Is 8GB of RAM overkill?

[MrX8503]

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Do you all think the new minimum amount of ram to now have, for gamers at least, is 4 GB ?

Dude I think 4GB has been the standard for gamers for a long time now already.

8GB might be overkill for a majority of people, but if its cheap and you can afford it, I would get it.

If you do video or 3D work 8GB is like the minimum. I do work in after effects and you can assign how many cores to use with each core using 2GB. So if you have a quad core, thats already a full 8GB of ram being used while your rendering, your computer would be useless during that time. And this video is all standard def, I can't even imagine the computing power needed for 1080p.

Quite frankly I wish we were at octo core and 16GB ram already, but most consumers who just surf the net are probably perfectly fine with just a netbook.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: MrX8503

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Do you all think the new minimum amount of ram to now have, for gamers at least, is 4 GB ?

Dude I think 4GB has been the standard for gamers for a long time now already.

8GB might be overkill for a majority of people, but if its cheap and you can afford it, I would get it.

If you do video or 3D work 8GB is like the minimum. I do work in after effects and you can assign how many cores to use with each core using 2GB. So if you have a quad core, thats already a full 8GB of ram being used while your rendering, your computer would be useless during that time. And this video is all standard def, I can't even imagine the computing power needed for 1080p.

Quite frankly I wish we were at octo core and 16GB ram already, but most consumers who just surf the net are probably perfectly fine with just a netbook.

Yeah that is what I figured. Though how long has 4 GB been the standard for gamers ? When did it happen ? I can't remember.

Sure 8 GB may be the minimum for video and 3D work but even if you don't do that 8 GB could be the minimum if you like to play more than one game at once, alt tab out of games a lot while using firefox, email, watch youtube videos, install a application or another game, and/or burn a dvd. I am leaving quite a lot of stuff off the list though sense I can't think of all the other demanding stuff or could be demanding that people do if they try to do it all at once on the same pc. I think for some people 8 GB is the new minimum. Yes it already is for people who do video and 3D work but I am talking about people who do not.

 

[taltamir]

it happened over time... every day more people switches from 2GB to 4GB.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: taltamir
it happened over time... every day more people switches from 2GB to 4GB.

Yes that is not what I am asking though.

 

[taltamir]

you asked when it happened... there is no specific date because it happened over time, one computer at a time. kinda like evolution.

 

[MrX8503]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: taltamir
it happened over time... every day more people switches from 2GB to 4GB.

Yes that is not what I am asking though.

Minimums of ram use usually happens when they become affordable, or when motherboards support them.

The ideal minimum is maxing out half the ram slots. For example 2x2GB for 4GB. Or in DDR3's case 3x2GB for 6GB. You would normally stay away from using all ram slots as it draws more power and lowers ocability.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Yeah that is what I figured. Though how long has 4 GB been the standard for gamers ? When did it happen ? I can't remember.

If I had to purely guess based on recollection of how things evolved here on the forums I would peg the cross-over point (when >50% gamers tended to have 4GB instead 2GB) I would put it around mid to late 2007.

DDR2 prices were really cratering prior to that, and when contemplating upgrading the GPU it became the cheap quick-upgrade (slap another 2GB in the desktop for <$100) that lots of folks wanted to do before but couldn't justify paying $200 to do.

Basically whenever it became so cheap that it was hard to rationalize spending $300+ to upgrade the GPU but not spend some paltry dollar amount (say $100) to double your system ram. Seems like there was a lot of threads about it in the mid to late 2007 timeframe.

 

[chrisf6969]

For gamers the 2Gb to 4Gb transition I THINK mostly happened in the past year or so, as ddr2 prices dropped a lot.

I upgraded from 2x1Gb to 2x2Gb I believe early last spring when there was a sale. Since then its just gotten cheaper & cheaper. In fact, I still have that 2x1Gb for ram sitting around & I just put it up for sale about a week or 2 ago.

Self pimpage: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...ht_key=y&keyword1=pico

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Yeah that is what I figured. Though how long has 4 GB been the standard for gamers ? When did it happen ? I can't remember.

If I had to purely guess based on recollection of how things evolved here on the forums I would peg the cross-over point (when >50% gamers tended to have 4GB instead 2GB) I would put it around mid to late 2007.

DDR2 prices were really cratering prior to that, and when contemplating upgrading the GPU it became the cheap quick-upgrade (slap another 2GB in the desktop for <$100) that lots of folks wanted to do before but couldn't justify paying $200 to do.

Basically whenever it became so cheap that it was hard to rationalize spending $300+ to upgrade the GPU but not spend some paltry dollar amount (say $100) to double your system ram. Seems like there was a lot of threads about it in the mid to late 2007 timeframe.

then there were specific games... for me it was company of heroes (earlier version, newer versions take less ram), I was getting 5fps on a 7900GS + X2 3800+... When I upgraded from 2GB to 4GB of ram my FPS went up to 30-40 fps.

 

[Itchrelief]

LOL I put in 8gb of RAM and Vista can't find enough crap to cache. 2GB used + 4GB cached. 2GB wasted.

I would say it was definitely overkill for me.

At least it was only about $75 for the RAM after rebates, including tax.

 

[pcslookout]

Thank you everyone for giving it a guess. I would have to agree with that basic time frame and remember when people would always tell me 4 GB of ram would not become a standard so fast.

Originally posted by: Itchrelief
LOL I put in 8gb of RAM and Vista can't find enough crap to cache. 2GB used + 4GB cached. 2GB wasted.

I would say it was definitely overkill for me.

At least it was only about $75 for the RAM after rebates, including tax.

All 8 GB of my ram is being used but I leave a lot of programs open but this is just with no games running. 2.39 GB used 6.1 GB cached 240 MB free

I go over 3 to 4 GB used at times and like having some breathing room as well.