Should I upgrade my RAM from 8GB to 16GB or get a SSD?

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griggski

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Jul 26, 2013
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Selling my old graphics card and looking to put the money back into my computer, not sure where though. I'm looking to improve performance for gaming (specifically Mass Effect Andromeda).

Here are my current specs:
Processor: AMD FX 6350
Graphics Card: GTX 960 2GB
RAM: 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600
Hard Drive: WD Blue 1TB 7200 RPM

I'm considering either adding 8GB of RAM, probably a single stick, an SSD, or another hard drive.

Other things:
Memory goes over 90% in Task Manager when running Witcher 3 with music in the background.
My hard drive is packed right now (9GB free), but I really should clean it out and put a lot on an external hard drive.
 
Solution
Susquehannock
If I were in your situation, I would migrate the operating system and most played games onto a SSD. 256gb at least = 512gb better. Then use the 1tb spinner drive for storage. You can always increase the RAM later.
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NewbDavid

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Oct 12, 2016
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Sure 16gb is good for gaming but i dont really think its needed yet (its getting there)
I would recommend upgrading to an SSD and installing your system there it will make your Pc WAY faster in so many ways for everyday use so if i were you i would upgrade SSD first, later on Ram
 
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NewbDavid

Commendable
Oct 12, 2016
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True that but i thought since hes out of space an SSD would come in handy for daily use not for gaming.
 
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derekullo

derekullo

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Jan 25, 2009
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The first priority is getting more storage space.
If you wanted to move everything over to 1 drive then you would need at least a 2 terabyte ssd.

Brace yourself, they are not cheap.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820147441
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820147440

What will also work is a 1 terabyte ssd along with your 1 terabyte hard drive.
I have all my games installed to my 1 terabyte ssd and all my movies and music on a raid consisting of hard drives

If you can clean up some files and get some free space then I would focus on the ram.

16 gigabytes of ram is enough for gaming usage.
My computer with 32 gigabytes of ram uses about 6 gigabytes at idle, so windows will use more if it sees it has a large amount available.


 
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why_wolf

why_wolf

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Aug 28, 2015
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well clean out your HDD first and see how much free space you really have to work with. An SSD won't really improve game performance, though it can speed up load times. So it provides more of an quality of life improvement.

Of course if you are seeing really high RAM usage it could be worth expanding that as well. However you won't see any real improvement unless you were already exceeding your RAM capacity. Adding more RAM doesn't speed up anything, it just prevents slow downs from Windows writing excess RAM usage to your HDD if you went over 100%.
 
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Susquehannock

Susquehannock

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Dec 8, 2016
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If I were in your situation, I would migrate the operating system and most played games onto a SSD. 256gb at least = 512gb better. Then use the 1tb spinner drive for storage. You can always increase the RAM later.
 
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