How Much RAM?

[KnipperTheKnight]

Hi, simple questions, how much does RAM help, and is it worth it?

I ask because I have a pretty cheap "gaming rig", and it's weakspot right now is the RAM... It maxes all the Total War's except Napoleon for some reason... And on Shogun 2, It can't handle much of the 40 unit armies... Would RAM help the massive battles?

Thanks,
KnipperTheKnight

[karamazovmm]

8gb is enough, otherwise you are going to be limited by other stuff

[keinmann]

Hi, simple questions, how much does RAM help, and is it worth it?

I ask because I have a pretty cheap "gaming rig", and it's weakspot right now is the RAM... It maxes all the Total War's except Napoleon for some reason... And on Shogun 2, It can't handle much of the 40 unit armies... Would RAM help the massive battles?

Thanks,
KnipperTheKnight

The more the merrier. RAM is VERY important. In the lower-levels of the computer nerd world RAM is known as "volatile memory", because unlike persistent memory (such as your hard-drive) the contents of RAM change rapidly and only exist while the machine is turned out. You can think of RAM as the "working memory" of your computer, whereas your HDD is the "storage memory" of your computer. Sort of like the way the human brain accesses different bits of memory when remembering stages of a math problem's solution as you work on it vs recalling memories from your childhood.

Modern computers now "simulate" having virtually unlimited RAM through a process called paging/caching. But even though this is helpful and lets us run programs that demand more RAM than our computer actually has, having more RAM is vital. When memory is cached/paged it is stored in "virtual RAM", a special file created by the operating system on the hard-disk-device (HDD). Accessing that pool of virtual RAM requires the HDD head(s) to "seek" (sort of like a spinning DVD) and this is MUCH slower than accessing physical RAM (your actual RAM chips). Memory is accessed extremely quickly from the CPU registers, very quickly from physical RAM and (by comparison) extremely slow from an HDD or paging. So having a ton of RAM makes your computer a LOT faster in running programs which require large amounts of memory like a video game or simulation. The demand for RAM grows every year as games get more and more complex and require more memory. So the more RAM the better of you are, almost always. 8GB is relatively sufficient, but I recommend at least 12GB to 16GB (if your motherboard can handle it) of modern DDR-3 RAM or better. I also recommend running only 64-bit machines with modern processors, and keep a good graphics card on board (at least a GTX-4xx series or better). You will be able to run almost anything at blinding speed. However this stuff can be expensive to downright unaffordable for those who don't have a lot of income or savings. Just get as much as you can afford, save up and upgrade again when you have the chance if you're short on cash. Otherwise, "going all out" will definitely help a LOT and make more than a night-and-day difference in running your games and apps.

[KnipperTheKnight]

Thanks for the help!
I've been on the fence about if I should upgrade my RAM (Everything else on my PC is plenty powerful)... I already have 6 gb, but its some old crap 3 x 2's.,.. Looks like I'll grab at least 8 gb more...

Which one of these would be a better deal?

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengea...1&keywords=RAM

Would the extra 8 gb be worth the extra $35?

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengea...2&keywords=RAM

Thanks again,
KnipperTheKnight

[KnipperTheKnight]

Thanks for the help!
I've been on the fence about if I should upgrade my RAM (Everything else on my PC is plenty powerful)... I already have 6 gb, but its some old crap 3 x 2's.,.. Looks like I'll grab at least 8 gb more...

Which one of these would be a better deal?

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengea...1&keywords=RAM

Would the extra 8 gb be worth the extra $35?

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengea...2&keywords=RAM

Thanks again,
KnipperTheKnight

[karamazovmm]

what are your specs? if you are using triple channel ram....

[keinmann]

I'd buy the 4x4 deal and up my machine to 16GB. If you're going to spend money on a computer you may as well buy something that's going to be good enough for years to come.

[Bolkonsky]

[Hrothgar Óhreinsaður]

In the words of Mike Meyers, "...gobs of RAM." If you have $35 to spend on RAM, the more the merrier! Just make sure it's in the motherboard's QVL.

[HouseOfHam]

This might help: http://www.kitchentablecomputers.com/ram2.php