Should I upgrade my RAM

[fizz321]

Hi! I have an Asus laptop with a i5-3230M processor, 4 GB of RAM, and an integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000. I am running a 64-bit version of Windows 8.

I was wondering if I should upgrade my RAM with such a bad graphics card. I guess my real question would be what are the effects of the upgrade to a laptop with those specs? I was also wondering if the RAM upgrade would "bottleneck" my integrated graphics card?

Thanks!

 

[Alec Mowat]

Adding more RAM will only increase performance as you navigate Windows. It will slow down less as you have more applications open.

The videocard will always be the bottleneck for gaming. RAM won't make any difference.

 

[fizz321]

So basically if I upgrade my RAM, it won't affect anything because of my graphics card, correct?

 

[Alec Mowat]

What do you mean by Anything?

What do you do and what do you want to do with your laptop?

The videocard only bottle necks 3D graphics. Running video or browsing the web are not bottlenecked by the GPU.
Will adding more ram improve the performance of games? No, not at all.

Will adding more ram improve the performance of everything else that isn't a game? Yes.

 

[maxwellmelon]

id recommend just adding another 4 GB. Mabe 8Gb if you run a lot of stuff at once. I have 16gb ram installed and have swap file disabled and rarely get even near using all of it(then again I have a dedicated graphcics card in my laptop)

Best way to know how much ram you need is open all your typical applications that you normally have open at once and look at the total amount of ram+swap file in use. installing more ram then that you will not notice much improvement

*add some to it as you want a some extra over what your typical usage will be as windows rarely will use all the ram at once before putting stuff in the swap file

 

[fizz321]

The only basic game that I do run is Minecraft. Although I do run a modded Minecraft that uses way more memory than the vanilla game as I do get memory errors sometimes. Also I do think maybe I have too many programs installed, or maybe too many running at once? I also notice that when I check task manager while playing Minecraft, 93% of my RAM is being used.

 

[Alec Mowat]

Memory errors might mean you have bad RAM installed.

Installing programs will use your Harddisk space.

Running numerous programs will use your RAM. If you have a lot of programs running and Minecraft, it's possible Minecraft crashed because it needed more RAM.

Your videocard also shares your system RAM, so by adding more RAM, those types of errors should stop. I wouldn't expect a higher FPS, but you might get a smoother game experience.

 

[azathoth]

The only basic game that I do run is Minecraft. Although I do run a modded Minecraft that uses way more memory than the vanilla game as I do get memory errors sometimes. Also I do think maybe I have too many programs installed, or maybe too many running at once? I also notice that when I check task manager while playing Minecraft, 93% of my RAM is being used.

If you're running a Modded Minecraft, the game is VERY HEAVY on RAM. I would recommend you have 8GB of RAM total on your laptop if you plan on running a heavily modded Minecraft.

Your current laptop might have 2x2GB sticks, or if you're lucky it might be 1x4GB stick, in which you can just buy another 4GB stick for cheap.

 

[cinnamon cider]

If you upgrade your RAM - your PC can handle more loads. You can now open a lot more tabs of youtube in your browser or any other applications in your PC.

 

[fizz321]

Alright, thanks for clearing that up!