How much RAM is too much?

[airfoil]

Originally posted by: miahallen
Imagine an office worker sitting at his desk, and a filing cabnet sitting next to it. He represents the computers CPU, doing all the work. The filing cabinet represents the computers hard drive, where all the info is stored. And his desk represents the RAM. The bigger his desk, the more files he can pull out of his filing cabnet at look at simultanously.

Everything you computer is actively doing/working on, is loaded into the RAM (if it fits). From the OS (XP takes anywhere from about 100-150 depending on the services you have running), anti-virus & spyware running in the "background" are still loaded on the RAM. The average user turns on his computer and will automaticall be using anywhere from 150-250MB of RAM, without doing anything.

Now, a program like Photoshop can be a real memory hog,

If he does anything with 5 megapixel images or higher, load times and filter times will be slow

I mostly work with 3mega pixel pics in Photoshop and it still uses between 150 and 250 MB.

When the computer runs out of RAM, it uses a "page file", that's when it dedicates a portion of the hard drive to act like RAM. (The office worker's desk gets cluttered, so he has to run back and forth between the filing cabnet and desk juggling files/paperwork) But downhill with the wind at it's back, the page file will still be tremendosly slower than the real RAM, this causes the system to have a noticable lag, and it becomes much more cumbersome to do anything.

So, like everyone else has been saying, 512MB is a good starting point, but 1GB would be advisable.

Very nicely put! :thumbsup:

 

[imported_X]

For anyone playing MMORPGs like EQ2 or WOW, 2 gigs seems to be the way to go.

 

[jose]

I'd say 512mb min for any new pc, fine for general stuff.
1gig - better for gaming.
2 gig - not bad since it's cheap. Also Linux really makes efficient use of ram. Good for entry level servers
4 gigs - This is the workstation/ entry level server range.

Regards,
Jose

 

[imported_Kensai]

I'm running 2GB on my gaming rig, I'd say that 16GB or more is overkill.

 

[bupkus]

If you're still using Win 98, what is the max size usable?

 

[TheNiceGuy]

thanks for the info guys.
Seems to be a lot of opinions on this.

 

[ronnn]

Even though tecnically things run slower with 4 sticks in, going from 512 to 1.5gb made a noticable difference in HL2 and Farcry. Just used cheapo ram as really I am wanting a total upgrade soon (just waiting for next gen vid cards and maybe windows 64 will be out).

 

[Injury]

I work with photoshop on a regular basis, usually working with 8 x 10's at 300pix/in, with upwords a hundred layers... and 1GB of ram has always been more than enough. I think the most I've ever used is about 600MB.

1GB will be more than enough for basic photoshoping, unless he plans on trying to do a million other things will working on an "ever so random" 700MB photoshop file. He could EASILY get by on 512MB, even when working with high-res pictures.

To all the people saying 512 isn't enough for photoshop... a) What is your experience with photoshop b) Learn how to use a computer efficiently

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: Injury
I work with photoshop on a regular basis, usually working with 8 x 10's at 300pix/in, with upwords a hundred layers... and 1GB of ram has always been more than enough. I think the most I've ever used is about 600MB.

1GB will be more than enough for basic photoshoping, unless he plans on trying to do a million other things will working on an "ever so random" 700MB photoshop file. He could EASILY get by on 512MB, even when working with high-res pictures.

To all the people saying 512 isn't enough for photoshop... a) What is your experience with photoshop b) Learn how to use a computer efficiently

I have to agree. I've done a ton of PS work on a system with 512MB. There is a definite point where RAM limitations will put the hurt on your scratch disks, but I've only reached that when dealing with 48-bit 600 DPI scans doing extensive retouching for enlargements.

If you are regularly working with 300 DPI scans of 8x10s (that's 7 megapixels, 20MB for 24-bit and 40MB for 48-bit), you will want 1 GB for the freedom to keep a lot of stuff open, but smaller pictures really aren't a problem. People who are regularly keeping multiple images open with layers in the 20MB range don't really fall under "casual use" in my book.

Besides, we're talking about a laptop here. You don't do serious PS work on an LCD. More memory actually uses a little more power and takes longer to hibernate. Not many people need more than 512MB on a laptop.

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: gate1975mlm
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant...duct_Code=140291&Category_Code=DDR-PDP

Specifications

Dual Channel
2GB PC3200 Low Latency Memory Kit
100% Tested at 400MHZ
Low Latency Setting (2-3-2-5) for System Performance
Aluminum Heat Spreader to Reduce Thermal Build-Up

That's nice memory, but paying almost double for CL2 doesn't make any more sense with 1GB sticks than it does with 512MB sticks.

 

[mage333]

Wow. I can't get Windows to allocate much more than 500MB of memory for my system. When running IRC, Firefox, "i don't use filesharing app", winamp, mplayer x5-6 windows, damn this is getting long typing, Visual Studio, etc it's usually 360MB average. Adding steam+game on top of that usually only puts me up around 490MB (although I don't check exactly every time..). I got as high as 520MB when steam was downloading a patch, and I was playing DOW 40000. Is there some way to get access to more RAM? I don't even know why I use a pagefile at this rate.

 

[LED]

I would use @ least 1 Gig of RAM and on XP set the System under Performance with No Paging file for faster response ...some software may not work so then a Custom Paging File will be required.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: ribbon13

Originally posted by: Fike
Photoshop with 512 MB will be excruciating. If he does anything with 5 megapixel images or higher, load times and filter times will be slow. 1GB is a good base for photoshop. If he is doing more advanced photoshop stuff, then maybe 2 GB is better.

And in such a case, a laptop wouldn't be wise either.

Completly agree. Any hard drive I/O intensive application like photoshop should not be souly operated on a lap top.

 

[imported_Beavis]

1Gb@2x512 is enought for most users.

 

[sharkeeper]

Win98? LOL

512MB. Once you go over that you MUST edit your vcache switches and use MSCONFIG to limit max mem to 997MB or the system won't boot. That was my experience back in '99 when I was dual booting between NT 4.0 and 98SE with a system with 1.5GB.

 

[holycpu]

I think more than 2gb is a bit overkill for now.

 

[doublejbass]

Originally posted by: miahallen
Imagine an office worker sitting at his desk, and a filing cabnet sitting next to it. He represents the computers CPU, doing all the work. The filing cabinet represents the computers hard drive, where all the info is stored. And his desk represents the RAM. The bigger his desk, the more files he can pull out of his filing cabnet at look at simultanously.

Everything you computer is actively doing/working on, is loaded into the RAM (if it fits). From the OS (XP takes anywhere from about 100-150 depending on the services you have running), anti-virus & spyware running in the "background" are still loaded on the RAM. The average user turns on his computer and will automaticall be using anywhere from 150-250MB of RAM, without doing anything.

Now, a program like Photoshop can be a real memory hog,

If he does anything with 5 megapixel images or higher, load times and filter times will be slow

I mostly work with 3mega pixel pics in Photoshop and it still uses between 150 and 250 MB.

When the computer runs out of RAM, it uses a "page file", that's when it dedicates a portion of the hard drive to act like RAM. (The office worker's desk gets cluttered, so he has to run back and forth between the filing cabnet and desk juggling files/paperwork) But downhill with the wind at it's back, the page file will still be tremendosly slower than the real RAM, this causes the system to have a noticable lag, and it becomes much more cumbersome to do anything.

So, like everyone else has been saying, 512MB is a good starting point, but 1GB would be advisable.

Thanks for playing "REALLY BAD ANALOGIES!"