MATLAB memory use on Leopard Mac Pro?

By JonHendry at Wed, Apr 30 2008 3:33pm |

How much memory can MATLAB (32 bit) access on Leopard on a Mac Pro? If we install 32 GB of RAM, how much benefit would MATLAB get? We currently have 2GB in a 4-core Mac Pro.

According to Mathworks, on 64 bit Vista or 64-bit Linux, 32 bit MATLAB gets a slight boost in available memory, though not what you'd get from a 64-bit MATLAB. Is there a similar effect on Leopard? Or does MATLAB behave the same as if it were on Tiger?

Would it be better to run Vista 64 or XP 64 under Boot Camp? We need rather a lot of RAM.

Thanks,

Jon

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Wed, 2008-04-30 16:23 — dgohara

Re: MATLAB memory use on Leopard Mac Pro?

Hi Jon,

If the version of MATLAB you have is 32-bit the maximum amount of RAM it can use is 4 GB. It doesn't matter what OS you have. 32-bit executables can only use 4 GB of memory (unless they are doing something clever under the hood, but I doubt they are).

To be able to use more than 4 GB of RAM you'd need a 64-bit executable.

Dave

Wed, 2008-04-30 16:43 — JonHendry

Re: MATLAB memory use on Leopard Mac Pro?

Right, I was thinking that perhaps the OS might require less of the memory space, or something.

Mathworks says that 32 bit MATLAB on 32 bit XP can have a total workspace size of ~1700 MB and a largest matrix size of ~1189 MB, but 32 bit MATLAB on *64* bit XP can have a total workspace size of ~3155 MB and a largest matrix size of 2047 MB.

For OS X, Mathworks says MATLAB's total workspace size maxes out at ~2919 MB, and a max matrix size of ~1532 MB. I believe this assumes a 32 bit OS X.

I'm wondering if MATLAB on Leopard would get a similar boost the way it does on 64 bit XP even when the app itself is 32 bit.

I guess I'm asking if MATLAB can use any more of that 4GB under Leopard than it could under Tiger.

Thanks!

Sat, 2008-05-03 02:23 — Am3822

Matlab 64bit

I have no experience running matlab64 under bootcamp, but from my own experience running 64bit matlab under linux and OS X 10.4/10.5, I think that you'd get better utilization of your system's memory if you could run a 64bit version of matlab -- be it under windows or linux.

While we're on the subject, is there any indication when a 64bit version of matlab would be released for the Mac?