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Anwar
Asked: 2012-06-21 05:20:19 +0800 CST

Is 1GB RAM with integrated graphics sufficient for Unity 3D on 12.04?

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I have been using Ubuntu since Hardy Heron (8.04). I used Natty, Oneiric with Unity. But When I recently (more than 1 month now) upgraded My Ubuntu to Precise (12.04), the performance of my laptop is not satisfactory. It is too unresponsive compared to older releases.

For example, the Unity in 12.04 is very unresponsive. Sometimes, it requires 2 seconds to show up the dash (which was not the case with Natty, though people always saying that Natty's version of Unity is buggiest). I am assuming that, May be my 1GB RAM now becomes too low to run Unity of Precise. But I also think, Since Unity is improved in Precise, It may not be the case. So, I am not sure.

Do you have any ideas? Will upgrading RAM fix it? How much I need if upgrade is required?

Laptop model: "Lenovo 3000 Y410"
Graphic : "Intel GMA X3100" on Intel 965GM Chipset.
RAM/Memory : "1 GB DDR2" (1 slot empty).
Swap space : 1.1GB
Resolution: 1280x800 widescreen
Shared RAM for Graphics: 256 MB as below output suggests 

$ dmesg | grep AGP
[    0.825548] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: AGP aperture is 256M @ 0xd0000000
12.04

9 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I'd say 1GB is low, considering that you have 256MB of that dedicated to the integrated Intel graphics!!

    What I mean is that, with 12.04 Unity, if you will be doing a decent amount of multitasking, you will start to notice lags with 1GB. Eg Firefox open with 5+ tabs along with 3-4 other programs running in the background, etc. (This is based on my own extensive experience with a 1GB machine).

    A stock i386 install of 12.04 desktop with Unity 3D uses about 550-600MB of RAM after boot for me, excluding caches and with near-zero swap usage.

    So I believe that an additional 1GB of RAM will almost certainly solve your problem. However, since RAM prices are at historical lows (should also be in Bangladesh), if you can afford it I suggest you "max out" with a 2GB module and future-proof your computer :)

    Temporarily, if you do not game, I recommend reducing the integrated graphics share to 128MB. This shouldnt affect the user interface/Unity in any way.

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  2. 1 GB is low but, do you know about zram ? It's a nice application to use your swap space more effectively. I would try it. On my pc this app does a very good job.

    Here is the link of Zram

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  3. The minimum memory requirement for Ubuntu 12.04 is 384 MB of memory for Ubuntu Desktop. Some of your system memory may be unavailable due to being used by the graphics card. If your computer has only the minimum amount of memory, the installation process will take longer than normal; however, it will complete successfully, and the system will perform adequately once installed.

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  4. 1GB of ram is, yes, quite low for any computer these days. It would certainly help to upgrade your RAM if possible.

    Another possible solution is swap space. If you have any space on your HDD you can specify it as swap space, which acts like RAM, with minor differences.

    However, swap space is not as efficient as simply getting new ram. However, swap space is free if you have the space.

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  5. I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 on my MSI Wind netbook and it runs nicely with just 1gb of RAM.

    If you're planning on running lots of apps or have your own startup scripts, you should probably add another gigabyte to your setup.

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  6. +1 to your answer Malte D, zram is really good idea for low RAM machines.

    Here is a link to webupd8 site with English description, where you can find necessary information about installation.

    I got almost the same results on a 6-year-old laptop with Pentium M and 1Gb of RAM!

    And as for me ("Samsung NP305U1A-A04" with 2GB RAM), it works perfect!

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  7. I suggest 1.5 Gb RAM minimum. Otherwise, add a lightweight desktop, LXDE or XFCE: "sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop" and/or "sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop" If promted, you can retain "lightdm" as the display manager. After rebooting, click on your user name and then select one of the lightweight desktops. Alternatively, install Linux Mint 13 MATE (derived from Ubuntu 12.04) if you use a lot of Gnome/gtk programs. I tried it on a Dell Optiplex GX400 (P4 17GHz) with 1 Gb RAM, and everythings works, no crashes or errors so far. Richard

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  8. That`s excellent to get best performance from ubuntu if you use some programs like blender or you play games then it is not good enough

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  9. No not at all. 1 Gb RAM is more than enough for normal user. If you good performance then try using the Lubuntu-session. It is a good alternative to gnome or default unity.

    Links:

    To install:

    sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

    It is very good if you want to save on your system resources.

    But if you want to use or unity then you can also use your gnome or unity and increase you RAM by setting up a SWAP area. That will actually increase your RAM virtually. For further information about SWAP area visit : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapFaq

    If you find lxde very good then remove ubuntu and install lubuntu. It will save you space on hard disk. For installation instructions visit the lubuntu site. Lxde uses only 100 Mb for RAM at boot time.

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