Is 8GB's of RAM good enough for now, or should I go 16GB's?

[meatymcloven]

Hi, I'm planning to build a new computer sometime this year, or at least buy newer parts for my current build, but Newegg is having a sale on RAM today, and I'm just wondering if I should go 8GB's, or 16GB's. I don't know if I want to spend the money, right now, if 16GB's won't make much of a difference, but it is always nice to futureproof. And if I do go with 8GB's, will I be able to purchase any 1600MHz RAM Sticks in the future to upgrade in case the specific RAM I order today goes OOS or Unproduced by that time? IIRC, you can use any brand as long as it's the same speed, and timing, though I'm not sure about voltage.

Oh, and is there any better deals than this currently?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

I've heard that you don't need more than 1333/1600 max, where computers are currently at, as you won't see a difference, so 1600MHz seems like a good choice. But is that actually a good deal, or have there been much better deals?

With tax the price of 16GB's comes to $96.50, and of course 8GB's would come out to half of that, $48.25.

Anyway, is it worth it to get that now for $96.50, or should I hold out for a better deal, or just get 8GB's, or is there a better deal currently going on? From what I've searched I haven't seen any. I'm not really in a huge hurry to buy it, as I don't need it any time soon, just figured I could buy it while it's on sale and save some money.

Thanks for any help!

 

[InvalidError]

Anyway, is it worth it to get that now for $96.50, or should I hold out for a better deal, or just get 8GB's, or is there a better deal currently going on?

DDR3 prices are already ridiculously low, I have a hard time imagining them going any lower when many DRAM manufacturers are either barely breaking even or recording losses. They must be praying for something to help bump prices back up.

At the record low price of under $120 for 16GB, I personally would not have any hesitation aiming for 16GB on a new build for myself. In the first PC I built myself, I paid $100 per 1MB SIMM so $120 for 16GB looks dirt-cheap to me at ~16000X cheaper.

 

[photonboy]

Do you edit video?

More than 8GB of RAM serves no purpose other than to add heat to your computer unless you have a specific use like editing video.

Windows 7 RAM usage:

1GB - multitasking is sluggish
2GB - multitasking is far more responsive
3GB - generally sufficient
4GB - little benefit over 3GB, but recommended for gamers
8GB - no advantage during games but opening/closing games may be faster in some scenarios

16GB - must edit video or do some other task that can actually utilize this much RAM or it will add HEAT to your case

*It's interesting to note that the new NVidia GTX680 adds a feature called GPU Boost that can increase frame rates if the thermal limit is not hit. It's very useful and NVidia said all future NVidia graphics products will use this.

My point about GPU Boost is that if you add more RAM to the case, you raise the heat which will then actually reduce the effectiveness of the graphics card. It will be slight in a properly cooled case but it will exist and why PAY MONEY for a feature that serves ONLY to reduce your gaming experience.

**MORE IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER** (just ask my wife)

 

[InvalidError]

16GB - must edit video or do some other task that can actually utilize this much RAM or it will add HEAT to your case

16 chips 8GB DIMMs use only ~2W more than 16 chips 4GB DIMMs, 4W for a pair does not make much of a difference.

As for 4GB having "little benefit", try panning around in Cataclysm while flying over the middle of Stormwind. Pretty jerky with 4GB because there isn't enough RAM to keep everything in RAM.

I don't do video editing but I do use many memory-hungry programs and some VMs. The convenience of being able to load applications, VMs, etc. and not have to close/restart them all the time to free up RAM for something else is addictive.

 

[nikorr]

Hi, I'm planning to build a new computer sometime this year, or at least buy newer parts for my current build, but Newegg is having a sale on RAM today, and I'm just wondering if I should go 8GB's, or 16GB's. I don't know if I want to spend the money, right now, if 16GB's won't make much of a difference, but it is always nice to futureproof. And if I do go with 8GB's, will I be able to purchase any 1600MHz RAM Sticks in the future to upgrade in case the specific RAM I order today goes OOS or Unproduced by that time? IIRC, you can use any brand as long as it's the same speed, and timing, though I'm not sure about voltage.

Oh, and is there any better deals than this currently?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

I've heard that you don't need more than 1333/1600 max, where computers are currently at, as you won't see a difference, so 1600MHz seems like a good choice. But is that actually a good deal, or have there been much better deals?

With tax the price of 16GB's comes to $96.50, and of course 8GB's would come out to half of that, $48.25.

Anyway, is it worth it to get that now for $96.50, or should I hold out for a better deal, or just get 8GB's, or is there a better deal currently going on? From what I've searched I haven't seen any. I'm not really in a huge hurry to buy it, as I don't need it any time soon, just figured I could buy it while it's on sale and save some money.

Thanks for any help!

Just get 16GB, u will benefit from that. Its so cheap and it is helpful at all times. And get a kit of 16GB.

Unless u are a poor student and right now it is too much to spend, than 8GB is just fine.

We are talking about $50 here.

 

[nikorr]

16 chips 8GB DIMMs use only ~2W more than 16 chips 4GB DIMMs, 4W for a pair does not make much of a difference.

As for 4GB having "little benefit", try panning around in Cataclysm while flying over the middle of Stormwind. Pretty jerky with 4GB because there isn't enough RAM to keep everything in RAM.

I don't do video editing but I do use many memory-hungry programs and some VMs. The convenience of being able to load applications, VMs, etc. and not have to close/restart them all the time to free up RAM for something else is addictive.

Yeah, u would benefit for sure. U could create the RAM disc and run VM there : ))

 

[nikorr]

Off topic ...

U can look at this site @ http://www.petri.co.il/virtual_increase_vmware_performance.htm

 

[photonboy]

16 chips 8GB DIMMs use only ~2W more than 16 chips 4GB DIMMs, 4W for a pair does not make much of a difference.

As for 4GB having "little benefit", try panning around in Cataclysm while flying over the middle of Stormwind. Pretty jerky with 4GB because there isn't enough RAM to keep everything in RAM.

I don't do video editing but I do use many memory-hungry programs and some VMs. The convenience of being able to load applications, VMs, etc. and not have to close/restart them all the time to free up RAM for something else is addictive.

Let me respond:
RAM heat - I said the heat difference was minor.

4GB - I said "recommended for gamers."; by "little benefit" I am referring to non-gaming usage.

VM - (Virtual Machine, i.e. an Operating System image) is a pretty rare scenario.

*There is simply no point in getting 16GB of RAM for most people. Windows 7 won't attempt to use beyond a certain amount. Why not just get 128GB of RAM then?

To be clear, by "editing video" I don't mean transcoding or converting video. That is processing limited and the RAM amount doesn't matter.

 

[photonboy]

I should add...

EXTENSIVE testing has been done a while back. I no longer have the link but I read it all. It compared 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB scenarios.

*Basically 16GB provided NO benefit except:
- video editing
- Virtual Machines

 

[nikorr]

I should add...

EXTENSIVE testing has been done a while back. I no longer have the link but I read it all. It compared 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB scenarios.

*Basically 16GB provided NO benefit except:
- video editing
- Virtual Machines

To start with few benefits of more RAM...

By storing files and programs into memory, you can speed up internet load times and disk-to-disk activities, accelerate databases and reduce compile times. Save and load features allow RAMDisk to appear as persistent storage, even through reboots.

U can run Virtual machine .....

Temp files ...

RAR file extraction

Scratch disks used in graphic design programs, such as Adobe Photoshop

Most users use RAMDisk to speed up applications like:

Databases
Internet Explorer cache for faster web surfing
Audio and Video editing
CAD programs
Software compilers
Speeding up CD duplication
Games
SETI processing
TEMP files
Swap space
Web server cache
Custom applications with high I/O, high bandwidth, or high security requirements

The security of the RAMDisk because if you do not choose to back up the RAMDisk, all information will be wiped upon power loss or shutdown.

 

[InvalidError]

EXTENSIVE testing has been done a while back. I no longer have the link but I read it all. It compared 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB scenarios.

All such comparisons I remember ever seeing were under single-tasking gaming scenarios where there are no significant other programs loaded during testing. Having more RAM has the biggest pay-off when you start loading multiple programs which rarely happens in gaming benchmarks where testers usually want to minimize variables and achieve the highest possible results.

 

[photonboy]

All such comparisons I remember ever seeing were under single-tasking gaming scenarios where there are no significant other programs loaded during testing. Having more RAM has the biggest pay-off when you start loading multiple programs which rarely happens in gaming benchmarks where testers usually want to minimize variables and achieve the highest possible results.

NO.
They did extensive multi-tasking.

I personally have 8GB of RAM and monitor it frequently. Even after Windows 7 64bit tries to buffer everything I'm doing I never go above 4GB except during a game.

Very few games need more than 2GB of RAM and when you are done the game it is immediately deleted from RAM.

A typical scenario is this:
1) boot computer, Windows buffers about 2GB of RAM
2) use for a while, heavy Internet, other applications, Windows buffers about 3 to 4GB
3) start a game, Windows jumps from 4GB to 6GB
4) stop the game, Windows jumps from 6GB down to 4GB

Keep in mind that Windows can remove most things from RAM. It just doesn't generally with 8GB because you have plenty of RAM. So if I only had 4GB and needed 2GB for a game, there would be a slight slowdown starting the game (not much) as Windows removed a few things.

People seem to get quite upset when I say 8GB is plenty and I'll say it again, 16GB even for gamers is pointless. Windows simply can't find enough things to fill up the space unless you have non-typical scenarios that make use of it.

I know very few people that use VM's or assign RAM cache's. (RAM cache's are generally pointless anyway. Look at your memory allocations and you'll see that your browser is using your RAM already, not the hard drive to buffer what it's doing. I loaded up a massive, massive amount of web pages and couldn't get above 1000MB of space.)

*I'd like to see somebody use more than 8GB without a VM, RAM cache or other non-typical scenario.

 

[Plasmid]

When I play Battlefield Bad company 2 I use about 5-6 gb of ram, and use about 2 gb when on desktop browsing the interwebs.

 

[InvalidError]

So if I only had 4GB and needed 2GB for a game, there would be a slight slowdown starting the game (not much) as Windows removed a few things.

That may be tolerable if you only run and use one program at a time. If you use multiple programs at a time, you then end up having to wait for (un)swapping every time you tab to something else or having constant swap grinding if background processes are active.

People seem to get quite upset when I say 8GB is plenty and I'll say it again, 16GB even for gamers is pointless.

I'm not a gamer, I'm a multi-tasker who enjoys (read: addicted to) the convenience of always having my most frequently used programs always loaded without having to wait an eternity for program startup or stuff to get pulled out of the swapfile every time I want to switch to something else for a few seconds/minutes. That has been my computer usage philosophy for the past 15+ years and my computers have had 2-4X the "normal" amount of RAM because of it. Now that I am starting to bump against the 8GB wall (usually got ~7GB in-use), I have to start closing/restarting programs when I want to do something else that isn't already loaded and that just isn't how I like using my computers.

With DDR3 memory as cheap as it is today, more people can enjoy even greater convenience I have for a fraction of the cost and I think they should grant themselves that possibility if their wallets easily allows the ~$50 extra expense.

 

[photonboy]

InvalidError,
I've never heard of a single person using the amount of RAM you describe in normal usage.

Unless you are using VM's or a RAM cache it seem very odd to me to hit 7GB+.

Nor should you have to manually close some programs to clear up space to open others. The Windows memory manager does that for you. It automatically removes the least-used programs to clear up space.

All my programs open up in under one second, such as Microsoft Word once they've been opened the first time and buffered to RAM.

Also, if you have an SSD even programs that aren't previously buffered to RAM don't take long to open. The exception is video games but they don't remain in RAM anyway so are moot to the conversation here.

*I'd be interested to know what you are doing that actually uses that much RAM.

 

[nikorr]

 

[InvalidError]

Unless you are using VM's or a RAM cache it seem very odd to me to hit 7GB+.

Try loading a couple of software/hardware development environments and load some projects, you get to 4-5GB pretty quickly, more after adding all other support tools such as office suite, browsers, mail client and PDF for documentation. Add a game on the side to kill time during builds and you're at 8+GB.

Nor should you have to manually close some programs to clear up space to open others. The Windows memory manager does that for you. It automatically removes the least-used programs to clear up space.

Windows does not magically remove programs, it dumps unused/least-recently-used code/data in the swapfile which takes a while if it is doing it to free up space for a program you are starting to load and Windows has to swap it back if code/data that gets swapped out in that process becomes active again either by itself or because you tabbed back to that program which can cause delays of several seconds if large amounts of code/data are being swapped in/out. Many programs also have a significant amount of data that is either marked as non-pageable or is active regularly enough to prevent swap-out such as all the code and data that gets used to repaint the windows.

Having to wait longer for swapping than the time it takes to read what I need out of a PDF is not something I have patience for.

 

[photonboy]

"Try loading a couple of software/hardware development environments and load some projects"

As I said above somewhere, this is non-typical usage.

 

[photonboy]

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7265/20120427061436bndw.png

Uh, you appear to have at least 40 Chrome tabs open with many containing huge amounts of pictures.

FYI, I noticed Chrome will even buffer pages that I am no longer viewing so if you don't close it the RAM usage spirals out of control. I've never gone above 1GB with 8 tabs open.

 

[nikorr]

Uh, you appear to have at least 40 Chrome tabs open with many containing huge amounts of pictures.

FYI, I noticed Chrome will even buffer pages that I am no longer viewing so if you don't close it the RAM usage spirals out of control. I've never gone above 1GB with 8 tabs open.

Actually I don't have any web with pics opened, but I found out the cause just about a week ago.

I have about 16550+ bookmarks.

That is it : )

 

[nikorr]

And I have now opened 137 tabs in 3 instances.

 

[nikorr]

That is why I am running an bookmark app editor. AM Deadlink 4.4 is a free app.

Now after deleting dupes and links that does not exist anymore, it went down to 12K.

And other links deleted after comparison, I am down to 5053 favorites : )

And the Chrome is faster now. Not that it was slow, but it is a little faster.

I can tell the difference, since I have opened more than a dozen instances with 350+ tabs.

 

[Guest]

The more ram you have the more memory the components of your computer has to do things with. End of, dont worry about what everyone is saying here, you will always benefit from more ram go for the 16GB crucial ram do these at really good prices and enjoy it! no computer lasts forever so dont worry about over heating issues and what not have fun!

 

[photonboy]

The more ram you have the more memory the components of your computer has to do things with. End of, dont worry about what everyone is saying here, you will always benefit from more ram go for the 16GB crucial ram do these at really good prices and enjoy it! no computer lasts forever so dont worry about over heating issues and what not have fun!

Check the DATE of this post.

 

[ElMuchachoJumbo]

The more ram you have the more memory the components of your computer has to do things with. End of, dont worry about what everyone is saying here, you will always benefit from more ram go for the 16GB crucial ram do these at really good prices and enjoy it! no computer lasts forever so dont worry about over heating issues and what not have fun!

Check the DATE of this post.

Christmas Eve 2012..... I don't see what you mean.