4 or 8 GB of ram?

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merve0o0

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#81697 16-Apr-2011 17:13

I'm building my self a new gaming pc. Was going to just get 4GB of ram but I've noticed that alot of the current games 4GB is the recommended specs.

The other bits I'm getting are:

Intel I5 2500k
Amd hd 8970
Possibly a 60gb ssd
Was looking at 2x2gb corsair dominator ram but thes saw 2x4gb corsair vengeance is only $100 more.

Or would I be better getting 4GB now and later when I need it get another 4GB when it's cheaper.

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#459765 17-Apr-2011 16:02

IMHO 4Gb is more than adequate for today's systems.

However if you plan on running in game resolutions above and beyond 1920x1080, that's probably where some additional ram may actually be helpful.

merve0o0

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#459768 17-Apr-2011 16:11

yea i will be trying to run 2560x1440, if i cant then 1280x720 pixels are so small on this screen there is not much difference

Nety

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#459804 17-Apr-2011 17:42

For the extra cost go 8.. of course providing you are going x64 for the OS.

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foremannz

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#459852 17-Apr-2011 19:55

You might find that the game won't run any better, because the game will be 32bit, so I'd look at a better video card as it'll give you better results.

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#459866 17-Apr-2011 20:47

foremannz: You might find that the game won't run any better, because the game will be 32bit, so I'd look at a better video card as it'll give you better results.

video card better than the futuristic hd 8970?

merve0o0

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#459872 17-Apr-2011 21:32

That was a typo I ment 6970

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#459900 17-Apr-2011 22:41

yeah sorry :p

if you don't use video editing or photoediting or open >10 windows/applications at once you are unlikely to use up the 4 gb of ram.

however: some modern games could easily use 2-3GB ram so you get pretty close to 4gb while playing those games (sorry i'm not a gamer so wouldn't know which ones) ...

so if you can afford it get 8GB. otherwise it's not a big deal for the average user... (some people say ram is cheap - of course it depends on how much $$ you have! some people say you might not be the average user so who knows) ... you can always buy more ram later

richms

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#460706 19-Apr-2011 22:54

I would love to have 8 or even better 12 gigs in here so I could give the VMs a decent amount and still be able to use the OS for applications. I will be aiming for 12 in the next machine, which will now be put off until after new spouting and dentist which makes me not happy.

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heavenlywild

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#460708 19-Apr-2011 22:58

The more RAM the smoother your machine will run. Often it is the lack of RAM that holds back the full power of the CPU.

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#460717 19-Apr-2011 23:15

heavenlywild: The more RAM the smoother your machine will run. Often it is the lack of RAM that holds back the full power of the CPU.

that is true in itself - but how much ram does the average user need? when i open 25 applications i still have 3GB free from my 6GB ram. i don't run virtual machines but i do photoedit.

richms

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#460725 19-Apr-2011 23:32

And I have 15 apps and one VM taking 512 meg and its swapping to hell and back constantly.

Firefox is 4 of the apps, utorrent 2 of them, outlook, putty x 3, that annoying windows update tray icon, an annoying adobe update tray icon, a java icon, deluge which is python based, and bitvise tunneller. No adobe products active to be takign all the ram yet its all gone and then some.

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