6gb DDR3 or 12gb DDR3, which is better?

danceMB

danceMB

danceMB

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Pretty much as the title says really. In early June I will be buying a whole new system based on the i7 core, GTX 295, Windows Vista x64.

What I want to know is that the system comes with 6gb DDR3 ram, is that good enough, or would having 12gb DDR3 ram be a lot better? If it is when I will buy an extra 6gb and install myself, as the mobo will be the ASUS Rampage II, so it has the available slots for me to go upto 12gb if I really wanted to.
 
From what I could see, the 6gb of ram seems to be enough for now, but that could change when Windows 7 is introduced, but nobody knows yet until this is optimised and placed for general release.

The general ideas is stick with 6gb for this year, as nobody needs more than this level
 
I think I will just stick with the 6gb then, and then upgrade when the time comes for the 12gb to be justified, at least it doesnt cost too much for an extra 6gb to be installed, and if I did fancy it, Vista will love me for it lol
 
I will mainly be listening to music and playing games really, especially The Sims 3 (which my new machine will be built around the same time lol)

I am hoping that 6gb will be plenty for everything, even though the OCZ 6gb looks very tempting for the price, and also its at the top DDR 3 speed of 16000+, as my new machine will be equipped with 14400+
 
Maybe I will just stick with the 6gb ram after the reviews I have seen, as that seems enough for the time being.

After they release Windows 7 and they fix the early problems that all releases have had, maybe then we will see an increase from more, but at least the next year I wont need to add more ram yet
 
Having a look at quite a few reviews, it appears that in terms of the triple-channel ram, the 6gb version is just about enough, and the 12gb version to fill all 6 slots is not needed at all, as there is no speed difference or anything that makes the upgrade worthwhile, which I have now figured out.

Im not the only one who has thought about this, as the guides were created after many questions very much the same as mine
 
I dont think that my rig will become obsolete when the time comes for more ram, as im sure in the next 12 months or so, we will start to see games that can utilise more than 6gb, at the moment none of the games take this into account, due to the long production time to make a big title, but it wouldnt surprise me if people start adding more within the next 2 years at the most, due to the triple-channel its either 6gb or 12gb, which is a huge jump in the numbers
 
ricky1981 said:
The only reason to need 6GB (or 4GB for 99% of people) is if you are running things like Vmware workstation. For gaming you'd get a much better return by buying another graphics card/better processor/SSD or even a nicer monitor.
Click to expand...

You need at least 6gb for the time being, especially to run Vista at full speed at the same time as playing the latest games, in particular Sims 3 with a ton of custom content ;)

I will be buying a brand new machine come end of may, and will upgrade it to include the latest graphics GTX295, Intel i7 and already have an LG 22" screen bought end of last year, thats why I asked the question about the amount of memory so that the machine will arrive fully assembled without having to buy additional equipment.

The questions been answered, 12gb is too much for now, but 6gb works very nicely, with no improvement once you go over the 6gb "barrier"
 
For someone using Photoshop I can imagine that the full 12gb might actually help, but also having the i7 helps a lot as well as its real fast at rendering, but with the cheap cost of RAM, it doesnt hit the wallet too hard when coming to occupy the full 6 slots
 
My machine would only really be used for music and extreme gaming, and several people have said that those main objectives for computer use wouldnt require me to have 12gb, only the 6gb for now and the immediate future
 
I think the term about the fuse blowing is more about "scare mongering" than anything else tbh, its just that people dont need anymore than 6gb for the time being.

Who knows, once Windows 7 gets released and more optimised, we might find more of a use for 12gb then, until then dont worry :)
 
Imagine a game like Spore 2 (5 years delayed) utilising that much ram with a game like that it would take a lifetime to complete it ;)
 
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