Ram for gaming!

[aidym1o]

Is 8gb of ram enough to put into a computer or should i start off with 16gb's when i build my pc?

[Enderman]

8 is enough

[adamsjus1]

8gb is all you need for games right now. Maybe in a year or two 16gb will we the better choose.

But for now 8gb will do fine for everything.

[werto165]

8GB is plenty for just gaming. Never had an issue myself. I run heavily modded games and chrome in the background and my max is about 6,5GB ish. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

8GB is fine for a start. If you're a tab monster, you may want to upgrade to 16GB later. 

[OnekillWalter]

8GB is enough for gaming. even the DDR3 1333. 

[DarkEnergy]

8gb should be fine unless you plan on playing Planetside 2 at max graphics.

[aidym1o]

Thanks guys saves me spending an extra £70.

[aidym1o]

8GB is fine for a start. If you're a tab monster, you may want to upgrade to 16GB later. 

 

so one stick of 8gb's then i could add 8 more at a later date if need be? or does 2x4gb run better?

[Oshino Shinobu]

2x4GB will run better (dual channel) If you're not planning on doing much more than gaming, you shouldn't need any more than 16GB, so starting with 2x4GB is fine. 

[aidym1o]

2x4GB will run better (dual channel) If you're not planning on doing much more than gaming, you shouldn't need any more than 16GB, so starting with 2x4GB is fine. 

 

Then ill have to buy two new 8gb sticks instead of just one when im upgrading. is there a noticeable difference between dual channel and single  

[Oshino Shinobu]

Then ill have to buy two new 8gb sticks instead of just one when im upgrading. is there a noticeable difference between dual channel and single  

How many RAM slots do you have? If you only have two, you may as well go for a single 8GB stick first. 

 

You'll notice no difference between dual channel and single channel in games and everyday use. 

[anticeon]

Then ill have to buy two new 8gb sticks instead of just one when im upgrading. is there a noticeable difference between dual channel and single  

 

if you have TWO SLOTS buy 1x8gb, if you have FOUR SLOTS buy 2x4gb.

[aidym1o]

if you have TWO SLOTS buy 1x8gb, if you have FOUR SLOTS buy 2x4gb.

 

what if i want more than 16gb further down the line? or should i just start off with 2x8 then expand in the future. this is the motherboard Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 5 Intel LGA1150 Z97 ATX Motherboard

[anticeon]

what if i want more than 16gb further down the line? or should i just start off with 2x8 then expand in the future. this is the motherboard Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 5 Intel LGA1150 Z97 ATX Motherboard

 

16gb is too big actually.... except you do "video rendering/editing. iif you want to faster system and paging file you can buy SSD.

 

when you need more than 16gb for gaming i think we might be ready for DDR4 or come to Intel Cannonlake Era

 

beside if you need more ram you can add the condition like dis (2x4gb) + (2x8gb) = 20gb

 

even today 64bit app just half-ready. they just using it as extra memory for caching istead of fully using the physical memory of 64bit system.

[SteveGrabowski]

Then ill have to buy two new 8gb sticks instead of just one when im upgrading. is there a noticeable difference between dual channel and single  

 

Not really for gaming. I can't quote the number, but from one of Linus' videos I think it was a 1% difference in framerate max. If you have an H81 board with only two DIMMs then I'd buy a single 8GB stick so you can upgrade to 16GB later, as you'll probably eventually want that. If you have a B85, H87, Z87, H97, or Z97 board though, might as well get a matched pair of two 4GB sticks for dual channel, since you can add two more 4GB sticks later on to get to 16GB. I wouldn't anticipate needing more than 16GB of RAM any time before the system would be hopelessly outdated and in need of replacement anyways, at least if you're building your system with gaming in mind.

[Kermit]

8GB is enough for gaming. even the DDR3 1333. 

 

#representing

[Hieb]

so one stick of 8gb's then i could add 8 more at a later date if need be? or does 2x4gb run better?

 

2x4GB is technically better since it allows the computer to simultaneously read and write to memory, however games don't seem to benefit noticeably from this until they become extremely CPU bottlenecked... for example playing Dirt 3 at 200 frames per second is when RAM speed starts to make a difference. For 60 fps gaming, going 1x8GB makes more sense since it'll be easier to upgrade to 16GB down the road.

 

However if you have a motherboard with 4 ram slots, then might as well get 2x4GB now and then another 2x4GB (or even 2x2GB for a total of 12GB) later.

[TechTalker]

Is 8gb of ram enough to put into a computer or should i start off with 16gb's when i build my pc?

It's good but don't expect to run super demanding games on it.

[Kermit]

Is 8gb of ram enough to put into a computer or should i start off with 16gb's when i build my pc?

 

2x4 provides dual channel (if im not mistaken, because four provide quad channel) so that you can read/write and just make all your processes run smoother

[itachipirate]

I have 16gb because I got the kit as a gift, I've never had over 6gb of RAM in use. 8gb seems to be the current sweet spot for games