Is it the time for 32GB Ram?

[qubit]

The same was said when going from 2GB to 4GB and 4GB to 8GB. It's not that you need 32GB, it's that memory is always a multiple of 2. Not unless you are doing a odd setup like 3 sticks, which isn't advisable. There are 16GB memory modules and there are 8GB memory modules and nothing in between.

It's actually a power of 2, which goes up exponentially! This is why we have odd-sized GPUs and memory buses rather than following the power of 2, otherwise they'd be impractical to make. Shame really, as a power of 2 design is optimal.

 

[Terminal]

And the year is 2021. Do you think 32gb ram is overkill for game&rendering? Or should we wait for the prices to get lower?

I think the value to have in 2021 is somewhere between 16 and 32, but because other values are a bit unusual, I would go for 32 GB.
I'm running 16 GB for years now, and it would have been a bad choice, if I was running 8 GB today.
Unless you buy a cheap computer, 32 GB is the future-proof way to go.

nd if you force it off it really suffers


yeah i call it swap as the data is swaped out of ram
idk where i picked that up if thats not standard

Running it for years, without swap space, also on my 8GB laptops, WIndows 7, Windows 10
No problem at all

Swap space was a bad solution, for systems without enough memory. I know why MS keeps using it, because it allows cheap devices to run (instead of crashing), but if your system needs swap space, it means your device doesn't comply with technical standards already. It's a hint to say: device needs more memory, let me go into limp mode.

Without a page file there is no memory dump. And nothing to gain.

A memory dump is a process in which the contents of memory are displayed and stored in case of an application or system crash. Memory dump helps software developers and system administrators to diagnose, identify and resolve the problem that led to application or system failure.

Oh yes, if your PC dumps, Bill will drop whatever he has in his hands, and come to your house and fix your problem.

 

[Komshija]

For gaming overkill, except if you have or want to built a proper 4K system. For video editing 32 GB might be better, but you will not notice any major improvements.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Oh yes, if your PC dumps, Bill will drop whatever he has in his hands, and come to your house and fix your problem.

You realize you are your System Adminstrator? There are programs you can use as well as sites like TPU that can help you decipher exactly what went wrong. No need for sarcasm just because someone advised why dump files are useful.

As to the topic of the thread, buy what you can afford. 8 GB days are mostly passed, even in office settings. 16 is mostly enough for anything you need. My better half has used 32 GB for several years because she makes use of it with photoshop. I was able to go 32 about 15 months ago since it was affordable and I planned to keep this new system for at least 3 to 4 years.

 

[freeagent]

If you have a problem its not much trouble to enable it again to get a good log. But if you normally don't have problems running it disabled, then there is no problem.

 

[Hachi_Roku256563]

Swap space was a bad solution, for systems without enough memory. I know why MS keeps using it, because it allows cheap devices to run (instead of crashing), but if your system needs swap space, it means your device doesn't comply with technical standards already. It's a hint to say: device needs more memory, let me go into limp mode.

actually i can tell you now from being drilled into my thick head
You need swap swap is not the overflow
for example i found out forza is using the swap as a spot to put up to 16gs of uncompressed files to load them into ram rather then having to compress it on the fly
if their is no swap froza simply will not work

 

[abactuon]

Creating RAM disks (OSFMount or ImDisk) size 8-16GB for temporary files, chromium cache, small torrents, compilation of programs ...

 

[A Computer Guy]

SWAP can also be used for caching applications locally especially if your working in Citrix farm environments. Windows applications may not be entirely loaded in to memory running across a network so loading the exe into SWAP can help alleviate interesting issues in that scenario.

 

[Shrek]

Speccy says I have

Total Physical 16 GB
Available Physical 12 GB
Total Virtual 18 GB
Available Virtual 12 GB

and am at 24% usage.

Would this be 24% of 12GB, 16GB or 18GB?

 

[Fluffmeister]

Short answer: No.

 

[Shrek]

Could be I need the long answer...

 

[A Computer Guy]

Could be I need the long answer...

You have insufficient memory installed for the long answer. Sorry I couldn't resist.

 

[Shrek]

Ah ha! I found it under Task Manager

Memory 4.0/15.9 (25%)

So I guess it was 24% of the full 16GB of total physical RAM

 

[freeagent]

actually i can tell you now from being drilled into my thick head
You need swap swap is not the overflow
for example i found out forza is using the swap as a spot to put up to 16gs of uncompressed files to load them into ram rather then having to compress it on the fly
if their is no swap froza simply will not work

I think Forza was one of the programs I needed a swap for come to think of it. I only tried for about 10 minutes.

 

[Vayra86]

I think Forza was one of the programs I needed a swap for come to think of it. I only tried for about 10 minutes.

I'm still puzzled why you think disabling page file is gaining you anything.

Its not - I could add the idea of disabling it under this message in my sig as part of the PSA. The scheduler in Windows from 7 onwards is way more advanced than it used to be.

I remember back in the Win 95- XP days some uber geeks I used to play UT99 with made a habit of renaming all their folders and file names as briefly as possible. Dudes had disks full of folders saying 'A, B, C'... etc. No idea how they could ever find anything back, but they claimed it gained them performance...

 

[lemoncarbonate]

I'm on 16GB 2800MHz, the only time I saw my RAM usage reached 15GB was when I had a Celsys Clip Studio project opened (with lots of layers), Photoshop CS5, Opera browser with dozens of tabs, music player, explorers, and lots of image references opened, while installing game from Steam and playing game at the same time.

I was tempted to get 32GB kit at that time, but apparently installing game from Steam requires LOTS of RAM, outside that scenario (installing game from Steam) I hardly ever reach 14GB even with all my project opened and game running. Instead of 32GB upgrade, maybe an additional 1TB SSD or peripheral upgrade is a better choice for me. Or maybe I'll just wait for DDR5 later alongside with new CPU.

IMO, it really depends on what kind of productivity you're doing and what you use your PC for.

 

[GamerGuy]

My main rig is purely for gaming, so 16GB is enough for what I need it to do presently. I had gotten 4x 8GB DDR4 3200CL16 RAM back when I was planning to build my rig in late 2019, though I'm using a pair of 8GB 3600CL17 RAM now. I have 32GB at the ready line, but don't feel the need to use it yet...

 

[Shrek]

Way I see it, it is better to wait till one needs RAM as prices drop; unless it is a machine where upgrade is not possible, then get a lot of RAM at the start.

 

[EsaT]

Way I see it, it is better to wait till one needs RAM as prices drop; unless it is a machine where upgrade is not possible, then get a lot of RAM at the start.

Doubt DDR4 prices will go down much with DRAM chip manufacturing starting to soon move toward DDR5.

Unless there's some disturbance, memory prices tend to recycle same old plot and basically reach that low plateau toward end of memory types use.
Once manufacturers start moving into mass production of new memory type, price development of older type stagnates.
Sometimes even becoming more expensive when production is dropped too much.

Short answer: No.

Equally shortly I could say no one needs more than two cores, because that's enough for Windows and web browser with couple tabs.

 

[Vayra86]

Way I see it, it is better to wait till one needs RAM as prices drop; unless it is a machine where upgrade is not possible, then get a lot of RAM at the start.

Depends what your use case is.

Consider DDR4 and overclocked gaming PCs. Populating 4/4 banks isn't the best idea for your CPU OC. So what do you do? Start with 2x4? Or start with 2x8? 1x16? If you want 32GB, the wrong choice might kill a few 100 mhz off your initial OC. Net gain? Probably negative across the board...

I think a much better idea is to scale your system in a balanced way towards your use case. And then, the required capacity is pretty stagnant within a single build. Having to upgrade RAM within a single build is a sign you didn't do your homework right, IMO.

Put differently, by the time a current day / last 1-2 gen created gaming rig would need more than 16GB, you'd probably want a CPU upgrade as the IPC has already improved quite a bit and DDR5 is around the corner too... so... probably best to wait it out and sync it with your system upgrade. The alternative is upgrading more often for marginal gains - and this would have you postpone an overall system upgrade. That is how people end up with systems they get way too attached to and invested in, and then can't wave them goodbye. Parts start dying and you get to search for that rare motherboard that still has what you need. If that's the hobby, power to you, but more often than not, it wasn't the initial plan Its a bit like cars that way.

 

[BlackSun59]

fun fact windows wont work good without the swap even if you are not using all your ram
i fully disabled swap and windows was dying everywhere even though their was plenty of ram free
it eventually stopped being able to open task manger when only 50 percent was being used

If your fine with pushing the limit a bit 16 g
but 32 seems to be necessary real soon

I should have been clearer. I still have my swapfile/paging file. I just let Windows automatically adjust and use it as needed. When I had XP and 7 - both 32-bit versions - my pagefile size never seemed to be big enough. Now with Win 10 64-bit, it's stayed at around 5GB for over the past year.

 

[mclaren85]

Thanks everyone, considering ram prices are going up rather going low, I decided to buy yet another 16 gb of ram. I think it is much more future proof now.

 

[Hachi_Roku256563]

Thanks everyone, considering ram prices are going up rather going low, I decided to buy yet another 16 gb of ram. I think it is much more future proof now.

That's fair I still believe 8g is fine though

 

[Hemmingstamp]

Thanks everyone, considering ram prices are going up rather going low, I decided to buy yet another 16 gb of ram. I think it is much more future proof now.

I've watched apps in Task Manager chew 12GB+ on many occasions, that's why 32GB is the sweet spot these days IMO.

 

[mclaren85]

I've watched apps in Task Manager chew 12GB+ on many occasions, that's why 32GB is the sweet spot these days IMO.

While gaming?