Why is RAM so $$$ now?

[trog100]

what is the larger picture.. ??.. 8 gigs is plenty enough for the average gamer like it has been for a long time.. when its relatively cheap buy a bit more (splash out on 16 gig) when its not relatively cheap (like now) dont waste your money on more than you need..

trog

 

[EarthDog]

8gb of ram for a gamer id really call minimum these days.

 

[trog100]

8gb of ram for a gamer id really call minimum these days.

minimum as in "enough"..

i have 32 gig but i know its overkill.. my rig which is busy mining away in the background shows 16% in use.. i also run without a swapfile..

it was also bought back when ram was in its relatively cheap phase.. i did have ideas about running a ram disk but i have never found a practical use for such a thing..

trog

 

[EarthDog]

Enough in *most* games, sure!

Ive gobbled up over 8gb before while gaming. God forbid if you have a broswer up with several tabs and start a ram use heavy title... etc.

Id still call 8gb "minimum" considering i believe 4gb "isnt enough" in many titles.

 

[Aquinus]

Id still call 8gb "minimum" considering i believe 4gb "isnt enough" in many titles.

I use 10-12GB on my laptop just doing my job, forget video games. Most people I work with using a 8GB laptop are digging into swap at this point.

 

[dirtyferret]

Enough in *most* games, sure!

Ive gobbled up over 8gb before while gaming. God forbid if you have a broswer up with several tabs and start a ram use heavy title... etc.

Id still call 8gb "minimum" considering i believe 4gb "isnt enough" in many titles.

Most Ram I've ever used was 6.5gb with several tabs open in browser as well

 

[EarthDog]

Yeah, it depends on the game, really. Ive seen it enough to shape my opinion that 8gb would be considered a minimum.

Again, if 4gb isnt enough and most would agree with that, 8gb would be the minimum.

 

[theFOoL]

Yeah but as you said it depends on the game really. As long as one closes the browser then you should be good

 

[EarthDog]

So then we get back to the old days of having to close out your browser to have enough ram... sounds a lot like "not enough" to me.

Even without a broswer, i break 8gb in PUBG, for example.

The bottom line is, nobody in their right mind would suggest 4gb on a gaming machine. Its simply not enough. 8gb would be the minimum for a generally pleasent gaming experience. However, in several sitatuations, 8gb isnt enough...therefore its a minimum, really.

 

[theFOoL]

I mean I have 8GB but do I close my browser? Heck no. So yeah 16GB would be nice but the price right now is a bit stupid so 8GB for now till the price comes down which will be like what... 2yrs or more maybe

 

[dirtyferret]

I would not recommend 4gb for a gaming PC. I have two other PCs with 4 gb both with 1gb video cards and for what they do the ram they have is sufficient. Pubg is a ram hog and it's not alone but I wonder if there is actually a performance benefit with 16gb vs 8gb? I've never played it or tested it so I don't have the answer to that question.

 

[EarthDog]

I mean I have 8GB but do I close my browser? Heck no. So yeah 16GB would be nice but the price right now is a bit stupid so 8GB for now till the price comes down which will be like what... 2yrs or more maybe

indeed. But price isnt really a variable here. Its a straw man argument to prove a point.

So yeah, ive said it enough.. 8gb I would absolutely consider a minimum for a gaming machine.

As far as performance goes... no idea. Id bet there to be some swapping out though...never a good thing.

8gb is a minimum. Period.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

Yeah, it depends on the game, really. Ive seen it enough to shape my opinion that 8gb would be considered a minimum.

Again, if 4gb isnt enough and most would agree with that, 8gb would be the minimum.

Yeah but as you said it depends on the game really. As long as one closes the browser then you should be good

So then we get back to the old days of having to close out your browser to have enough ram... sounds a lot like "not enough" to me.

Even without a broswer, i break 8gb in PUBG, for example.

The bottom line is, nobody in their right mind would suggest 4gb on a gaming machine. Its simply not enough. 8gb would be the minimum for a generally pleasent gaming experience. However, in several sitatuations, 8gb isnt enough...therefore its a minimum, really.

While I agree that 4GB is definitely not enough for a gaming machine -- hell even an everyday use machine nowdays -- and 8GB should be now considered a minimum regardless of what the PC's intended use is, with regards to a gaming rig I still think 8GB is enough BUT only if the person doesn't have 20+ Firefox/Chrome tabs running or high use RAM programs running in the background, nor do they ever intend to. On the other hand, if they like to do other things while gaming that use a lot of RAM, then 16GB would absolutely be more appropriate for their use case.

In my use case, since I like to focus on the game and game only, 8GB is more appropriate for me. It all just depends.

 

[cadaveca]

In my use case, since I like to focus on the game and game only, 8GB is more appropriate for me. It all just depends.

It's not just use case; it's also dependent on the hardware your system has, and the OS in use.

 

[yotano211]

I once had 32gb of ram when I got my laptop, I bought the ram on Jan of 2017 for 169.99, 11 months later I see the price of that ram today for a little over $300. I sold it about 4 months ago for $290 on ebay, I put the cost of the profit toward final cost reduction of the laptop. Today I make do with 8gb.

 

[Jetster]

This is just running Witcher 3

 

[fusseli]

8gb is plenty! I have never come close to running out with any modern game I have.

You KNOW when you are out of ram because the game or app you are running will go from smooth to dead and there will be a lot of hdd activity as windows tries to use the page file for ram... and ram usage will peg at 100%. If this isn't happening, then you've got enough!

It would cost me $80-100 to go to 16gb of ddr3000 from my 8gb, which isn't an "upgrade" in the slightest.

 

[yotano211]

8gb is plenty! I have never come close to running out with any modern game I have.

You KNOW when you are out of ram because the game or app you are running will go from smooth to dead and there will be a lot of hdd activity as windows tries to use the page file for ram... and ram usage will peg at 100%. If this isn't happening, then you've got enough!

It would cost me $80-100 to go to 16gb of ddr3000 from my 8gb, which isn't an "upgrade" in the slightest.

ddr3000, that is star trek tech level RAM? ahaha

 

[Vayra86]

At 8GB there will be many games that want it all, and start pushing to pagefile, never mind the OS/browser requirements. It is sufficient for most mainstream games of 2015-2016. It is NOT sufficient for quite a few games of 2017, and it is also NOT sufficient for many less mainstream titles, most notably games like Space Engineers and the like.

Problem is, with too little RAM you can have a beast of a CPU/GPU, it will stutter regardless. Right now, if you build a gaming rig, 16GB is a nobrainer. Its definitely becoming the norm now.

 

[yogurt_21]

still on 8GB myself in my gaming rig, yet my work laptop has 16GB and I use it all.

what you're doing, time involved, etc, etc

there's a reason we have tech forums. If there were like 3 types of configs there'd be little need for discussion. A FAQ on the manufacturer's websites would cover it. As it stands we all do similar things quite differently and different things very differently.

for those that say you "need" more because "I've seen more usage" not only is your install different, but if its there the OS will use it, even if the task didn't necessarily require it.


back on the first topic.

Are you all sure its not the "featured items" or "popular items" that are getting you?

one of my Fav mem brands for price/perf is GSKILL.

for a GSKILL 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000 mem set on newegg you can spend between 144$ and 261$ depending on the one you pick. Being the same speed, same manufacturer and same type of memory the only difference is heat spreader (color and style) and cas latency/timing.

from 144$ to 261$ you get yourself a whoppin 1 cas latency better... I seriously doubt you'd even notice. There's a 220$ set that has even worse timing than the 144$ set...

Flip to corsair and it goes from 164$ to 305$...
This one doesn't even improve cas latency, just 1 better in the timings... both of which are worse than the 144$ GSKILL set...

was going to praise Mushkin for not playing this game (2 sets both the same price) but their timing is considerably worse than all the others...

idk perhaps its just all marketing BS and you can still find a decent price if you look for that good set and ignore the overpriced crap around it.

 

[fusseli]

At 8GB there will be many games that want it all, and start pushing to pagefile, never mind the OS/browser requirements. It is sufficient for most mainstream games of 2015-2016. It is NOT sufficient for quite a few games of 2017, and it is also NOT sufficient for many less mainstream titles, most notably games like Space Engineers and the like.

Problem is, with too little RAM you can have a beast of a CPU/GPU, it will stutter regardless. Right now, if you build a gaming rig, 16GB is a nobrainer. Its definitely becoming the norm now.

If there is a game that consumes beyond 8gb it's definitely one that I don't have

 

[theFOoL]

If there is a game that consumes beyond 8gb it's definitely one that I don't have

Hmm there's EvE, the upcoming Star citizen, others I can't think of except some MMOs

 

[EarthDog]

PUBG is another...


There are enough, with more coming, to easily say, 8GB is the minimum while 4GB isn't enough.

 

[dirtyferret]

cheapest DDR4 ram i found on cyber monday for those looking, single 8GB stick

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820164010

 

[Gmr_Chick]

If there is a game that consumes beyond 8gb it's definitely one that I don't have

Same