RAM - How much is too much?
Discussion
I've noticed that DDR3 memory has come down in price a lot recently, play.com currently has 2GB kingston 1333mhz DIMMs for £14.99 - http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/9189173/Kingston-Val...
This brings me on to the question in the title, how much is too much?
Currently have 6GB in my i7 system but at these prices I'm tempted to double it up to 12GB.... but would this actually make any noticeable difference at all?
This brings me on to the question in the title, how much is too much?
Currently have 6GB in my i7 system but at these prices I'm tempted to double it up to 12GB.... but would this actually make any noticeable difference at all?
barky said:
if you have a 32bit windows system 4gig is too much
Yep cause it can only cope with 3GB hence a load of laptops have a MASSIVE 3GB of memory and a crap version of windows.Then they upgraded Windows and still kept it at 3GB.
Im looking for a MacBook Pro that I can get 8GB in and will be happy.
Forget about RAM, get yourself some ssd drives and raid them (Youtube video)
MrAdaam said:
What spec do you have on the machine?
How much do you want to spend?
Give us a bit of information and then we can take a crack at giving you some ideas.
Well its an i7-920 with 6GB DDR3 and an 80GB Intel X25M-G2 SSD. Its already very fast and more than adequate for everything I use it for, the question was more whether the extra RAM is worth it... but I suppose it probably isn't. Might look into getting another SSD in the new year though. I don't really need all that power, its just nice to have.How much do you want to spend?
Give us a bit of information and then we can take a crack at giving you some ideas.
Never mind the specs, what do you use the machine for?
If nothing more than ordinary stuff, then your 6GB is more than plenty, assuming you've 64-bit OS to be able to access it all.
Beyond that, are you ripping movies/burning DVDs/video editing/working with 12+ MP photos?
Even if the answer is yes, you'd need to be doing a couple of those at the same time, before 6GB is considered insufficient.
If nothing more than ordinary stuff, then your 6GB is more than plenty, assuming you've 64-bit OS to be able to access it all.
Beyond that, are you ripping movies/burning DVDs/video editing/working with 12+ MP photos?
Even if the answer is yes, you'd need to be doing a couple of those at the same time, before 6GB is considered insufficient.
That seems a very capable system. As for the RAM, if you have it burning a hole in your pocket then get it.
Alternatively, putting 2 SSD's into RAID 0 may provide a boost as well. If you have the cash, do it. I don't think it will start making any difference whether you have 6GB or 12GB. I think the only time you will start to notice is when you start hitting the current 6GB barrier.
So, SSD!
Alternatively, putting 2 SSD's into RAID 0 may provide a boost as well. If you have the cash, do it. I don't think it will start making any difference whether you have 6GB or 12GB. I think the only time you will start to notice is when you start hitting the current 6GB barrier.
So, SSD!
I've on a i7 930 with 6GB and an Intel X-25M thingy.
To be honest, though I love tinkering and would happily throw money at it, there is simply nothing more I want or need in my PC. The current generation of mid-high end PCs are so stagerringly powerful that unless you are constantly doing some hardcore rendering, gaming or similar, they are simply overkill for day-to-day tasks.
I'm gonna stick with this one for a good couple of years more I reckon (already been about 9 months), when my previous upgrade itch got scratched every 18 months or so.
To be honest, though I love tinkering and would happily throw money at it, there is simply nothing more I want or need in my PC. The current generation of mid-high end PCs are so stagerringly powerful that unless you are constantly doing some hardcore rendering, gaming or similar, they are simply overkill for day-to-day tasks.
I'm gonna stick with this one for a good couple of years more I reckon (already been about 9 months), when my previous upgrade itch got scratched every 18 months or so.
I have 6 Gig on my 64 Bit Win 7 machine which is all you really need, even for games like Black Ops and Crysis, however my Mac Pro has 12 Gig and gets used for huge photoshop files, rendering and video editing. It's great to be able to have multiple resource hungry apps open in different spaces, but unless your OS and applications are able to utilise the RAM, there's no point having more than you need.
Interesetingly Tomshardware did a piece recently on the optimum amout of RAM and what to do with it,
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ram-memory-upgrade,r...
It found that 12GB was the best amount (value wise) and using 4GB of that as a ram disk and putting the page file on it. It even dispelled the rumour that more than 4GB in a 32 bit system was useless. By using the same principle you could install 8GB on a 32 bit system and use 4GB of it as a RAM disk and the machine operated much quicker. It even went on to say that anyone who spouts on about usind PAE to get around the limitations of a 32bit system is talking from their bum hole.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ram-memory-upgrade,r...
It found that 12GB was the best amount (value wise) and using 4GB of that as a ram disk and putting the page file on it. It even dispelled the rumour that more than 4GB in a 32 bit system was useless. By using the same principle you could install 8GB on a 32 bit system and use 4GB of it as a RAM disk and the machine operated much quicker. It even went on to say that anyone who spouts on about usind PAE to get around the limitations of a 32bit system is talking from their bum hole.
Road2Ruin said:
....
It even went on to say that anyone who spouts on about usind PAE to get around the limitations of a 32bit system is talking from their bum hole.
I'm interested to know how it's possible to get a 32bit system to see more than 2 - 3gb of ram.It even went on to say that anyone who spouts on about usind PAE to get around the limitations of a 32bit system is talking from their bum hole.
I do know there are some motherboards out there that allow the O/S to see 4gb, but not that many that I'm aware of.
We have tried various laptops etc, to no avail.
In fact, I recently installed Windows Server 2003 on a laptop for a long suffreing colleague who needs to do a lot of mobile software development.
Server 2003 yielded 3.7gb out of the 4gb on board.
Windows 7 (32bit) could only 'see' 2.75 gb.
Windows XP (32bit) exactly the same.
It wasn't necessary to add any PAE or /3GB switches for Server 2003 - it just worked.
TonyRPH said:
Road2Ruin said:
....
It even went on to say that anyone who spouts on about usind PAE to get around the limitations of a 32bit system is talking from their bum hole.
I'm interested to know how it's possible to get a 32bit system to see more than 2 - 3gb of ram.It even went on to say that anyone who spouts on about usind PAE to get around the limitations of a 32bit system is talking from their bum hole.
I do know there are some motherboards out there that allow the O/S to see 4gb, but not that many that I'm aware of.
We have tried various laptops etc, to no avail.
In fact, I recently installed Windows Server 2003 on a laptop for a long suffreing colleague who needs to do a lot of mobile software development.
Server 2003 yielded 3.7gb out of the 4gb on board.
Windows 7 (32bit) could only 'see' 2.75 gb.
Windows XP (32bit) exactly the same.
It wasn't necessary to add any PAE or /3GB switches for Server 2003 - it just worked.
MrAdaam said:
Theres never too much but to increase a systems speed you need to do more than increase RAM. Although it helps.
It'd completely depend on the system though. It all needs to 'come together' if you like - it's no good having blistering RAM and a s
t processor for example.
Not really true, depends entirely on workload. It'd completely depend on the system though. It all needs to 'come together' if you like - it's no good having blistering RAM and a s
t processor for example. Du1point8 said:
barky said:
if you have a 32bit windows system 4gig is too much
Yep cause it can only cope with 3GB hence a load of laptops have a MASSIVE 3GB of memory and a crap version of windows.Then they upgraded Windows and still kept it at 3GB.
Im looking for a MacBook Pro that I can get 8GB in and will be happy.
TonyRPH said:
Road2Ruin said:
....
It even went on to say that anyone who spouts on about usind PAE to get around the limitations of a 32bit system is talking from their bum hole.
I'm interested to know how it's possible to get a 32bit system to see more than 2 - 3gb of ram.It even went on to say that anyone who spouts on about usind PAE to get around the limitations of a 32bit system is talking from their bum hole.
I do know there are some motherboards out there that allow the O/S to see 4gb, but not that many that I'm aware of.
We have tried various laptops etc, to no avail.
In fact, I recently installed Windows Server 2003 on a laptop for a long suffreing colleague who needs to do a lot of mobile software development.
Server 2003 yielded 3.7gb out of the 4gb on board.
Windows 7 (32bit) could only 'see' 2.75 gb.
Windows XP (32bit) exactly the same.
It wasn't necessary to add any PAE or /3GB switches for Server 2003 - it just worked.
We built a system in the labs with a pair of 4870X2's, a couple high-speed RAID cards, TV tuner, sound card, etc. Managed to get the addressable space to under 2GB.
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