When to decide to get more RAM

[akacoffeeguy]

Hello, new member here just to ask if frequently hitting the level of memory usage exampled by the screenshot below warrants getting more RAM.  In particular what I notice is that I frequently have the same amount "Available" as I have "Cached".  This is both a gaming and work machine and I frequently end up with a lot of things open (not to mention chrome tabs).

Thanks for your help.

[igormp]

9 minutes ago, akacoffeeguy said:

Hello, new member here just to ask if frequently hitting the level of memory usage exampled by the screenshot below warrants getting more RAM.

Depends, I'd say yes especially if you ever feel your system getting sluggish when you switch between tasks/windows/tabs, since that means they likely were paged out of ram and into your disk. However, if it's snappy enough for you and you don't run out of ram often (as in, stuff crashing or getting unbearably slow), then it's fine and you don't really need more.

 

Cached should be the same or pretty close to what's available, since that's what the system used to cache disk stuff in order to get faster access and will throw away whenever any other software requires it.

 

[akacoffeeguy]

18 hours ago, igormp said:

Depends, I'd say yes especially if you ever feel your system getting sluggish when you switch between tasks/windows/tabs, since that means they likely were paged out of ram and into your disk. However, if it's snappy enough for you and you don't run out of ram often (as in, stuff crashing or getting unbearably slow), then it's fine and you don't really need more.

 

Cached should be the same or pretty close to what's available, since that's what the system used to cache disk stuff in order to get faster access and will throw away whenever any other software requires it.

 

Yeah I started looking at my usage because of hiccups in switching between programs and windows.  I'm worried I might have just been looking for someone to agree with me