Will Doubling My DDR3 RAM Deliver A Significant Improvement In Multi-Tasking?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
ganymede-

ganymede-

Distinguished
Jul 25, 2008
77
0
18,540
Greetings,

I am interested in increasing/improvement my computer's ability to handle multi-tasking, such as running Photoshop, uTorrent, copying/moving files, and the like all @ the same time. I originally thought that upgrading just my CPU to an i7K from my current i5K that I have overclocked @ 4.3Ghz would be the best way to accomplish this, aside from replacing my MB, CPU, and RAM.

However, in another post, I was told that I should not expect much of a bump in performance with a new faster i7 CPU, and that my best bet was to increase my RAM. Currently I have 4 DDR3 Corsair Vengeance 4GB RAM cards, so 16GBs in total. Would it make sense to go to 32GBs of DDR3 RAM which is the max my MB can handle? And what should I expect if I double my RAM? Will this deliver a noticeable bump in my computer's handling multiple tasks at once?

Someone also suggested upgrading my video graphics card, but I am not sure how that would improve performance with tasking. Currently my video card, though only a medium grade level, performs great w Photoshop as well as with the two games that I have--Wolfenstein: The New Order and The Assassin Creed Syndicate--but rarely play; I am definitely not a gamer and do not need a gamer setup. So would upgrading my graphics card make a difference in performance in areas other than graphics? Like I said above, that does not seem to make sense to me, but if I am wrong, please let me know, or maybe this particular question should be posted in a different forum room. Thanks in advance for your feedback. Cheers!

 
Solution
geofelt
Check the photoshop forums for performance info.
It is my understanding that photoshop can use the CUDA capability of Nvidia graphics cards to improve performance.
And, more CUDA cores is more important than graphics card speed.
To that end, the added CUDA cores of a GTX750ti would be good.
Do try to research that yourself if photoshop performance is very important.

Ditto on ram to be used as workfile.

On how much ram you might need for multitasking, look at the windows performance monitor.
Look at the hard page fault rate. When a virtual page is not in ram, it needs to be swapped in/out from the page file.
Even with a fast ssd, a measurable rate is bad. If you see 1 per second, upping ram will be a good idea.

When a ssd...
Sort by date Sort by votes
M

manv

Reputable
Apr 17, 2015
306
0
4,960
16 GB of ram is waaay more than enough to handle all the tasks you have mentioned together.
If you are experiencing slower performance on your PC it might have to do with bloated software than slow hardware.
Keep these tips in mind:
Defragment your drive frequently.
Update all apps and OS regularly.
Disable any unwanted apps from starting up during boot from the task manager.

Also to improve any file transfer related things you might want to upgrade your PC by getting yourself a good SSD over a new CPU/RAM/GPU etc and then porting the OS to the SSD.
So my recommendation: Dont upgrade ram to 32 GB. Its a waste of money.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,295
4,145
174,240
Some apps like photoshop can utilize lots of ram to replace work files.
For that, more ram is helpful.
Normally, 16gb is more than enough.
I do not know how to measure or predict the benefits of 32gb.
Considering that ram is relatively cheap, I would consider that.

If you do not now have a ssd for windows of at least 240gb, I would make that my first upgrade.
It makes everything so much quicker.

Some apps can use the CUDA capabilities of Nvidia cards. More CUDA cores trumps the speed of the card. You seem to be ok there and I would not be looking at a gpu change.

What is the rest of your pc?

What does task manager show for cpu activity when under full load?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ganymede-

ganymede-

Distinguished
Jul 25, 2008
77
0
18,540
My primary drive is a 240GB SSD w 50GB of free memory. I did not know that you could defragment SSDs. If you can then I was wondering if you had a recommendation for software to do this task. It can be paid or free, if u know the paid version works much better than it is worth hunting it down. Thanks.




 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ganymede-

ganymede-

Distinguished
Jul 25, 2008
77
0
18,540
I don't know why my computer stat's do not appear in my profile (like yours do) because they show up when I go into settings under my profile. But here is my info:

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB; Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core 3.4Ghz--Overclocked to 4.3Ghz;
Corsair Hydro Series H100i Extreme Liquid CPU Cooler; Corsair Vengeance Blue 16GB; Asus GeForce GTX
550 Ti Video Card, Crucial 240GB SSD [Main Drive]; 3TB Western Digital Black
HDD as storage drive and where Photoshop uses free memory on the drive as a cache.

What do u think?




 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ganymede-

ganymede-

Distinguished
Jul 25, 2008
77
0
18,540
Sorry, missed that part of your reply. Here are my computer stat's, what do you think of them? Any area that u see could use improvement?

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB; Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core 3.4Ghz; Corsair Hydro Series
H100i Extreme Liquid CPU Cooler; Corsair Vengeance Blue 16GB; Asus GeForce GTX
550 Ti Video Card, Crucial 254GB SSD [Main Drive]; 3TB Western Digital Black
HDD and where Photoshop uses available space as a cache.



 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

manv

Reputable
Apr 17, 2015
306
0
4,960
For the tasks you mentioned your current build is fine.
But if you want to upgrade your PC I would recommend you to get a GTX 750ti for about $100.
It will be a decent upgrade for your PC.
As I mentioned earlier if you experience slow performance try to handle it from the software side first and then move to the hardware side.
Cheers!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,295
4,145
174,240
When you are at full load, multitasking and whatever, what does task manager show you about cpu utilization?
If you are maxed out, then a processor upgrade might be in order.

If you can use more than the 192 CUDA cores that the GTX550ti supplies, a GTX750ti with 640 CUDA cores could be a nice upgrade.
Look at some photoshop performance forums for confirmation.

If you want to improve, I always advise to make a big jump or you may not be satisfied.
Do you have a budget?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ganymede-

ganymede-

Distinguished
Jul 25, 2008
77
0
18,540
It would take me a couple months to save up enough to buy the latest i7K CPU, ASUS K Series MB, and 16GB of DDR4 RAM. Plus, based on your previous answer as well as someone else, I should probably upgrade my Graphics Card to the GTX750i or something even better. I am just not sure my computer needs are that dire that I can justify the cost of buying four new components. I was curious if replacing/upgrading one component would give me a nice return for my money, but it seems not to be the case. But I appreciated your provided feedback. :)



 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

manv

Reputable
Apr 17, 2015
306
0
4,960
Well if you have the money right now go get a good GPU the 750ti or better.
You can plug it onto your new system when you finally get all the parts together and until then you can use it in your current build.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ganymede-

ganymede-

Distinguished
Jul 25, 2008
77
0
18,540
As I am going to eventually upgrade most of my system--MB, CPU, RAM--in the next year, maybe sooner, I think that it would make sense to splurge a little more right now on a better GPU that the 750i @ $115.00. That seems like a low price point for a good GPU. Of course it would be better than what I have now, but I paid more than $115.00 for my current 550ti. I would be willing to spend as much as $200 on a new GPU, so do you have any suggestions on a good/excellent GPU that would work well even after I upgrade my system?

Maybe this is a question for the GPU forum, and if so just tell me as much. And also, if you would tell me, how does upgrading my GPU improve performance with my current setup if the game Assassin's Creed Syndicate, for instance, plays perfectly well on my system already? I am sure my overclock CPU running @ 4.3Ghz may possibly compensate for a slower GPU that I have now, I am thinking? Just let me know what you think. Thanks again for your feedback. :bounce:




 
Upvote 0 Downvote
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,295
4,145
174,240
Check the photoshop forums for performance info.
It is my understanding that photoshop can use the CUDA capability of Nvidia graphics cards to improve performance.
And, more CUDA cores is more important than graphics card speed.
To that end, the added CUDA cores of a GTX750ti would be good.
Do try to research that yourself if photoshop performance is very important.

Ditto on ram to be used as workfile.

On how much ram you might need for multitasking, look at the windows performance monitor.
Look at the hard page fault rate. When a virtual page is not in ram, it needs to be swapped in/out from the page file.
Even with a fast ssd, a measurable rate is bad. If you see 1 per second, upping ram will be a good idea.

When a ssd approaches full, it will slow down and lose endurance.
If you think you are near this point, consider a 500gb ssd for windows.
Samsung evo is generally a better performer.
You could then repurpose your 240gb ssd as a photoshop work file.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom