Can too much RAM affect the performance of any computer?

[clairvoyant christopher]

I read an article and it stated that if you overload your computer with too much RAM, it will take the CPU longer to access the information? I have a a i7 920 @2.79Ghz and 6GB DDR3 SDRAM AT 1066MHZ Triple Channel. I was thinking of adding 12GB of RAM would it cause my computer to go slower.

 

[Emperus]

YES, it may cause so..

Well there is the concept of memory management in picture.. The feature is a lot less evident on desktop OS's.. Server OS's are however built with the memory management as one of the core features.. Thus, they are better suited to handle large chunks of data especially as the system is mostly loaded.. Desktops on the other hand play a conservative approach.. So only you get the concepts of virtual memory, page file etc..etc.. irrespective of how much system memory you posses.. So its always wise to pay attention to your app usage otherwise a larger part of the memory may sit idle which in turn may also cause system sluggishness..

 

[spinning rust]

with the server version of the Nehalems, if you populate the 1st bank of memory, it will run at 1333. if you then populate the second bank of memory, it will run at 1066. if you then populate the 3rd bank, the memory runs at 800 MHz.

but that is the unfortunate trade off of having 144GB of RAM in my ESX hosts.

 

[Shadow703793]

I was thinking of adding 12GB of RAM would it cause my computer to go slower.

No it will not.

HOWEVER, you want to disable or downsize (1-2GB is plenty imo) your Windows page file. The reason being is that the OS may tend to use the swap file even when it is not needed with 12GB of RAM.