How much memory should I really need?

[Tech Tweaker]

I've been thinking about upgrading my main PC to a newer platform sometime in the next few months, and I've been considering how much memory I should get.

Current Rig:
Case: Cooler Master 690 II Advanced
CPU: Intel Q6600 SLACR @3.3GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R
RAM: 8GB G.Skill [email protected]
CPU Cooling: Corsair H100i
Video: Evga GTX 660Ti
Power Supply: Corsair HX750W
HDD: Western Digital 320GB Caviar Blue (OS)+500GB Caviar Black (Storage)
ODD: Lite-on DVDRW LH-20A1S
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

With my current PC I have 8GB of DDR2-1066 (4x2GB sticks). At idle my memory usage is 19-30% depending upon what's running and/or if there are background processes using up memory for updates, virus scans, or other things. While browsing the web I'm usually somewhere between 25-45% memory usage. Now, if I'm gaming it jumps to 60-70% memory usage.

If I remove two sticks for 4GB, then the story changes dramatically. Then I'm at 35-45% memory usage at idle. Web browsing usage jumps to 50-65%. Gaming would be around 70-85% (maybe 90% in more intense parts of the games).

I'm wondering if I should just stick to 8GB or if upgrading to 16GB or more would be advisable?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I would just do 2x4GB and see how it goes.

 

[Woomack]

I would think more about changing platform to something newer. Investing money in 4GB DDR2 modules for G33 board has no point especially that we already see DDR4 on the market. Also not every motherboard works good with 4GB modules.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I would think more about changing platform to something newer. Investing money in 4GB DDR2 modules for G33 board has no point especially that we already see DDR4 on the market. Also not every motherboard works good with 4GB modules.

He was asking about memory amounts for the new rig

 

[Mpegger]

Max it till it hurts your wallet! Windows will make use of the extra ram as cache, which will be noticeable with lots of ram if you open and use the same programs frequently. Now-a-days, I would say that 8GiB is the minimum for any new build, so it would be a good place to start. It depends on what you use your PC for. I do pretty much everything with my rig, and have a bunch of programs that are open and running all the time. I currently sit at 6.5GiB in use idling with just Firefox (which easily uses 1.5GiB+) and Thunderbird open. Throw in my usual gaming, and I can easily hit 12GiB+ in use (typically, I see around 9GiB). I could get by with just 16GiB, but I had the the ram already, purchased back when ram was dirt cheap.

 

[Tyerker]

I think it depends on the platform you move to. If you move to LGA2011 with 8 RAM slots, then 2x4GB should be fine. If you only have 4 RAM slots, though, I would suggest trying to snipe a 2x8GB set for cheap, so you have room to grow.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I think it depends on the platform you move to. If you move to LGA2011 with 8 RAM slots, then 2x4GB should be fine. If you only have 4 RAM slots, though, I would suggest trying to snipe a 2x8GB set for cheap, so you have room to grow.

If you have four DIMMS and two modules..... there's room to grow.

 

[Woomack]

@ ATMINSIDE
I will blame new forums layout ... but really I don't know how I missed that 1st sentence ...

So yes, for new rig best is 16GB in 2x8GB unless you want to jump into quad channel then 4x4GB.
In time programs will need more RAM and when you get 2x4GB then later you will have to think about matched kit what will be probably not available as every couple of months IC are changing ( also sub timings etc ). I just think it's better to invest once and don't think about it for longer when it's daily PC.

 

[Tyerker]

If you have four DIMMS and two modules..... there's room to grow.

And my thought was if you go 2x4GB in a 4 DIMM board, you limit yourself to 16GB. If you have an 8 DIMM board and go 2x4GB, or start 2x8GB on the 4 DIMM board, you have the opportunity for 32GB of RAM, which may very well be useful in the next year or two.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

And my thought was if you go 2x4GB in a 4 DIMM board, you limit yourself to 16GB. If you have an 8 DIMM board, or start 2x8GB on the 4 DIMM board, you have the opportunity for 32GB of RAM, which may very well be useful in the next year or two.

For gaming/general usage? I doubt we'll need more than 16GB before DDR3 is obsoleted.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

And my thought was if you go 2x4GB in a 4 DIMM board, you limit yourself to 16GB. If you have an 8 DIMM board and go 2x4GB, or start 2x8GB on the 4 DIMM board, you have the opportunity for 32GB of RAM, which may very well be useful in the next year or two.

Not necessarily.

One could buy 2x4GB now, and add in 2x8GB sticks later for a total of 24GB. Assuming the sticks had matching timings/speeds it shouldn't be a problem. Though that would be a bit of an odd amount.

 

[EarthDog]

That could cause instability... not sure I would do that...

 

[Johan45]

^+1
As Woomack mentioned earlier things change so much with memory and even core speed and timings on the surface don't have same/compatible timings on the lower levels.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

Well, I ran 2x2GB modules with 2x1GB modules in the same system for 6GB with no instability at all. Ran it that way for a couple of years actually.

So, it can be done.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Well, I ran 2x2GB modules with 2x1GB modules in the same system for 6GB with no instability at all. Ran it that way for a couple of years actually.

So, it can be done.

Yes, it can be done, but it's still a crapshoot as to if it's stable or not.

 

[Woomack]

It can be done on similar generation IC but I don't think it will run on something like 2x1GB Qimonda + 2x4GB new Samsung/Hynix IC. Expect that DDR3 will be also in 16GB modules before they stop to improve them. I mean there is a high chance to make it work but we don't know what will be in stores in ~1-2 years. Even kits under the same product number have different IC and SPD/XMP and different density.
Some boards will like it and some not. We actually see that most users are selling old memory to buy new as mixing is not always working or you have to adjust everything manually, sometimes at the cost of performance.

Perfect amount of RAM for everything would be ~12GB but it's not possible to make it from matched dual or quad channel kits so next step is 16GB. Also because of IC density, all new 4GB modules = single sided , all 8GB = double sided ... what means 2x8GB will be faster up to 20% depends from program. 2133 2x8GB kit will give performance like 2666/2800 2x4 or 4x4GB on a dual channel board.

 

[EarthDog]

Yes, it can be done, but it's still a crapshoot as to if it's stable or not.

It can be done on similar generation IC but I don't think it will run on something like 2x1GB Qimonda + 2x4GB new Samsung/Hynix IC. Expect that DDR3 will be also in 16GB modules before they stop to improve them. I mean there is a high chance to make it work but we don't know what will be in stores in ~1-2 years. Even kits under the same product number have different IC and SPD/XMP and different density.
Some boards will like it and some not. We actually see that most users are selling old memory to buy new as mixing is not always working or you have to adjust everything manually, sometimes at the cost of performance.

Perfect amount of RAM for everything would be ~12GB but it's not possible to make it from matched dual or quad channel kits so next step is 16GB. Also because of IC density, all new 4GB modules = single sided , all 8GB = double sided ... what means 2x8GB will be faster up to 20% depends from program. 2133 2x8GB kit will give performance like 2666/2800 2x4 or 4x4GB on a dual channel board.

My point(s) exactly TTweaker.

 

[trekky]

this is my thought when I got my PC
"8gb should be fine however I got 16gb because I plan on keeping it for a long time"
now im glad I got 16gb with me running VM sometimes it helps a lot
now if you are thinking you want 32gb and you can afford it, I would go for it because it looks like you upgrade every 5 or so years and if 12gb is about right now, 16gb may be two little in 2-3 years

 

[EarthDog]

Most people do not run VM's. 16GB will be fine 3-4 years down the road for *most* users. No way I would get 32GB now for my uses (no VM's, no ram disk etc).

 

[Tyerker]

Most people do not run VM's. 16GB will be fine 3-4 years down the road for *most* users. No way I would get 32GB now for my uses (no VM's, no ram disk etc).

Which sucks because for my work, I am often running 5-8 VMs at any given time, on an E8400 and 8GB of RAM. But I can't work from home yet. My 8-core with 16GB would eat up those VMs for dinner, though.