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How Much RAM? 4GB vs. 8GB vs. 16GB Performance - TechSpot

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phitsc:
Interestingly enough, I had Windows telling me I was running low on memory shortly after reading the above linked article. And indeed, when I checked about 90% of my 16GB were in use. Most of it were used by a web browser, Visual Studio running a compilation and a running virtual machine.

BGM:
It's true!
My machine has 24 GB RAM.  Once I reached 16GB there was no more performance improvement.  But I am able to run a lot of things at once (like virtual machines, for example) without dragging the system down.

So aside from a better processor (I have an Intel i5-2500K) there are only a few ways to get more performance:
 - overclocking (which is possible with my processor)
 - switch to an SSD (not possible in my case to replace my 1TB with an SSD drive)

So there is a third option, however, that is inexpensive.  I picked up a 160GB SSD drive.  Then I enabled RAID in my bios.  Then I set up Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) that uses RAID for a certain kind of cache (not the Page File - this is different) - so it used half the SSD drive.  Since I had the other half, I put the page file on the other half of the SSD. 
This boosted my computer's performance by about 20% and the effect was immediately noticeable!
Sure, this will wear down the SSD over time, but I'm storing no data there - only temporary caches.
I also made sure to use a new high-end 160GB SSD drive.

Renegade:
But I am able to run a lot of things at once (like virtual machines, for example) without dragging the system down.
-BGM (August 20, 2015, 12:10 PM)
--- End quote ---

^ This.

BGM:
Exactly.  That's why I have 24GB!

Renegade:
I don't even understand how anyone can possibly get away with 4 GB now. I'd go mad. I recently was borrowing a machine with 8 GB, and it drove me mad as I was always running out of memory. 16 GB seems to be about the minimum for daily use without running into problems. When 1 tab in a browser sucks up 1 GB of memory... cripes... And it's not unusual to see pages taking up 100's of MB of RAM.

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