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How much memory to run Win 7?

S

sensime

n00b
Joined
Oct 18, 2010
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If I want to run Win 7 at the maximun efficience, how much memory should be?
Or, the larger, the better?
 
What do you use your PC for?

As an easy answer 3 GB does very well. 4 GB means you really don't have to concern yourself with memory for quite some time. If you get over 4 GB Windows will likely "preload" many or all of your frequently used applications.

I've never run over 4 GB in a desktop machine. I can easily tell the difference between 2 GB and 4 GB. Many technical articles on the subject claim 3 GB + is when you get diminishing returns for most users.
 
Yea if your running 64bit go with 4gb and if your running 32bit go with 3gb. Enough said.
 
Wow...I was going to ask the same question! Thanks for the tip guys! Looks like Mushkin 4GB DDR3 1600 is good enough.
 
I had 8Gig and I never used more than 2gig per system memory monitor. I scaled back to 4Gig and never noticed any performance hit. So, I say 4Gig is a good number.
 
Depends on what your are running, which always varies person to person. For the most part, I would recommend 4GB for anyone looking at windows 7 (64). From there, depending on your habits, you may want to increase to 8 or so. For a 4gb kit, it will cost around $50 after rebate.
 
:D

5tvsxx.jpg
 
If you are running Windows 7 32 bit you will "need" 2 GB of ram @ least.

If you are running Windows 7 64 bit you will "need" 4 GB of ram @ least.

Hope this helps

Also if your motherboard had triple channel ram slots you will need @ least 6GB which is 3 X 2gb sticks.
 
4GB is sort of the common standard minimum (and often maximum) needed for Windows 7. Very rarely will you need more but using less will often show a drop in performance
 
Some games I bought recently are recommending 6+GB for best performance so I just upped to 8GB from 4 but haven't done any testing yet to see if those games run better now. RAM is relatively cheap and I can afford it, so why not?
 
Yep, 4gb ram is enough for your everyday task. If you need more in the future you can always upgrade if your motherboard can support it.
 
I have noticed Window 7 is really good at managing ram comparing to Vista. I have 8 GB of ram in one of my pc and I have noticed it's hardly ever used more than 3GB. As for Vista, I have 9GB of ram at work and it always go around 7 or 8 GB all the time. I didn't want to install Window 7 at work because of how many softwares I have to re-installed and not to mention about the settings I have on there.
 
I generally reccomend at least 2GB nowadays, RAM is cheap. 4GB is optimal for most people. More than 4 is generally overkill unless you run really RAM intensive things like virtual machines.

zuwarrior14 said:
I have noticed Window 7 is really good at managing ram comparing to Vista. I have 8 GB of ram in one of my pc and I have noticed it's hardly ever used more than 3GB. As for Vista, I have 9GB of ram at work and it always go around 7 or 8 GB all the time. I didn't want to install Window 7 at work because of how many softwares I have to re-installed and not to mention about the settings I have on there.
Click to expand...

You have to remember that Vista and 7 don't actually "use" all of that RAM that appears to be in use. What you're seeing is a feature called Superfetch. Superfetch caches frequently used applications to RAM. If something else needs that RAM it releases it.

7 seems to be a little less aggressive about caching applications when you first install it, but once you've used the computer for awhile it "uses" about the same ammount of RAM for superfetch as Vista does.

la_guy said:
If you are running Windows 7 32 bit you will "need" 2 GB of ram @ least.

If you are running Windows 7 64 bit you will "need" 4 GB of ram @ least.
Click to expand...

Nothing will prevent you from running 64-bit Windows on a machine with less than 4GB of RAM. Performance and memory use should be nearly identical, plus you get all the security advantages of 64-bit Windows and the ability to run 64-bit apps.
 
As people have said, ram is cheap enough to have at least 4GB. I've used 4gb, 6gb, and 8gb, and haven't noticed any real difference.
 
having more than 4 GB of ram is a waste for most games

helps in crysis though which has a notorious memory leak haha
 
^ I had a huge memory leak in GTA IV once, total system usage was at 3.8 gb...over 2gb for GTA by itself :/
 
In Crysis at the last level on the deck of the carrier, always get the warning from Windows that I am low on memory haha
 
Standard user: 2-3GB (lean towards 3)
Gamer: 4GB
Power User: 8GB

There is no reason not to be running 64-bit Win7 except on the off chance you're using a first-gen Atom or an ancient computer.
 
I'd say 8 GB for today. I've had 4GB ram since 4-5 years ago and I didn't even have a beast of a system. I wanted a step up from the past so I ordered 8GB for the new comp I am building.. I placed an order for G.Skill 8GB (2x4GB) 1600 ram today for $139.99. It's about as much as 2x1GB DDR2 800 ram that I paid for 4-5 years ago. But generally speaking,.. 4 is plenty for the avg user. Can't really go wrong either way tho...
 
laithmeister said:
I had 8Gig and I never used more than 2gig per system memory monitor. I scaled back to 4Gig and never noticed any performance hit. So, I say 4Gig is a good number.
Click to expand...

This. I've been running with 4GB since January and I'd have to agree it's the sweet spot to be right now. 3GB if you want to run 32-bit Windows for some reason.

djBon2112 said:
Standard user: 2-3GB (lean towards 3)
Gamer: 4GB
Power User: 8GB

There is no reason not to be running 64-bit Win7 except on the off chance you're using a first-gen Atom or an ancient computer.
Click to expand...

What he said.
 
Most tasks, 2GB is plenty.

If you like multitasking and doing other memory heavy tasks, 4GB is more than enough.
 
using windows vista/7 with 2 GBs of memory is a less than optimal experience.....for XP 2 was enough
 
I use 8 gig, but I also do some heavy multi tasking stuff at the same time I play. Same reason i went and got a quad core when everyone screamed dual was all you'd ever need.

But honestly, at my worse, I've never used up more than 6 gig, and 1.5 of that is what Windows reports as having in reserve. For a straight Gamer, I would rather spend the same money on 4 gig of higher speed, lower latency ram that i can OC rather than a 2x4gb kit.

Also I plan ram purchases around using half the available slots, I've just had to many issues with heat, voltages and even timing inconsistencies from later purchases of the same ram with all slots filled. So basically, buy up front what you intend to actually use in the life of the system. I have all four filled now and regret it.
 
scook9 said:
using windows vista/7 with 2 GBs of memory is a less than optimal experience.....for XP 2 was enough
Click to expand...

Heh, I remember when XP was first released, I was running it on 128mb! It ran fine, i was even gaming on it!

But I agree, Vista/7 you will notice a huge difference with less than 2GB, and more than 2 goes from mediocre to pleasant.
 
I'd go with at least 4Gigs. Have to account for stuff like AV, chat applications like msn, if you use any, software firewall if you use any, music player if you tend to leave that on etc... lot of these little apps that are always on will have a constant footprint. You want to have 1-2 gigs free so you can open other applications such as games, word processing, video editing, or w/e it is you normally do.
 
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