Is more RAM really needed?

[kiddingguy]

I have a gaming notebook - see sig - with 16 GB RAM. Runs perfectly fine.

On normal occasions memory usage is around 31-33%. When playing games like Cyberpunk 2077 it runs to 57-60%.

 

Is more RAM needed, or just a nice-to-have?

[Jim K Global Moderator]

You're fine.

[Steven P. Administrators]

You can always download more RAM if you are not sure https://downloadmoreram.com/  

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

15 minutes ago, Steven P. said:

You can always download more RAM if you are not sure https://downloadmoreram.com/  

You tease, Steve... 🤣

 

There's no really need, no, OP. If you are running 90%, I would upgrade the the next level.

 

I have 32GB, and I'm using about half of it...

[Good Bot, Bad Bot]

Based on your post no... You do have a SSD right?

[Farchord]

Need? No. But I would still keep an eye on it, if it's upgradable and a deal comes around, I'd say upgrade your laptop, as with time, programs do end up requiring more ram (Specially Google Chrome).

 

But you don't need it for the forseeable future.

[Marujan]

you need 64gb as LTT said

[adrynalyne]

Just now, Marujan said:

you need 64gb as LTT said

False.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

32 minutes ago, Marujan said:

you need 64gb as LTT said

Well, partially true, but it depends on what you do that counts into that.

[Setnom]

If that's just what you do, you don't do video editing, don't stream... you're fine, no need.

[Good Bot, Bad Bot]

1 hour ago, Marujan said:

you need 64gb as LTT said

 

1 hour ago, adrynalyne said:

False.

 

50 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Well, partially true, but it depends on what you do that counts into that.

Who is LTT?

[Jim K Global Moderator]

14 minutes ago, Superuser said:

 

 

Who is LTT?

Linus Tech Tips.  Not sure where this is coming from though...doubt he ever claimed "64GB" aside from possibly recommending it for CAD, heavy video editing, programming, multiple VMs...etc.  I'm pretty sure I heard him say 16GB was the sweet spot for most gamers.

[Good Bot, Bad Bot]

1 minute ago, Jim K said:

Linus Tech Tips.  Not sure where this is coming from though...doubt he ever claimed that aside from possibly recommending it for CAD, heavy video editing, programming...etc.  I'm pretty sure I heard him say 16GB was the sweet spot for most gamers.

I have watched videos of his and am even subscribed to his channel but the guy is not nearly well known enough to cite him by initials.  Regardless, I think it is safe assume he never said one needs to have 64GB of RAM. LOL

[Farchord]

Those values vary with time, but right now:

 

8GB: Enough if you have a sub-$500 budget PC and are looking to do nothing but check webpages on the internet and watch some videos. As long as you keep those tabs under control, you should be fine.

12GB: Enough for most gaming.

16GB: Enough for gaming and keeping some browser windows opened on the side, or doing more than one thing at once.

32GB: Gaming future-proofing and productivity. Get this if you often run 10-15+ tabs in Google chrome and do alot of things on your computer at once, and also work with your PC.

32GB+: Video production work (Premiere, ...), CAD, ... (i.e. more 'workstation'-based work

[shockz]

I've been running on 16GB for almost 5 years now and only once did I ever go, gee, I wish I had more RAM. When I picked up my new computer last week, I seriously contemplated going with the 8GB route (since it's unchangeable), but I still went with 16GB. 

 

The only thing that has more than 16GB of RAM in my house is my ESXi host, and of the 64GB it has, 42 of that is unused... running DNS, Unifi, two Windows VMs, VPN. Use to have a firewall but that was taken over by a dream machine pro. Anyways....

 

You only need more than 8GB if you're doing hefty workflow that involves editing, maybe gaming. I've never had issues even on 8GB of RAM for general daily workflow. I've had the luxury of doing most of my development/builds on a corp VM environment, but when I occasionally use my desktop for those tasks, I've never had a struggle using 16GB. 

 

Again, unless you're running CAD or doing some major photo/video editing, you're probably fine with even 8GB. People have been comfortable with 8GB of RAM for over a decade now, all while the numbers gang has insisted 16GB is the bare minimum. 

 

If you're only maxing out at 60% when running your most intense tasks, you don't need more. Buying RAM for the sake of having a higher number that won't be actively used for a long time isn't future proofing and is typically a waste of money, buy it when you need it instead. Of that 60%, windows probably cached a bunch of that as well, that's allocated but not being actively used.

Edited December 30, 2020 by shockz

[SouthGate]

I'd say 32GB is a good aim but 16GB is the sweetspot for the casual gamer. I run 64GB because I do a lot of work in VMware Workstation but rarely do I come close to utilising all of it except when being over generous with guest memory, and not shutting unnecessary VMs down or pausing them. The only thing I find that you need >16GB for from what I play is Flight Simulator, it tends to run around ~20GB sometimes more with pretty much all the settings maxed out.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

Sounds like you are okay, RAM-wise.  Probably the next most important thing to look at is SSD capacity.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

[ThaCrip]

bottom line... 8GB of RAM is a minimum, 16GB is optimal/max. these tend to be the most efficient use of ones $, hands down. 16GB of RAM will be plenty for general use and gaming for years to come.

 

but with that said... those who do general tasks and gaming, don't need more than 16GB of RAM even though one can often get by with 8GB of RAM. but I would consider 8GB as a general minimum for anyone who really uses there computer because if you leave your computer on all of the time with browser running with a fair amount of tabs open, you basically need a minimum of 8GB of RAM since it will be largely used up. but with 16GB that gives you a solid buffer for the future for when programs become a bit more RAM hungry.

 

but in all honesty, I went from 8GB of RAM (2x 4GB) to 16GB of RAM (2x 8GB) in the year 2020 (I was on 8GB from May 2012 til Sep 2020) and for general use I can't say I notice any obvious performance differences even though I do have a decent buffer now and can run a bit more stuff now like virtual machine etc with more RAM dedicated to the VM etc. but the biggest performance upgrade to my ageing system in 2020 was clearly my i3-2120 to i5-3550 CPU as it was only $20 (my RAM upgrade (i.e. 2x 8GB) basically cost me $45) which was a solid bump in performance but the RAM was generally minimal short of a limited amount of tasks I do. but I figure with the minimal $ investment, I can probably stretch out my current system AT LEAST until the year 2023-2025 (my guess is probably closer to 2025+) as by then when I do upgrade I should get a rather big all around performance boost for minimal $. it's nice that pretty much any decent i5 range computer (call it i5 2nd gen or newer) should easily last several years for general tasks etc and still feel 'fast enough'.

 

p.s. one could even get by with 4GB of RAM in some cases if your not a heavy user and only turn on computer occasionally for light usage. especially on a OS like Linux Mint. so the more casual computer user could probably get by with 4GB of RAM, but anyone who really uses their computer knows 8GB of RAM is a minimum and that 8GB of RAM figure has been pretty strong for several years now as back when I got 8GB of RAM in May 2012, it was plenty, like clearly more than enough, but in a bit more recent memory you can see that 8GB is starting to run much closer to full with maybe a little buffer left.