Posted on 04/11/2015 11:25:09 AM PDT by Utilizer
Typically, today’s budget PCs come with 4GB of RAM. A mid-range configuration may offer double that, and high-end gaming systems and workstations go as high as 16GB or more.
There’s no doubt which way the wind’s blowing, either: Windows 8 supports up to 128GB of physical memory (assuming you’re running the 64-bit edition), while Windows 8 Pro can go up to 512GB.
Does anyone really need this much RAM? Memory isn’t as expensive as it used to be, but there’s obviously no point paying for gigabytes of RAM from which you’ll receive no material gain.
Does more equal faster?
Many people assume that adding memory makes a PC significantly faster, and in some cases it does. Sticking an extra pair of DIMMs into a motherboard won’t change the speed at which the processor executes code, but it can help in other ways, especially on older systems with 2GB of RAM or less, since adding RAM reduces the need for Windows to rely on “virtual memory”.
Simply put, virtual memory is a file on your hard disk that serves as temporary storage when your PC’s “real” memory is full. Virtual memory makes it possible, for example, to have several heavyweight applications running at once, even if they won’t fit simultaneously in RAM. When you switch from one to another, Windows quickly swaps the relevant data from the disk into real memory, which explains why the virtual memory file is sometimes called a swap file. If you’ve set Windows Explorer to show hidden files, you can see the swap file in the root directory of your system disk; depending on which version of Windows you’re using, it will be called pagefile.sys or swapfile.sys.
(Excerpt) Read more at pcauthority.com.au ...
“I hope you meant GB instead of MB”
Sigh. yes.
yeah, GB. sigh.
Here is a video maybe explaining it. The guys t-shirt says “Holy Balls” so you know he is an expert.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajyzZ-zaq0o
That's why I recommend Mepis, because of its stability and the wide number of differing machines it works well on. It's based upon Debian Stable so therefore not as twitchy as some other versions that are based upon the newest (unstable/testing) versions. I actually wanted to go with Debian, but its install program was such a chore that I went with Mepis instead.
It also comes with a couple of rescue features on the install disk if you experience a problem. Hard drive crash, network malfunction, boot menu fail, all solvable. You can even use it to rescue files from a crashed PC and save them to an external drive.
You might get to like it too if you use the Gnome desktop instead of the default KDE one. I found that makes a lot of difference to people according to the type of machine they are most comfortable with.
I wanted to go with PCLinux originally, but they turned out to be RedHat-based and I wanted to stay within the Debian system. The Slax and Arch Linux platforms were out because of that as well.
Ubuntu is a Debian derivative as well, along with lubuntu, and has the Gnome desktop as their default.
32 Gigs
we all make mistakes, usually not off by 1,000, except that leftist who thinks the average donation to Memories Pizza was $28,000 instead of $28.
They are helpful food for thought!
Google Chrome alone will eat up most of your RAM.
#60 yes it will. Even after I closed it something was running in the background even though task manager showed it was closed. I guess it was probably the NSA probing....
When I uninstalled Chrome the pc was back to normal.
I have 16gigs on my Lenovo x230T laptop running Win7 Pro (need it for my voice dictation system) BUT the real kick in the keester is the SSD. I replaced my 1Tb spinner with a Samsung 256 Gb SSD and this is the best ‘puter I have ever owned, including my home built workstations.
If 32-bit, the operating system can't access > 4GB RAM anyway.
Whats funny is most people don’t even know how many bytes make up a gigabyte. Case in point there is a particular company that sells ram touting that their ram has x number of Gb’s. When you put it in your machine it falls way short by claiming a gigabyte of ram is 1K (not 1024K). Thus short changing the consumer. As RAM grows in size per module this can and will make a a huge difference. Once I found out about this company shortchanging me, I never bought from them again. IF the consumer is ignorant, what the consumer doesn’t know won’t hurt em eh?
NOTE: I didn’t mention the company’s name because I can’t remember it right off hand, although I think it starts with a P. If I saw the company I would know it.
The biggest speed bump comes from a SSD instead of a HD.”
I have several laptops and always upgrade to 8 memory. But I am especially fond of my Win 7 64 bit SSD laptop.
PNY
One thing is for sure. Programers from the 70’s and 80’s could do more with 16KB of ram than most programers today can do with 4GB.
Based on the amount of memory you have, there is a good chance you should be looking at replacing, not upgrading. You’re probably running DDR2 or worse which got a lot more expensive when DDR3 came out. Also, you’d be buying memory that will be useless going forward.
Is it worth it? How much would it speed them up? No one can say without knowing if you (or your applications in some cases) are swapping.
I bought it right after I was hired for my first programming job out of college.
When my wife asked me what it could do, I told her I'd be able to write anything with that computer, it was all the computer I'd ever need. I'd never fill up all that disk space!
The computer I'm typing this post on is an 8 Core AMD FX-8350 with water cooling, 32GB of memory, a 250GB SSD Drive, 5 2TB SATA-3 Drives in a RAID Array, and two 24" Samsung LED Displays.
As I do with all my computers, I pick out the parts I want in my build and put it together myself. As I was standing in front of the memory display at the MicroCenter in Westmont, IL not far from where I live I had 16GB of 1866 memory in my hands. Wife asked if that was all the memory I'd ever need .... she's cute when she's snarky. I didn't say a word and picked another 16Gb off the display and put it in my cart.
It's funny because up until this build, I've always gone the cheapest route possible just building something that would meet my needs at the moment and no more. I'm a cheapskate when it comes to myself. I'll spend money on her and the kids all day long, but when it comes to spending money on me and what I want? Forget it.
This was the first build I've done where I actually listened to her as she kept telling me to buy what I really wanted for myself.
I love this computer. Oh, wife's ok too. ;-)
8 gigs should be the minimum, but much more will not give you that much more improvement in speed versus cost. Of course, if depends on what you are doing.
LOL! Reminds me of Chevy paying the auto mechanics on the Summer Vacation movie!! :-)
Who put a computer in my file cabinet. I can’t afford it.
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