How Much RAM - 8GB or 16GB ?

nheather · 11 May 2015 at 09:23

Hi,

I'm putting a kit list together for an 'under the telly' PC used mostly for gaming.

I'm not a hard-core gamer and the display will be single HD screen (1920x1080).

In the past I have only ever had 4GB and 8GB and that has always seemed enough.

So is there any value in going to 16GB. I know you might say "it's only an extra £50" but I'm already about £200 over my original budget.

If I went to 16GB - what would it do for me?

And if I did would it be best to get 4x4GB or 2x8GB (excluding expansion - I appreciate that with 2x8 I could go to 32GB in the future but assume that is never going to happen).

Cheers,

Nigel

Quartz · 11 May 2015 at 10:16

At the moment there's not much point in getting more than 8 GB. AIUI Star Citizen will use and benefit from having 16 GB.

Minstadave · 11 May 2015 at 10:20

DDR3 or DDR4?

If its DDR3 I'd get 16GB as it's not likely to be cheap forever, prices are great at the moment.

DDR4 I'm not sure about, likely to get cheaper I guess.

MagicBoy · 11 May 2015 at 10:22

8GB is plenty.

passey89 · 11 May 2015 at 11:11

In debating this as well at the moment.

Currently running with 1 8gb stick. Might swap it out to 2 x 8gb sticks.

Just debating if i really need more ram.

nheather · 11 May 2015 at 11:49

Quartz said:
At the moment there's not much point in getting more than 8 GB. AIUI Star Citizen will use and benefit from having 16 GB.

Do you think that is 'needs' or 'benefits from'.

The rest of my system will be mid-range so I don't expect to run things fully turned up anyway.

CPU - i5-4960
GFX - GTX 960
MoBo - Z97 mATX
Display - single HD (1920x1080)

If I do go 16GB is there any technical merit between 4x4 and 2x8

Cheers,

Nigel

mahius · 11 May 2015 at 12:24

8GB is fine for most folks. If one was on DDR3 then I'd suggest 16GB, for good excess, future-proofing and for the hell of it. No game needs 16GB but there are starting to be some games that do much better with it. When going 16GB, I'd always recommend 2x8GB as the memory is run dual channel. I think only the more expensive motherboards support quad channel memory. Fewer sticks also makes things easier when it comes to future upgrades/replacements etc.

nheather · 11 May 2015 at 19:22

Yes it would be DDR3.

I was aware of the dual channel operation but I had always assumed that the 4 banks were configured as two lots of dual channel.

Is that not the case? If not then as you say 2x8 would be the way to go.

Cheers,

Nigel

MagicBoy · 11 May 2015 at 19:26

nheather said:
I was aware of the dual channel operation but I had always assumed that the 4 banks were configured as two lots of dual channel.
Nigel

Yup. No speed benefit to 4x4Gb over 2x8Gb on a S1150 board.

drakioned · 12 May 2015 at 07:33

Actually 2x8 is faster than 4x4. I mean, it's pretty marginal, but it is faster.

Xyger · 13 May 2015 at 14:29

8GB is enough for the majority of people. You always have the upgrade path available in the future if you keep into account your slots

8 Pack · 14 May 2015 at 22:38

8gb is enough man!!

faceman123 · 15 May 2015 at 16:45

16gb ftw

Admetos · 15 May 2015 at 17:59

This is my view on memory.

Generations of CPU's are not increasing that fast, certainly not as fast as SSD speed, or graphics card speed.

This means that a motherboard / CPU you buy today could still be in use in 5 or more years time, look at a Q6600 or i5 750, it may not be your main PC but could be passed down to a HTPC or second home computer.

There is typically a window when you buy memory cheaper, normally it's around 24 months after new memory technology has been released. Certainly as newer memory technology is being produced the older memory technology starts to increase.

What I personally do, if the memory is cheap I populate the board with everything I can. Then the memory for that board / CPU even if I don't need at the moment, it's pre-upgraded. My 4770k has 32GB of Kingston 1600 that I paid £100 for!

So for example. I have a i5 750 I purchased in 2009 with 8GB of RAM, that board / CPU / RAM has been passed down to a HTPC. In 2009 that 8GB was overkill, however cost wise memory was no more expensive then now.

Another example. I have a friend who uses a Q6600 in a music studio, the machine started life with 4GB of DDR2, couple of years ago he paid arm and leg for 8GB. He really wanted 16GB of DDR2 but price was crazy. Now if he had got the memory he wanted back in 2008 when DDR2 was cheaper he would have been ok.

So to summarize what i'm saying. If you expect your motherboard / CPU to be in use a long time, then if you find memory for good price, then fill the computer with it, then for the life of the computer memory is upgraded at probably the best price. Plus you have no worries about matching memory timings like others who upgrade later.