How Much RAM Do You Really Need?
Table of contents
- 1. The Need To Invest In 2 GB Of RAM Is Not Marketing Hype
- 2. Memory Matters
- 3. Test Setup
- 4. Gaming Benchmark Results
- 5. DirectX 8: Unreal Tournament 2004
- 6. DirectX 9: Battlefield 2
How much RAM does your PC have? If you run Windows XP, it is probably in the range of 512 MB to 1 GB. Older Windows versions will do the job with less than that, but as soon as you execute demanding applications or more than one application at a time, anything below 512 MB will likely translate into performance bottlenecks.
Of course, the more RAM you have, the better off you are - but how much memory do you really need?
Multiple software threads that run all at once every time you boot up your PC continue to proliferate. Multitasking software includes what we really need, such as anti-virus tools or firewall software, or useful programs to which we have all grown accustomed that permanently run in the background until they need our direct attention. Most users, for example, have their email client and browser permanently available. Instant messengers such as AIM, ICQ MSN or YIM increasingly pop up on a growing number of desktops, while a media player plays music while you work. And all of these consume some memory, leaving fewer resources available for applications that you want to launch.
Latest Memory News
- 05/18 – Japanese Galaxy S III to Pack 2GB of RAM, Dual-core CPU
- 05/18 – Samsung Moves Up DRAM Roadmap To Calm Apple Rumors
- 05/08 – Micron Announces its First DDR4 Module, Production in Q4
- 05/08 – Micron Likely to Acquire Elpida for $2.5 Billion
- 05/07 – Scientists Invent Graphene for Wearable Electronics, Mirrors
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I am a little confused as to what ram would work better with the Asus P5KPL-CM motherboard running intel E5200 CPU. I will not be gaming.I know I can use up to 3.5 Gbs of ram on my Windows XP 32 bit OS.The question is which would perform better> 2x1Gb ddr2-800 pc2 6400 or ddr2-667 pc2-5300?
I use a Mac and a windows computer from IBM. I use the mac most of the time... it has 768 megabytes of ram.
The Mac is a powerbook G4.
Applications do crash but I like to do things quickly so that's why. With the IBM (Netvista), I don't use it that much, but sometimes I control it through RDC. The "Netvista" has 1 Gigabyte of ram.
I don't really mind about the computers and the ram-I just care about that I can use them and that they don't crash each time I play a game.
From someone, who is learning applescript.
I've got 12 gB of RAM and I still experience slowdowns. Today it was due to numerous programs reading my hard drive - and even the RAID 5 array didn't help.
Performance is achieved by striking a good balance between RAM, CPU, Hard disks, and the mobo.
my 256mb ram pc is working surprisingly fast.it take 2 minutes to load while my laptop got 2 gb ram and takes like 5mins to start up.my 256mb ram system has been (like you were saying) balanced to do tasks throughout the system that are necessary only and working amazingly well.
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