32GB DDR4 - overkill now but what about in 5 years time?

I'm putting together a build for a new PC, either Z170 or x99 (still deciding). Either way it will be DDR4.

I'm considering buying 32GB of DDR4 (4 x 8GB) rather than 16GB because prices seem in a good place at the moment.

I know this is overkill for current applications and games, but I want any new build to last about 5 years without needing to upgrade.

I use my PC for productivity (Photoshop, Painter, Illustrator), gaming (mostly MMOs, RPGs like Witcher 3, DA:I, Mass Effect etc and space games like Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen). Plus media consumption (Prime etc).

I know no-one has a crystal ball, but anyone care to speculate on where prices and requirements might go over the next 5 years? How long will DDR4 be with us (as older RAM becomes harder to find later and more expensive)?

you need 8gb right now to game so..... anything more is better.
i cant see needs passing 16gb in the next few years

Really depends what you do. If you just run one game at a time, close it, then do other stuff then 8GB would probably be OK. I would really struggle with 8GB at home and just about hit 16GB regularly at work (Photoshop, Visual Studio, VMs, etc.).

All these things are also still optimised for your average user, so unless you run them all at once, you're not going to need that much RAM.

Craig321 said:

Really depends what you do. If you just run one game at a time, close it, then do other stuff then 8GB would probably be OK. I would really struggle with 8GB at home and just about hit 16GB regularly at work (Photoshop, Visual Studio, VMs, etc.).

All these things are also still optimised for your average user, so unless you run them all at once, you're not going to need that much RAM.

Click to expand...

I tend to multitask a lot. I'll often have Photoshop, Painter and Illustrator all open at the same time. Or I might be running a game on one monitor and TV on the other (if its a game that's not taking my full attention). I'm rarely just doing one thing on the PC.

My current system has 8GB, built at a time when 4GB was considered a lot. But I've never felt it was too much ram.

I guess I'm answering my own question aren't I ... 32GB probably isn't overkill for my uses, at least not in the long run.

Cern said:

I tend to multitask a lot. I'll often have Photoshop, Painter and Illustrator all open at the same time. Or I might be running a game on one monitor and TV on the other (if its a game that's not taking my full attention). I'm rarely just doing one thing on the PC.

My current system has 8GB, built at a time when 4GB was considered a lot. But I've never felt it was too much ram.

I guess I'm answering my own question aren't I ... 32GB probably isn't overkill for my uses, at least not in the long run.

Click to expand...

Go for it mate. DDR4 is very cheap ATM so 32gb would be just perfect for your needs.

If you shoot in RAW then you can can easily use past 16GB with multiple files open.

Always buy memory when it's cheap, also no worries trying to match memory later on, plus dust / dirt can't get into spare memory sockets, potentially causing issues when you upgrade in future. If you fill all your slots up now the memory sockets are protected.

I have 32GB of Kingston 1600 DDR3 I purchased new for £80 in 2012, back then 32GB would have appeared a crazy amount but it was a good investment.

Intel CPU's have very good cache systems, making new memory technology / speed less important. In 5 years I expect my 32GB of 1600 DDR3 will still be in use, let alone DDR4.

Just add one more thing. Apparently Kingston has less returns on memory at OCUK, especially as your planning on keeping memory long term, go for quality over speed and don't overclock, the memory should remain trouble free for it's life.

In 5 years? I absolutely see 32gb as a good thing.

Ram is a good price right now, so I say go for it!

But I'm in the DDR4 bandwagon.

Go with: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 4x8gb. 176 quid.

P4Clock said:

you need 8gb right now to game so..... anything more is better.
i cant see needs passing 16gb in the next few years

Click to expand...

4 GB is fine for gaming. Using the verb 'need' is very misleading. Maybe 'want' would have been better.

@OP I have 16 GB, I don't run as many heavy programs as you but my system tends to have a good 4GB in use and 6-8 GB in reserve allocation. If I want to run a game that's another 2-3 GB. Personally I prefer to have as much RAM as I can afford after I've hit my goals on the CPU/GPU. I also run opensource OS's though which appreciate a lot of ram (caching all those libraries ftw)

Snypa said:

4 GB is fine for gaming. Using the verb 'need' is very misleading. Maybe 'want' would have been better.

@OP I have 16 GB, I don't run as many heavy programs as you but my system tends to have a good 4GB in use and 6-8 GB in reserve allocation. If I want to run a game that's another 2-3 GB. Personally I prefer to have as much RAM as I can afford after I've hit my goals on the CPU/GPU. I also run opensource OS's though which appreciate a lot of ram (caching all those libraries ftw)

Click to expand...

4gb is not ok for gaming. you can run a game with 2gb but the game performance will be less reduced. right now you need 8gb of ram for programs like game to run at full speed in reference to memory.

with a lot of new games you get reduced performance with 8gb as there needing 16gb, but they do still work

I upgraded to 8GB in 2008. It might have been a bit premature but to suggest 4GB is enough in 2016 is laughable. Games will probably run because windows handles all the memory management but obviously things will be paged out to disk when you run out and this is significantly slower.

i have 16gb now on a x99 build and im going to upgrade to 32,
my reason is i use so many tabs in chrome and image software so its worth just doing it esp with todays prices

Quite a few games are now flagging 8Gb as minimum spec. I would call that an absolute minimum for a gaming PC now.

cavemanoc said:

Quite a few games are now flagging 8Gb as minimum spec. I would call that an absolute minimum for a gaming PC now.

Click to expand...

Though 8Gb is probably fine now, things are evolving to 16Gb (and then I assume 32Gb in about 5 years).

But the OP mentioned DDR4 as well, and that's a whole different issue?

RAM is so cheap at the moment so why not? 16GB should be minimum now for a high end gaming rig.

I just noticed how cheap 32 seems to be and am swinging towards that rather than 16gb too.

16gb seems like a sweet spot atm.

It seemed to take ages for people actually needing to pass 4GB for general purposes and gaming, yet 8GB and more seems to have come around quite quickly.

8GB budget, 16gb if you have the cash to splash

16GB budget, 32gb if you have the cash to splash

I would just get higher speed 16gb, Then more if needed in 5 years.