Do You Really Need More Than 6 GB Of RAM?

Do You Really Need More Than 6 GB Of RAM? : Is “Too Much” Really Just Enough?​

The notion that bigger is better has taken a beating lately in all aspects of society.

Once the pride of the so-called upper middle class in the United States, McMansions and SUVs have now become symbols of excess and waste--at least the reminders of an era past. Green movement proponents should certainly be happy that so many “earth abusers” are beginning to see the light, but what about performance-computing fanatics? With memory prices near record lows, is there any good reason not to fill every slot with low-cost 2 GB DIMMs?

Environmentalists could point out that IC and PCB production turns a large quantity of natural resources into post-production waste, while most of the end-product is not recyclable and the additional components add to the system’s energy consumption. Power users could easily counter energy concerns by pointing out that a better-performing computer allows them to get their work done in less time. But neither argument is sufficient to answer the question we’ve asked so many times before: How much RAM do you really need?

Our 2004 article pointed out weaknesses in the once-popular single-gigabyte configurations. But 512 MB and smaller modules are now a distant memory. It wasnt long after that 2 GB became the performance standard, and by 2007, 4 GB kits could be found in all but the lowest-cost systems. Is it time to take the next step, to 8 GB or more? More importantly, were 4 GB modules ever really needed for games and everyday applications? And with the 32-bit addressing limit of 4 GB making only 3 GB available to many users, should everyone switch to a 64-bit operating system simply to support higher capacities?

Read more at: Do You Really Need More Than 6 GB Of RAM? : Is "Too Much" Really Just Enough? - Review Tom's Hardware

 

[paliometoxo]

im happy with 4GB

 

[DarkDavil]

Hey Brink, I wanna add 8GB ram into my laptop, i have 4 atm, and you said its cheap? I got my HP lappy cuto- cost like 200 extra for 4gb instead of 2 >.>!

 

[darkassain]

Hey Brink, I wanna add 8GB ram into my laptop, i have 4 atm, and you said its cheap? I got my HP lappy cuto- cost like 200 extra for 4gb instead of 2 >.>!

im pretty sure he meant desktop memory not laptop memory...
you also have to understand that your laptop has to support it too...
mine maxes out at 4gb and i got a 4gb kit pretty much for the same price the desktop version go for (35 i believe) and that was DDR2-800 which is where i maxed out my lappy...
also you have to know whether your laptop can access the newer and faster DDR3 memory (which is very expensive at the time (way more than the desktop version of it)

hope that clarifies a few things DarkDavil....

 

[Night Hawk]

Well the test results for gaming seen in the article at the top of the thread compare 3 different desktop memory configurations there to see only a fractional difference between having 3gb, 6gb, and 12gb of memory installed. The article was a great find Brink since this plainly disspells the myths about having larger amounts far more then needed will see any big performance boost.

The actuall results if the three different amounts were all using the same brand probably wouldn't even see much of any difference since the percentage is simply too low to start with. The results for gaming are seen at Benchmark Results: 3D Games - Review Tom's Hardware : Do You Really Need More Than 6 GB Of RAM?

 

[DarkDavil]

Thanks dark I am planning on upgrading to DDR3 when the price gets lower...

 

[Night Hawk]

You can't expect the prices to really come down on DDR3 until DDR4 or whatever is already out in some form. The one constant until then as far as memory prices is that those tend to remain high while other hardwares see price reductions at a faster pace. It's been that way since ever!

 

[DarkDavil]

Yea, that IS true, except for DDR2, DDR2 ram is quite cheap :P, it was even relatively cheap when it was still... whatever DDR1 or whatever its called :P

 

[Night Hawk]

The initial prices seen on DDR2 2gb dimms was about $300 when those were first out. Over the last year and a half the prices have fallen due to the introduction of DDR3 memory as well as boards now seeing larger capacities. DDR1 is simply referred to as DDR memory there.

 

[B3nd3r]

I just bought a new toshiba laptop with 4 gb of ram and it runs games, photoshop, etc just fine. I'm the type of person who like a little bit more than needed.

 

[Night Hawk]

There's nothing with having some additional memory over what you typically see tied up. You still want free ram available especially if any game or program spikes even for a few seconds rather then seeing Windows lock up on you. But when seeing a max of 1.7gb to 2.25gb ram involved 4gb is quite adequate.

6gb then becomes over what you even use while 8gb or more seems a wee bit "overkill" as the expression goes there. On XP and Vista for the average destop the move up from 1gb to 2gb saw a far more noticle boost there then any leap to 6gb or more. XP in fact was found to run smoother now seeing that initial extra free ram not seen before.

 

[ColColt]

I have 6mb of RAM and it's sure made a difference in the speed at which I can do pp(post processing) of digital photos. I use Nikon's Capture NX2 software that was slow as molasses in winter on my older XP system with 2mb. What use to take minutes now takes seconds with my new Vista x64 and the additional RAM obviously helps. Of course the processor is faster and that's a plus as well.

 

[Night Hawk]

You have to look at the large gap there in the amount of memory installed as well as just that seeing a faster cpu on a different system. If you had dropped in another 1gb not mb of memory and a faster cpu there you may have noticed about the same.

A totally new system with newer version of Windows as well as a clean install of Windows are also things to look at there too. A fresh full install of the Nikon software may have also provided a another boost. Adding more memory on one system alone would be the best comparison since there are too many other factors after any major upgrade.

 

[The Cool Guy]

I have 6mb of RAM and it's sure made a difference in the speed at which I can do pp(post processing) of digital photos. I use Nikon's Capture NX2 software that was slow as molasses in winter on my older XP system with 2mb. What use to take minutes now takes seconds with my new Vista x64 and the additional RAM obviously helps. Of course the processor is faster and that's a plus as well.

You mean 6 Gb, right? Well I use 2.5 Gb on this lappy, same 2.5 Gb on my desktop. And I've just got a new desktop a few days back and that's 8 Gb. The speed screams of like hell......

 

[Night Hawk]

And I've just got a new desktop a few days back and that's 8 Gb. The speed screams of like hell......

That sums up what I was just saying before on any large change like an entirely new system with several different factors involved. Newer, faster cpu on top of a faster bus along with a larger vpu on a new video card seeing more memory to start off with.

Besides hardwares each software environment also sees a change. Some of the recent game titles with large game maps as well as large programs like Cad 3D will chew on video memory as well as system memory there.