Is 32GB of RAM overkill?

Mar 17, 2014
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I built a PC this summer. It has 16GB of RAM. I have 2 DIMM slots open. However, Corsair, the manufacturer of my RAM, is sending me mail on upgrading to 32GB. Is 32GB overkill?
 

smakme7757

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2010
1,487
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It's most likely "Overkill" if you just game, do office work or anything else which doesn't consume much RAM. Seeing as you are getting it for free then just install it and go about your business.

In my case, i have a server with 32GB of RAM, but could definitely use 128GB if i could afford it :).
 

Morbus

Senior member
Apr 10, 2009
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16GB is already overkill.

That said, for anyone who goes even if only ever so slight above 8GB of used RAM, then it makes sense to have 16GB. The same can be said about 32GB. If you are usually around 12-14GB of used RAM, then it kind of makes sense, but then you're probably better off buying a single 8GB DIMM, or 2x4GB DIMMs.
 

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
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No such thing as overkill when it comes to RAM. :awe:

I have 16Gb in my desktop and laptop, back when it was $50/16Gb. I should've bought moar.
 

ashetos

Senior member
Jul 23, 2013
254
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If you do get it eventually, could you please report how much of it is usable by the system? I'm curious if there is a hardware limitation on those desktop boards that support up to 32GB of RAM, and if this limits the physical address space in any way.
 

Mark R

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,513
16
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I got 32GB for my main workstation.

Even running a bunch of VMs, SQL express, etc. I never reach 16 GB, unless I'm doing something very contrived. Even normal development work, gaming, photoshop, video editing, don't come close.

Also be careful about choosing RAM if you're going to max out your board. BIOS bugs are common, and even RAM SPD bugs are known. I would very strongly recommend that you check that hardware compatibility list for your mainboard, and only get the RAM that has been validated at the quantity you wish to use.
 

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
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this was tested about 1 1/2 years ago (here on AT)and 32Gb performed slightly lower than 16Gb (load on the memory controller). So, unless you actually go above 16Gb, its detrimental to get 32Gb.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
69,249
13,007
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www.anyf.ca
Probably overkill, unless you want to do lot of stuff with VMs, like setup a full blown AD lab or something.

Though, one thing it could be useful for is a ram drive. Though, you need to find a use for ultra fast disk space that has to be repopulated at each startup.

Actually, would be interesting to experiment with a way to have a bootloader that transfers an OS image to ram, then boots off it. Would be slow to boot up but once you're in the OS everything would be ridiculously fast. :p
 

MoFoQ

Senior member
Apr 17, 2001
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It really depends on your usage.

One of my machines has 16GB and it's great.
One of my other machines has only 8GB and I been getting "low memory" issues.
My next build has 32GB (ECC too)...but that's 'cuz ZFS loves memory
 

yhelothar

Lifer
Dec 11, 2002
18,409
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If you have to ask, then it's overkill.

:thumbsup:

You could always check your ram usage. If you get to 80-90% memory usage often and you suddenly notice your browser taking several seconds to open, then that means you need more ram.
 
Mar 17, 2014
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:thumbsup:

You could always check your ram usage. If you get to 80-90% memory usage often and you suddenly notice your browser taking several seconds to open, then that means you need more ram.

Holy crap, thanks for enloghtning me :smack:. Some people are really smart :rolleyes:.
 

greenhawk

Platinum Member
Feb 23, 2011
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One of my other machines has only 8GB and I been getting "low memory" issues.

after spending a lot of time with my old computer with 8GB, the only "low memory" I got was when the drive was full and the swap file could not increase itself.

otherwise getting over 4GB in day to day use was rare.
 

Coup27

Platinum Member
Jul 17, 2010
2,140
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Holy crap, thanks for enloghtning me :smack:. Some people are really smart :rolleyes:.
As this is coming from somebody who is asking if they need 32GB of RAM, I felt his advice was quite helpful in determining your current RAM requirements.
 

bigi

Platinum Member
Aug 8, 2001
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I have 32 GB. I ran some focus stacking in PS and ran out of RAM.
 

Compman55

Golden Member
Feb 14, 2010
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Overkill now or not enough later.

I say 8GB is minimum today, 16GB is the standard, and 32 is overkill.

I have never experianced a real world decrease in maxing the ram. Running benchmarks will show a few numbers worse when maxing out.

My personal beleive is for pefect stability, the set of ram needs to be matched. maybe not serial specific, but chip wise. So if a year goes by, you may have a hard time finding exact sticks that match.