The price of memory upgrades is at an all-time low. And more memory is always better, right? We decided to analyze whether or not now could be the time for a fat memory upgrade. As it turns out, there are arguments for and against backing up the truck.
We want to do things a bit differently in this article. We're going to start with 32-bit programs in a 32-bit environment, move to 32-bit programs in a 64-bit environment, and finally look at 64-bit programs in a 64-bit environment.
By doing this, we want to prove that those of you still stuck on 32-bit systems can, in fact, benefit from 8 GB or more RAM before inevitably making the switch over to a 64-bit operating system in the near future.
Also, we want to show how 32-bit programs in 64-bit environments can benefit from a decent RAM expansion, how graphics cards don’t just fill their video memory with textures, and why you'd better have more than 4 GB of RAM when it comes time to move into the 64-bit world.

We obviously can't cover all possible application scenarios with different amounts of RAM, but we'll offer an interesting excursion off the beaten path...and perhaps a surprise or two along the way.
If you find a logical argument here to justify dipping into your household budget for a RAM upgrade, then we will have achieved something. We believe it’s important to have a smooth computing experience at work and the ability to play games without suffering from stuttering caused by annoying hard drive access. Expect one conclusion right up front: more RAM certainly never hurts anyone.
I use 8GB for about 2 years now, the best thing about it (and I didnt find this covered in the article) is that alt+tab-ing out from a game to windows and back to the game is almost instant. Even the hungriest game uses about 3-3.5 GB. Windows again about 2.5. So you always have 2GB free. Even though I dont have a SSD yet, after the initial slower start of an app (browser, anything), going back to it is instant. For me this is the real benefit of having more ram. The marginal (if any) FPS increase is not the main selling point. Multi-tasking is.
I use 8GB for about 2 years now, the best thing about it (and I didnt find this covered in the article) is that alt+tab-ing out from a game to windows and back to the game is almost instant. Even the hungriest game uses about 3-3.5 GB. Windows again about 2.5. So you always have 2GB free. Even though I dont have a SSD yet, after the initial slower start of an app (browser, anything), going back to it is instant. For me this is the real benefit of having more ram. The marginal (if any) FPS increase is not the main selling point. Multi-tasking is.
My questions are as followed:
1) I am aware SSD's are a applied RAM set. So how can one use your system RAM to store files after shutdown as well.
2) How can one add more memory to the GPU? I can see a noticeable jump in GPU RAM, or GMP as they put it.
That being said, if all you do is interwebs and some gaming you should be careful where you spend your money. Big ram is for programs that use a lot of ram, if you're doing heavy 3d modeling/animation, large photoshop files now that CS5 actually has 64 bit products it's justified. For games it's a crapshoot.
I say stay with 6 Gb unless you see your ram usage over 50% regualrly.
As for this article....i tried to play with Ram drives few years back on my first x58 platform.....finally some on put it on paper.
I'm not one to spend money in areas that don't need it so..
I just hope this RAM works in the new AMD motherboards coming out next year.
Sarcasm?
No, RAM forgets everything when it looses power, so you can't use it to store data after shutdown.
Secondly, you can't add more memory to the GPU. Increasing your system memory makes more memory available to the GPU, but it's not the same as adding more to the GPU, and the memory on your graphics card is far faster than elsewhere in your system.
to me is shows that in you have 12-16gb ram then you can disable the page/swap file altogether, although some programs may have problems.
I've had 8GB DC since my install of Windows 7 64 bit and disabling the page file was one of the first 'tweaks' I did. My primary HDD is a WD Velociraptor and I prefer to keep it running for a long time, so I like to keep HDD access to a minimum.
After hours of computer use (gaming, codec rendering, watching HD content) my ram will be 0 free and 5500MB+ available (meaning the system is retaining old or garbage information), but I really don't care. It takes 5ms to dump the information and free up whatever necessary space for anything my CPU is sending over. I see no performance degradation or crashes at all regarding my memory doing the work it should be doing. Swap file still equals lose in my book.
I did not know you can create a RAM disk so easy.
What I'm missing in the tests above and which would improve massively is the the compilation time of different programs.
If all the intermediary files are in the ram disk the whole process should be extremely fast.
what is also not measured is the improvement in boot time.
This should improve a bit too.
It would be great if you guys could add this tests.