8 GB vs 16 GB for gaming

[pcslookout]

Does any review site show the advantages of having 16 GB over 8 GB for gaming today ?

 

[nerp]

8 is good enough but 16 is better. More headroom, more wiggle room, more future proof.

 

[fralexandr]

quite a few dx12 games are recommending ~16gb of ram, like deus ex human revolution
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/deus-ex-mankind-dividied-system-specs-revealed.2482832/

rise of the tomb raider also can use >8gb of RAM
http://techbuyersguru.com/first-look-dx12-performance-rise-tomb-raider?page=1

hardwaresecrets also has a look into FPS vs RAM amounts, but the site is slow and cluttered with advertisements and stuff. From the miniscule amount of charts i looked at before closing the site, there was a small increase in fps (~+10%) from having 16GB of RAM over having 8GB in battlefield something or other

 

[Carfax83]

Does any review site show the advantages of having 16 GB over 8 GB for gaming today ?

It's difficult to get a good picture of the advantages of higher amounts of RAM. Standard benchmarks which show averages (especially in GPU limited scenarios) are utterly useless. To get a good perspective, you need to analyze frametime. PCgameshardare.de has done these kinds of benches before, and there are tangible differences in smoothness between the two in certain games.

Personally, I think 8GB might be fine for midrange rigs, but for high end, no way. For high end, you need a minimum of 16GB..

8GB

16GB

 

[KentState]

You aren't talking about a huge difference in price. Get 16gb and don't worry about having to upgrade for awhile. Modern games can easily consume 4gb or more and Windows/apps can take up another 2-3gb.

 

[rsutoratosu]

All my laptops are 16.. and they're not new.. t430s, x230, etc. Why a few chrome windows and 8gb gets eaten fast. Granted it not games.. Desktops are all 32gb.

The way programs eat memory, even common browsers eats a lot..

 

[pcslookout]

If I get 16 GB now (two 8 GB sticks) and want to later add two more 8 GB sticks for 32 GB will this still work in dual channel mode ?

 

[wingman04]

If I get 16 GB now (two 8 GB sticks) and want to later add two more 8 GB sticks for 32 GB will this still work in dual channel mode ?

Yes you can purchase another two 8 GB sticks later for 32GB. However most people through the years up grade there system before the ram, DDR5 is around the corner.

 

[CiPHER]

Some games utilise more RAM. For example, Master of Orion can actually use more than 16GB of RAM.

Only 64-bit games can do this. Regular 32-bit games are limited to 2GiB RAM or 3GiB when specially compiled. Not that many games are 64-bit.

 

[TemjinGold]

Yes you can purchase another two 8 GB sticks later for 32GB. However most people through the years up grade there system before the ram, DDR5 is around the corner.

That's a really BIG corner as DDR5 isn't expected until 2020.

 

[LFaWolf]

Also, if you are running Windows 7 Home, you are limited to only 16GB max. Windows 10 Home has a much higher limit (128GB I think).

 

[FFFF]

Only Home Premium or lower has a 16GB limit for Windows 7, everything above is 192GB. Windows 8/10 limit is 128GB+ for all license types.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I upgraded to 16GB, because if I opened a web browser (netflix, strategy guide, chat app, etc.) while gaming, Windows 10 would complain that it was OoM.

 

[wingman04]

I upgraded to 16GB, because if I opened a web browser (netflix, strategy guide, chat app, etc.) while gaming, Windows 10 would complain that it was OoM.

I had that problem before, it was a software application problem. When windows runs out of memory it uses a sap file on the hard drive for memory.

 

[Shmee]

I would say that 16GB definitely helps, its seen more as the new standard I would say. Getting that amount of DDR3 or DDR4 is cheap enough so that you may as well go for 12GB at least depending on the amount of channels.

 

[JimmiG]

I upgraded to 16GB, because if I opened a web browser (netflix, strategy guide, chat app, etc.) while gaming, Windows 10 would complain that it was OoM.

Sounds like an incorrectly configured paging file or a memory leak. You should not get OOMs with 8 GB of RAM.
Personally I didn't notice any difference going from 8 to 16 GB. I mainly upgraded because I predicted DDR3 prices would increase as the market switches to DDR4. However if you're building a new rig today, definitely go with 16 GB. Sooner or later, it will be required, and the price difference isn't that big.

 

[LFaWolf]

If you plan to play Dishonored 2 in the future, well the recommended specs stated 16GB of memory. Going from 8GB to 16GB is about $40 nowadays. I don't see a reason not going 16GB for a gaming machine.
http://www.pcgamer.com/dishonored-2s-system-requirements-announced/

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Sounds like an incorrectly configured paging file or a memory leak. You should not get OOMs with 8 GB of RAM.

Dunno. It worked fine with Win7. Upgraded to 10, and boom. Page file settings are default.

I leave my computer on for months on a stretch, so if it were a memory leak, it would presumably have eventually caught up with me @ 16GB too, no?

 

[wingman04]

Dunno. It worked fine with Win7. Upgraded to 10, and boom. Page file settings are default.

I leave my computer on for months on a stretch, so if it were a memory leak, it would presumably have eventually caught up with me @ 16GB too, no?

So it must be a problem with the program running in windows 10 because you were running the same amount of memory 8GB in windows 10.

The way memory notification is suppose to work is when you run out of memory also storage drive space, then you receive the notification.

 

[EXCellR8]

I'd still consider 8GB to be the standard for gaming, with 16 being nice to have

 

[jasonwell90]

I will going 16GB

 

[pcslookout]

Now I am considering going 32GB in my next build. lol

 

[jimbob200521]

I would say 16gb is a safe amount but 8gb should do it for most cases. There were times on my old system with 6gb when I'd play Cities: Skylines with a large city going and I'd soak up all 6gb. Keep in mind, that's with just the game (and a few mods). I upgraded to 12gb and with that same city I'd see usages above 8gb and sometimes 9gb of RAM. This also allowed me the flexibility to keep Chrome open with Pandora, or watch a movie on the 2nd screen, or any other number of things. My current system has 32gb so that's not an issue but given the choice between 8gb and 16gb, I'd go 16gb every day, especially with the prices of RAM at this point.