Solved Size - Does it Matter?


elbmek

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Location
Sutton Coldfield England
OS
Win 11 x 64 Home on PC . Pro Win 11 x 64 on Surface 9.
I have 2 x 8GB mem chips. When I suggested maybe up to 32GB my pc shop said don't bother, not much difference. Yea or Nay?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 x 64 Home on PC . Pro Win 11 x 64 on Surface 9.
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Upgraded to personal setup from made to measure.
    CPU
    amd ryzen 5 7600 6core 3701mhz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte B650M K
    Memory
    32GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Nvidia Geforce Ventus 2X RTX 4070
    Sound Card
    ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Coolermaster GM27-FFS 27 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung V-NAND SSD 970 Evo plus 500GB
    3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
    1 x 4TB External USB. 1 x 5TB External SSD, & BIG sticks
    PSU
    700
    Case
    Coolermaster
    Cooling
    DEEP COOL AS700 CPU COOLER
    Keyboard
    Microsoft 600K & Logitech gamer G213
    Mouse
    logitech
    Internet Speed
    640+MB
    Browser
    Chrome & Firefox
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Plus
    Other Info
    WIRELESS 802.11 AC1300 867Mbps/5GHz, 400Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
    Logitech L202 Speakers
    Asus DRW-14D5MT x48
    Net via Virgin Media hub 3 (using RJ45 cable). Plus MS surface 9 tablet (win 11). Amazon Fire 10.
It depends upon what you want to do, it may be good if doing such things as video editing, large database files or spreadsheets, multiple programs open, etc. Maybe if being a hardcore gamer which usually like lots of RAM and video RAM. My Win10 with Home and Pro and Win11 Pro are using 16GB, Notebooks are maxed at 8GB.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 2TB WDC HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security
I play some online games, single user, Darkstar One, etc, on Steam. No probs at all. (See spec) But I would have thought 32GB over 16GB was a no brainer, but apparently NO!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 x 64 Home on PC . Pro Win 11 x 64 on Surface 9.
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Upgraded to personal setup from made to measure.
    CPU
    amd ryzen 5 7600 6core 3701mhz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte B650M K
    Memory
    32GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Nvidia Geforce Ventus 2X RTX 4070
    Sound Card
    ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Coolermaster GM27-FFS 27 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung V-NAND SSD 970 Evo plus 500GB
    3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
    1 x 4TB External USB. 1 x 5TB External SSD, & BIG sticks
    PSU
    700
    Case
    Coolermaster
    Cooling
    DEEP COOL AS700 CPU COOLER
    Keyboard
    Microsoft 600K & Logitech gamer G213
    Mouse
    logitech
    Internet Speed
    640+MB
    Browser
    Chrome & Firefox
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Plus
    Other Info
    WIRELESS 802.11 AC1300 867Mbps/5GHz, 400Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
    Logitech L202 Speakers
    Asus DRW-14D5MT x48
    Net via Virgin Media hub 3 (using RJ45 cable). Plus MS surface 9 tablet (win 11). Amazon Fire 10.
I play some online games, single user, on Steam. No probs at all. But I would have thought 32GB over 16GB was a no brainer, but apparently NO!
Actually it's up to the user as to how much RAM versus how much money one wants to spend, it's never wrong to get as much as one can.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 2TB WDC HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security
Thanks. Nothing concrete then, just 'do I want it' or not???
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 x 64 Home on PC . Pro Win 11 x 64 on Surface 9.
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Upgraded to personal setup from made to measure.
    CPU
    amd ryzen 5 7600 6core 3701mhz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte B650M K
    Memory
    32GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Nvidia Geforce Ventus 2X RTX 4070
    Sound Card
    ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Coolermaster GM27-FFS 27 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung V-NAND SSD 970 Evo plus 500GB
    3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
    1 x 4TB External USB. 1 x 5TB External SSD, & BIG sticks
    PSU
    700
    Case
    Coolermaster
    Cooling
    DEEP COOL AS700 CPU COOLER
    Keyboard
    Microsoft 600K & Logitech gamer G213
    Mouse
    logitech
    Internet Speed
    640+MB
    Browser
    Chrome & Firefox
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Plus
    Other Info
    WIRELESS 802.11 AC1300 867Mbps/5GHz, 400Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
    Logitech L202 Speakers
    Asus DRW-14D5MT x48
    Net via Virgin Media hub 3 (using RJ45 cable). Plus MS surface 9 tablet (win 11). Amazon Fire 10.
Actually it's up to the user as to how much RAM versus how much money one wants to spend, it's never wrong to get as much as one can.
True but it may be rather wasted money.

I have 16 GB, and only time I come close to using that is when I run 2 or 3 virtual machines simultaneously.

On the otherhand one of my work pcs has 64GB RAM for heavyweight engineering computional fluid dynamics emulation.

By monitoring the memory commit section in Task Manager, one can make a judgement if the extra RAM will be beneficial. Everybody's mileage will vary.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
My first experience with RAM upgrade was back in '92, MS-DOS 6 and Win3.1 with WordPerfect 5.1 for Windows installed. It was an 80386/40MHz AMD with 120MB HDD and 4MB RAM. Running out of memory was experienced at 8 pages of data in WP, went to 8MB, next upgrade was to a 210MB HDD.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 2TB WDC HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security
An old bit of conventional wisdom: if you never invoke virtual memory, you probably have enough RAM.

That dates back to when VM ran on HDDs. I suppose that SSDs may have changed the effect of that quite a bit, but VM on an SSD must still be slow compared to RAM.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 22631.2861
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Amd Threadripper 7970X
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte TRX50 Aero D
    Memory
    128GB (4 X 32) Kingston DDR5 5200 (RDIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    Sound Card
    none (USB to speakers), Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Philips 27E1N8900 OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    Crucial T700 2TB M.2 NVME SSD
    WD 4TB Blue SATA SSD
    Seagate 18TB IronWolf Pro
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1600 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo XL
    Cooling
    Alphacool Eisbaer Pro Aurora 360, with 3 Phanteks T30 fans
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120 (wired)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
    Internet Speed
    1200 Mbps
  • Operating System
    windows 11 22631.2861
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel I9-13900K
    Motherboard
    Asus RoG Strix Z690-E
    Memory
    64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Sound Card
    built in Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus PA329C
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @60Hz
    Hard Drives
    WDC SN850 1TB
    8 TB Seagate Ironwolf
    4TB Seagate Ironwolf
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1300 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo
    Cooling
    Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120 (wired)
Thats sense - thanks Bobkn
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 x 64 Home on PC . Pro Win 11 x 64 on Surface 9.
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Upgraded to personal setup from made to measure.
    CPU
    amd ryzen 5 7600 6core 3701mhz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte B650M K
    Memory
    32GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Nvidia Geforce Ventus 2X RTX 4070
    Sound Card
    ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Coolermaster GM27-FFS 27 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung V-NAND SSD 970 Evo plus 500GB
    3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
    1 x 4TB External USB. 1 x 5TB External SSD, & BIG sticks
    PSU
    700
    Case
    Coolermaster
    Cooling
    DEEP COOL AS700 CPU COOLER
    Keyboard
    Microsoft 600K & Logitech gamer G213
    Mouse
    logitech
    Internet Speed
    640+MB
    Browser
    Chrome & Firefox
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Plus
    Other Info
    WIRELESS 802.11 AC1300 867Mbps/5GHz, 400Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
    Logitech L202 Speakers
    Asus DRW-14D5MT x48
    Net via Virgin Media hub 3 (using RJ45 cable). Plus MS surface 9 tablet (win 11). Amazon Fire 10.
From a gaming standpoint, Most games i've ever played are below 16gb, Usually the median avg i see anyway is between 8-12/13gb, 4K res will push it higher a bit, I dont play much at 4k due to my 2070super not being up to it in triple a titles etc, I usually go for 1600p and 1440p is the lowest i'll go. 4k there will be a bunch that will maybe take you over by a couple of gb's but otherwise you're fine,. It certainly hasn't ever been an issue for me other than maybe total war warhammer 3 but i got by just by dropping to 1440p and it was fine, high 14's/low 15's. This is also my entire system usage at this time, Not just the games.

TLDR : 16gb will be fine 99% of the time below 4k res at higher settings( All of mine are based on max fidelity whilst achieving a balance between highest res i can get without dropping too many settings down whilst maintaing a min and max of 60fps).
: Get 32gb if it isn't too much of a hassle for you between the two sizes. If not 16gb will be fine based on above ^
: If you ain't much of a gamer or an occasional and don't really play high end titles/Care much about max res/graphics/fps but still want something decent or do any productive work with regards to rendering video etc etc then 16gb will be fine.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    10700k@5.2
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Gaming X Z490
    Memory
    Viper Steelseries 32gb@ 3600mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte 2070 Super 8GB, +200 core + 600 memory
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS 4k HDR, Two 1080p Benq and Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160/2560x1440/1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Adata XPG SX8200 PRO 1tb
    Samsung EVO 870 500GB
    PSU
    Corsair RX 650
    Case
    NZXT h510
    Cooling
    CM HYPER 212 RGB
    Keyboard
    Razer Ornata Chroma
    Mouse
    Steelseries Rival 710
Dev: my games are on max res as I can get it considering monitor (see spec) I suppose I was one of those who thought 'size does matter' when, in fact, its quality not size!!!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 x 64 Home on PC . Pro Win 11 x 64 on Surface 9.
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Upgraded to personal setup from made to measure.
    CPU
    amd ryzen 5 7600 6core 3701mhz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte B650M K
    Memory
    32GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Nvidia Geforce Ventus 2X RTX 4070
    Sound Card
    ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Coolermaster GM27-FFS 27 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung V-NAND SSD 970 Evo plus 500GB
    3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
    1 x 4TB External USB. 1 x 5TB External SSD, & BIG sticks
    PSU
    700
    Case
    Coolermaster
    Cooling
    DEEP COOL AS700 CPU COOLER
    Keyboard
    Microsoft 600K & Logitech gamer G213
    Mouse
    logitech
    Internet Speed
    640+MB
    Browser
    Chrome & Firefox
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Plus
    Other Info
    WIRELESS 802.11 AC1300 867Mbps/5GHz, 400Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
    Logitech L202 Speakers
    Asus DRW-14D5MT x48
    Net via Virgin Media hub 3 (using RJ45 cable). Plus MS surface 9 tablet (win 11). Amazon Fire 10.
Dev: my games are on max res as I can get it considering monitor (see spec) I suppose I was one of those who thought 'size does matter' when, in fact, its quality not size!!!
Quality is my first thing too but you can get good 32gb kits for not breaking the bank money but only if you're gonna need it.
Ah yeah i got lazy and didn't look sorry just took it as a general lol, At 1080p you're gonna be fine with 16gb, Preferably a fast solid kit but it doesn't need to break the bank, Unless you're rendering or running big workloads on photoshop/things of that type you'll be good with 16gb.
As i say, I play at 1440p min, Mostly 1600p and occasionally 4k and i think i've only ran it close was one or two times, and those times were also when my gpu couldn't keep up anyway, i knew that but i love the turn it to 4k max everything and laugh at it crumble and then start dialling it in
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    10700k@5.2
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Gaming X Z490
    Memory
    Viper Steelseries 32gb@ 3600mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte 2070 Super 8GB, +200 core + 600 memory
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS 4k HDR, Two 1080p Benq and Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160/2560x1440/1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Adata XPG SX8200 PRO 1tb
    Samsung EVO 870 500GB
    PSU
    Corsair RX 650
    Case
    NZXT h510
    Cooling
    CM HYPER 212 RGB
    Keyboard
    Razer Ornata Chroma
    Mouse
    Steelseries Rival 710
ref Photoshop, I use it a lot on my web stuff - no problems
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 x 64 Home on PC . Pro Win 11 x 64 on Surface 9.
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Upgraded to personal setup from made to measure.
    CPU
    amd ryzen 5 7600 6core 3701mhz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte B650M K
    Memory
    32GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Nvidia Geforce Ventus 2X RTX 4070
    Sound Card
    ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Coolermaster GM27-FFS 27 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung V-NAND SSD 970 Evo plus 500GB
    3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
    1 x 4TB External USB. 1 x 5TB External SSD, & BIG sticks
    PSU
    700
    Case
    Coolermaster
    Cooling
    DEEP COOL AS700 CPU COOLER
    Keyboard
    Microsoft 600K & Logitech gamer G213
    Mouse
    logitech
    Internet Speed
    640+MB
    Browser
    Chrome & Firefox
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Plus
    Other Info
    WIRELESS 802.11 AC1300 867Mbps/5GHz, 400Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
    Logitech L202 Speakers
    Asus DRW-14D5MT x48
    Net via Virgin Media hub 3 (using RJ45 cable). Plus MS surface 9 tablet (win 11). Amazon Fire 10.
I have 2 x 8GB mem chips. When I suggested maybe up to 32GB my pc shop said don't bother, not much difference. Yea or Nay?
Unless you have a specific need for more than 16GB of RAM, I completely agree with your PC shop. As others have mentioned, if you are working on some heavy video editing, or music production, or running a few virtual machines at the same time, you may be able to take advantage of more RAM. But I would say that you would KNOW if you needed more RAM, and if you are getting it just in hopes of seeing a performance bump....you don't need it.

Actually it's up to the user as to how much RAM versus how much money one wants to spend, it's never wrong to get as much as one can.
I disagree that it's never wrong to overbuy. I could have shoved 128GB into my Rog Strix X570-E, but i have absolutely 0 need for it, and won't see any performance benefit from having it. On the flip side, I could use the money saved to buy additional storage space, or a better CPU, or a better GPU and would be able to quantify an improvement. Overbuying won't hurt, other than your wallet. But overbuying won't necessarily provide a single lick of improvement.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Beelink SEI8
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-8279u
    Motherboard
    AZW SEI
    Memory
    32GB DDR4 2666Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Iris Plus 655
    Sound Card
    Intel SST
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus ProArt PA278QV
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    512GB NVMe
    PSU
    NA
    Case
    NA
    Cooling
    NA
    Keyboard
    NA
    Mouse
    NA
    Internet Speed
    500/50
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Mini PC used for testing Windows 11.
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Ryzen 9 5900x
    Motherboard
    Asus Rog Strix X570-E Gaming
    Memory
    64GB DDR4-3600
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA GeForce 3080 FT3 Ultra
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQ. ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27” WQHD
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    2TB WD SN850 PCI-E Gen 4 NVMe
    2TB Sandisk Ultra 2.5" SATA SSD
    PSU
    Seasonic Focus 850
    Case
    Fractal Meshify S2 in White
    Cooling
    Dark Rock Pro CPU cooler, 3 x 140mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
    Keyboard
    Corsiar K65 RGB Lux
    Internet Speed
    500/50
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender.
I have 2 x 8GB mem chips. When I suggested maybe up to 32GB my pc shop said don't bother, not much difference. Yea or Nay?

Congratulations on having a shop that isn't always trying to upsell you.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 22631.2861
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Amd Threadripper 7970X
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte TRX50 Aero D
    Memory
    128GB (4 X 32) Kingston DDR5 5200 (RDIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    Sound Card
    none (USB to speakers), Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Philips 27E1N8900 OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    Crucial T700 2TB M.2 NVME SSD
    WD 4TB Blue SATA SSD
    Seagate 18TB IronWolf Pro
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1600 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo XL
    Cooling
    Alphacool Eisbaer Pro Aurora 360, with 3 Phanteks T30 fans
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120 (wired)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
    Internet Speed
    1200 Mbps
  • Operating System
    windows 11 22631.2861
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel I9-13900K
    Motherboard
    Asus RoG Strix Z690-E
    Memory
    64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Sound Card
    built in Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus PA329C
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @60Hz
    Hard Drives
    WDC SN850 1TB
    8 TB Seagate Ironwolf
    4TB Seagate Ironwolf
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1300 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo
    Cooling
    Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120 (wired)
Check your ram usage the most obvious way. When running your game open task manager-performance tab. With only this one tab open +task manager open I use 25% of my 32 gb ram.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.3296
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 7080
    CPU
    i9-10900 10 core 20 threads
    Motherboard
    DELL 0J37VM
    Memory
    32 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    none-Intel UHD Graphics 630
    Sound Card
    Integrated Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1tb Solidigm m.2 +256gb ssd+512 gb usb m.2 sata
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell Premium
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    so slow I'm too embarrassed to tell
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.3930
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 9020
    CPU
    i7-4770
    Memory
    24 gb
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    256 gb Toshiba BG4 M.2 NVE SSB and 1 tb hdd
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell factory
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Internet Speed
    still not telling
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
As in all these things --it's what you DO with it -- running a server with a whole slew of VM's then you can't have too much RAM !!!, although I'd suspect for ordinary home users who aren't running complex calculations like heat flow across a large donut shaped object or even working out the equations of motion of a bog standard supermarket trolley where the problem is -( assuming the trolley isn't damaged) you have 4 wheels with independent motion. !!

Any Maths grds here like to post the solution "!!!!!

Video bufferring also needs a decent memory size -- especially now we have 4K and even 8K coming into the specs.

On the other hand given a decent cpu I find for 99% of the stuff I use Windows for these days a 4GB W11 VM is more than adequate even when running from an 8GB laptop, and even photoshop runs decently for making up to decent A3 size prints of pro quality. (Obviously more RAM is better if you need loads of layers and effects though - I can run that on another machine which has 32GB RAM.

I think those brits say it "Horses for Courses".

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,7,10,11 Linux Arch Linux
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
Use Task Manager to tell usage

1652174900083.png

This shows in normal use, I am only using 5GB of my 16 G before I need to do any paging.

Now I run a 6 GB virtual machine, and I still have just under 5 GB available.


1652175081948.png

I now run 2 vms (second 5 GB)

1652175602689.png

Windows still has some spare ram, but it has offloaded some memory to page file. I know I am beyond an optimum RAM point here, and I need more memory. (Actually I do not as I am not using dynamic ram in vms).



Of course, everybody is different, but in simple terms, run items you know that will consume memory, and see what headroom you have and make a judgement.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
I have 16 GB, and only time I come close to using that is when I run 2 or 3 virtual machines simultaneously.
I ran my VMs on a 16GB machine with no issues, except that it was not a supported machine for W11. I replaced it with a compatible machine that came with 32GB then migrated all my VMs across to it. I could get 10 VMs running simultaneously before it ran out of RAM.

view
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
I ran my VMs on a 16GB machine with no issues, except that it was not a supported machine for W11. I replaced it with a compatible machine that came with 32GB then migrated all my VMs across to it. I could get 10 VMs running simultaneously before it ran out of RAM.

view
I presume all vms were set up with dynamic RAM as that is much more efficient when lots of devices. I was using static ram for my illustration as a quick way of using my 16 GB.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0

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