Arduino Uno - What is exact maximum amount of Neopixels it c

[ChrisManders]

Hi - I have a question which I hope you can help with, please.

I need to know (if possible) the exact maximum amount of Neopixels that an Arduino Uno (2K RAM) can handle.
One page says 512, and another says 'about 600'. I realise that each pixels need 3 bytes, so for a 2K RAM, that would (theoretically) give a maximum of 2000/3=666 pixels if all the RAM is used for the matrix.
Is this possible? I am very new to the Arduino - Is part of the RAM used for other things? Is the hardware some-how limited to 512 or 600?

Thank you for any assistance you can provide.
Chris

[Franklin97355]

Is part of the RAM used for other things?

Yes, the total number depends on how much SRAM your code is using for things other than the pixels.

[pburgess]

The core Arduino code against which all projects are built requires a bit of RAM for such things as counters (for things like the micros() and millis() functions) and various flags and states. Then each library requires a bit of its own (or sometimes a lot of its own, such as the SD card library). It's not uncommon to be down a couple hundred bytes before your own code even gets a share. So no, there's no hard-and-fast rule as to how many NeoPixels will fit; anything mentioned is a guesstimate based on varying degrees of in-a-perfect-world.