Is 16gb of ram overkill for gaming?

[Tatkolektor]

Getting ready for the new Diablo 3 Reapor of Souls and Im upgrading a few things just because I can and current pc is about 3 1/2 years old. It currently runs the game almost perfect on max settings, but from time to time will get a little lag. Im thinking of moving my current ram from 8gb to 16 gb, as well as upgrading GPU. Just need some advice as to if it would benefit me to upgrade my RAM. Im usually running 2 to 3 programs while Im playing. Thanks!

 

[OllieOxenFree]

With WOW, Skype, about 20 Chrome windows, Steam chat, battle.net,Fraps and HWmonitor running with dual 1080 monitors I tie up about 7gb of ram. I have a 4gb secondary system that has Diablo 3 on it. It plays the game perfectly. I honestly dont think anyone needs more than 8gb for gaming purposes. You can go to resources tab in task manager while you have everything running to see how much ram you currently are using up

 

[Mawkog]

If you have a budget, it's better to use the money you want to use for the RAM, to use that for a better GPU

 

[Tatkolektor]

With WOW, Skype, about 20 Chrome windows, Steam chat, battle.net,Fraps and HWmonitor running with dual 1080 monitors I tie up about 7gb of ram. I have a 4gb secondary system that has Diablo 3 on it. It plays the game perfectly. I honestly dont think anyone needs more than 8gb for gaming purposes. You can go to resources tab in task manager while you have everything running to see how much ram you currently are using up

Ok well let me ask you this. Would upgrading the ram to a better quality ram benefit me? The 8gb I have now is stock DELL DDR3 ram. Also would two 4gb sticks be better then 4 2gb sticks?

 

[Roxas_Boy]

I opened skype, fraps, battlefield 3, so many firefox tabs, a movie, itunes, twitch streaming and inversion and didn't use more than 5gb of RAM

 

[OllieOxenFree]

Your stock ram is most likely made by kingston which is good ram. It probably has looser timings on it than Performance ram. In my opinion, the gains you will receive from upgrading ram won't be worth it. Take the extra money and buy the next level of GPU this is where you will see your biggest gains at.

 

[Tatkolektor]

Your stock ram is most likely made by kingston which is good ram. It probably has looser timings on it than Performance ram. In my opinion, the gains you will receive from upgrading ram won't be worth it. Take the extra money and buy the next level of GPU this is where you will see your biggest gains at.

OK, Im already checking into that, but it seems Im going to be limited by the stock motherboard and power supply. Im currently running and amd hd5700 series 1gb card. its current max power draw is 108 watts. Any suggestions as to a newer GPU that will benefit me with out having to change motherboard, power supply, ect. Any help would be great.

 

[OllieOxenFree]

You shouldnt have to change your mobo but complete system specs would help. Most likely just a Power supply upgrade which you should be able to afford if you dont buy ram. Give us an idea of what graphics card you were wanting to run and/or a budget you are looking to stay within.

This would be a solid solution at about $250 price range
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Essential 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)

 

[Tatkolektor]

Here are my current specs.

Intel Core i7 870
Cores 4
Threads 8
Name Intel Core i7 870
Code Name Lynnfield
Package Socket 1156 LGA
Technology 45nm
Specification Intel Core i7 CPU 870 @ 2.93GHz
Family 6
Extended Family 6
Model E
Extended Model 1E
Stepping 5
Revision B1
Instructions MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, Intel 64, NX, VMX
Virtualization Supported, Enabled
Hyperthreading Supported, Enabled
Fan Speed 814 RPM
Bus Speed 133.0 MHz
Rated Bus Speed 2394.0 MHz
Stock Core Speed 2933 MHz
Stock Bus Speed 133 MHz
Average Temperature 42 °C
Caches
L1 Data Cache Size 4 x 32 KBytes
L1 Instructions Cache Size 4 x 32 KBytes
L2 Unified Cache Size 4 x 256 KBytes
L3 Unified Cache Size 8192 KBytes

RAM
Memory slots
Total memory slots 4
Used memory slots 4
Free memory slots 0
Memory
Type DDR3
Size 8192 MBytes
Channels # Dual
DRAM Frequency 664.7 MHz
CAS# Latency (CL) 9 clocks
RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD) 9 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 9 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 24 clocks
Command Rate (CR) 2T
Physical Memory
Memory Usage 23 %
Total Physical 7.96 GB
Available Physical 6.07 GB
Total Virtual 21 GB
Available Virtual 17 GB

Manufacturer ATI
Model Radeon HD 5700 SeriesGPU Juniper
Device ID 1002-68B8
Subvendor ATI (1002)
Current Performance Level Level 0
Voltage 0.950 V
Technology 40 nm
Die Size 166 mm²
Release Date Oct 13, 2009
DirectX Support 11.0
DirectX Shader Model 5.0
OpenGL Support 4.1
GPU Clock 850.0 MHz
Temperature 64 °C
Core Voltage 1.125 V
Bios Core Clock 850.00
Bios Mem Clock 1200.00
Driver version 9.12.0.0
BIOS Version 113-C01005-102
ROPs 16
Shaders 800 unified
Memory Type GDDR5
Memory 1024 MB
Bus Width 64x2 (128 bit)
Pixel Fillrate 13.6 GPixels/s
Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s
Noise Level Moderate
Max Power Draw 108 Watts
Count of performance levels : 3
Level 1
GPU Clock 157 MHz
Memory Clock 300 MHz
Level 2
GPU Clock 500 MHz
Memory Clock 1200 MHz
Level 3
GPU Clock 850 MHz
Memory Clock 1200 MHz

I want a card that will last for awhile and run just about anygame at max or ultra settings

 

[OllieOxenFree]

You need at least gtx770 or a Radeon Hd7970 if you want to play the most graphic intensive games on max. The 2 cards listed will get you about 40fps maxed on battlefield 4. Go for a quality 650w+ PSU.

Thats still a pretty strong PC minus current graphics config. Buying ram without a mobo wont do you any good as you are already running at the highest ram freq for that socket without OCing which I am sure that board wont let you do

Ocing ram seems to be more stable from my exp. When you are only using two ram sticks as opposed to 4 plus going with 2 sticks of larger ram offers you the opportunity to add more ram at a later point in time