32 GB RAM - does it make a difference?

[The_JoKeR_]

Hello, I'm about to build a gaming pc and I' thinking of getting 16 GB of RAM for it, but some people say the the more RAM, the better. I think as long as your RAM is fast (say, 1600 MHz and low latency) it won't make a difference and you won't be able to use up that 16 GB anyway. To me 32 GB just sounds like fantasy. But I haven't tried so I can't really be sure. So,

1) Is it true that the more RAM the better (32 GB is better than 16 GB)?
2) Does it make a difference if you fill all your slots with smaller capacity memory rather than using half the slots with higher capacity memory (for example for a 4 slot motherboard, 4x4GB RAM vs 2x8GB to get 16GB)?

Thanks

 

[spentshells]

Why do you want 32GB of ram? Does it have a purpose? 8GB is enough to do anything. 32GB you would be looking at a ram disk for content creation.

 

[manofchalk]

1. RAM capacity only affects performance once you run out of it, and 8GB is plenty for gaming.

2. No... mostly.
As long as your using a number of slots in line with how many channels the board has (mainstream Intel and AMD boards are dual channel, so you have 2 or 4 sticks) your good. More sticks does increase the load on these channels, so it is preferable to have two 8GB sticks rather than 4x4GB, however in reality performance will be pretty much the same. Just dont have only 1 or 3 sticks.

 

[4745454b]

I bought 16GBs of ram back when it was cheap. I have yet to user more then 7GBs at a time. I did it because it was cheap, and I want to get around to ram drives and virtualization. A standard gaming rig will do fine with 8 or 16 I'd you are worried about the future. 32 is a waste unless you are using database or transcoding programs.

 

[The_JoKeR_]

Thanks for all the good answers. My previous built had 8 GB of RAM and since the last 2 years or so a lot of games (together with a couple of other programs running in the background) cause a memory usage of almost 7GB easily, so that's why I'm going with 16 GB, not 8. I'll need it for the future

 

[MoonDragn]

The more ram the better if the game you are playing allows for it. It does make a difference when the game requires it. Those people that say you won't see games using more than 4GB are living in the past. There are games coming out now where the MINIMUM required memory is 8 GB. With the higher resolution graphics these days you will need the memory just to display it, much less cache it.

 

[Supahos]

The more ram the better if the game you are playing allows for it. It does make a difference when the game requires it. Those people that say you won't see games using more than 4GB are living in the past. There are games coming out now where the MINIMUM required memory is 8 GB. With the higher resolution graphics these days you will need the memory just to display it, much less cache it.

Over 2 month old thread

 

[MoonDragn]

Over 2 month old thread

Was true 2 months ago, more true now.

 

[4745454b]

Still resurrecting it. I also still stand by what I wrote. 8-16GB is enough for any gaming rig. I have never seen a game need more then that.