8Gigs of ram or SSD? Which is better?

[EastCoasthandle]

Well, you don't have to answer that because Xbit has provided us an article on the situation. Overall the benchmarks show that SSD can be faster than a regular HD. It is particular faster video editing, winrar, bootup times, etc. However, when it comes to playing games and using other applications (IE: not loading them) SSD is no better than a regular HD. Unless you are doing so heavy multitasking. So the gist is that overall loading applications, games and the OS is faster.

As for having more memory or not the author indicates that 8Gigs of ram is beneficial to users when they are running a slower hard drive. This explains why some claim that more memory makes things faster while others don't notice the improvements (note: I'm not talking about users who go from 1-2.5Gigs to 8Gigs). Using 8Gigs of ram does have it place. If one uses programs like Photoshop, etc which work better with more memory than having such is a benefit.

...The standard amount of 4 GB is enough for most situations and adding more memory doesn’t bring any noticeable benefits. You can only get a positive effect from such an upgrade if you've got a very slow HDD in your system. The SuperFetch technology which uses system memory for look-ahead data caching may make your computer more responsive then. However, it would be wiser to spend the money to improve your disk subsystem and get much better results...

You must realize that upgrading your disk subsystem is not a universal solution. There are some specific applications for which 8 gigabytes of system memory may prove preferable to a faster disk. For example, Adobe Photoshop can use up even 8 GB of RAM...

One observation worth noting is that the author recommends a faster HD (in this case a SSD) over more memory. As it can make the OS more responsive. Taking less time to open programs, etc and starting files. However, overall the productivity won't improve much.

...As opposed to additional RAM, a fast disk subsystem based on a solid state drive is going to be advantageous always. Besides improving the speed of disk-accessing applications, an SSD increases the overall responsiveness of the platform. The OS and applications take less time to start up and files open up faster. Although such things cannot improve your productivity much, they do make the computer more enjoyable to use....

You can read more of the article here.

 

[EastCoasthandle]

I don't think you necessarily need a SSD. One could see a difference if you get a faster hard drive. If the one you currently have is slow.

 

[1Kurgan1]

I agree, although I do Photoshop and all that other junk. But OS's are taking up so much RAM on their own these days, having only 2.5GB of extra space just isn't enough anymore, I soon will jump from 4GB to 8GB.

 

[WhiteLotus]

SSD are mighty useful if you are having to keep turning your computer on and off. However when they become less expensive per GB I will buy one. as for 8GB I don't see the benefits of that either unless you are preloading large files.

 

[yogurt_21]

for most things 4gb should be plenty as for ssd a raid 0 config can grant similar performance for the same price (at a reliability hit) while offering 10 times the amount of storage.

 

[1Kurgan1]

SSD are mighty useful if you are having to keep turning your computer on and off. However when they become less expensive per GB I will buy one. as for 8GB I don't see the benefits of that either unless you are preloading large files.

Yeah the boot time is nice, I don't turn my off often so it don't matter as much to me, but I agree on the price/gb, when they drop, I will most likely get one.

for most things 4gb should be plenty as for ssd a raid 0 config can grant similar performance for the same price (at a reliability hit) while offering 10 times the amount of storage.

4GB is fine, but with a game up now days and just windows your going to start looking at 3.5gb of 4gb used, and I don't like being near a wall. Yeah 8GB is overkill, but thats how it goes when you want to keep dual channel and such.

 

[Black Panther]

I've ran my desktop on 6GB RAM and on 4GB RAM, didn't see any difference.

Right now I'm on 4GB RAM but I replaced my HDD with this 160GB Intel SSD and now I do see a difference especially in booting / loading times.

 

[Hayder_Master]

i always try to be my pc faster with everything, buying new stuff and crazy overclocking and didn't see what i reach for until i got the SSD, for me i become see 40% pc speed back to SSD

 

[n-ster]

installing games on a RAMdisk is always fun I used to have 12GB, and it really can be useful if you know how to use it!

RAM is getting cheaper and faster... Hopefully I'll get another set of 3x2gb RAM soon, or I'll buy 3x4GB if I get enough cash for christmas

 

[Frick]

2GB is actually still more than enough for my needs (until I start some VM's, but that almost never happens). For me an SSD would be more of an improvement.

 

[nailzer]

I just got a 120GB GSkill Phoenix Pro Tuesday from Newegg. I installed Windows 7 in 14 minutes. It takes 23 seconds to cold boot. I have 4GB of GSkill Lockjaw DDR-1600 and don't use a page file. It takes 3 seconds to shut down. Compared to a mechanical drive, there is no comparison. I love it!!

 

[lemonadesoda]

It really depends on your usage profile.

I would always recommend a RAMdisk [expert][tip] Using a RAMdisk to speed up your HD...

With judicious use it will speed up a SSD based system AND help you reduce wear.

Rather than buying a 120GB SSD, I would use the same budget to do 64GB SSD, and upgrade to 8GB+ RAM and do a RAMdisk. (Keeping your existing HDD for media files and backups etc).

 

[nt300]

8GB of Dual-Channel ram is better IMO. Good for gaming and anything else. Wait for SSD to drop more in price then get two of them and raid 0 them.

 

[n-ster]

With 24GB of triple-channel memory, you can get a small 18~20GB RAMdisk If you find a way to make that bootable, Windows + programs + 1 small game, or Windows + 1 game/big program would be pure AWESOMENESS!