How much RAM is too much?

[TheNiceGuy]

I got into a discussion about this with some work mates.
One is looking at getting a new laptop for casual use, mabey a bit of photoshop, and I thought 512 MB RAM was enough, ambey even 256 in a pinch. But the other guys disagreed, and said "you'll be sorry" and said to get 1 GB.
This lead to other stuff, like PCs. I was underthe impression that more than 1GB of RAM is a waste, as the rest of the system and Windows can't utilize it all. There may some niche reasons, like a server or something, but am I right? Even if you game, getting say 2GB of RAM is a waste.
Comments?

 

[Chaotic42]

I'd say 1GB for gaming, 2GB for heavy Photoshopping or running apps while gaming on a dual system.

 

[deveraux]

4GB, since most mobo's don't support any more than that.

But seriously, what Chaotic42 said. Although, IMO, gaming at 1GB is starting to get saturated and it might be better to get slightly more. Certain game engines (e.g. HL2) do benefit from having more than 1GB of RAM since the Source engine tends to cache lots of areas. However, if you do decide to go for 2GB, and not fill up the four RAM slots but instead use 2x1GB sticks, then you have the issue of it running at slower timings since 1GB sticks are MUCH slower than their 512MB counter-part.

My $0.02

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: deveraux
4GB, since most mobo's don't support any more than that.

But seriously, what Chaotic42 said. Although, IMO, gaming at 1GB is starting to get saturated and it might be better to get slightly more. Certain game engines (e.g. HL2) do benefit from having more than 1GB of RAM since the Source engine tends to cache lots of areas. However, if you do decide to go for 2GB, and not fill up the four RAM slots but instead use 2x1GB sticks, then you have the issue of it running at slower timings since 1GB sticks are MUCH slower than their 512MB counter-part.

My $0.02

I think if I were building a gaming system today, I'd go ahead and grab two 1GB DIMMs.

 

[ribbon13]

Indeed, two 1GB sticks is faster than 4x512MB sticks.

I'd say more than 2GB is too much for the desktop user. 1GB is standard fair. 2GB is a lil overkill, but that will change with time.

 

[deveraux]

Well, as for the 4x512 sticks, hopefully the new memory controller on Venice will solve the DDR333 @ 2T problem when all 4 RAM slots are populated. If so, I will readily run out and buy another 2 sticks of 512MB.

 

[ribbon13]

Yes, but 2x1GB will still likely be able to be ran with tighter timings and a higher overclock. lots of parasitic capacitance with 4 DIMMs

 

[akugami]

Well, seeing as how the guy is suppose to be a casual user with some light Photoshopping thrown in, I'd say 512MB. If he constantly has a lot of programs open or some of the pictures he's editing are large, then get 1GB. Any more than that is a waste for the normal user.

Forget what's needed for gaming guys. The guy who is getting it is said to be getting it for casual use. Not playing HL2 and Doom3 on his laptop. So 512MB recommended for casual usage or 1GB if he has the cash to burn and wants to future proof himself a little bit in case he starts to use his laptop more than usual.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[Corporate Thug]

with ram prices so cheap, 2GB is a real possibilty. i dont see too many instances where more than 2 GB will help

 

[AristoV300]

Only thing is that 1gig sticks are way overpriced.

 

[ribbon13]

Yeah, if Cas2 1GB sticks were $130 this would be a moot issue. Hopefully by the end of the year the market will improve.

 

[AristoV300]

I thought with DDR2 out prices would fall some, but with AMD chips still using DDR I doubt it
Also I believe 1 gig sticks are not good for overclocking.

 

[Lemodular]

Originally posted by: TheNiceGuy
I was underthe impression that more than 1GB of RAM is a waste, as the rest of the system and Windows can't utilize it all.

IIRC this was true in the pre-win-98 days, but NT/XP can utilize all your ram.

 

[dullard]

For casual use and basic photoshop, 512 MB is the way to go. Thus 1 GB would be too much due to costs. However, if the photoshop use is more than just casual, I'd say go with 1 GB and that 2 GB is probably too much.

Windows XP cannot use more than 2 GB on each thread. Thus 3 GB - 4 GB wouldn't give photoshop any noticible benefits. Heck, Windows XP cannot use over 3.5 GB as a general rule of thumb (and that is even with mild tweaking).

Originally posted by: AristoV300
Also I believe 1 gig sticks are not good for overclocking.

How many people overclock a laptop for casual use?

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Thanks for the replys folks.
I was interested in the laptop usage, but also am interested in the general nature of RAM interacting in a system. Namely, how much the system can use, and when and why - and the biggest bang for the buck.

 

[imported_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.

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: deveraux
4GB, since most mobo's don't support any more than that.

But seriously, what Chaotic42 said. Although, IMO, gaming at 1GB is starting to get saturated and it might be better to get slightly more. Certain game engines (e.g. HL2) do benefit from having more than 1GB of RAM since the Source engine tends to cache lots of areas. However, if you do decide to go for 2GB, and not fill up the four RAM slots but instead use 2x1GB sticks, then you have the issue of it running at slower timings since 1GB sticks are MUCH slower than their 512MB counter-part.

My $0.02

I think if I were building a gaming system today, I'd go ahead and grab two 1GB DIMMs.

hehe, i built one last month and i got 1x1GB DIMM

when i get money and 2GB doesn't seem like overkill, i'll be getting the 2nd DIMM

 

[Fike]

I had a process that took 1 minute 30 seconds with 512 of RAM. Now, after installing 1.5 GB of RAM, the same prcoess takes 3 seconds (flattening 16 layers in a 500 MB image). Memory is king for photoshop.

 

[dguy6789]

Will using 3 dims to make 2GB(1GB and 2X512) make you use 2T timing, or is it only with 4?

 

[gate1975mlm]

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

Specifications

Dual Channel
2GB PC3200 Low Latency Memory Kit
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Low Latency Setting (2-3-2-5) for System Performance
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[Budmantom]

1gb is more than enough for 98% of the peeps.


Tom

 

[Jeff7181]

I think 1 GB should be fine. By the time you'll need more the rest of your hardware will be outdated. Same can be said about 256MB vs. 512MB video cards.

 

[sunilv]

well, when I use Adobe Premier and apply 2 effects only and play back in
real time without rendering it, my ram just goes down to like 10 MB (ram becomes very low) from 1GB and the CPU usage is 100%


it this normal?


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