How much RAM do I really need?

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Quadacon

Quadacon

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Hello everyone, I was thinking about my PC build the other day and something occurred to me; when I am playing games on my PC it is using barely any RAM, the back of the game packet requires 2 GB of RAM but recommends 4 GB, however when I am playing the game it only uses a maximum of 2.5GB on Ultra High video settings, I have also noticed that most games on steam also only recommend 4GB-8GB, so why do all the top of the line gaming rigs have 16-32GB? isn't that a waste of money? (also when my PC is idling it is using about 1GB of RAM - that's normal isn't it?)

My Build:
CPU: Intel i5 3470 @ 3.2 Ghz
RAM: 8 GB Kingston Hyper X Genesis
Motherboard: GA-Z77MX-D3H TH
GPU- Nividia GT 640 OC Edition (Gigabyte PCB)
PSU- 700 WATT OCZ
SSD: Kingston 120 GB
HDD: 1TB WD Blue

Also I am doing some minor photo editing (Adobe Lightroom) I am never screen recording and playing games and live streaming to youtube all at once, I am guessing that uses more RAM as well.
 
Solution
Wolfshadw
The 4GB recommendation takes into account the 2GB the game requires, plus what the operating system and any other programs you may be running may need. For people who shut down background processes and run just a bare minimum Windows OS, 3GB should be enough for any game. For people who have chat sessions, web pages, team chat client/servers running at the same time as the game, they'd probably require up to 8GB of RAM installed.

As for top of the line gaming rigs (as USAFRet states) is just for marketing and bragging rights. However, if you're running some heavy HD editing programs, 16 to 32 GB of RAM would prove useful. I know my HD Recordings from Comcast can take up around 11GB of disk space for a 2 hour movie/program. Converting...
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Probably 8GB. For Lightroom editing, 4GB is a little light. It will work, until you get some large images.
And 1GB at idle is perfectly normal, if you don't have a lot of bacjground stuff going on.
 
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Wolfshadw

Wolfshadw

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The 4GB recommendation takes into account the 2GB the game requires, plus what the operating system and any other programs you may be running may need. For people who shut down background processes and run just a bare minimum Windows OS, 3GB should be enough for any game. For people who have chat sessions, web pages, team chat client/servers running at the same time as the game, they'd probably require up to 8GB of RAM installed.

As for top of the line gaming rigs (as USAFRet states) is just for marketing and bragging rights. However, if you're running some heavy HD editing programs, 16 to 32 GB of RAM would prove useful. I know my HD Recordings from Comcast can take up around 11GB of disk space for a 2 hour movie/program. Converting that would be a lot faster if I had 16GB of RAM installed

-Wolf sends
 
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Solution
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Adamw0611

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8GB is good enough for everything, except large scale photo editing, and video editing, I have 16GB, and using photoshop and premiere, gaming etc, I never go over 5 or 6 GB used. Oh and yes, 1gb is at idle is normal.
 
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Quadacon

Quadacon

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thanks mate
 
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