How much RAM?

AnakinGuy12

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Jan 31, 2013
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Ok, how much RAM do I need for my PC? I will be playing games (Mainly) and doing some Vegas/Photoshop rendering? I have 8GB's now, but I don't think it's enough for Vegas/ Photoshop.
 

johnnyq1233

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Aug 15, 2007
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well, with 64bit oses the sky is the limit so to speak...
Actually the mobo is the limit as some of the newer mobos support up to 32GBof ram...But ramis cheap and if you're not planning on a new build soon I'ld max out to whatever your board supports...
Please make sure you use the same ram for compatbility...
JQ
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
The best way to find out is to try it since you already have 8GB.

8GB is enough for most people.

16GB is nice to have for people who tend to overdo the number of programs they open at the same time and/or deal with very large projects. If you aren't confident 8GB will be enough and do not mind the extra $40, I would simply recommend 16GB and probably not having to worry about running out of RAM until you are about ready to replace your PC again.

32GB is definitely overkill for the vast majority of people. I will likely get 32GB simply because RAM is cheaper than ever and I know I will eventually need it anyhow.
 

AnakinGuy12

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Jan 31, 2013
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My problem is that I need a new GFX card also. Probably a 7850 or a 7870. So I was saving up for that. (That's not a cheap upgrade). So which do you the think I should upgrade first, GFX card or RAM? (I know I'm getting off topic, I'm sorry.
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator

As I (and others) said, 8GB is enough for just about everything most people do. You already have your existing system, you can simply try doing everything you expect to be doing and see if your performance gets hindered by lack of RAM and add RAM if it turns out to be necessary.

The main reason I have 16GB RAM is because I have a bunch of programs that I tend to leave open all the time and I need about 10GB of disk cache to stop them from accessing the HDD all the time - on my previous PC with 8GB RAM, I had to run each program from separate HDDs to prevent HDD accesses from obliterating performance. If you run only one large program at a time, you shouldn't have that problem unless you do some very fancy stuff in Photoshop or Vegas.

Some people do not like skimping on CPU, others on GPU, others on other stuff. For me, it is RAM: having enough of it to eliminate swapping and reloading makes my computers more pleasant to me than having faster components. All my PCs since my P200MMX/256MB have been maxed-out on RAM.