How do you know if you need more ram?

G

Gilbert_pwns

Gawd
Joined
Nov 13, 2010
Messages
759
I recently played Planetside 2 and ran into some stuttering. After looking around it seemed to be more of a coding problem than a lack of power in people's systems. I then looked to some other gaming experiences I have had. I was able to play BF3 on Ultra settings all the time, unless I was on a large map and in conquest mode. Then I would have dips in FPS and stuttering and my hard drive would start spinning, almost jarringly. I then looked at my resource monitor:



I don't think I use all of 4gbs during gaming but there may be some instances where some games are requiring more. I'm just not sure.
 
You know you need more RAM when you are approaching or hitting your max RAM. You can use the resource monitor you have up, or a desktop Gadget. Just watch your RAM usage. If it hits 100% you know you are maxing out.
 
Went ahead and got a 16gb kit. When I installed a few games started using up to 6 gigs. Seems to help a lot.
 
You needed more ram, 4gb is a minimum with a modern OS. If you game or use other memory intensive program than moves up to 8gb. 16gb is more than you are likely to need in the next 5 years. By then you will have a new computer with DDR4.
 
Interesting, I saw this thread and looked at my own computer to see what its doing. I have 24GB of ram, 17.5GB is in use, 4.8 in standby and 1GB free. I have no idea why svchost.exe (local service) is using 7.5gb of ram. Maybe 16gb wont be enough lol.
 
Depend on what applications you use. I say 8GB is current standard and 16GB if you run more ram intensive programs. 32GB if you want to all out. I have 16GB for my system.
 
///AMG said:
Interesting, I saw this thread and looked at my own computer to see what its doing. I have 24GB of ram, 17.5GB is in use, 4.8 in standby and 1GB free. I have no idea why svchost.exe (local service) is using 7.5gb of ram. Maybe 16gb wont be enough lol.
Click to expand...

Right click the relevent process in TaskMgr and click "Go to service" and see which service is causing that RAM usage to start...
 
8GB is fine for a gaming machine, you can get away with 4GB most of the time as long as you use a 64bit OS as this lets you get access to it.

If your hard drive starts working unusually hard during a game, slowing down the game or its loading and task manager shows you maxed your ram out, you will benefit from having more.
 
Just check your swap usage. If you ever, EVER swap, then you have RAM problems. Unable to deal with spikes. Then upgrade.
 
mizaco said:
Just check your swap usage. If you ever, EVER swap, then you have RAM problems. Unable to deal with spikes. Then upgrade.
Click to expand...

Not even close to true. Windows will swap no matter how much RAM you have if you have swap enabled.
 
///AMG said:
Interesting, I saw this thread and looked at my own computer to see what its doing. I have 24GB of ram, 17.5GB is in use, 4.8 in standby and 1GB free. I have no idea why svchost.exe (local service) is using 7.5gb of ram. Maybe 16gb wont be enough lol.
Click to expand...

That's SuperFetch. It's designed to use as much ram as it can to accelerate apps and boot up. It'll let go of that ram as soon as something else needs it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top