Is 8GB RAM really necessary or...?
- Thread starter Dr_B
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Definitely.
I'm running 16gb on each of my two of my pc's, & on my main pc which I use for Photoshop CS5 it's 32gb spilt 16gb system & 16gb for a Ram drive.
Soldato
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For most people 4GB is probably enough, though some games push that limit and work better with 8GB [e.g. BF3]. It is like the say the sweet spot for price/capacity so unless on a really tight budget I'd get 8GB of 1600Mhz
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is 2 sticks of 8gb better than 4 of 4gb?
Soldato
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yes but 8GB sticks are expensive at the moment!
Soldato
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On previous platforms running more memory sticks greatly increased the strain on the memory controller - which often limited the maximum memory frequency and maximum CPU overclock level.
Therefore, the conventional wisdom is to go for a smaller number of high-density RAM modules instead of more lower density modules.
However, with Sandy bridge this seems to be less true - so going for 4x4GB isn't a bad idea. Also, the 8GB sticks are relatively new to the consumer market and are still quite expensive per GB. Therefore, if you need 16GB and want to keep costs down then a 4x4GB kit makes sense.
That said, if you think you may need more than 16GB of RAM in the future then having 2x8GB installed means you can upgrade to up to 32GB with the addition of another kit.
Soldato
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Well, playing BF3 with 4GB or ram, I get: maps that take 2 (or more!) minutes to load, a non-responsive system for a minute after playing, frequent crashes while trying to alt-tab between rounds, micro-stuttering, and so-on. I only have BF3 and firefox with 2/3 tabs open and regularly I'm down to 100MB of ram left available.
Freinds with 8GB or more of ram are loaded and playing days before I'm in the game, sometimes on a rush map the first objectives are taken before I've loaded
Got 8GB being delivered tomorrow, hopefully that'll sort all the issues, but I'd say a definite yes to 8GB being necessary, or rather, 4GB not being enough
Freinds with 8GB or more of ram are loaded and playing days before I'm in the game, sometimes on a rush map the first objectives are taken before I've loaded
Got 8GB being delivered tomorrow, hopefully that'll sort all the issues, but I'd say a definite yes to 8GB being necessary, or rather, 4GB not being enough
I'd not trade my 32GB of RAM for the world. RAM > SSD, the OS does far more with RAM and it's far faster, the more you can pre-cahce into memory the better!
As for "is 2 sticks of 8gb better than 4 of 4gb", in my case it certainly would be, as x79 has Quad-Channel RAM.
As for "is 2 sticks of 8gb better than 4 of 4gb", in my case it certainly would be, as x79 has Quad-Channel RAM.
Loading up Civ V, DDO, of any other ram heavy game my system goes over 4 Gb physical ram used, and over 7.5 Gb total ram used with caching within a few minutes, so I strongly believe that 8 Gb is the minimum for gaming.
However I saw no improvement in performance going from 12 Gb to 24 Gb, my performance actually decreased because the 4 Gb dimms were slower. However after a full day of use my PC would have managed to fill all 24 Gb with caching.
I've never had an issue with 12 Gb and page file disabled though, so I went back to the faster ram.
So for gaming, 8 Gb is the current minimum,
Regarding 'strain on the memory controller', I've tested on X58 with 2 CPUs, 2 Mobos, and 3 lots of 6 ram modules.
Using just 3 ram modules did nothing to increase my overclock stability or limits over using 6 modules. Both the ram and CPU still overclocked to the same maximum.
However I saw no improvement in performance going from 12 Gb to 24 Gb, my performance actually decreased because the 4 Gb dimms were slower. However after a full day of use my PC would have managed to fill all 24 Gb with caching.
I've never had an issue with 12 Gb and page file disabled though, so I went back to the faster ram.
So for gaming, 8 Gb is the current minimum,
Regarding 'strain on the memory controller', I've tested on X58 with 2 CPUs, 2 Mobos, and 3 lots of 6 ram modules.
Using just 3 ram modules did nothing to increase my overclock stability or limits over using 6 modules. Both the ram and CPU still overclocked to the same maximum.
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I find 8GB to be plenty, even for gaming. I have 2 free slots so if I ever need more, I can just put another 2 sticks in.
Most people could get away with 4GB, but DDR3 is so cheap these days that you may as well just buy 8.
Most people could get away with 4GB, but DDR3 is so cheap these days that you may as well just buy 8.
Having 16GB just gives that bit more freedom, being able to leave a VM, Photoshop, etc. running and load a game up with no problem is awesome 
Also, as paradigm mentioned, the more memory you have the more the OS can cache
You may as well get as much as you can now while DDR3 is cheap.
Also, as paradigm mentioned, the more memory you have the more the OS can cache
You may as well get as much as you can now while DDR3 is cheap.
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Then you'd be wrong IMO
Rendering machines I'd be looking at 32GB RAM minimum these days, same with 3D modelling.
Times change, RAM is cheap, games are using more resources, 8-16GB makes for a healthy gaming PC IMO.
