Memory Upgrade: Is It Time To Add More RAM?
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Our Test System
- 3. 32-Bit: Bottlenecks, Tales, And A Trick
- 4. Up To 16 GB Of RAM On A 32-Bit System!
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.
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Hmmm... i'm concerned because i use triple channel so i'm currently at 6gb, which is under recommendation however to upgrade to 12gb might be to much, especially since i've heard that using more RAM slots negativley affects overclocking stability.
awesome read for the masses, thanks Tom!
I, too, run an X58 chipset, with Win7-64, and don't know what this article is telling me . . .
Finally a good read on Tom's, not a news about a rumor that a fruit company might provide a tease about something shiny.
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.
Personally, I would say 6GB is nice balance between capacity and cost. 4GB of RAM can become limited at times, but IMO 8GB is a little too much.
Nice article. I finally learned something i can be able to use later in my computing life.
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.
Is the RAM loaded on an actual model of the truck?
i use triple channel but i only got 3 gb of ram, is better to add more ram or buy an ssd ?
Come on guys, the article and recommendation are pretty straight forward. They're recommending a minimum of 8 Gb and if you have less you might want to consider upgrading.
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.
So basically, the conclusion is that slow hard drives are slow, which really doesn't say anything about system memory. What happens if you try running the programs off of a good SSD? Having an SSD in your system, but not putting any programs or even the swap file on it seems like a rather strange configuration.
This is the best article you have ever written toms. Clears up everything I wanted to know and achieve with memory above 4gb. I always wondered if the ram disk thing would actually work with 4gb+ in 32 bit OS's. Now I know. Thanks!
Grate article guys! That what Toms is all about! That kind of articles is exactly what i liked about toms in first place.
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.
What's with the German text in the images on the page "64-Bit: Memory-Hungry Graphics Cards"?
I managed to score 8GB of RAM a month ago, and now i'm reading 6GB is the sweet spot?
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.
So if you put 12 or 16gb in a 64 bit system, you are better off using the top 4 - 8 gb as a ram disk (just as in the 32 bit system) and putting a swap file and temp files there. That leaves you with 8gb of usable system memory and nice fast temp/swap. At least until more apps move to 64bit. fair?
As some people dont seem to understand what the article is about, ill try explain some key points i liked - 1. a 32 bit OS CAN use more than 3.25gb ram if the extra ram is made into a ramdisk and used for the swap file, which will speed up loading times, and save your hard disk for other things. 2. Using the same allocating ram to ramdisk for swap file technique can also help in 64 bit systems with 8gb or more ram, speeding up loading times. 3. Some games do make use of more ram, not as in framerate, but loading times and also corrupt textures can be caused by not enough video ram &/or system ram (this was surprising to me and may help others diagnose what they think is a video card issue, may be a RAM issue)
awesome read for the masses, thanks Tom!
Sarcasm?
Nice article. I finally learned something i can be able to use later in my computing life.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.
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.
So if you put 12 or 16gb in a 64 bit system, you are better off using the top 4 - 8 gb as a ram disk (just as in the 32 bit system) and putting a swap file and temp files there.
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.
Thanks for touching on the subject of the paging file. Though, I'm not sure I agree with the crashing instances. I would think that's due to having cheap ram or running your ram at latencies that it can't handle.
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.