Do i need really 8GB or 16 GB of RAM?

[ignito]

I know this has been a common question with many answers, and Linus stated in his "Holiday Buyer's Guide 2014" for the "Game Now" build with 16GB of RAM that "if you're a tab fiend like him, you might enjoy the extra breathing room" but that still left me wondering whether its completely necessary.

When i use my computer i have a tendency to start opening a lot of tabs on my browser, many of which with YouTube videos open. Sometimes ill have up to 6+ YouTube tabs open, as well as multiple tabs for either social media, or other sites i visit in different windows. I don't like closing the browser/restarting my pc because its a hassle to reopen all the tabs and get back to where i was in some videos, but i feel like my performance suffers because of that.

Now to get on to my actual question; Would 8GB of RAM still be sufficient enough to play more intensive games, even with all those open in the background, or would i benefit from 16GB of RAM? Besides gaming and the things i do on my browser (YouTube, social media, etc.), i dont do any tasks which would heavily benefit from more RAM. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[i_build_nanosuits]

people who use chrome for webbrowsing need a lot of RAM...i use firefox and i can keep as many tab opened as i want and i game and never run out of RAM...i have 8GB.

BUT i plan an upgrade to 16GB soon because i've seen some games now (COD AW and dragon age) use up to almost 7GB on their own so i fear i might actualy need 16GB for future games soon or later.

[Shaqo_Wyn]

I know this has been a common question with many answers, and Linus stated in his "Holiday Buyer's Guide 2014" for the "Game Now" build with 16GB of RAM that "if you're a tab fiend like him, you might enjoy the extra breathing room" but that still left me wondering whether its completely necessary.

When i use my computer i have a tendency to start opening a lot of tabs on my browser, many of which with YouTube videos open. Sometimes ill have up to 6+ YouTube tabs open, as well as multiple tabs for either social media, or other sites i visit in different windows. I don't like closing the browser/restarting my pc because its a hassle to reopen all the tabs and get back to where i was in some videos, but i feel like my performance suffers because of that.

Now to get on to my actual question; Would 8GB of RAM still be sufficient enough to play more intensive games, even with all those open in the background, or would i benefit from 16GB of RAM? Besides gaming and the things i do on my browser (YouTube, social media, etc.), i dont do any tasks which would heavily benefit from more RAM. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

8GB still has most people covered at the moment. However, I'm usually already running at close to maximum usage of the 8GB's and I'm the very opposite of a tab fiend. Usually, GChrome, Skype, Itunes and a Game are open. GChrome itself is pretty RAM hungry. Right now I have only 2 LTT tabs open (nothing else) and I'm at 3.71 GB usage.

 

To summarize, you can get just 8 gigs and be just fine but this might soon change especially if you're still some what of a multi-tasker so getting another 8 gigs down the road is recommended.

[FoxHound]

I'm hitting about 14 GB when playing Far Cry 4 and running you tube on my second display (Note my paging file if turned off). So In your use case you may benefit from 16GB but if you leave your paging file on you'll be fine with 8GB.

[SpagettiNinja]

I think it is a good idea to move to 16 GB. Games start using a lot more RAM, and 8 GB wont quite cut it anymore in the near future. Especially if you are running several background programs or use a lot of tabs in a browser.

[ignito]

Alright thanks, i think i will opt for 16GB for future proofness

[Faceman]

I know this has been a common question with many answers, and Linus stated in his "Holiday Buyer's Guide 2014" for the "Game Now" build with 16GB of RAM that "if you're a tab fiend like him, you might enjoy the extra breathing room" but that still left me wondering whether its completely necessary.

When i use my computer i have a tendency to start opening a lot of tabs on my browser, many of which with YouTube videos open. Sometimes ill have up to 6+ YouTube tabs open, as well as multiple tabs for either social media, or other sites i visit in different windows. I don't like closing the browser/restarting my pc because its a hassle to reopen all the tabs and get back to where i was in some videos, but i feel like my performance suffers because of that.

Now to get on to my actual question; Would 8GB of RAM still be sufficient enough to play more intensive games, even with all those open in the background, or would i benefit from 16GB of RAM? Besides gaming and the things i do on my browser (YouTube, social media, etc.), i dont do any tasks which would heavily benefit from more RAM. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

8GB is more than enough.  The people who are running into problems with RAM usage are people who use Chrome.  Switch to Firefox, and you can save $60+.

 

I will have all of these applications running, and have never exceeded 6.4GB of RAM.

 

ArcheAge(an MMO minimized) + BF4/Hearthstone/Bioshock/LoL + Firefox + Netflix/Movie from HDD + Teamspeak/Ventrillo/Skype + HWiNFO + MSI Afterburner + GPU-Z + RTSS/FRAPS + iTunes + Steam + Origin + Overwolf

 

I'm not crazy and have all of this going on at once, but it is open and minimized, so when I need to access it, it pops up instantly. If you use Chrome, switch to Firefox.  Its that simple.  I'm sure you can make better use of that $60 elsewhere.

[Albatross]

8GB doesn't seem like enough for me for just Spotify, Firefox + 8 tabs open and opened MMO games (DMO, AA, Wow or SWTOR—one opened at a time of course). I'm running 78-85% most of the time lately. I honestly would suggest 16GB of RAM to people from personal experiences, and plan to expand my RAM as quickly.

 

16GB is especially useful if you plan on doing graphics work or have lots of applications open.

[TheProfosist]

Yep 8GB should cover most if not all games today and is still enough to disable your page file unless your a huge multitasker like I am.

[Faceman]

8GB doesn't seem like enough for me for just Spotify, Firefox + 8 tabs open and opened MMO games (DMO, AA, Wow or SWTOR—one opened at a time of course). I'm running 78-85% most of the time lately. I honestly would suggest 16GB of RAM to people from personal experiences, and plan to expand my RAM as quickly.

 

16GB is especially useful if you plan on doing graphics work or have lots of applications open.

Check your usage rather than say "doesn't seem like enough."  I'm doing more than that, and only using 6.4GB

[Albatross]

Check your usage rather than say "doesn't seem like enough."  I'm doing more than that, and only using 6.4GB

 

 

I did say 78-85%, didn't I?

[Faceman]

I did say 78-85%, didn't I?

Oh wow, brain fart.  I'm listening to that Podcast Serial and having a hard time concentrating on both, maybe I need more RAM.  Or sleep.  Ya, sleep.

[asker509]

people who use chrome for webbrowsing need a lot of RAM...i use firefox and i can keep as many tab opened as i want and i game and never run out of RAM...i have 8GB.

BUT i plan an upgrade to 16GB soon because i've seen some games now (COD AW and dragon age) use up to almost 7GB on their own so i fear i might actualy need 16GB for future games soon or later.

Seriously? I know dragon age is pretty cpu intensive all my threads on my 4790k are at around 65-75% usage never checked ram

[i_build_nanosuits]

Seriously? I know dragon age is pretty cpu intensive all my threads on my 4790k are at around 65-75% usage never checked ram

yes those two games use up to 12 CPU threads if you happen to have them and will use upward of 6GB of RAM consistently, ...and my VRAM is also maxed out at 3GB while playing them...it's good stuff hehe

[Octavialicious]

I'd say go for it. I've been using 16GB recently and I've been loving it  :wub: Although, it' might be overkill for just gaming.

[IMPERIUS]

you don't need 16gb ram today, but maybe you will in 2-3 years. Nobody knows

[Speedbird]

Most modern games only take about 6GB, so having 8 gives you some breathing room. However, I wouldn't recommend playing YouTube videos while gaming with this.

[teddyteddyteddy]

I know this has been a common question with many answers, and Linus stated in his "Holiday Buyer's Guide 2014" for the "Game Now" build with 16GB of RAM that "if you're a tab fiend like him, you might enjoy the extra breathing room" but that still left me wondering whether its completely necessary.

When i use my computer i have a tendency to start opening a lot of tabs on my browser, many of which with YouTube videos open. Sometimes ill have up to 6+ YouTube tabs open, as well as multiple tabs for either social media, or other sites i visit in different windows. I don't like closing the browser/restarting my pc because its a hassle to reopen all the tabs and get back to where i was in some videos, but i feel like my performance suffers because of that.

Now to get on to my actual question; Would 8GB of RAM still be sufficient enough to play more intensive games, even with all those open in the background, or would i benefit from 16GB of RAM? Besides gaming and the things i do on my browser (YouTube, social media, etc.), i dont do any tasks which would heavily benefit from more RAM. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have 8gb of ram, and it's been fine for me so far.  I frequently have 10+ chrome tabs open, spotify, steam, and a game, and it's been good.  The only time I maxed it out was using 5-10 chrome tabs, spotify, steam, photoshop, premiere, msi afterburner, and a bunch of file explorer windows.  

 

If you plan on mostly gaming, just get 8 gigs for now, but leave room on your motherboard for another 8gb in case you realize you need more.

[GloriousPain]

Most games take ~4.5-5GB of RAM  (some; few take just under 6GB but most of those are unoptimized games like Watch_dogs) I find 8 GB to be just fine

[dev893]

honestly I wouldn't upgrade ram till DDR4 cheapens and you are ready to move to it. it is gonna be a while before you need 16gb of ram unless you have some RAM hungry things running in the background (or on a second display) while gaming. I'm only using 6GB ram and the performance drop is very little while running stuff in the background and gaming

[m_tieu]

With a bunch of tabs on chrome and videos playing in the background I use about 3ish GB on desktop and games use <8gb most of the time. I recommend checking your task manager when you're stressing your computer to see how much ram you're using. If you're constantly at or near 100% then I would recommend getting another kit. If not then I would leave it alone. Adding more unused ram would make little to no difference in performance.

[othertomperson]

The only reason I've ever found that my 8GB hasn't been enough was because I don't always close Chrome while gaming, and Chrome has a habit of insisting on having 12 instances open at a time.

 

I refuse to get more RAM for the sake of a web browser on principle.

[-iSynthesis]

I know this has been a common question with many answers, and Linus stated in his "Holiday Buyer's Guide 2014" for the "Game Now" build with 16GB of RAM that "if you're a tab fiend like him, you might enjoy the extra breathing room" but that still left me wondering whether its completely necessary.

When i use my computer i have a tendency to start opening a lot of tabs on my browser, many of which with YouTube videos open. Sometimes ill have up to 6+ YouTube tabs open, as well as multiple tabs for either social media, or other sites i visit in different windows. I don't like closing the browser/restarting my pc because its a hassle to reopen all the tabs and get back to where i was in some videos, but i feel like my performance suffers because of that.

Now to get on to my actual question; Would 8GB of RAM still be sufficient enough to play more intensive games, even with all those open in the background, or would i benefit from 16GB of RAM? Besides gaming and the things i do on my browser (YouTube, social media, etc.), i dont do any tasks which would heavily benefit from more RAM. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Honestly 8Gb should be fine, i often have quite a lot youtube tabs open aswell and dont use all of my ram. You could of course go for 1x8gb stick and if you come to a point where you really need more just get another one.

[rtpb5642]

I run an email server on my desktop, keep lots of stuff open and game, 16GB is just right, usually use about 12 with all that stuff open while playing titanfall