Does 16 GB ram still strong enough?

[Vayne778]

Ok I have 16 GB Ram now...but I think my Ram have a problem nowadays and I want to change it (I have been using for 5 years) now should I just change to another 16 GB Ram? Does 32 GB overkill? I mainly use my PC for gaming and browsing 

[Tan3l6]

32GB is overkill if only playing games and browsing.

Rather a fast 16GB.

[Bitter]

16GB should be plenty still, whats the problem?

[TetraSky]

Depending on what you play, 16GB might not be enough.

For example, Minecraft.

Some mod packs can easily require 10GB of RAM just to run. If you then want to also host a local server for your friends and you, you'll need 32GB of RAM.

 

That said, right now 16GB should be enough for most purpose.

But, as time goes by, 16GB will start not being enough in general, too. Maybe don't upgrade this PC to 32GB, but if you buy a new one in the future (after DDR5 comes out), definitely consider 32GB of RAM.

[Vayne778]

3 minutes ago, Bitter said:

16GB should be plenty still, whats the problem?

 

High Ram usage even though in idle state...and sometime when I want to open folder..it often hang for a second and then normal again...I used multiple HDD and one of them is new so I don't think it's HDD problem... I'm thinking it's RAM issue

[Giganthrax]

16 GB is more than enough for gaming and everyday computer use. I've found that even 8GB runs fine in most cases. 

[whm1974]

Unless you are going to be a heavy user of Programs like DAZ3D or Blender and the like, then 16GB will be fine. Video Editing/Rendering?

[Bitter]

Just now, Vayne778 said:

 

High Ram usage even though in idle state...and sometime when I want to open folder..it often hang for a second and then normal again...I used multiple HDD and one of them is new so I don't think it's HDD problem... I'm thinking it's RAM issue

So in Windows Task Manager you're using how much of the RAM available? Can you see if there's a specific process that's using up a lot of that RAM? Is Windows up to date with the latest updates?

[Tan3l6]

1 minute ago, Vayne778 said:

...so I don't think it's HDD problem... I'm thinking it's RAM issue

HDD is the problem. SSD is the solution.

[TetraSky]

1 minute ago, Vayne778 said:

 

High Ram usage even though in idle state...and sometime when I want to open folder..it often hang for a second and then normal again...I used multiple HDD and one of them is new so I don't think it's HDD problem... I'm thinking it's RAM issue

How "high" is "high" for you? Windows 10 64bit uses like 4 to 5GB on idle depending on what you have running in the background, even more so if you have a web browser open.

[whm1974]

1 minute ago, Vayne778 said:

 

High Ram usage even though in idle state...and sometime when I want to open folder..it often hang for a second and then normal again...I used multiple HDD and one of them is new so I don't think it's HDD problem... I'm thinking it's RAM issue

Get an SSD for your Boot Drive.

[Vayne778]

I have SSD for C...but for my other files, I use HDD...there is some weird sound for a bit when I open folder sometime

[Vayne778]

2 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

How "high" is "high" for you? Windows 10 64bit uses like 4 to 5GB on idle depending on what you have running in the background, even more so if you have a webbrowser open.

 35%

[TetraSky]

1 minute ago, Vayne778 said:

 35%

Perfectly normal. Getting a SSD like the others have said won't help the RAM usage. But it would certainly make things feel smoother and faster.

I'm at 35% too just writing this.

[da na]

6 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

Depending on what you play, 16GB might not be enough.

For example, Minecraft.

Some mod packs can easily require 10GB of RAM just to run. If you then want to also host a local server for your friends and you, you'll need 32GB of RAM.

 

That said, right now 16GB should be enough for most purpose.

But, as time goes by, 16GB will start not being enough in general, too. Maybe don't upgrade this PC to 32GB, but if you buy a new one in the future (after DDR5 comes out), definitely consider 32GB of RAM.

Yep, sometimes I run around 26 gb of ram usage on my modded MC server...

[Bitter]

3 minutes ago, Vayne778 said:

 35%

That's absolutely normal memory use when Windows has more than enough memory.

 

The pause when opening files from a hard drive, is the disk spinning back up from being stopped due to inactivity? Disks sleep when not in use, then have to spin up and wake up when you access them again, this can be a 1+ second delay in access. You may or may not be able to change the disk sleep behavior, some have windows power settings but others have it hard coded into the disk when to sleep.

[WkdPaul]

* thread moved to the CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory section, please always post in the appropriate section *

[Vayne778]

There is like weird sound when I want to click folder on my D or E 

 

I can't really describe but something like moving fast (maybe like a fan noise), my pc hang about 1-2 seconds and it's normal again...not always though...maybe 1-2 times per day that I see this

[Vayne778]

6 minutes ago, Bitter said:

That's absolutely normal memory use when Windows has more than enough memory.

 

The pause when opening files from a hard drive, is the disk spinning back up from being stopped due to inactivity? Disks sleep when not in use, then have to spin up and wake up when you access them again, this can be a 1+ second delay in access. You may or may not be able to change the disk sleep behavior, some have windows power settings but others have it hard coded into the disk when to sleep.

Ok this is the first time I used 8TB HDD (before only 2TB)...and it's only have 1 TB free space at the moment...is it the reason for some pause when I open folder? There is like a fast fan noise too for 1-2 seconds while pause

[TetraSky]

4 minutes ago, Vayne778 said:

There is like weird sound when I want to click folder on my D or E 

 

I can't really describe but something like moving fast (maybe like a fan noise), my pc hang about 1-2 seconds and it's normal again...not always though...maybe 1-2 times per day that I see this

Could be any number of things. Likely the hard drive spinning up because Windows shuts down your secondary drives when they are not used.

[Beerzerker]

Actually it's a good question - With Win 11 on the horizon we really can't say how that OS will behave and that relates to everything including gaming.
It may be enough to run fine, maybe not because we don't know yet what Win 11 is all about.

All I can give is personal thought and preference like anyone else, I'd actually expect things to change once Win 11 is mainstream and games start to appear for it and that includes the amount of RAM needed for it to run properly.

16GB's by today's standards is good but what about later?
You really can't say it as being "Fact" because we're not there yet to "Know It" BUT I do know regardless, having 32GB's on tap would certainly help take care of that no matter how it goes based on the expected life cycle of a system built today.
 

[Brooksie359]

18 minutes ago, Tan3l6 said:

32GB is overkill if only playing games and browsing.

Rather a fast 16GB.

I would have to disagree. Almost all 16gb kits are 2x8 which is single rank and performs worse than dual rank. On top of that if you like to have other programs open while gaming and maybe a web browser open you can easily get dangerously close to 16gb of ram usage. I would say you can get by with 16gb but 32gb certainly isn't overkill. 

[Tan3l6]

DDR5 is the 32GB "standard" time imo.

 

  

1 minute ago, Brooksie359 said:

I would have to disagree. Almost all 16gb kits are 2x8 which is single rank and performs worse than dual rank. On top of that if you like to have other programs open while gaming and maybe a web browser open you can easily get dangerously close to 16gb of ram usage. I would say you can get by with 16gb but 32gb certainly isn't overkill. 

I strongly disagree. 

Right now, for gaming 32GB is not required. DDR4 is reasonably cheap at this time though...

[Alex-Bubbler-Leo]

32 GB is for people who do a very "heavy" job on their PC, like editing videos or creating games (animations). If you only want to play video games and search the web, you should buy a 16GB one.

[TetraSky]

3 minutes ago, Alex-Bubbler-Leo said:

32 GB is for people who do a very "heavy" job on their PC, like editing videos or creating games (animations). If you only want to play video games and search the web, you should buy a 16GB one.

* Unless the game is Minecraft