should I 12gb of ram?

[Zubasa]

Hmmm, thought this was a Hardware forum, not a "buy the prebuilt off the shelf" forum! Put 12 in it, and rock. I'd find ways to use 12gigs of ram, wouldn't most of you?

Then you have to make sure his OS can use 12GB of ram.
M$ put a limit in x64 versions of Windows.

 

[shevanel]

how do u install a game into ram disk???

 

[inf3rno]

how do u install a game into ram disk???

I think he was joking

 

[shevanel]

silly me.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

Hmmm, thought this was a Hardware forum, not a "buy the prebuilt off the shelf" forum! Put 12 in it, and rock. I'd find ways to use 12gigs of ram, wouldn't most of you?

No. The only things I know of that would use that much RAM is Video and Audio Editing. And I mean editing, not just splicing video clips together. I mean hardcore, frame by frame editing. So if you are a video or sound engineer or really into video/audio creation get as much RAM as possible.

For everyone else, 6 GB is is more than enough.

Then you have to make sure his OS can use 12GB of ram.
M$ put a limit in x64 versions of Windows.

The limit for x64 versions of windows is like 128 GB of RAM, so until we get RAM sticks at 32 GBs a stick density, that is a none issue.

And more RAM can drastically improve a system depending what you are starting with. I have a friend whom I convinced to upgrade his RAM. He went from 1 GB to 4 GB in Vista. That made a huge difference. But 6 GB to 12 GB will make very little difference if any.

 

[Zubasa]

No. The only things I know of that would use that much RAM is Video and Audio Editing. And I mean editing, not just splicing video clips together. I mean hardcore, frame by frame editing. So if you are a video or sound engineer or really into video/audio creation get as much RAM as possible.

For everyone else, 6 GB is is more than enough.



The limit for x64 versions of windows is like 128 GB of RAM, so until we get RAM sticks at 32 GBs a stick density, that is a none issue.

And more RAM can drastically improve a system depending what you are starting with. I have a friend whom I convinced to upgrade his RAM. He went from 1 GB to 4 GB in Vista. That made a huge difference. But 6 GB to 12 GB will make very little difference if any.

128GB is the limit of Vista Ultimate.
The limit on Win 7 Home Basic is 8GB, limit of Starter is 2GB.
He needs to buy Home Premium (16GB limit) and above.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx

 

[InnocentCriminal]

The most logical answers have been stated, get 6GB unless you can justify and make use of 12GB. Get 3 x 2GB sticks and you'll still have 3 slots left if you want to increase at a later date.

The money you'll save from not going to 12GB can go towards something else that'll benefit you more.

 

[W1zzard]

to use 10 gb of memory (let's say the os uses 2 gb, it probably never comes close) you need at least 5 (FIVE) 32-bit applications running at the same time using the maximum memory they can use. any 32-bit application can only allocate 2 gb of memory, no matter the windows version, no matter how much memory you have. the only exception is windows 32-bit running in /3GB mode and applications that were specifically built to support /3GB (none i have ever heard of)

run taskmanager while you work and check the total memory use there

 

[Anath]

I voted for 6! 12gb seems like major overkill unless you were doing some serious 3d application work.

 

[Yukikaze]

Get 6Gb.

I run 12Gb, and unless I am doing something really memory-intensive, I'd never notice the difference between 4Gb and 12Gb, much less 6 and 12.

 

[caleb]

Id script up loading a ram drive and play my games off memory .
Besides that usage I dont see any "application" reason why would one want more than 4 gigs.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

I'd love to have 12GB so that I could run ArmA II directly from a RAM drive that'd be sweet, however I think 8GB (which is maximum I can have in my current board).

 

[Yin]

Thanks for all the feedback.
Okay I'm leaning towards the 6gb of ram, however while I am at it I'll chuck a few more questions around.

I am also looking to learn more about vmware would 12 gb of ram help in terms of that? Possibly running 2-3 virtual machines at once along with basic apps on the physical machine.

But does anyone see the value differences? I mean like if I am gonna pay $300 for 6gb of ram that is basically $50 = a gig, Where as If i pay $400 for 12gb of ram it comes to $33.33. I know some people will go what the heck are you smoking since I am unable to use all of the 12gb of ram. But in the long run it turns out cheaper then buying the duplicate kit and shoving all of it in and hoping it works.

I was actually hoping my 939 core will hold out till the next gen and go for a whole new setup but the motherboard suddenly died. I could play most of latest games on a decent setting. So I kinda rushed out to get another rig up and running.

I will however considering upgrading the graphics card if I see\feel a massive bottleneck there, but that can wait as I'm sure a 8800GT still alot of grunt.

 

[Fishymachine]

RAM drive...weather you mean SSD or do you don't really know how RAM memory works,and by the way a 6Gig 1333 CAS7(no mainstream application can use even this much bandwidth but it can use lower latencies) should be perfect

 

[InnocentCriminal]

RAM drive...weather you mean SSD or do you don't really know how RAM memory works.

When people say RAM drive they mean RAM disk - using software to create a 'disk drive' from system RAM - check this software out.

 

[niko084]

I have 4 gigs and run out of memory all the time. Even multi-gig file operations can eat my ram up fast. Remember when Gates said 640k should be enough? If he can afford 12gig, why not? He could put a game install into a ram disk, hella fast!

What are you running, an application server?
Or 4 copies of Crysis at the same time....

 

[FatForester]

running 2-3 virtual machines at once... $300 for 6gb of ram vs. $400 for 12gb of ram... I was actually hoping my 939 core will hold out till the next gen... I'm sure a 8800GT still alot of grunt.

I think you answered your own question. If you've held on to your 939 system for this long and plan on using all of those virtual machines, then if $100 bucks is worth your peace of mind for a few more years (I'm assuming you'll keep it as long as your 939) then go for it. I feel ya on your 939 system though, my old ASUS A8V Deluxe bit the dust, so now I have a 3500+ and X800XT AIW going unused. As far as your 8800GT goes, I'd keep it. It depends on what you play, but if you play mainly Source games like me you'll still be good even at 1080p.

 

[MKmods]

Thanks for all the feedback.
Okay I'm leaning towards the 6gb of ram, however while I am at it I'll chuck a few more questions around.

I am also looking to learn more about vmware would 12 gb of ram help in terms of that? Possibly running 2-3 virtual machines at once along with basic apps on the physical machine.

But does anyone see the value differences? I mean like if I am gonna pay $300 for 6gb of ram that is basically $50 = a gig, Where as If i pay $400 for 12gb of ram it comes to $33.33. I know some people will go what the heck are you smoking since I am unable to use all of the 12gb of ram. But in the long run it turns out cheaper then buying the duplicate kit and shoving all of it in and hoping it works.

I was actually hoping my 939 core will hold out till the next gen and go for a whole new setup but the motherboard suddenly died. I could play most of latest games on a decent setting. So I kinda rushed out to get another rig up and running.

I will however considering upgrading the graphics card if I see\feel a massive bottleneck there, but that can wait as I'm sure a 8800GT still alot of grunt.

First: for the 3rd time now unless you use a 64bit OS 6 or 12 dosent matter. So are you using a 32 or 64bit OS?

and if you are asking this question buying premium $$ isant gonna help you either. You do have to make sure you get the right voltage memory for your i7 though.

You can get perfectly good memory for <$100 for 6gigs(64bit OS) or <$60 or for 3gigs(32bit OS)