Memory and Gaming

[wannabedamned]

Most games are built with 32bit architecture in mind, due to the fact the current market is pretty much 32bit OS dominated.

Which means there is the 32bit Max Memory issue to contend with. 3-4GB including your video memory.

So my question is, When people are building these new gaming rigs with 8GB memory, Is money being poured down the drain? As it's likely games will rarely use more than 4GB, never mind venture up and towards 8GB. is the extra memory for elbow room? Is it there for background tasks running in the OS, to ensure they wont be leeching from game? What would you consider a memory sweet spot? Is buying large amounts of memory now a good idea? Upgrades and new Tech come that often, will you be buying 12-16GB memory once 8GB starts to see usage.

Just wondering what opinions are, and what people feel is enough or too much memory.

 

[wannabedamned]

Oh dont worry, I'm aware of spending to a budget, I'd personally go for 8GB on a dual-channel board aswell. Or if Tri-channelled 6GB, 3x2GB sticks. It's just sometimes the 30-40 quid that is used on wasted memory, could be added to a graphics card, a CPU, a PSU, a bluray writer, instead of a DVD writer.

I thought of this thread mainly because I've seen 16GB and 12GB specs for pure gaming rigs around the web. And it just makes me squirm. Just because they have the money, doesn't mean they need to bang in as much RAM as possible and spend more than is needed.

I completely understand the need to have more RAM for machines that would make use of it. Encoding and 3D work, etc.

Anyways, Personally I believe the sweet spot to be 6GB, 2GB OS room and 4GB+Video memory for gaming. 8GB memory is feasible, as on dual channel setups its cost effective. On a tri-channel, I'd stick to 6GB for a gaming machine, would not venture to the next step of 12GB. thats not cost effective, and a complete waste for gaming alone.