will 128 bit be a thing?

[LAwLz]

I can't see it happening, why on earth would we require any more than 16GB (unless you edit videos and such), 512GB in a mainstream computer will not be here for at least 20 years. If 512GB did actually come out in 8 years how would we even begin to make use of it.

You do realize people said the same thing about 4GB of RAM, right? They also said the same thing about 1GB, and 512MB, and 128MB... It's just the way computers progress. The more advanced they become, the more advanced programs we get, the larger the files we get, and our need for even more power goes up. It's just an endless cycle.

 

Like I said before, using more RAM is very easy. You just have to keep things in cache for longer and longer and/or work with bigger files. Websites aren't getting smaller, photos aren't getting smaller, videos aren't getting smaller, games aren't getting smaller. All of these things are just getting bigger and bigger, and the need for more RAM grows at the same rate as those things do.

 

The numbers I threw out are based on the growth during the last decade. During the same time I have seen people go from 2GB being more than enough to 16 being more than enough.

[FireFox]

You do realize people said the same thing about 4GB of RAM, right? They also said the same thing about 1GB, and 512MB, and 128MB... It's just the way computers progress. The more advanced they become, the more advanced programs we get, the larger the files we get, and our need for even more power goes up. It's just an endless cycle.

 

Like I said before, using more RAM is very easy. You just have to keep things in cache for longer and longer and/or work with bigger files. Websites aren't getting smaller, photos aren't getting smaller, videos aren't getting smaller, games aren't getting smaller. All of these things are just getting bigger and bigger, and the need for more RAM grows at the same rate as those things do.

 

The numbers I threw out are based on the growth during the last decade. During the same time I have seen people go from 2GB being more than enough to 16 being more than enough.

 

I fully understand where you're coming from but from 16GB or 32GB to 512GB+ within the next 8 years I really can't see happening, I'll be surprised if we even see it in the next 15-20 years.

[Trik'Stari]

Just tell it to me straight, when will I be able to download my conciousness into a computer, and spend the rest of eternity absorbing and experiencing all of the porn the internet has to offer?

[Michael McAllister]

Just tell it to me straight, when will I be able to download my conciousness into a computer, and spend the rest of eternity absorbing and experiencing all of the porn the internet has to offer?

 

I have nothing against porn, but I'm not sure that's a rabbit hole that you want to go down.

[tobben]

I fully understand where you're coming from but from 16GB or 32GB to 512GB+ within the next 8 years I really can't see happening, I'll be surprised if we even see it in the next 15-20 years.

i think you are severely underestimating how quickly technology is changing, making a 15-20 year estimate or even a guess is insane, going back to 1994 practically the stone age compared to now, a whopping 8 Mb of ram!

[Trik'Stari]

I have nothing against porn, but I'm not sure that's a rabbit hole that you want to go down.

I'm something of an expert, I'm never afraid of rabbit holes

[FireFox]

i think you are severely underestimating how quickly technology is changing, making a 15-20 year estimate or even a guess is insane, going back to 1994 practically the stone age compared to now, a whopping 8 Mb of ram!

 

I don't think I'm underestimating at all

[Tr3vor]

The gamecube, PS2, and xbox were 128 bit. It only makes sense since the snes was 16 bit and the PS1 was 32 bit, and the N64 was 64 bit.

 

 

[Tr3vor]

 

 

You'll never exceed using even 128 GB of ram (let alone 512 GB) with one piece of consumer software. Everyone in this thread will more than likely be dead before that happens.

 

 

We went from 8mb to 128mb in about 10 years, and from that to 4gb in about the same amount of time. It's a possibility.

[Biased Opinion]

 

 

You'll never exceed using even 128 GB of ram (let alone 512 GB) with one piece of consumer software. Everyone in this thread will more than likely be dead before that happens.

 

challange accepted.

[ShadowCaptain]

ALL THE SNIPS

Reading through this entire thread Lawlz you have made the most sense. It baffles me that people are so naive that they think that we will still be using 16gb of ram in 10 years.

Take a small example like SSDs, A year ago people were like "we dont need a 32gb drive that costs £500" and now I rarely see a build that does not include a 256gb ssd

 

Technology is accelerating. Isnt the GPU on the Apple A7 72x more powerful than the original iPhone? and that happened in just a few years.

 

As far as ram goes I am struggling on 16gb of ram, and I just edit basic DSLR footage and some gaming. 32 is becoming a necessity for me, and I always used to think 32gb was ludicrous just a year or two ago

[ZmanFTW]

Windows 9 Threshold is coming in Spring 2015. Details are scarce but there are rumors that the home premium version might be free. Which is understandable considering the lower success of Windows 8 & 8.1. I am fairly certain that it will still be 32-bit/64-bit though. We might see 128-bit or even 256-bit. I don't believe that it that far fetched actually. More than anything it would be a matter of getting game/software/etc. designers to get on board and support it. So very near future, probably not. Not too distant future...I think it is possible.

[Guest andyysplash]

Windows 9 Threshold is coming in Spring 2015. Details are scarce but there are rumors that the home premium version might be free. Which is understandable considering the lower success of Windows 8 & 8.1. I am fairly certain that it will still be 32-bit/64-bit though. We might see 128-bit or even 256-bit. I don't believe that it that far fetched actually. More than anything it would be a matter of getting game/software/etc. designers to get on board and support it. So very near future, probably not. Not too distant future...I think it is possible.

 

If it's free that would be nice, but what would be even better is if it was the other kind of free.

 

On topic, I'm not gonna make much of a prediction as it'll probably end up wrong, but on one hand we have the exponential increase of ram size, cpu cores, bit-count etc, and that of data we consume. So the first thing to consider is whether the amount of data we consume is growing a larger exponent than the size of ram, amount of cpu cores and bit-count are. Then we have the issue that we're running out of room to expand in some areas. Broadwell's 14nm, and fabrication labs are struggling to make processors on smaller and smaller dies. In a few years we'll go sub-1nm. I know IBM have developed a way to store a bit of data in something like 12 atoms, but that requires it to be kept at some crazy cold temperature. We've also got the problem of the resources needed to produce the silicon we need (unless we switch to a graphine-based material or something else).

 

We first need to work out how to overcome problems getting to more powerful and efficient systems before we can go there, otherwise we'll end up needing more and more powerful systems, using Exabytes of ram and whatnot, with applications starting to become limited by this crazy hardware and us not having a solution yet as it's proving too difficult to manufacture an advancement.

[Buckley]

If I remember correctly, some SOC manufacturer is making a 128bit chip for smartphones. But I doubt it'll make it to the market anytime soon. I give it 10 or 15 years