More RAM or another PC?

[Reverse Reverb]

Hello there,
i am new one to the forum and i have a question for anyone wants to help me out with this issue of mine.
I have a Lenovo Thinkpad T440 with 4 gb ram memory for the moment,running FL Studio 20 and my projects are between 10 and 15 mixer channels.
Recently i started to make bigger projects but my pc is clipping and as i can see my cpu is pressed a lot.
My question is from the moment that i cannot upgrade my cpu if i'm going to 8 gb ram it's going to be better?
Thank you in advance.

[Wonks]

It's a 10 year old laptop with (if the specs are to be believed) a 4th gen i5-4200u 1.6GHz processor and (originally at least, a 128GB SSD).

The i5 is now up to 14th gen and they are a lot, lot faster.

4GB is a very small amount of RAM, with most being taken up by the OS, so it will have to use the SSD a lot, which whilst a lot faster than an HDD, is still very slow compared to RAM, so the RAM is certainly a bottleneck.

You could upgrade the RAM. I don't know if the laptop has one or two memory slots. You need DDR3L memory, 16GB of Crucial RAM on two cards is around £36, but on one card it's listed at £185. Obviously used is an option here, but it's always a bit of a risk.

But it's probably time to look for a new laptop with a much newer processor, bigger SSD and I'd suggest 16GB RAM as a minimum. You'll be able to run more channels and have more complexity on each channel.

[Dynamic Mike]

A while back I used MrMemory for RAM sticks. They scan your system and recommend options available at different price points. Really good service as I recall.

[sonics]

Why not try upgrading the RAM and see how it goes? It looks like a used 8GB SODIMM will cost about £10-15.

[amanise]

...

But it's probably time to look for a new laptop with a much newer processor, bigger SSD and I'd suggest 16GB RAM as a minimum. You'll be able to run more channels and have more complexity on each channel.

I'd agree.

Plugins and particularly virtual instruments are starting to assume a min of 8Gb - with good performance available with 16Gb. They work at 8 - but weird things can happen here and there.

It's always tempting to give it a try and see how it goes - but its often the start of throwing good money after bad. I think what I'd do here if I had the money available is get a new lappy with 16Gb and SSD's etc - and reuse as many bits of the old one like drives as I could.

Then you start again with what next level virtual instruments take your fancy. It really shows when you use sample based instruments.

[James Perrett]

Are you using a 64 bit version of Windows? If so, more RAM makes a great deal of sense as my system seems to use around 5GB doing almost nothing. I have 8GB and just occasionally I run out of RAM. I really ought to upgrade, especially considering that I can fit 32GB in this laptop.

If you are using a 32 bit version of Windows then you are limited to 4GB of RAM. I would suggest upgrading to a 64 bit version of Windows and upgrading the RAM.

While a 4th generation i5 is old, the 4th generation chips added certain instructions which are useful for audio processing so it will be faster than slightly older chips.

[ajay_m]

Older CPUs will struggle particularly with soft synths and if you're already seeing high CPU, more memory is not going to help.
Some scripted kontakt instruments are particularly demanding and my old core i7 laptop never quite managed to play Embertone's Walker Piano glitch free, but my Ryzen 5800H handles it flawlessly.
These AMD processors are a good choice because although Intel have a slight edge, the AMD devices have much lower power consumption meaning fan noise is generally lower and there's no issues with thermal throttling.

[RichardT]

I think for a relatively basic 10 year old computer, the best option would be to get a new machine. Or a refurbed one of a more recent spec.

Personally I would go for at least 16 gigs of RAM.

[Jimmy B]

This is a fascinating discussion because this case is right on the edge.
On the one hand it should be possible to do a DIY upgrade for no more than £20 (skills and tools permitting- Lenovo have a video on YouTube that shows how to do it). Assuming that the processor is an i5 or better (it could be anything from an i3 to an i7), it will certainly improve performance significantly. However I cannot say if it will be enough to run these large projects in FL Studio.
On the other hand the machine is 10 years old and the future failure of the batteries (this laptop has two) cannot be predicted, so it may have limited life as a convenient computer (it will still run on AC power after that).
I would be tempted to go down both routes- carry out the upgrade and see what happens, while beginning the search for a replacement. When the new one arrives, in our house a use can usually be found for a spare laptop.