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Memory 16GB. Is it now time?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by SuperHans123, 3 Apr 2014.

  1. SuperHans123

    SuperHans123 Multimodder

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    I remember reading an article not that long back in Custom PC about the worth of moving to 16GB and remember that there didn't seem any point at that time as games were not really using even 8GB.

    Have things changed in the meantime? (For gaming)
    Shall I scratch that itch and fill the four slots or spend it on cake instead?
     
    Last edited: 3 Apr 2014
  2. AlienwareAndy

    AlienwareAndy What's a Dremel?

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    Cake.

    I've got a PC running 4gb and it's never once had a problem. It also runs GTX 670 SLI, so I would soon know if there was a problem.

    The only issue I've ever had with 4gb was NFS : Shift. I put on 8xmsaa and it said I did not have enough physical memory. Odd ! but hey, certainly no reason to pay the inflated prices of late.

    8gb is more than enough. Both of my other gaming rigs (4gb is my lovely lady's) run 8gb and one of them is a top end gaming rig and I've never had any issues.
     
    SuperHans123 likes this.
  3. SuperHans123

    SuperHans123 Multimodder

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    Thanks for the advice Andy.
    Cake tastes so much better than RAM.
     
  4. sniperdude

    sniperdude Minimodder

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    Got 8 never had an issue with anything.


    seen it use 4GB a few times but not often.
     
  5. Cei

    Cei pew pew pew

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    RAM habits are changing - I've seen more new releases requiring 6GB - probably prompted by the new home consoles finally having more than 512MB. However, I think 8GB is going to remain the sweet spot for a good while. Sure, 16GB may be useful, but certainly not the ideal price/performance point.
     
  6. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    Given the ridiculous price of RAM these days, there's absolutely no point, imo, having more than 8GB if you're gaming.
     
  7. Dogbert666

    Dogbert666 *Fewer Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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    Yup, 8GB is fine.
     
  8. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    I use 16GB, but not for gaming; it's partly 'cos I sometimes run a virtual machine or two, and it's nice to have plenty of memory when you're doing that; and it's partly 'cos Linux is pretty great at making maximum use of my available memory. According to free -h right now, with no VMs loaded:

    Code:
                 total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
    Mem:           15G        14G       521M         0B       482M       8.6G
    -/+ buffers/cache:       5.5G       9.6G
    Swap:          15G       1.5M        15G
    So, I'm using all but 521MB of my 16GB (which appears to the system as 15GB due to the usual rounding errors and what have you), of which 8.6GB is file cache - files that Linux has shoved in unused memory in case I want 'em again. Makes loading programs and what have you soopar-quick.

    But yeah, for gaming on Windows? 8GB's fine.
     
  9. SuperHans123

    SuperHans123 Multimodder

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    But what about the slots, the 2 lonely, unused empty slots?
     
  10. sniperdude

    sniperdude Minimodder

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    The Mrs can get her own RAM.
     
  11. Bede

    Bede Minimodder

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    My personal take - when I had time to use my big rig I could happily leave one game running in the background if a friend came online and wanted to play something else.

    Extra RAM just gives you extra flexibility. 8gb is right now going to provide all the memory you need for most tasks. If you want to compute with very large datasets, render or leave Skyrim running while you play BF3 for half an hour, 16gb is better than 8gb.

    It's a marginal upfront cost for a mature tech that won't be out of date for years, with minimal operating costs. It has a few benefits, some of which are very important to a small set of users, but not for gaming.
     
  12. chrisb2e9

    chrisb2e9 Dont do that...

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    What about editing large photo's?
    I have 8Gb and every now and then I run out of memory...
     
  13. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    I thought Windows acts in the same manner as Gareth described. Maybe I'm wrong
     
  14. KayinBlack

    KayinBlack Unrepentant Savage

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    I have 32GB, thought about going to 64. Decided against it. 32 does everything now, no need to add some just for e-penis.
     
  15. LennyRhys

    LennyRhys Fan Fan

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    Since OP asked specifically about gaming, the simple answer is no, 16GB is not necessary (nor even is 8GB). :)
     
  16. bulldogjeff

    bulldogjeff The modding head is firmly back on.

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    I tend to agree with this 4Gb was the magic number a couple of years ago. I never noticed any difference going from 8 to 16.. Go buy some cake :clap::clap::clap::clap:
     
  17. mucgoo

    mucgoo Minimodder

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    It does. Currently sitting at 2.4 in use and 5.2 cached out of 8. An SSD is a much more cost effective cache though.
    The most I've ever got to is 5.5gb when I had at least 50 tabs open. Four's fine and its the easiest component in the world to upgrade if necessary.
     
    Last edited: 4 Apr 2014
  18. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    I have 12 and it's sometimes not enough for certain tasks... however most games and day-to-day barely touch most of it...
     
  19. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    Double post... move along...
     
  20. Otis1337

    Otis1337 aka - Ripp3r

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    Cake, never get close to maxing my 6GB never mind 16.....
     

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