Question 64GB vs 96GB DDR5

[knowledge2121]

14900K
Z790 Aorus Elite X WiFI7
---------------------------------------------

Which one is future proof ? 64GB or 96GB ? I play games, do office work and open a lot of chrome tabs...

if I should go with the 96GB, Which one of the following RAM kits should I go for that work with my setup ? (None of them are on the QVL list):

Corsair 6000MHZ CL30
Corsair 6400MHZ CL32
Corsair 6600MHZ CL32

 

[USAFRet]

"future proof" isn't a thing.

In your usage, do you routinely run out of RAM at 64GB?
If not, 96GB is not needed.

 

[knowledge2121]

I can probably extend my budget and get 96GB .... I want to be on the safe side..I built a PC in 2017 with 16GB of RAM...later on I realized I should upgrade to 32GB ....

 

[USAFRet]

I can probably extend my budget and get 96GB .... I want to be on the safe side..I built a PC in 2017 with 16GB of RAM...later on I realized I should upgrade to 32GB ....

Nothing I see in your use case says "more than 64GB".

 

[knowledge2121]

how about 9 years from now, Would 64GB be enough ?

 

[USAFRet]

how about 9 years from now, Would 64GB be enough ?

Is your use case going to change much?

 

[Eximo]

Most games are still around that 16GB of memory point. Having 32GB means you can also run the OS and other background applications with more flexibility. This really hasn't changed in a while, the consoles generally set the mid-range and they are still 16GB.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Which one is future proof ? 64GB or 96GB ? I play games, do office work and open a lot of chrome tabs...

Your workload doesn't really require more than 32GB.

 

[Silas Sanchez]

The mistake is getting a large amount of ram, because by the time you need it, the speed of the system may very well be slow. Like getting absurdly overpriced GPUs with extreme horsepower and in future the power wont matter much because the technology in the software and drivers etc will be outdated.
However if you want a long lasting stable system then yes it may very well pay to get the extra juice.
On my new setup I went 64GB thinking it was plenty, sadly it was a mistake and now I have to eventually go 96GB. Windows 10 uses like 5GB by itself.
Photoshop uses pretty much everything you allow it to, easily 20-30GB for heavy large photo work. Games are getting bigger and bigger. Almost all software is designed to use more ram if available. Dunno how I got by editing 300MP TIFFs in gimp with 1-2GB ram allocation. That system was starved to the nth degree and yet it chugged along well.
With heavy multitasking: I do with games, photoshop, alot of opened photos, 4K videos opened, other misc stuff, no VM. And I'm using 40-50GB!
So for me who wants my system to last a long time and be stable and not be a victim of consumerism, yep you beat 96GB is needed. 96 just gives me plenty of headroom so I effectively won't ever run out. I would have gone 128GB but 2 sticks is better than 4 for speed and stability.

 

[SkyNetRising]

On my new setup I went 64GB thinking it was plenty, sadly it was a mistake and now I have to eventually go 96GB.

You have very specific use case.
OP is not doing any photo/ video editing.

 

[PEnns]

Do you expect to be working / using programs (not games) that need such a huge amount of RAM?

If no, then 32 GB should be enough for maybe a decade. If yes, it depends on your future applications and how RAM hungry they will be (then most likely yes, go for the higher number and sleep better at night).