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When would 16gb be better than 8gb with this build?

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moresnowdays

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2011
Location
Central New York
I have the following going into my current build, and I'm wondering at what point I would be better off adding another G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) to bring the RAM total to 16gb, is it just not needed?:shrug:

I mainly use programs like Photoshop, Lightroom, flexipro.

-COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Advanced Blue Edition $159.98
-ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3R $219.99
-EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit $249.99
-PSU CORSAIR-850HX 850W $163.99
-CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2500K 3.3G $219.99
-G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) $69.99
-Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" $89.99
-BLURAY BURNER LG | WH12LS30 $69.99
-COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus $25.99
-Dell UltraSharp U2412M IPS (1920 x 1200) with DVI-D With HDCP DisplayPort VGA $339.00
- Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400 $40.00
-Wacom Bamboo Connect Pen Tablet $81.00
-Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III $197.00
 
It is simply dependent on how much RAM you will use. If you will never go above 8 GB used, then having 16 GB would be worthless. You could get 8 GB now and keep an eye on usage. If you start getting close (>80%), then I would suggest getting more.

With the programs you use, though, I wouldn't hesitate to suggest getting more RAM. Video and photo editing programs love RAM.
 
Nice build you have there.
Though, I would suggest adding another 30~$40 on top the price of 212+ to upgrade for a better one.
 
16GB would be helpful for Photoshop or VM's. I went to 16GB over 8GB, as RAM's cheap currently (and may not stay at this level).
 
16GB would be helpful for Photoshop or VM's. I went to 16GB over 8GB, as RAM's cheap currently (and may not stay at this level).

RAM is relatively cheap, and I think I will move up to 16. Wondering why you think prices may go up though? I've been under the impression that cheap memory is cheap, and can't think what would cause it to go up. Other than high demand from a significant change in technology?
 
Nice build you have there.
Though, I would suggest adding another 30~$40 on top the price of 212+ to upgrade for a better one.

After doing the research it seemed most liked the 212+, what would really be that much better for $30-40? Just installed the 212+ though, so I don't think I would make a change there unless it was really needed.

Do others really find the 212+ inadequate with some moderate overclocking in a system like mine?
 
RAM is relatively cheap, and I think I will move up to 16. Wondering why you think prices may go up though? I've been under the impression that cheap memory is cheap, and can't think what would cause it to go up. Other than high demand from a significant change in technology?
If the demand goes up or the supply goes down, the price will go up. Simple economics.
 
You can go up to 4.8 GHz with 212+.

That sounds pretty good to me. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that some of the i52500k's out there won't get that far anyway (I could be wrong though).

How far beyond 4.8GHz could you get before your pushing your luck with reliability?
 
That sounds pretty good to me. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that some of the i52500k's out there won't get that far anyway (I could be wrong though)
Some of them will get to 4.5, some will get to 4.6+, some will do 5.0+.
Luck of the draw really.

How far beyond 4.8GHz could you get before your pushing your luck with reliability?
Depends on the voltage required for higher clocks. Any overclocking/voltage increase will decrease the lifetime of a chip, but if you're being somewhat conservative (good cooling, <1.4V) you're talking 10 years vs. 15 years, so well beyond the usable lifetime of the chip.


RAM is relatively cheap, and I think I will move up to 16. Wondering why you think prices may go up though? I've been under the impression that cheap memory is cheap, and can't think what would cause it to go up. Other than high demand from a significant change in technology?
As said, supply & demand: DDR3 was dramatically overproduced earlier this year driving prices down. Eventually the demand is going to outstrip the oversupply and prices will go back up.
 
If the demand goes up or the supply goes down, the price will go up. Simple economics.

Ram wont ever go up due to supply and demand. The only thing that can increase the price of ram now is a change in manufacture process, ram used to be very expensive, £1 per gigabyte at one time, doesnt sound a lot unless you wanted 512mb in your system lol. Only a new type of system memory will increase the price though, the technology to make ram is well established and all the money in development has been spent and recouperated, so prices are cheap because its cheap to manufacture. A new process to create ram that was insane in its speed and able to have rediculously low timings and run cool will naturally increase prices untill it becomes old hat and easy to create, its all down to manufacturing and the cost of the science it takes to create new tech
 
Are you telling me that basic economic theory does not apply to RAM? It is in every type of market, even if it does not seem like it. Businesses are constantly watching how much they sell at specific price points (and comparing to competitors and other factors) along with demand and what they are currently supplying.

If aggregate demand goes up sharply, prices will go up as well. If aggregate supply goes down (manufacturers stop producing as much, troubles obtaining the materials needed to make it, etc), the price goes up as well. Why do you think that DDR2 and DDR are much more expensive than they used to be? Supply went down.
 
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