8GB vs 16GB RAM

FlambePhoenix · Jul 7, 2013

I am planning to do Gaming (while recording) as well as editing and Rendering some videos. Do I need 8GB or 16GB of RAM? And could someone please tell me how much RAM I would actually be using too

lxxjordan23xxl · Jul 7, 2013

FlambePhoenix :

8GB would be enough for that, although 16GB would be good if it is within your budget and would last you longer down the road. If it is good quality and in your budget then go for 16GB.

lolzorz · Jul 7, 2013

I would get a 16gb kit just to make sure ill have enough ram for a long time without upgrading. You might also want to get faster ram (1866+), not too sure if that will benefit or not since there is not much info on this topic.

8gb will be enough now but maybe at hd settings, or once next gen hits, it might prove to be too small.

charri81 · Jul 7, 2013

8 GB is plenty, i dont find anything above 8 useful for my high spec gaming rig

Legohouse · Jul 8, 2013

FlambePhoenix :

As mentioned in one of the posts if it is withing your budget then go for 16GB rather than 8GB. If you usually render or edit large data sets then I'd say 16GB and sometimes almost 12GB - 14GB will be used depending on how you work on computer. Also multitasking will be much easier with more memory availability. More memory is always better. If you need any recommendation on memory then let me know your system model name and number.

Tradesman1 · Jul 8, 2013

What CPU and mobo, from the sounds of it 16GB would prob be better, though what 16GB is the question, and that can't be determined without knowing what CPU and mobo

fiebs · Dec 10, 2013

8GB will be more than plenty for your purposes. For gaming, despite what some are bound to tell you, you'll almost never need more than 4GB of system RAM. Your GPU will have it's own dedicated RAM (GDDR5 which is essentially faster than DDR3) and games are mainly GPU bound anyways. Even with Kaveri, other APUs, and Intel's iGP you still won't benefit from much more than 4GB. AMD's APUs benefit from faster RAM however, since they use your system RAM heavily in lieu of dedicated GPU RAM. You will see a benefit of using more RAM for rendering, and in general, content creation. Aside from Mac users who tend to throw as much money at their machines as possible, without due cause aside from association, the jury is still out on whether or not 16GB, or more, of RAM will benefit you if you're not using a RAM cache or doing very intense professional rendering that'd require XEONs anyways. Servers are really the only machines that need 16GB, or more depending on usage, and that's including PCs meant for VM hosting. Hope that helps. Good luck filtering through all the misinformation!

Chris

Supahos · Dec 10, 2013

fiebs :

8GB will be more than plenty for your purposes. For gaming, despite what some are bound to tell you, you'll almost never need more than 4GB of system RAM. Your GPU will have it's own dedicated RAM (GDDR5 which is essentially faster than DDR3) and games are mainly GPU bound anyways. Even with Kaveri, other APUs, and Intel's iGP you still won't benefit from much more than 4GB. AMD's APUs benefit from faster RAM however, since they use your system RAM heavily in lieu of dedicated GPU RAM. You will see a benefit of using more RAM for rendering, and in general, content creation. Aside from Mac users who tend to throw as much money at their machines as possible, without due cause aside from association, the jury is still out on whether or not 16GB, or more, of RAM will benefit you if you're not using a RAM cache or doing very intense professional rendering that'd require XEONs anyways. Hope that helps. Good luck filtering through all the misinformation!

Chris

this is a 5 month old thread, I doubt the OP is monitoring it anymore

fiebs · Dec 10, 2013

Supahos :

fiebs :

this is a 5 month old thread, I doubt the OP is monitoring it anymore

Good call, I never even looked, for whatever reason this popped up in one of my feeds. Hmm, cool. How did you catch my post so quickly?

Brutus222 · Dec 22, 2013

fiebs :

Supahos :

Good call, I never even looked, for whatever reason this popped up in one of my feeds. Hmm, cool. How did you catch my post so quickly?

This was actually very helpful for me, though, because I am looking at laptops for Christmas. So, thanks for the info!

fiebs · Dec 23, 2013

Brutus222 :

fiebs :

This was actually very helpful for me, though, because I am looking at laptops for Christmas. So, thanks for the info!

No problem. If I may, and if you're familiar with Ubuntu Linux, I'd suggest you check out these guys System76. Even if you're not a Linux fan you can still load Windows on their laptops. Have a merry Christmas & a happy new year.

newyears1978 · Dec 27, 2013

Supahos :

fiebs :

this is a 5 month old thread, I doubt the OP is monitoring it anymore

I've always hated when people complain about necroposting. Yea, the topic was old, but the great thing about the internet is there are always people searching.

I found this topic useful, including the necro posts that revived it.

Danra · Jan 18, 2014

FlambePhoenix :

I have used 8GB and 16GB [with slightly more loose timing] and 16GB of RAM plays my games smoother, less chop.

fiebs · Jan 20, 2014

Danra :

My workstation will use up a majority of the 16GB I have, but that's with rendering and distributing virtual machines. Just simply running games, normal software, and the OS shouldn't exceed 4GB or maybe 6GB, unless there's an issue. Games use the GPU's dedicated vRAM and not your main memory, so there shouldn't be much of a difference in gaming past 4GB of system RAM. The timings on your old module may have been pretty high, or perhaps the quality was bad? Are the frequencies the same? For a snappy system you typically want a lower CAS timing, rather than simply a higher frequency- despite what manufacturers and "enthusiasts" claim. The opposite tends to be true with APUs though. To see how fast your RAM is in comparison to another you can use the following calculation:

(CL/(Freq-in-MHZ) * 1000) = speed in nanoseconds

Cheers,

Chris

Danra · Jan 20, 2014

fiebs :

Thank you for your reply. I use the same 16GB of RAM sticks and timings through 4.4GHz CPU, at 4.5+GHz I loosen the timing very slightly for the sake of stability. I am currently using 4GB x 4 sticks. When I used 2 sticks of the same RAM my timings were tighter, up to the thermal limit that I felt safe with on air, at 4.7GHz.

My RAM is G.Skill from http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231538

Many motherboards have less overhead running 2 sticks compared to 4, mine is one of them. I have 8GB x2 sticks of RAM on the way to tighten timing while overclocked. I can sell my 4GB sticks, they are great RAM, however, as I said, I seem to get smoother game-play with 16GB.

It is true that 8GB is plenty of RAM for gaming, however, if I did a lot of surfing the internet for technical information while a game was open, and I often found myself running out of RAM.

I fully understand your statement, as I have been overclocking for decades and was once in the computer hardware field as a profession.

Please pardon any improper remarks, I am very tired at this time.

I wish you good computing.

RichardM333 · Mar 5, 2015

Redundancy or duplication of critical components of a system increases the reliability of the system. I recommend two memory sticks of 8 GB ram.

Danra · Mar 5, 2015

16GB.

Someone suggested 1866, however, that is not needed unless you are overclocking and then you will need CAS 9 for best results. If you do not overclock, there is no need for 1866.

I forgot to mention how much RAM your system will use. I am running Windows 7 64-bit. If you are multi-tasking, much will depend upon the game, as some have memory leaks, for example World of Tanks left me with just over 9GB and after a couple of hours I was left with 5 or 6 GB - this does not include multi-tasking.

How much RAM your system will use is dependent upon several factors, such as memory leaks, Windows use of RAM to make programs open more quickly, and how much you multi-task.

I have 16GB of RAM and have gotten down to 600MB [.6GB] while multi-tasking.

Tony081 · Dec 15, 2015

lolzorz :

Hi Friend!!! :bounce:

RAM is a tricky one, because the reading I've done suggests that although you have a higher frequency RAM, the CLK is the contributing factor to speed. For example, 2400mhz CLK 11 RAM is just as good as 1600mhz CLK 9, with the CLK 9 being cheaper and able to compute at the same speed, some even better than the overpriced 2400mhz.
Then there's the small matter of intel CPU's being able to use only 1600mhz, even if you have 2400mhz, your CPU would not be able to use the fullest amount of power on offer, as I stated, this is what I have learnt, pretty much from articles and wiki.
I personally use patriot's ddr3 1600mhz clk 9 VIPER, I know its a mouthful. :pt1cable:

And then DDR4 is a waste, in my opinion, because the only difference is the fact that you have a lower voltage meaning greener power, better OC and less heat...but that's useless when you're a power hungry gamer.

Hope this helps all of you.

PS I forgot, GO 16GB, ARMA 3 uses already 3343MBs of data during gamelay, my pc suffers when I run that game and not recording!

8GB vs 16GB RAM

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