Hi all, this may be a stupid question, but is there much of a benefit of going from 8GB to 16GB of RAM? I noticed that in Windows Task Manager that all 8GB of my RAM is either cached or used. If I had 16GB, would it cache more and thus speed up more programs? Also, if I wait to upgrade to more RAM, will it be difficult to find the exact model of RAM that I already bought? Thanks in advance.
Upgrading from 8GB to 16GB RAM?
- Thread starter Smartazz
- Start date
Cerb
Elite Member
- Aug 26, 2000
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Aside from a little zeroed RAM for quick application utilization, unused RAM is wasted. It should be used for caching, and the caches, reducing main storage IO, improve performance, especially in the hard-to-quantify realm of interactivity.
It will cache more, but that's just what happens with more space for caching. If you don't use what it is in the cache, it is not benefiting you. So, if most of your RAM stays used as cache, you won't benefit much, if at all, from even more RAM.
When you would really benefit is when you have an application that can make use of several GBs by itself, or several applications using up a large sum of your RAM, thus forcing potentially useful data to be flushed out of cache.
So if you had 1-2GB cached, and the rest being used directly by the OS and programs, more RAM might make for a nicer experience. If most of the RAM is being used for cache, the marginal benefits will be nil.
Yes. If the reason for thinking of upgrading the RAM is simply because it is cheap and available, then yes, it would be a bad idea in that there most likely won't be any felt benefits.
If one goes for 16, 32, or 64GB RAM, I would assume one already knows exactly the why's and the how's of it, because it would be a business case most likely such as dealing with big data or huge data sets, VMs, an in-memory product like TimesTen, etc. So at this point in time (with current software), I suppose one could say that "if you need to ask, then you don't need >8GB RAM".
This may or may not be "casual" usage since there really isn't an objective scale upon which to measure "casual PC usage", but there are actually games (or so I've heard) that actually WILL be better off with >4GB total system RAM, thereby necessitating a 64-bit Windows OS versus 32-bit. I have limited experience with this, though.
I've personally never seen a game exceed about 2.5 GB of RAM. Remember, most PC games are simply ports from consoles.. and the xbox 360 only has HALF a gig of RAM.
8 gb ram is already twice the overhead for what you'll need for years to come.
I have a really hard time believing even the most intense video editors are somehow utilizing a full 16gb of RAM.. let alone 32 and 64 GB of RAM.
A lot of people seem to get inordinate amounts of RAM with the false hopes that it will add some sort of "breathing room" or serve for futureproofing.. unfortunately it won't do either..
8 gb ram is already twice the overhead for what you'll need for years to come.
I have a really hard time believing even the most intense video editors are somehow utilizing a full 16gb of RAM.. let alone 32 and 64 GB of RAM.
A lot of people seem to get inordinate amounts of RAM with the false hopes that it will add some sort of "breathing room" or serve for futureproofing.. unfortunately it won't do either..
Cerb
Elite Member
- Aug 26, 2000
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Yet they do use >2GB of RAM (many have larger assets for the PC version, and we PC users can use mods), then they benefit from the files cached in RAM, then you can easily use >=1GB with a web browser in the background (ironically, Chrome now seems worse than FF about it!), then those file windows, and your music player, and your AV client...and before you know it, you really want 6-8GB. And, 8GB is cheap.
For more than that, today, you really need things that eat tons of RAM. Without VMs, photo/video editing, certain CAD uses, it's hard to use too much more, and we're going to need a few years before games start requiring much more than 4GB.
We call that cache. Windows has done it like other good OSes since Vista, and it is awesome. But just like a hardware cache, there comes a point where adding more won't help more, regardless of how many file chunks can be stuffed into it.
I had no real budget on the ib build and went with only 8gb of high speed ram .
-tridents 2400 @ 10 , 2 x 4gb. for the faster speed over the 16gb. ,plug and play also.
-tridents 2400 @ 10 , 2 x 4gb. for the faster speed over the 16gb. ,plug and play also.
_Rick_
Diamond Member
- Apr 20, 2012
- 3,984
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If you use modern internet browsers in a way such that you use a lot of tabs, and a bit of flash, then be prepared for quite some memory usage.
I think 8 GB is currently "enough" in a system with an SSD, where the pagefile is reasonably fast, but with the RAM prices being where they are, I just went ahead and maxed out at 32 GB for less than 200 dollar.
While it's rare that I use more than 16, I do get 8 filled up pretty trivially.
And running out of RAM really puts you in the pain zone. Living that at work every day, with Win XP. Ouch. That machine is not made for multi-tasking.
I think 8 GB is currently "enough" in a system with an SSD, where the pagefile is reasonably fast, but with the RAM prices being where they are, I just went ahead and maxed out at 32 GB for less than 200 dollar.
While it's rare that I use more than 16, I do get 8 filled up pretty trivially.
And running out of RAM really puts you in the pain zone. Living that at work every day, with Win XP. Ouch. That machine is not made for multi-tasking.
It is handy to be using a ramdisk hosting the source videos when editing multiple HD video streams in a video editor.
OS
Lifer
- Oct 11, 1999
- 15,581
- 1
- 76
For my situation atleast, to be fair, I am also using an SSD already so I couldn't tell any difference.
I only upgraded the last time because I got a faster APU, which to maximize the benefit, suggests using faster ram also.
If it's mostly for the sake of spending money just to have more ram, I'd probably look for other stuff to spend the money on.
I only upgraded the last time because I got a faster APU, which to maximize the benefit, suggests using faster ram also.
If it's mostly for the sake of spending money just to have more ram, I'd probably look for other stuff to spend the money on.
tweakboy
Diamond Member
You will never use up 8GB its a waiste, RAM will sit there and not be used.
The only reason you should have more then 8GB of RAM is if,,,,,,, you do video editing or Audio Production end of story.
Tarvaln
Senior member
- Apr 28, 2004
- 311
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Would there be a benefit from using a 8G USB 2.0 stick as a readyboost drive if you have 8 gigs of RAM already? I have a Patriot Xporter XT Boost 8GB Flash Drive sitting around collecting dust.
zephyrprime
Diamond Member
- Feb 18, 2001
- 7,512
- 2
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[the exact model of RAM that I already bought?]
I have should mention earlier
-most people and ram companies\techs will tell you it's too late for that .
-only pick up full kits for a stable system , want 16gb pay for one matched kit ,not 2 unmatched kits of 8gb.
- 2 kits same model even ordered at the same time are not matched and could have different chips in them.
roll of the dice to have them run at spec'ed \speed timings.
-my tridents have least 2 different chips possible ,single sided[samsung?] and double sided[I forget , if it mattered I'd look it up] , the same model , same time period.
jhansman
Platinum Member
- Feb 5, 2004
- 2,768
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FWIW, I have 16GB in my system and often run Lightroom 4 and PS6 simultaneously. Believe me, these programs want as much elbow room as they can get, so I gave it to them. If you are just cruising the web an/or creating the occasional Word doc or spreadsheet, 8GB is plenty.
If you are just cruising the web and not going beyond the MS Office suite, 2GB is plenty.
Bill Brasky
Diamond Member
- May 18, 2006
- 4,324
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Ehh... not really accurate. Will your computer work? yes. Is it plenty? No, not really. A person who likes tabbed browsing could very easily max out 2 gb with nothing open other than firefox or chrome.
edit: I realize that you were just trying to make a point, but 4GB of DDR3 is $20. There's no reason to have less on a newer machine.
True, 4gb is indeed well worth it.. especially if you use it as a gaming machine, where you may even want to go with 8gb.
But I only have 2gb installed on this work PC I'm on right now, a dozen tabs opened in firefox, audio streaming, multiple excel files opened, dreamweaver minimized, and my total RAM usage is still only 3/4 a gig of RAM. I've never even come close to utilizing a full gig of RAM on this thing, so I'd say 2gb is indeed plenty for such lightweight use.
If firefox alone is hogging up 2gb RAM, you have an absolutely inordinate amount of tabs opened. But really my point is that a little bit of RAM goes a much longer way than most people think.
tweakboy
Diamond Member
tweakboy
Diamond Member
Guys readyboost and readyboot are disabled when OS detects SSD.
You cant have a readyboost , if you go to options you will see its highlighted out and you cant touch it cuz its disabled.
For a Mechanical Hard Drive ReadyBoost and Readyboot speed things up big time.
tweakboy
Diamond Member
Yes people like FWIW would benefit. Let us know your mem usage in task man when your doing all the lighroom and PS6 stuff. I guarantee you used 5 or 6GB at most.
Intel Xeon boards up to 128GB RAM ,,,,,, But that is a server.
Hanns Zimmer uses 128GB RAM to pre load all his sounds and templates.
I would go with 64GB when I upgrade. Then I can preload templates , bunch of samples in memory .. But right now most boards are 32GB max.. sighs
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For just cruising the web and word docs, 2GB is plenty, let alone 8GB! I upgraded from 2GB to 4GB a few months ago on my home machine, and beyond Skyrim running better, not much was effected. Having 8GB in my work laptop is great, though, as I often have 2 VMs running at once.
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