Should I Expand Ram

[brandon9990]

Problem: Should i Expand Ram

Cause: Fears that CPU is not adequate 

In Depth;

The desktop i am using i had bought recently off of amazon, the seller was a bit dodgy as when it received it came with a non valid windows 7 license but also a reinstall disc so i didn't know what to make of that. Regardless i went through the pc and noticed that it had one 8Gb ram stick instead of two 4GB ram sticks, there is another slot for a DDR3 so i decided that i wanted to expand it by adding another 8GB stick, then after looking on the pc specs i noticed that it was a intel 4460 3.2 GHz. Now i want to expand the ram but each stick is 1600MHz so by adding another stick i fear the my pc won't run as smoothly if at all if i add another stick, My thinking being that there won't be enough power for the Graphics card and that. So i'm here to ask the people at linus forums if i can go ahead with adding 8gb of ram or not

Specs:

 

• CPU
  Intel Core i5-4460 CPU @ 3.2Ghz
• Motherboard
  Gigabyte H81M-S2H
• RAM
  1*8Gb DDR3 240 Pin 1.5V PC3-1600
• GPU
  Zotac Geforce GTX 750ti (2gb)
• Case
  CiT Vantage Midi Mesh Gaming Case
• Storage
  Seagate Sata ST1000DM003 (1TB)
• PSU
  Corsair CX600 80 Plus Bronze Certified 600w
• Display(s)
  TD391_T24D391 (HDMI)
• Cooling
  X5 12cm Fans
• Keyboard
  Standard Microsoft Keyboard
• Mouse
  Intel G602 Wirelss Gaming Mouse
• Sound
  Old Decrepit Creative 20mhz speakers
• Operating System
  Windows 7 Home Premium 64(bit)
• Amazon URL
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Freshtech-1600Mhz-Vantage-Windows-Gaming/dp/B00IOQVBWI/ref=sr_1_15?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1408807527&sr=1-15

[NeatSquidYT]

If you feel you have to add more RAM, go for it. It won't limit the GPU, as it has its own dedicated memory which runs about 4-6x faster than system memory (based on 1600MHz and a typical GPU). Basically, it won't slow down your system at all.

[mantylt]

Short answer - yes. If power consumption is your only doubt, go for it. Memory barely uses any and with 600W PSU you still have plenty of headroom. Plus two sticks should increase performance, because memory will be able two work on two channels.

[Extingquish]

If you could be using more than 8GB, go for it there's nothing to stop you, but if you are comfortable with 8GB, I'd just leave it

[Oberon.Smite]

NO.

 

Your RAM is FINE. The CPU is good, should last you like 3+ years.

 

The GPU is where you need to upgrade. 600W is enough to power an R9 290.

 

BTW RAM barely consumes any power, and after 8GB extra RAM is pretty much useless.

[Skora]

If you feel you have to add more RAM, go for it. It won't limit the GPU, as it has its own dedicated memory which runs about 4-6x faster than system memory (based on 1600MHz and a typical GPU). Basically, it won't slow down your system at all.

8GB of RAM should be fine. As @NeatSquidYT said, video cards have their own memory and are not related to the system's memory in any way.

For gaming, you don't need 16GB. If you want to blow your budget go for it, but it's really pointless.

 

If anything, throw in an SSD.

[NeatSquidYT]

8GB of RAM should be fine. As @NeatSquidYT said, video cards have their own memory and are not related to the system's memory in any way.

For gaming, you don't need 16GB. If you want to blow your budget go for it, but it's really pointless.

 

If anything, throw in an SSD.

He may do some content creation, in which case 16GB is very nice

[Tsuki]

NO.

 

Your RAM is FINE. The CPU is good, should last you like 3+ years.

 

The GPU is where you need to upgrade. 600W is enough to power an R9 290.

 

BTW RAM barely consumes any power, and after 8GB extra RAM is pretty much useless.

i disagree completely with this..  the 750ti is an awesome card that will last a few more years. (mine was running crysis on max with playable framerates). and more than 8gigs of ram is far from useless, especially if he decides to do any kind of content creation. or wants to do anything ever while running chrome..

[Dizzane]

1st.

If your doing content creation (Streaming, Video editing, photoshop and etc) go for the upgrade but 8GB is not bad at all

 

 

2nd. If your the casual gamer like NeatSquid said GPU's basically have their own dedicated memory that runs at their own clock rate so you would be fine with 8GB on this option.

[Oberon.Smite]

i disagree completely with this..  the 750ti is an awesome card that will last a few more years. (mine was running crysis on max with playable framerates). and more than 8gigs of ram is far from useless, especially if he decides to do any kind of content creation. or wants to do anything ever while running chrome..

Yes, the 750 Ti is a great card for the price racket, but it's underwhelming when paired with an i5 4460. I would have put a 750 Ti only with an Athlon or i3/Pentium build.

 

More than 8GB is useless for gaming if you're not playing at 4k.

 

But if you need it for content creation and have the money, then by all means go for it.

[G33k 4 L1F3]

It depends on what you plan to be doing. Gaming does not use more then between 8-12 GB alone with the OS running and some applications in the background.

 

for editing and heavy rendering, 16-32GB would suffice. But really, It's up to you.

 

in my eyes, you are good where you are.