Biggest project file you've had?

Last year, I worked on a subtitled feature-length doc. The project had about 90 hours of footage and the project file got up to about 350 MB. It would have gotten bigger, but Final Cut HD and our G5 (2GB RAM, dual 2GHz processor) couldn't handle it.
Now, I'm just starting to cut a film with 230 hours of footage and growing--no subtitles though. The project file's up to about 70 MB, and starting to cause FCP 5.0.2 and this project's G4 (1.75GB RAM & dual 1GHz processor) some problems.
As far as I understand, FCP is much worse at dealing with size than AVID. It's been explained to me, that AVID treats each bin as a separate file, so in opening a project file, you don't have to deal with the full extent of the project. I've also been told that FCP cannot deal with more than 2.5 GB RAM, so increasing beyond that won't help your performance.
So, I'm curious if any of you have stories of massive project files, and I'm curious if the assumptions I have about FCP v AVID and RAM usage are still true with newer versions.
Thanks!
Aaron

Because FCP can use up to 2.5 gigs, more RAM than your gig will help.
Again... it's the complexity of an open sequence that causes the problem. The project file's size does contribute, but it's impact isn't nearly as much as opening a sequence with a lot of edits in it. I can see a slowdown with my 2.5 gigs of RAM once there's about 400 edits or so in any open sequence or SET of sequences. i.e. only working with sequences open with fewer than about 400 edits will alleviate the slow down or loss of memory.
If you're working with complex sequences, then breaking them down will speed things up. More RAM (up to a point) will also help. Keeping smaller project files helps too, but not as much as keeping sequences a bit simpler, with fewer edits open at one time, and also keeping sequences rendered. Un rendered sequences seem to use more RAM, though I'm not positive about why... just seems that way to me. Faster CPU's also help... there is a TON of difference between single and duals, and another ton of difference between G4's and G5's... the intel Macs will also improve performance ESPECIALLY when FCP is totally optimized for them, which as far as I know, hasn't really happened yet.
Out of memory error reports can also be caused by PSD files with blank layers in them being loaded into the timeline window... that's a common problem. Bad render files also contribute I think. Trashing all renders in a sequence and re rendering sometimes helps as well.
When you opened a large project file, and when you installed later and later versions of the OS, you took RAM away from FCP... i.e. OS X uses more RAM than OS 9, and in each incarnation of the OS, it uses more and more RAM, which leaves less for FCP.
The contributing factors are many, but they get worse and worse as time goes on. Let's hope that RAM prices crash AND that FCP will address more and more as time goes on. (betcha it does)
HTH
Jerry

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