Will I ever need 12 GB og RAM for Gaming?

Hi guys..

So my question is, will it be useless to buy 12 GB of RAM for gaming purposes only? or should i only buy 8?

I mena RAM isn't the most expensive thing, but if it will be useless to have 4 gigs extra I will save the money...

What do you think?

For gaming, 12GB is total overkill. 8, even 6, is plenty for modern games.

agreed, ppl dont understand. gaming is all about the GPU, an i5 and 4 gigs of RAM is good enough. I would say if you really want a little more than 4 just get 6 itsplenty,I have and I can run shogun 2 with all settings maxed ez.

8 gigs is STILL wayy too much.. like you can get it if you want but you see the returns start to drop off after 8gb ram

ill do the simple version of the more ram = preformance chart for you rather than chase it down. this isnt exactly correct and it goes into far more details but its the general gist of the idea

4-5gb ram -> 20% preformance increase

5-6gb ram -> 17.5% preformance increase

6-7gb ram -> 15% preformance increase

7-8gb ram -> 10% preformance increase

8-9gb ram -> 5% preformance increase

9-10gb ram -> 2.5% preformance increase

10-11gb ram -> 1% preformance increase

11-12gb ram -> 0% preformance increase

12-13gb ram -> -1% preformance increase

now keep in mind that ram doesnt impact preformance much to begin with.. going from 6-8gb ram was all of a 2.5fps improvement

and at 9 gb onward the return was so small it didnt even effect your fps and at 12gb+ we actually LOST preformance.

so im saying now.. id stick to (at most) 6gb ram as there is where we see the greatest return. now if you were folding or doing complex 3d/2d rendering or something 12gb ram + is necissary or if your running a stupidly busy exchange server having the 128gb ram maximum would probably be so valulable it hurts one sides.

but for gaming i wouldnty exceed 6gb ram 8 if you REALLY whad nothing left to improve upon

Not in the near future you wont, 8Gb is more than enough now, and will be plenty for at least the next 2-3 years.

Thanks for the fast reponse guys!

Ok, I will just get 8 then :P

I will go alitte of topic (On my own topic lol)

What GPU would you guys recommend? A Radeon6970 or a Nvidia 570?

radeon 6990 or nvidia 570 lol the 6970 unfortunatley is a bit of a dissapointment

radeon 6990 or nvidia 570 lol the 6970 unfortunatley is a bit of a dissapointment

Obiwan_1O

the 6950 also is pretty good, it doesnt have to beat the 570 to still be a good card.. remember that.

One day you might.. not right now.

For now 4 - 8 is fine, unless you do alot of video editing and stuff like that.

Well personally id go with the AMD HD6990 because ive been hearing good things about the new connector and imanxiousto try it out :D

OR

I would go with a graphics card from XFX or Asus or EVGA because everytime i come to chose between them i always end up spending 2 hours comparing pros and cons, :P

As far as i know no game currently uses more than 4GB of ram.

[Homemade table of random figures backed up by nothing]ionusX

I'm a pretty big memory user myself, so I have got 8 GB, but I could probably get by just fine with 4 GB. As long as you don't have a lot of other stuff running next to a game 4 GB will be enough.

In the future, maybe? How far down the future probably a very long time. I only have 12 gigs because my friend sold me his ram for 200bucks.

At the moment? 4GB is just fine for gaming at the moment, and i highly doubt we will see an increase in RAM requirement until the next generation.

4GB of RAM works just fine now. 8GB is a safe bet due to RAM being so cheap. It won't hurt to have more RAM.

umm I dont know where people are getting these numbers but MOST games have recommended requirements of 2gb, so if you have 4gb of ram then you're set and won't see ANY performance increase beyond even that 2gb.

umm I dont know where people are getting these numbers but MOST games have recommended requirements of 2gb, so if you have 4gb of ram then you're set and won't see ANY performance increase beyond even that 2gb.

blaznwiipspman1

umm I dont know where people are getting these numbers but MOST games have recommended requirements of 2gb, so if you have 4gb of ram then you're set and won't see ANY performance increase beyond even that 2gb.

blaznwiipspman1

umm I dont know where people are getting these numbers but MOST games have recommended requirements of 2gb, so if you have 4gb of ram then you're set and won't see ANY performance increase beyond even that 2gb.

blaznwiipspman1

This is FALSE. I have 2GB of RAM, and it is a MASSIVE bottleneck to my system... (Specs in sig)

Games load SLOOOOOOOOOOOW.... Alt Tabbing or Windows + D from games takes an age....

You really want 4GB minimum.

[QUOTE="blaznwiipspman1"]

umm I dont know where people are getting these numbers but MOST games have recommended requirements of 2gb, so if you have 4gb of ram then you're set and won't see ANY performance increase beyond even that 2gb.

Urworstnhtmare

This is FALSE. I have 2GB of RAM, and it is a MASSIVE bottleneck to my system... (Specs in sig)

Games load SLOOOOOOOOOOOW.... Alt Tabbing or Windows + D from games takes an age....

You really want 4GB minimum.

Ram is dirtcheap at the moment, get 2gb more you gormless tosser! :P

4gb ram in the sweet spot for gaming right now.

Random Post: The way things are going, we might eventually have SSDs as RAM :O!

Random Post: The way things are going, we might eventually have SSDs as RAM :O!

trastamad03

Sounds slow.

6 is the sweet spot currently and for awhile

Random Post: The way things are going, we might eventually have SSDs as RAM :O!

trastamad03

Probably some day. Have a couple of GBs on a SSD dedicated to RAM...

First we need to get to the point where they are as fast as DDR slots...

12Gb would be more suitable to any graphic/video design application.

[QUOTE="trastamad03"]

Random Post: The way things are going, we might eventually have SSDs as RAM :O!

Urworstnhtmare

Probably some day. Have a couple of GBs on a SSD dedicated to RAM...

First we need to get to the point where they are as fast as DDR slots...

They are much faster than a mechanical HDD when used as a page file.

[QUOTE="ionusX"][Homemade table of random figures backed up by nothing]eBusiness

I'm a pretty big memory user myself, so I have got 8 GB, but I could probably get by just fine with 4 GB. As long as you don't have a lot of other stuff running next to a game 4 GB will be enough.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/memory-module-upgrade,2264-3.html

as shown in some cases you LOSE preformance with 12gb ram vs 6 or 3gb ram

so in fact my lazily homebrewed table is actually pretty factual.. granted adding more ram doesnt improve gaming preformance much in the first place so having 20% improvements going for 4-5gb though it sounds alot.. really isnt all that much and is virtually un noticeable.. the fact that they tested on ddr2 doesnt change this at all either.

i resteth my case

[QUOTE="Urworstnhtmare"]

[QUOTE="trastamad03"]

Random Post: The way things are going, we might eventually have SSDs as RAM :O!

middle-earth88

Probably some day. Have a couple of GBs on a SSD dedicated to RAM...

First we need to get to the point where they are as fast as DDR slots...

They are much faster than a mechanical HDD when used as a page file.

Oh I agree. I was just saying we need to get the SATA connectors to carry the data so that it is an effective RAM solution. Im fairly sure that currently SATA would be a MASSIVE bottleneck, as you are loading from the SSD, but then also constantly pinging it for memory...

You could install entire games into your RAM with 12gb... I'd sure improve your load times lol

ps by the time games are evening approaching needing 12gb of ram, your entire computer will be in the scrapheap... possible even the one after that one. Lol

My guess is the only reason why you need more then 4GB of ram is that if you doing lots multitasking work and its mainly for people who do alot of 3d modeling work like game company so they can have more 3d apps open at once.

You could install entire games into your RAM with 12gb... I'd sure improve your load times lol

ps by the time games are evening approaching needing 12gb of ram, your entire computer will be in the scrapheap... possible even the one after that one. Lol

Captain__Tripps

RAM is erased when the computer shuts down. If this were even possible you would need to install the game on your RAM each time you booted up and wanted to play it.

The time spent reinstalling it each time, would greatly offset the amount of time you might save in loading times...

[QUOTE="Captain__Tripps"]

You could install entire games into your RAM with 12gb... I'd sure improve your load times lol

ps by the time games are evening approaching needing 12gb of ram, your entire computer will be in the scrapheap... possible even the one after that one. Lol

Urworstnhtmare

RAM is erased when the computer shuts down. If this were even possible you would need to install the game on your RAM each time you booted up and wanted to play it.

The time spent reinstalling it each time, would greatly offset the amount of time you might save in loading times...

[QUOTE="Urworstnhtmare"]

[QUOTE="Captain__Tripps"]

You could install entire games into your RAM with 12gb... I'd sure improve your load times lol

ps by the time games are evening approaching needing 12gb of ram, your entire computer will be in the scrapheap... possible even the one after that one. Lol

Captain__Tripps

RAM is erased when the computer shuts down. If this were even possible you would need to install the game on your RAM each time you booted up and wanted to play it.

The time spent reinstalling it each time, would greatly offset the amount of time you might save in loading times...

Good. You can never be too sure.

I don't think there really is a way to know. Probably be pretty quick though.

[QUOTE="Captain__Tripps"]

You could install entire games into your RAM with 12gb... I'd sure improve your load times lol

ps by the time games are evening approaching needing 12gb of ram, your entire computer will be in the scrapheap... possible even the one after that one. Lol

Urworstnhtmare

RAM is erased when the computer shuts down. If this were even possible you would need to install the game on your RAM each time you booted up and wanted to play it.

The time spent reinstalling it each time, would greatly offset the amount of time you might save in loading times...

[QUOTE="Urworstnhtmare"]

[QUOTE="Captain__Tripps"]

You could install entire games into your RAM with 12gb... I'd sure improve your load times lol

ps by the time games are evening approaching needing 12gb of ram, your entire computer will be in the scrapheap... possible even the one after that one. Lol

kayoticdreamz

RAM is erased when the computer shuts down. If this were even possible you would need to install the game on your RAM each time you booted up and wanted to play it.

The time spent reinstalling it each time, would greatly offset the amount of time you might save in loading times...

Trust me. Those computers that have been on since the 60's are not still running Windows 7.....

Also just because an OS is DESIGNED to be left on indefinitly, does not mean it will do so... Even Windows 7 crahses...

Also its 8GB Max for Home Basic users, 16GB for Home Premium users, and 192GB for Pro+ users....

[QUOTE="kayoticdreamz"][QUOTE="Urworstnhtmare"]

RAM is erased when the computer shuts down. If this were even possible you would need to install the game on your RAM each time you booted up and wanted to play it.

The time spent reinstalling it each time, would greatly offset the amount of time you might save in loading times...

Urworstnhtmare

Trust me. Those computers that have been on since the 60's are not still running Windows 7.....

Also just because an OS is DESIGNED to be left on indefinitly, does not mean it will do so... Even Windows 7 crahses...

Also its 8GB Max for Home Basic users, 16GB for Home Premium users, and 192GB for Pro+ users....

[QUOTE="Urworstnhtmare"]

[QUOTE="kayoticdreamz"] except computers technically are meant to never be turned off and windows 7 if i recall can support 128 GB of ram...so the idea is sound if just leave your computer on constantly like a lot of folks do and like computers were meant to do. hell we have some machines that have been on nonstop since the 60s. and just uninstall the game when your done.kayoticdreamz

Trust me. Those computers that have been on since the 60's are not still running Windows 7.....

Also just because an OS is DESIGNED to be left on indefinitly, does not mean it will do so... Even Windows 7 crahses...

Also its 8GB Max for Home Basic users, 16GB for Home Premium users, and 192GB for Pro+ users....

I know what you are saying and I can understand the benefits.... Currently its not really pratical, and I doubt it will ever be. SSDs will come down in price, and will increase in speed, to the point where if it will be faster to use a SSD as RAM rather than dedicated RAM as another user suggested...

[QUOTE="kayoticdreamz"][QUOTE="Urworstnhtmare"]

Trust me. Those computers that have been on since the 60's are not still running Windows 7.....

Also just because an OS is DESIGNED to be left on indefinitly, does not mean it will do so... Even Windows 7 crahses...

Also its 8GB Max for Home Basic users, 16GB for Home Premium users, and 192GB for Pro+ users....

Urworstnhtmare

I know what you are saying and I can understand the benefits.... Currently its not really pratical, and I doubt it will ever be. SSDs will come down in price, and will increase in speed, to the point where if it will be faster to use a SSD as RAM rather than dedicated RAM as another user suggested...

[QUOTE="kayoticdreamz"][QUOTE="Urworstnhtmare"]

I know what you are saying and I can understand the benefits.... Currently its not really pratical, and I doubt it will ever be. SSDs will come down in price, and will increase in speed, to the point where if it will be faster to use a SSD as RAM rather than dedicated RAM as another user suggested...

magicalclick

since you guys are so into RAM based Hard drive style, you can just buy this.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/1742

You can turn off your PC in peace or in case your power goes off for hours.

I personally don't like to leave "PC" on all the time. It is not a business server that needs to provide service 24/7. Save some energy please, shut it off or hibernate.

[QUOTE="eBusiness"]

[QUOTE="ionusX"][Homemade table of random figures backed up by nothing]ionusX

I'm a pretty big memory user myself, so I have got 8 GB, but I could probably get by just fine with 4 GB. As long as you don't have a lot of other stuff running next to a game 4 GB will be enough.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/memory-module-upgrade,2264-3.html

as shown in some cases you LOSE preformance with 12gb ram vs 6 or 3gb ram

4GB is the magic RAM amount for things these days. I would say even 8GB is overkill, unless you are running a server

4GB is the magic RAM amount for things these days. I would say even 8GB is overkill, unless you are running a server

svaubel