not ideal.

 

Have you tried running the project from the external drive?

[markwhite1980]

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Do you think my hardware specs might be up to the job then?

[triplets]

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Do you think my hardware specs might be up to the job then?

 

What does your CPU meter say? Is it close to peaking all the time? Not at all?