new rig, how much mem for win7 64-bit?

[joecool]

I'm building a PhenomII x2 based system, getting the black version and hoping to get an extra core or two. Wondering how much memory I need w/this - is 4GB enough these days or do you get a performance bump with 6 or 8? I won't be doing anything too intensive, some moderate gaming (Radeon 5770) and some photo and video editing.

Thanks for help!

Joe

 

[flamenko]

4Gb is plenty and you will be lucky if you ever come close to maxing it out. Windows 7 utilizes your memory in a different way so its entirely possible to run plenty of programs without a hitch

 

[Blain]

...some photo and video editing.

How heavy are you photo and video editing?

 

[joecool]

medium i guess.

 

[Elixer]

If you can afford it, then, why not ?
There really is no downside for getting more, besides the $$$ factor.

 

[Voo]

Well - medium, high or whatever are completely subjective, so the easiest thing for you to do would be to just check how much RAM photoshop (or whatever video editing sw you use) uses at most on your old system.

If that's not possible, I'd personally just stick with 4gb and if you notice slowdowns just put in another 2 or 4gb, for my uses 4gb are enough (at most 3k x 3k pixels and less than 30layers)

 

[Cerb]

I have 8GB and am never going back to 4 or less, even w/o photo editing. Being able to have FF use a GB, a game use nearly 2GB, misc crap use a GB, and still have many GB for other things (like file cache), and never hitting a page file, is heavenly.

But, just get a mobo that take four sticks, and get a 2x2GB kit. If you can use it up, get another.