Is it the time for 32GB Ram?

[Mussels]

Heres a useful example - i got 64GB because its overkill

at idle (with nicehash, yes) i use 14GB of ram - but windows has cached an extra 43GB of data for faster loading times. That is gunna add up in reduced loading times, and reduced paging (to basically none) of the SSD's extending their lifespan

Yeah, you can use 16GB pretty well... but its not useless to go 32GB and above any longer

 

[64K]

I plan to go with 32 GB RAM on my next build and I exclusively use my gaming rig for games. I have a backup rig for other things and a laptop too. I keep my gaming rig for 4 to 5 years with only a GPU upgrade every few years. Normally I would be doing the new build this year but the hardware market is a little high-priced right now.

 

[Aquinus]

When I'm working, I'll be anywhere between 30 and 46GB used. So, it depends on what you're using your machine for.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

I've had 16GB in my rig since I built it in 2011 and it's stood the test of time. Given that memory demands are going up, I don't think 32GB is overkill now if you can afford it. Heck, even work computers are beginning to standardise around 16GB now.

You got lucky there, in 2011, 16 GB would be like having 64 GB in 2021. (If not like 72 GB+)

 

[elghinnarisa]

Thank you for the sincere sarcasm, much appreciated. You clearly have no idea what I'm talking about. (But, you will of course tell me now that you know perfectly well)

As if I said that lol, read again. I was quoting someone who stayed on topic, but yeah, you can interpret it as if I KNOW that the OP needs exactly 32 GB, I can't really stop your thoughts there..

It doesn't matter how little the OP knows about this, he's asking a sincere question, no matter how difficult it is to answer.
My point is that broadening the scope of the question to a generic "how much RAM do I need" doesn't help anyone.

Well I am about 98% sarcasm by weight.

But I did also ask because I was curious if you actually had an idea of how much memory is needed for this "rendering". I have a feeling most people generally don't know all that well since they dont actually do that as work or hobby themselves.

In my own experience doing hobby 3d modelling the last few years, there is no exceedingly large requirement for RAM, not that most people seem to think at least. That is not to say it cannot require ridiculous amounts of it. But its generally speaking far in the future when you will work on scenes so large that 16GB of RAM will not be enough. And since OP does not specify workflow, scene complexity, work type etc. I'd wager he is new to this and maybe won't even continue with it in a month or two, who knows. In which case, throwing huge amounts of RAM as suggestions for almost no reason, isn't that helpful.
In my case, I would love to trade 16GB of my RAM for a processor thats twice as fast, because that would speed up my renders by a massive amount. The most complex scene I worked on needed no more than 9GB of RAM, and it took me almost 2 hours to render one 1080p frame. Pretty sure I could cut that down with better optimising of render settings and scene in general though.

So the point is, if your new to it you can get very far on 16GB of memory before that becomes an issue worth spending money on trying to solve, since far before that most of the earlier hurdles can be solved by learning more about your software of choice and its settings than just throwing grunt at it and brute forcing your way through.
Now if money is not a large concern, just go 32GB or more and be happy.

 

[flatty]

16 for daily use

 

[Night]

What about data compression? Especially when using big dictionary size for big files. You can basically use 100+ GB.

 

[Mr Bill]

While we're on this subject, I have 16 GB of ram and a Samsung 850 Pro SSD with paging file off. I know there's been differences of opinions on the paging file, since Moby Dick was a minnow, should I just leave mine off?

 

[freeagent]

I don't use a page file and have no problems. On the really off chance I don't have ram to spare the program I tried to open will just close.

 

[mclaren85]

While we're on this subject, I have 16 GB of ram and a Samsung 850 Pro SSD with paging file off. I know there's been differences of opinions on the paging file, since Moby Dick was a minnow, should I just leave mine off?

I also have 16 gb of ram disabled paging as well. no warning or performance issues so far..
I really don't think page file is an important feature anymore.

Heres a useful example - i got 64GB because its overkill

at idle (with nicehash, yes) i use 14GB of ram - but windows has cached an extra 43GB of data for faster loading times. That is gunna add up in reduced loading times, and reduced paging (to basically none) of the SSD's extending their lifespan

Yeah, you can use 16GB pretty well... but its not useless to go 32GB and above any longer

That caught my attention.. Do you claim that Windows tends to increase its cache pool (or whatever) as it gets more ram?

 

[Aquinus]

That caught my attention.. Do you claim that Windows tends to increase its cache pool (or whatever) as it gets more ram?

I don't know about Windows, but Linux and OS X will do disk caching if there is more available memory to be had that isn't being used. I suspect it does the same.

 

[Ruru]

For gaming, 16GB is still more than fine. Though I'll still go for 32GB when I upgrade from my old 4x4 2400 sticks, no need to get more RAM in few years.

But for work etc. "real computer usage" I'd go for 32GB without a doubt.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

If you can afford it, bang in as much as you want. I may not have noticed much of a difference between 16 and 32, but it's there if I need it.
This is me when fixing a customer PC with 4GB RAM and a spinner, which happens a lot.
View attachment 195020

You know how true that is obviously, and I have definitely complained about the use of spinner's personally , I still think they should be banned for Os, and 16Gb should be minimum now, I can't help but think my leet might have eaked out, but honestly I almost always face one or more such pc every weekend so it's genuinely thought through mental pain ,stress and limitless patience, I have beaten up only two PC's.
I do have a PSU with two total system kills to it's belt I'm going to enjoy ending soon.

 

[CGi-Quality]

As an owner of 128GB/DDR4 (and who ran out of 32GB back in 2016 during intense renders), I always encourage going higher. But, for games, 16 should be fine for a few more years.

 

[BlackSun59]

When I built my rig in April 2020, $140 for 32GB of RAM was a no-brainer... after having a max of 4GB with 32-bit Windows editions for almost 20 years. Now I never even have to think about swapfile size or slowdowns.

 

[Hachi_Roku256563]

play warzone and have nothing else open.
you exceed 16GB with ease.

i use 32GB since years and it's totally worth it.

This is entirely untrue i play warzone with browsers discord and genral crap open and dont max out
i thouch 14 maybe if my browsers being mean to me

 

[68Olds]

I built my system specifically for MS Flight Sim 2020. If that is a game on your list to play, it can easily use RAM into the low to mid-20GB range if you have 32GB of RAM.

Other than that, I don't know of any games that will benefit with more that 16GB of RAM.

 

[Hachi_Roku256563]

When I built my rig in April 2020, $140 for 32GB of RAM was a no-brainer... after having a max of 4GB with 32-bit Windows editions for almost 20 years. Now I never even have to think about swapfile size or slowdowns.

fun fact windows wont work good without the swap even if you are not using all your ram
i fully disabled swap and windows was dying everywhere even though their was plenty of ram free
it eventually stopped being able to open task manger when only 50 percent was being used

If your fine with pushing the limit a bit 16 g
but 32 seems to be necessary real soon

 

[Mr Bill]

fun fact windows wont work good without the swap even if you are not using all your ram
i fully disabled swap and windows was dying everywhere even though their was plenty of ram free
it eventually stopped being able to open task manger when only 50 percent was being used

If your fine with pushing the limit a bit 16 g
but 32 seems to be necessary real soon

What is "swap"? Is this another name for paging file?

 

[Mussels]

While we're on this subject, I have 16 GB of ram and a Samsung 850 Pro SSD with paging file off. I know there's been differences of opinions on the paging file, since Moby Dick was a minnow, should I just leave mine off?

you cant actually disable page files, windows creates them as needed these days - you're just increasing writes on your SSD by doing so

 

[Mr Bill]

you cant actually disable page files, windows creates them as needed these days - you're just increasing writes on your SSD by doing so

I use LTSB does it do the same?

 

[Mussels]

I use LTSB does it do the same?

to my knowledge yes
programs will either force its creation, or crash depending on how they're coded - been dozens of threads on it over the years showing evidence of both

you're always better off with a static sized page file and enough ram, windows knows how to minimise the usage of the page

 

[Mr Bill]

been dozens of threads on it over the years showing evidence of both

Yes I know, I guess the jury will be out on this final decision forever, especially with the ssd's out now.

 

[Mussels]

Yes I know, I guess the jury will be out on this final decision forever, especially with the ssd's out now.

with SSD's the idea is to minimise writes - would you rather one big write or a dozen small ones?

big enough RAM and page lets windows do its thing and minimise the activity

 

[evernessince]

Overkill, worst timing ever, and 8 > 16GB is just now going mainstream.

I think for DDR4 you can rest easy with 16GB until DDR5 is commonplace enough.

I'd disagree based on the facts. I see more than 10GB of main system memory usage (not allocation) on average when gaming. If you have a GPU with less VRAM than the game requires, that amount will go up as well. It's more common now that VRAM has remained stagnant.