Is 2GB RAM too little for Windows 7 when gaming?

i'd really say that 4GB is the bare minimum needed these days.

just sitting here with nothing but Pidgin and Opera running, i'm using 1.13GB (out of 4GB).

when i'm running my VM's for work it maxes my ram out EASILY.
 
my current setup is a Q6600, 8800GTX 768mb and 2gb ram and ive been playing my games all on high settings at 1920x1200 and not had a problem!

I suppose its always better to have more than needed just in case though
 
2GB may still be sufficient for 32bit windows, but as 64bit windows and 64bit apps take more memory, 2GB bearly makes the minimum requirements. Just World of Warcraft and 1 web browser, and my system is sitting at 2.55GB and thats not including cache.

While you can tune 32bit XP to about 150-200meg for the OS, 64bit Win7 your pretty much using 1GB of ram just to boot up :/. Yes 64bit uses more ram, but it also handles larger quanties of ram to compensate for it :P.
 
Isn't Superfetch to blame for some of this memory usage?

I'm gaming perfectly fine on 3gig on win7 64-bit. At no higher than 1680x1050. To say 4gig is the "bare minimum" doesn't match my experiences.

And I wouldn't recommend 6/8gig at the current time. RAM pricing is very poor atm, in terms of what you get for your money (not a lot).

However, there is every chance that these new prices are here to stay. The RAM suppliers have made a decision to reduce the amount of RAM entering the supply chain to prevent prices bottoming out like they did last year.

So personally, I'd go for 4gig for a gaming machine, unless you have cash to burn. I know my next machine will have 4gig, unless prices drop substantially.
 
Corasik said:
2GB may still be sufficient for 32bit windows, but as 64bit windows and 64bit apps take more memory, 2GB bearly makes the minimum requirements. Just World of Warcraft and 1 web browser, and my system is sitting at 2.55GB and thats not including cache.

While you can tune 32bit XP to about 150-200meg for the OS, 64bit Win7 your pretty much using 1GB of ram just to boot up :/. Yes 64bit uses more ram, but it also handles larger quanties of ram to compensate for it :P.
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Excellent points.

Page 9 may also shed some light on this: http://www.corsair.com/_appnotes/AN811_Gaming_Performance Analysis_6GB_vs_3GB.PDF
 
FoxEye said:
Isn't Superfetch to blame for some of this memory usage?
Click to expand...

On Win 7 it shows cached memory as "available" to avoid complaints. Besides it swaps out the cached data and swaps in new data in one cycle so it's really no issue. That 1gb just to boot is before considering any kind of cache. So yeah trying to play games with at most 1gb "available" is a pretty horrible experience.
 
i'd be interested in how you do that as i only have 2gb and memory is pretty expensive new for my system so lowering the os usage could be good
 
Hoodlum said:
On Win 7 it shows cached memory as "available" to avoid complaints. Besides it swaps out the cached data and swaps in new data in one cycle so it's really no issue. That 1gb just to boot is before considering any kind of cache. So yeah trying to play games with at most 1gb "available" is a pretty horrible experience.
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Ok, I opened taskmgr, and with AV running and Firefox open, win7-64 is using 700mb.

I could doubtless reduce that by shutting off some services if I felt so inclined.

If you're using 1gb just to boot up, then maybe you have some non-essential software running that could be removed?

[edit: after closing FireFox ram usage went down to 500mb, still with AV and other background stuff running. 1gig for a new Win7 install is clearly not correct.]
 
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FoxEye said:
If you're using 1gb just to boot up, then maybe you have some non-essential software running that could be removed?

[edit: after closing FireFox ram usage went down to 500mb, still with AV and other background stuff running. 1gig for a new Win7 install is clearly not correct.]
Click to expand...

By the time I have sound driver, graphics driver, G15 keyboard driver+LCD manager, MS Security Essentials+Defender then my system is using 1GB of 6GB right after boot, sure Im wasting a little by having a nice desktop background, my soundblaster pinches some ram too, and I am using W7 ultimate at the moment (64bit). Even XP64bit edition my basic windows install was approaching 800meg after bootup.

I also have Tomtom home, and Itunes for my Iphone which take a little extra ram, but my system isnt exactly "overloaded" with junk. I've also been through the windows services and disabled those which have minimal or no impact on performance or the windows "experience", Im running the Aero desktop so that takes a bit of extra ram probably....

But all in all, for the average W7 64bit install, im betting the majority are 1GB or more right after boot without even a web browser running.

500Meg... thats an impressive feat. Will be installing W7 home premium 64bit on my spare computer later this week, I'll come back with a completely fresh 64 bit build without any "essential" driver updates and see how low I can get a fullly functional W7 64bit install. 500Meg on a win7 32bit install shouldnt be too hard, but 64bit... impressive if you managed it. Most people sit at 700-800 before installing AV and/or AntiSpyware. I got mine down to 990meg by shutting down virtually everything :/

PS my system has just 3 meg in hardware reserved, so its not just my motherboard/bios grabbing massive amounts of ram.
 
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I'm using win7 pro-64, if that makes a difference.

Creative drivers are full of bloat, does win7 have built-in drivers for it or does it download the Creative ones automatically?

I just looked, with Avira running and Firefox open I currently have 39 processes running. I haven't even shut of any of the default services.

I'll be installing win7 ultimate to a different machine later on this week - it's a 2gig machine so I'll report back what the initial ram usage is there.

And yes, "most people" install all sorts of rubbish after they get a new PC, but that's not win7's fault :) It's really amazing to see what people load their PC's up with.

When I do troubleshooting you can bet your life there are a full set of HP bloatware utils, a hundred Yahoo and other toolbars, plenty of nice malware, RealPlayer updater, QuickTime updater, Java updater... etc.

Again, not win7's fault :p
 
Fresh install of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit, no vendor specific drivers yet just the default microsoft ones. Memory usage 800mb idle, 900gb with IE8 open. There are 40 processes running, including IE8, and I am downloading nvidia drivers.

Just 3MB hardware reserved, and thats with a 6GB system, it could be that windows 7 still uses a little more if it considers you have plenty to spare.

No services disabled just an abosolute bog standard installed, not an OEM build so brand specific junk installed.

BTW the basic creative drivers arnt to bloated, but they reserve some ram for soundfonts, as its cheaper to use system ram, than put ramchips on the soundcard these days.
 
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Just to add my bit to this, am on windows 7 Pro x64 at the moment, with only this browser open and one or two small background programs (none would be considered resource hogs)

My PC is currently using 1.94GB of my 6GB Memory.

Therefore I would say upping from 2GB is essential in W7.

Gaming it would be an absolute definite.
 
Gimpymoo said:
My Spec is:

Phenom II AM3 720 Tri Core at 2.8Ghz
2GB RAM
Radeon 5770 1GB
Windows 7 64bit

I am noticing stuttering in Borderlands and other games.

I game at 1680x1050.

Now, my system only has 2GB of RAM and Ram usage when playing is at 2GB.

When Idle, RAM usage is 1GB.

Is it possible disk thrashing could be causing the stuttering and another 2GB of RAM wouldnt go amiss?

When I built the PC last year with Vista, 2GB was OK but obvioulsy, times move on.
Click to expand...

Borderlands is a pretty stuttery game anyway, but 4gb is the bare minimum these days.
 
FoxEye said:
Ok, I opened taskmgr, and with AV running and Firefox open, win7-64 is using 700mb.

I could doubtless reduce that by shutting off some services if I felt so inclined.

If you're using 1gb just to boot up, then maybe you have some non-essential software running that could be removed?

[edit: after closing FireFox ram usage went down to 500mb, still with AV and other background stuff running. 1gig for a new Win7 install is clearly not correct.]
Click to expand...

Really 500mb? on 64bit? that's pretty confusing. I have the ati tray item running by default. That is it.

As I type this I have firefox open (232mb), openoffice quickstarter (28mb) utorrent(18mb), foobar2000 (17mb), ATI Tray item (6mb) and a few explorer windows. This *alone* uses 1.55gb. I have absolutely no idea how you are getting 500mb without disabling half of the system. I am using ultimate however, maybe this is why.

On the ram issue again, regardless of how much the OS is using i've found many games will simply not even run without stutter issues if they have do not have access to 2gb. When you account for 1gb for OS use there really is nothing left.
 
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