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Bought 16GB RAM, now what??!

Jarman

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Ok, i've just upgraded my i52500k to 16gb of ram (as it was stupidly cheap).

What should i do to make the most out of this on win7 64??

Cheers guys and happy new year!
 
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Use your computer? I don't quite understand what you're asking. Happy New Year. :)
 
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Ok what are you using it for? SSD?
 

qubit

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I think our OP means what sort of app or apps to really needs this much RAM. I can only think of something along the lines of graphics manipulation, simulation, environment modelling, stuff like that. Certainly no game would use this much. Yet.

Alternatively, you could just run one of those small memory leak applications and watch your RAM disappear. :laugh:
 

Jarman

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I'm just looking for ideas. Stuff like a ramdisk, turning windows page file off etc....anything to make it a worthwhile purchase.
 
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Happy New Year. Hope your oc will stay stable with all slots filled. Or isn't that a problem with current tech? If not, i will also smack in another 8Gb soon.
 

qubit

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I'm just looking for ideas. Stuff like a ramdisk, turning windows page file off etc....anything to make it a worthwhile purchase.

You're an enthusiast - there's your reason. ;) I've put 16 gigs in my Sandy upgrade and it feels fantastic. :D
 

Jarman

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yer i used to have a java app that leaked memory...the 4gb slowly, slowly filled until the pc came to a standstill lol.

Haven't stress tested the machine again since installing them, but everything seems to be ok. I wouldn't have done it in the days of my opteron 185 though :p (or 165?! I cant remember now!)
 

Jarman

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You're an enthusiast - there's your reason. ;) I've put 16 gigs in my Sandy upgrade and it feels fantastic. :D

well true, I am :D It was only 52 quid off overclockers...and i read dram prices are set to rise, so it was hard to say no....i've been done over by AMD style marketing tactics there lol...free unlock to 6970?!?!?!?!?! must have!
 

qubit

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Which RAM did you get? I got two lots of Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600, one blue one black, to match my RAM slots. That's 16 gigs in 4 modules :D And yes, I want the full 32 my board can take, lol.
 
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Jarman

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Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9. I'm not as much of an enthusiast as I used to be where I need ram to match the slot colours :D There was a time though that even my ram was watercooled lol.

Timings are a bit looser than my old ripjaws...but from reviews it doesn't seem to make a difference on current chips.

I think i'll have to make a persistent ram disk or something with stuff like firefox and league of legends on it
 
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LOL I have League of Legends on a RAMDisk and there is barely any difference :laugh:

Use Qsoft RamDrive :) I put all my little programs and my most used programs on it (ie: Office, Foxit, VLC etc)
 
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Not much worth doing. You need 32 gbs to really have fun with a ram disk these days. Games are pretty big.
 

Jarman

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yer, it makes no diff if its on there anyway. I got it on an SSD at the mo and i have to wait while everyone else with their toasters load it up
 
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Not much worth doing. You need 32 gbs to really have fun with a ram disk these days. Games are pretty big.

I disagree, my 24GB can do a lot
 
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run a VM box.
 

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At the outset it gives Windows more space to cache stuff. Every closed browser tab, every closed program and document, gets cached onto the memory, where it stays for a while before something that needs its memory replaces it. What it means to you is that most of your programs and browser tabs that you close and reopen multiple times a session will be snappy. If you play games on and off, they'll be snappy. The resources of multiple Battlefield 3 maps will be cached, so switching between BF3 servers will be snappy.
 
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yep but bigger is better :toast:

denser modules don't clock as high and filling up the RAM slots can cause instability and also lowers the highest clocks... bigger is not always better :p

Sure it can be fun to see FSX load in seconds etc, but a RAMDisk isn't USEFUL for games, it is just a bit fun to experiment once or twice. It IS useful for smaller applications that we use frequently though
 
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denser modules don't clock as high and filling up the RAM slots can cause instability and also lowers the highest clocks... bigger is not always better :p

Sure it can be fun to see FSX load in seconds etc, but a RAMDisk isn't USEFUL for games, it is just a bit fun to experiment once or twice. It IS useful for smaller applications that we use frequently though

This is not so true anymore.

On my old Q9550, sure that was true, but the memory controller lived on the motherboard (chipset).

My Sandy Bridge is cruising right along at 4.5GHz @ 1.275v merrily without a hitch. I have G.Skill Ripjaws X 4x4GB 1600MHz memory running at all stock clocks and timings (don't find a need to overclock ram at all).
 
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This is not so true anymore.

On my old Q9550, sure that was true, but the memory controller lived on the motherboard (chipset).

My Sandy Bridge is cruising right along at 4.5GHz @ 1.275v merrily without a hitch. I have G.Skill Ripjaws X 4x4GB 1600MHz memory running at all stock clocks and timings (don't find a need to overclock ram at all).

It's plenty true. Your ram is just slow. Try running 2133 at cas 9 or lower with a high clock and all slots filled.
 
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It's plenty true. Your ram is just slow. Try running 2133 at cas 9 or lower with a high clock and all slots filled.

I was speaking strictly of the CPU clocks, which seem to be what you were referencing with the second part of your sentence.

Besides, with the memory controller on the CPU, memory speeds/timings make less of a difference than they did in the past (for Intel platforms; AMD has had the memory controller on die for a very long time).
 
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