RAM, is there such thing as too much?

im kinda on the same page as u.. eventually u get to a point where too much ram is just not needed.

but the real question is... how much is too much?
 
well until they start making games that require 6 GB of ram to play (which probably won't be, ever) i'll not go over 4 gb...wasted expense
 
You do realize that this has been going on for years right? We'll never need more then this, then the next thing you it's hey, you'll get way more performance if you add some. I've had 8GB in a system before and I've had over 1/2 of it being used at one time...and that was just gaming in vista lol

I still only run 4GB in my system.. only cause of a huge heatsink I can't go higher... poopy...


Go back in tech forum archives...512... 1GB... 2GB... now 4GB... OMG you have 256MB of ram you could run like 10 windows 95's with that! lol


just like video ram... think about it... few years back 256/512 was high end cutting edge... now if it doesn't have that much... welll you might not get the frames your looking for.

2GB of video ram on a single card, even $2,000 proffesional video rendering cards not long ago only had 768MB now you can prolly get them with 4+ GB.. (I dunno really about those anymore I'm sure they do now)



nothing against the review cause it does the job.... but why do one with a system that's not the average system.. why not do it with something that an average person might actually have?

Remember I'm just pointing out a couple things...

If the processor wasn't overclocked, if they had a standard harddrive, maybe a mid ranged card (that I have no idea about, I don't keep up with Nvidia sorry) maybe the memory might play more of a part in the system?
 
Last edited:
Try and render some stuff with after effects, RAM IS ALWAYS HANDY.
 
hmm. very interesting. probably making me save some money instead of buying 8GB of ram and just 4GB
 
thats likes saying you can never have too much money, never
so true, yet so unrealistic

and about the video ram, its technically the same thing...you don't need over like 1gb absolutely max unless you're running incredibly high resolution with incredibly high AA/AF etc

my whole point is to buy for your needs - its pointless to spend 300 bucks on ram if you're only going to use a pack costing 70-80. if you want to still go ahead and use the 300 buck ram thats fine and dandy, but im pretty saddened by what i see on the tech talk/help sections about everybody always saying get the biggest and best and most expensive, when almost everybody that posts for help with a build is on a budget
 
i just bought a extra 2gb of ram, cause i was using the 2gb i already had. still sucks that i can use 3gb on 32bit, but i dont see the reason to upgrade to 64bit for the extra one. and i just got windows 7, and its all cool, running smoothly. :3
 
im actually agreeing tottaly with kodiak
things are guna become cheaper faster and more powerfull as time goes by, if u stuck with what u got you should be fine if your casual but dont expect your 4gb to last you forever
something is guna rock your numbers eventually
 
RAM is sooo cheap today compared to what it once was. Well, all things tech related are sooo cheap. (yes, yes, I know, "cheap" is relative).

For your average user/gamer TODAY, 4G of ram is enough. The Rig I built back in 2006 had 4G of ram, it was fine and dandy. I just replaced that with a new rig I built back in May. I have 8G in there. Why? Cause RAM is freaking cheap.

Do I use all 8G? Never. Not even close. However, I think that's going to change. Here is my reasoning.

Prior to windows 7, if you wanted to take advantage of a 64bit system, you had to use the 64bit version of vista (or xp). As we all know, vista took a PR beating when it came out, and never really caught on.

This meant, by and large, MOST people ran the 32bit version of windows XP. It's what the average user has installed. That's a fact (go look it up). This has put a cap on system resources. A program running in Windows XP Pro 32bit can access up to 2GB of RAM. That's it.

That changes with the 64bit version of windows 7. Each application (process) can actually handle up to 4TB of memory. (yes, yes, way beyond what technology can do).

Now, what does this mean? Computers built now a days, are all 64 bit. (Do they even make 32bit systems anymore??) It's been like that for awhile. We just didn't have the OS to support it. As more and more people start running a true 64bit platform, software developers will start to go past that 2G limit.

I can see, not to far off, where you will HAVE to have a 64bit system to effectively run a game. Before to long, those games are going to be needing to grab 3 and 4G of RAM. I really don't think that is very far away.
 
Great post dragon. We're actually already seeing games use 3-4gb's.

GTA 4 for me uses 3.5 and Crysis uses almost 3. But, both games are resource hogs so it's understandable.
 
My rule of thumb: if you can shove more in your motherboard (and you can afford it), you don't have enough. :)
 
unless you work for the military, or do top tier video editing, you will never need more than 8 gigs of ddr3 ram. to buy more is a waste of money. Even if you are able to use that extra memory, say, if you upgrade from 8 to 12 gigs, what on earth type of crappily written software are you using!!!!???

for games, ideal amount is 4 gigs. for photo/music/video editing, id go with 8. Typical useful amount of RAM is 6 gigs of DDR3 imo.

I mean, even if you have 24 stupid gigs of RAM, your hdd will probably bring the speeds down regardless. So silly to buy more than 12 gigs. just plain silly.

-Blue
 
you guys also need to keep in mind that so many pieces of hardware these days are being made with onboard ram, like video cards, nic cards, sound cards, etc. You just dont need that much system RAM, especially if you are a ddr3 user.

-Blue
 
I, personally, think that 8 gigs is the bare minimum for the things people tend to expect out of their machines.

I'm seeing a big trend in dual monitors for multiple gaming platforms. (mostly WoW and then the game you will play to pass the time until something happens in WoW). And not only that but there are ways to partition your ram to separate programs now. and to dual booting operating systems with VMware. I guess I've just been exposed to the other aspect of gaming/computers. My dad is a computer scientist and my brother is a video editor. So they both need high end equipment.
 
Actually you can have too much If your system isn't designed for how much your trying to put in. Unless you know how to write bios control code. newer systems though usually have a limit set way higher than what the system would use. like 16 gb of ram. but on older systems the limits were set low because no one thought you could use X amount mb of ram. A lot has changed in the hardware industry, technology is coming out way faster than even 5 years ago. So they have to preemptively set the limit high to keep up with the demand of the market.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

auntdabby
  • Article Article
Game Overview: ARC Raiders
Replies
1
Views
467
LukePyro
LukePyro

Latest posts

Back
Top