Is 16GB really necessary?

Rfisher · Jan 23, 2014

I read a article on here recently (with the rundown of what was said about 8 and 16 below this paragraph) that was about how much ram you should have. Basically 16 gigs was the amount for gaming and 8 gigs was for smaller not as demanding games.

8gb: Pretty much standard in Apple's current computers, and you should be able to run most low power games and movie streaming will be a breeze.
16gb: Lots and lots of games can be run on 16gb. Apple offered this in the newest Macbook Pro Retina.

I'm going to throw specific's in here so if it matter's you know exactly what I will be running. The setup currently looks like this and I don't see it changing here in a few weeks when I plan on purchasing it. CPU - i5-4670K Mobo - ASRock Z87 Extreme4 (says it can support up to DDR3 2933+(OC)) GPU - EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 760 No SSD's as for ram I planned on getting - 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1866. I plan on dropping console gaming and go to computer gaming since I mostly use my computer for everything else anyway.

Am I going to small on RAM only getting 8GB is 16GB really necessary for gaming? I mean the system I plan on going with is to do what I already do but gearing it more towards gaming. What are your thoughts?

Stu 95 · Jan 23, 2014

Nope stick with 8 and save money, no game needs 16 at the moment. 16 is overkill currently.

Snipergod87 · Jan 23, 2014

No need for 16GB of RAM at this point in time, 8GB is ample. 16GB would only be used in large projects (rendering, etc) or doing lots of things at once (and I mean lots)

firo40 · Jan 23, 2014

16 is only usefull for photo shop and heavy video editing or programs that require a heavy amount of memory, but games dont require 16gb at all

danforthewin · Jan 23, 2014

Props to you for switching over to PC gaming! The answer to your question is no, you do NOT need 16GB for gaming. 8 gigs is a lot more than you think. Unless you are doing some ridiculous video editing, then you'll never need that much. I've used both 8gb and 16gb and did not see any noticeable difference in frames per second. I would stick with 8gb in dual channel, that way if you really need to, you can always get another 8 gigs down the road.
Here's a video you might be interested in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrrTkbyjDHk

laviniuc · Jan 23, 2014

if you wanna feel safe, get 1 stick of 8gb. the dual channel is a loss but not that big and if you will need 16gb you get another stick of 8 and end up with dual channel and 16gb.

Stu 95 · Jan 23, 2014

laviniuc :

For gaming are you sure thats a good idea? I see you are an expert so im not gonna argue.

danforthewin · Jan 23, 2014

laviniuc :

Not sure what you're saying exactly, so I'll try to clarify... Dual channel is faster than single channel, so you mean buy 8gb now with the intention of upgrading later? That makes sense, but it's overkill if he's only going to game primarily. I think the best bet would be just gt 2x4gb and call it a day. Not many things require a lot of memory.

laviniuc · Jan 23, 2014

i'm not really much of an expert, dual channel gives theoretically about 40-60% speed increase but considering how fast ram is these days... you wouldn't "feel" much of a difference. and in games you need low latency not raw speed which you get anyway since the memory controller is on the cpu.

for example http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/memory-scaling-gaming-haswell-richland,3593-11.html and the next couple of pages, difference between 1600mhz all the way to 2400mhz is single digits fps.

edit: but yes maybe it's a better idea to stick to 2x4 and call it a day. yes, i was suggesting that dual channel isn't "critical" and instead of insisting on it he can prepare better for when 16gb will be needed and get a single stick now to use in dual channel with another in a future upgrade

danforthewin · Jan 23, 2014

laviniuc :

+1 on low latency. You have a dedicated GPU so the system memory speed isn't too important.

Tradesman1 · Jan 23, 2014

Dual channel provides up to a 10-15% performance increase, and if thinking 16GB then might want to get it now, before prices rise even further, plus don't want to get DRAM now adn then have to replace it or try mixing sets of DRAM in the future (which can be and often is problematic)

dgingeri · Jan 23, 2014

I have 32 on my machine, but I also run 4 VMs for various things plus use PrimoCache with 8GB of it to better cache my drives for those VMs. So, I'm constantly at 75-80% memory usage, but I can still play WoW with no trouble.

Tradesman1 · Jan 23, 2014

Yep, the more the merrier, I have 32 on my three main rigs and often have them running 20-24+

Joe Coste · Jan 24, 2014

As cheap as RAM is, there's no reason not to just run 16GB. Why go only 8GB just to prove a point?

Stu 95 · Jan 24, 2014

Joe Coste :

16gb of RAM is £50 more where im from, not everyone has that kind of money to be wasting on something that isn't strictly necessary.

cinnamon cider · Jan 24, 2014

No. Not unless your PC consumes at least 7GB of your RAM.

Rfisher · Jan 25, 2014

So low latency is important for ram when it comes to gaming? I was unaware. The stuff I was planning on using was just a little better the the typical 1600 I see nearly everyone using. Standard cas latency of 9 would 8 be that much better?

cinnamon cider · Jan 25, 2014

It would be better - "virtually". But with 1600MHz and that CL - the performance is not that huge compared to 1333MHz. If you're looking for price/performance - it's not the best choice.

Even as for gaming - it will not deliver better frame(fps) rendering.

Is 16GB really necessary?

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