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Why has 2GB RAM become "the standard" in today's PC's?

D

Dance123

Senior member
Hi,

How come that when I read reviews these days they always mention to get 2GB RAM. Why is that.. I mean do apps need that much memory? Other things like hardware etc.. that require more RAM? Only a year ago 1GB was recommended.. what has changed??

Can you please tell me why I should get 2GB instead of 1GB. When and how will I see the difference.. perhaps give some good examples from experience. Thanks alot!
 
If you don't play new games as they come out and your multitasking is with small apps then you will be fine with 1GB. Vista sucks up memory though so that has really pushed the standard to 2GB for that.
 
in my experience, the latest games have really benefited from > 1GB of memory. this includes battlefield 2 (on the huge maps) and oblivion. moreover, i think vista is expected to be a memory hog, so it's a tiny bit of future-proofing.

however, for 99% of cases, 2GB is overkill. 1GB should still work very smoothly for just about everything and since RAM is so damn expensive now, I'd avoid getting more unless you find a really good deal and just upgrade later if/when the prices go back down.

edit: forgot to mention multitasking. i think with multiple core CPU's, it's more common to have many tasks going (e.g., burn a DVD while playing a game) which will also benefit from the extra RAM...
 
The important question here is not why, but when?

Bf2 started the push for more memory will bad load times on 1GB machines. Now dual core cpu's that is also pushing for more memory, and people tend to have more applications open on a system with 2 cores. That is the natural progression of things in the computer world. By 2010 4GB will easily be the new standard for memory in Highend PC's.

With computers when is usually always more important than why.(When it comes to purchasing and upgrading)
If you are someone that doesn't like to see windows hitting a swap file, or minimal HD access then u already know the answer to this.

Hope I was helpful.
 
If you need 2GB, then get it IMO,
Some people may need 1GB for letter writing, email, surfing the net and some multitasking especially in Windows XP.

Adding more programs will definitely tax your PC's ability to work efficiently. Then 1GB is surely needed. MS recommends 1GB for Windows XP..

The biggest tipoff is when the applications take longer to open and certain tasks get to be laborous on your PC.
Then a RAM upgrade is adviseable.
 
Originally posted by: Makaveli
The important question here is not why, but when?

Bf2 started the push for more memory will bad load times on 1GB machines. Now dual core cpu's that is also pushing for more memory, and people tend to have more applications open on a system with 2 cores. That is the natural progression of things in the computer world. By 2010 4GB will easily be the new standard for memory in Highend PC's.

With computers when is usually always more important than why.(When it comes to purchasing and upgrading)
If you are someone that doesn't like to see windows hitting a swap file, or minimal HD access then u already know the answer to this.

Hope I was helpful.
Click to expand...



One thing : BF 2 Is Only an issue Of Piss Poor Code, and a Clunky Ass Interface..... It also Manages Page File poorly, and is Generally a Very Poor Example of Code for a Game....

It was a $50.00 Coaster the day that it came out, and only the mods have saved it.


 
BF2 used to run laggy as hell at 1024x768 all medium. I changed it to 1280x1024 all medium (new LCD) and now it runs really smooth, I can alt+tab out in the middle of a 64 player map with ease and check my torrent downloads, chat on MSN, etc. This is all on a 1GB system. I have no idea why the resolution change helped so much. If BF2 is laggy for you and if your monitor supports it, run 1280x1024 =)
 
My experience with BF2 and 1GB is that it's only laggy on large maps until the 'needed' data is loaded into memory, after that it runs fairly smooth. Though having 1.5GB of ram or 2Gb is godsend with that game and is highly desireable in my experience.
 
Gothic 3, BF2, yeah, you name it. VISTA....

Under Vista i'd say even 2GB would cut it close with titles like Crysis and Alan Wake on the horizon.

 
2GB isn't necessary by today's standards, Windows XP can't even allocate more than 1GB to any single program at a time, so unless you have a lot of programs running in the background, anywhere from 1.125 to 1.25GB is more than enough.

And that's assuming you're running a game or app that will utilize a full gig of memory on it's own, not a lot do. Even games like BF2 that a lot of people recommend 2GB for will only use about 7-800MB or so.

With Vista and any other 64-bit OS it's a whole other story, although still only a few commercial programs are currently capable of using > 1GB.
 
Originally posted by: I4AT
2GB isn't necessary by today's standards, Windows XP can't even allocate more than 1GB to any single program at a time, so unless you have a lot of programs running in the background, anywhere from 1.125 to 1.25GB is more than enough.

And that's assuming you're running a game or app that will utilize a full gig of memory on it's own, not a lot do. Even games like BF2 that a lot of people recommend 2GB for will only use about 7-800MB or so.

With Vista and any other 64-bit OS it's a whole other story, although still only a few commercial programs are currently capable of using > 1GB.
Click to expand...

The limit is 2GB actually or 3GB if you configure it so. But then it has less for I/O and mapping (like GFX RAM)
 
for some reason, when i switched to a x1800xt from my x800xtpe w/ bf2 i needed to go to 2GB even though i was running the same settings (bought it for a good price as i was going to do a lcd upgrade too, but never picked up the larger lcd....).

i really have never been able to figure this out. you can see from the link in my sig i tried to keep bf2 under 1GB and was able to with the x800xtpe, but with the x1800xt it is impossible. now, even with the same settings that i use to run with the x800xtpe and require ~970MB total ram i now need 1.5GB with over 1GB being used while actually gaming.

this happens even with the omega drivers, so is it ati drivers that are the culprit?

company of heroes seems to like ram too as my machine peaks at over 1.5GB when playing it (not sure what it is in game as i have not looked).
 
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