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Upgrading ram from 4GB. Should I get 8gb or 16gb?

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  • 25-02-2014 2:28pm
    #1
    Giak
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 59 ✭✭


    Would I notice much difference going from 4gb to 8gb?

    What about 4gb to 16gb?

    Is 16gb overkill for a laptop?

    I use photoshop a lot which eats ram. I'm also looking for a SSD but that's another thread for another day.

    My laptop specs can be found here.

    Thanks


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    #2
    mordeith
    Registered Users Posts: 5,278 ✭✭✭mordeith


    Giak wrote: »
    Would I notice much difference going from 4gb to 8gb?

    What about 4gb to 16gb?

    Is 16gb overkill for a laptop?

    I use photoshop a lot which eats ram. I'm also looking for a SSD but that's another thread for another day.

    My laptop specs can be found here.

    Thanks

    AFAIK you can only take advantage of more that 4GB of RAM if your CPU, OS and software are 64bit (I may be misinformed)
    As for 8 or 16, well I'd say 8 would be plenty. A recent test done by Which? found that a lot of tests with intensive processes, more than 4GB was hardly ever used. (I'll see if I can dig out that article)


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    #3
    Giak
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 59 ✭✭Giak


    My CPU can take advantage of 16gb, as can my OS and software.

    What about .... 8GB ram and a SSD? Would that be a good middle ground?

    I would be interested in seeing that article. Thanks.


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    #4
    mordeith
    Registered Users Posts: 5,278 ✭✭✭mordeith


    I may not be able to track down the original article but in the meantime here's an interesting article on the same thing. It referes to Macs but I'd imagine the comparison in a Windows machine would be similar. Look like unless you're using files larger than 250MB you wouldn't see a marked difference between 16GB and 8. I reckon an SSD might be the way to go. At least in terms of opening/closing files.


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    #5
    johndoe99
    Registered Users Posts: 1,879 ✭✭✭johndoe99


    here are the memory limits for Windows:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778#physical_memory_limits_windows_7


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    #6
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,855 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    if you have 4GB then assume roughly 2GB will be used by windows and apps and drive caching , so you are using 2GB for data, very roughly


    use cpuz or a screwdriver to see whether you have 1x4GB or 2x2GB RAM , if you have the latter then getting 4GB would mean you end up with 6GB since you'll have to remove one of the 2GB's ie. paying for 4GB but only using 2GB of it. getting an 8GB would mean paying for 8 and using 6 more expensive but better value

    if you have 1x4GB then one option is to get an 8GB and sell the 4GB so you'd have the option to put a second 8 later on.

    SSD = fast and small , how much space have you used on your drive already ?


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