Another 16gb post: future-proof or save money?

I use 6GB on my APU and is more than enough. 1GB dedicated to graphics and 5 as system ram. Windows 7 doesn't use more than 1gb and games dont go past 4gb so its the ideal scenario. With 8GB you'll be fine, don't even think about adding more...


Just make sure you get AT LEAST 1866(2133 recommended) ram. The APU can handle max 2400 with a little tinkering. The reason i say at least 1866 is because usually 1866 ram can go to 2133 with a little timing calculations.

I find it interesting that many of those who shy away from more than 8GB of RAM also seem to think that you need more than 2 GB of VRAM @ 1920 x 1080.

While it's certainly true that games don't need 16 GB, they do benefit from using some of that RAM as RAM disk and the game can benefit if you are multitasking when gaming. And not all boxes serve gaming needs only. Other programs such as PhotoShop, AutoCAD, etc will benefit significantly.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-memory-upgrade,2778-9.html

And while it is certainly true that games will reach in and allocate more than 2 GB of VRAM, they do not benefit in any way shape or form from having it allocated.

See chart here:

http://alienbabeltech.com/main/gtx-770-4gb-vs-2gb-tested/3/

There is one last thing to note with Max Payne 3: It would not normally allow one to set 4xAA at 5760×1080 with any 2GB card as it claims to require 2750MB. However, when we replaced the 4GB GTX 770 with the 2GB version, the game allowed the setting. And there were no slowdowns, stuttering, nor any performance differences that we could find between the two GTX 770s.

Click to expand...

And that's at 5760 x 1080

You would power almost 3 of those PCs with 850w. A 400W psu is enough just as long as its a quality one (XFX, Seasonic, EVGA, Superflower, FSP etc)

Nobody said anything about 2gb vram and even less about creating a workstation. Photoshop and CAD discussions are regarding workstations and the OP said nothing about it. Lets not compare apples to oranges.

Btw Battlefield 4 actually NEEDS 3GB of VRAM at 1080p when using mantle. Having less will cause severe stuttering as you can read on a lot of forums. Also 8gb is more than enough for the amount of "caching" windows 7 does in a typical environment

Its either a crap one that is known to be bad when using more than 30-40% of its capacity OR its one that sells bad and its of an older design thats outdated so they got a good deal and sell them for cheap. I think its most likely a combination of the two.

The reason I mentioned the VRAM is that posts are oft in a context that might not apply....as is the very much case here.... it was not stated what else might be done with the machine. Yes no game takes advantage of more than 8GB of RAM but one has to rule out what is the machine used for. I don't know how workstation got on the table, but my sons each play around with videos, photoshop like any normal 16 - 30 year old and if you are going to be doing such things, that might be a consideration. Also, all 3 of my sons are college students and while it seems to me that takes a back seat to gaming sometimes, they are oft doing several things in the background while gaming ..... downloading lesson plans, uploading ShadowPlay videos, backing up their assignments to our SOHO server..

But that was my lead in to the more important fact is that gaming, can most certainly benefit from using a RAM disk as is well demonstrated in the referenced link. This is not in question. Notice the statement:

We would advise against disabling the swap file if you have less than 12 GB of RAM, at least without thoroughly testing all of your programs first. There is a performance increase when you disable it, but you have to factor in the risk of possible data loss.

Click to expand...

If ya gaming, not much to worry about with regard to data loss. On a system with no SSD, the RAM disk can speed those kind of things up.

As for BF4 "needing" 3 GB ? .... Max Payne "needed" 3 GB too..... but yet, when tested "there were no slowdowns, stuttering, nor any performance differences that we could find between the [2Gb and 4 GB cards]". None, zilch, nada.

Mantle's stated function is to make things better with lower end CPUs. BF4 presents enough of a challenge to hi end CPUs / GPUs and is a real PITA .... I need a special BIOS and Afterburner profile for it when my oldest son uses my box to play it. It's gotten better but certainly is still quirky.

At normal settings I can run any stress test, any benchmark and other game for 24 hours but pop up BF4 and all goes to hell in 30 minutes or less. If you have a 2500k/3670k/4670k/4690k, I wouldn't bother with Mantle. But B/F4's problems are well known and yet to be resolved. Certainly too many problems to definitively hang this on a lack of VRAM.

My youngest son plays BF4 on a pair of 2 GB cards at 144 Hz, he sees no stuttering, Son No. 2 sees no stuttering and he's on an older 2 GB (580) single GPU. If there's a need for 3 GB, it's clearly limited to AMD cards.

Unfortunately I don't know what type of system the user has, what his intended usages are or whether you and he / she would agree as to what a "typical system" is. Rather then decide what was important to each user for them, my goal was to present the various possibilities and factors which might affect their decision and let them decide accordingly. Obviously, if you don't do any of those things and don't mind game loadings, the recommendations on how to address those items can be disregarded. And if indeed the problem with BF4 is ultimately laid on Mantle's doorstep, then we oughta note "Add 1 GB if using Mantle".