How much RAM do I need?

[88CRX]

Compurter newb question:

How much ram is good for a new computer? I don't do any gaming... only used for internet/email/music sorta stuff. Hower I'm extremely impatient when it comes to waiting for a computer to do shit.

Will I notice a different in upgrading from 4gb to 6 or 8gb of ram?

[birchy]

For what you're doing? No.

[adam c]

2gb is enough when running vista

if you're not running games, heavy memory intensive programs 4/6/8 will be over kill

[88CRX]

Ok. Thanks guys.

[Jlude]

8gb of ram.

That's just nuts... I'm still runnin' my old dell laptop with 1gb.

[Kloubek]

Vista is a bit of a hog, so I would say 2gb is a good idea. But this should be good for nearly everyone. Heavy gamers will probably want more. (I have 4, and it works great for me)

I would venture to guess you would see virtually no difference whatsoever between 2 and 4.

[eblend]

2 is bare minimum i would say with Vista, as mine at idle takes up like 700megs. 4gigs is so cheap now, might as well go that far, thats how much I run in my laptop and my desktop

[adam c]

no, 1gb is bare minimum with vista

[eblend]

Originally posted by adam c
no, 1gb is bare minimum with vista

yah well thats true, but it doesn't leave much room, when i sare bare minimum I ment recommended minimum by me

[GTi-RS]

Ram is not all you need if you want speed. The processor that really make a difference.

It would be easier to answer your question if you give your PC specs.

[Carl64]

If your running 32bit vista/xp(probably are) then it will only use the first 3.2-3.6GB of RAM anyway as there isn't enough physical addresses in a 32bit environment for 3.6g of ram + hardware.

64bit you can use more, but 2-3 gigs should be fine if your not doing heavy gaming or video/photo editing.

[TYMSMNY]

2GB of physical ram is more than enough. With the cap that Carl64 mentioned, I believe that the limit might include video memory as well? 4GB is definitely more than enough for everyday gaming/light editing use.

If you're noticing slow comp speeds, clean up your computer or upgrade the processor/motherboard.

[88CRX]

This is the computer here:

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/...OC=DS540S_F_2E

Specs are all listed on the right hand side.

Specs:
Components
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processor Q8200 (4MB L2, 2.33GHz, 1333FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
Microsoft Works 9.0
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2DIMMs
640GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Dell S2409W 24" Full HD Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
No Modem Option
Dell 19 in 1 Media Card Reader
Essentials
1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days
Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year
No Speaker Option
Dell Premium Optical USB Mouse
Dell Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
Accessories
Also Includes
Integrated Intel® GMA X4500HD Graphics
Integrated 10/1000 Ethernet
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
Windows Vista™ Premium

[d4ftpuNK]

just make sure you have a good antivirus and firewall, it would mean nothing to have 2gb of ram if you computer is stuffed with spyware and adware slowing it down.

[adam c]

it's funny how people always say good AV and Firewall

i agree on the firewall part but not the AV part. i run my laptop without AV and I don't have anything wrong with it, occasionally I'll load up my avast but it's usually turned off

now my coworkers are constantly hit with virus alerts, it's a real pain in the ass since i manage the network at work

it all depends on your knowledge of how to use computers

edit. a good antispam/malware will do wonders compared to AV

[Grogador]

Originally posted by adam c
i run my laptop without AV...

so did I for many years, until I ran some crack or keygen and it started doing things it wasn't supposed to... I agree that being "smart" (like using Firefox+NoScript) will protect you from lots of crap, but why risk it? Most people aren't "smart" anyway, and will click anything. There's been some phising emails that have almost fooled me! It's cheap insurance instead of getting your bank account cleaned out, and with the speeds of today's machines, you won't notice a performance difference. My P133 was a different story... using 30% CPU just to play mp3s, those were the good ole days

Hopefully your work machine has AV running, as per company security policy

Also, don't forget to set Automatic Updates to "notify" on patches, no point setting it to update at 3AM if your machine is never on at that time.

Edit: don't tell plebs that AV is "unnecessary" unless you're a computer janitor who's livelihood depends on cleaning up the mess. If your coworkers are "constantly hit with virus alerts", doesn't that mean it's working?

[d4ftpuNK]

well seeing how the guy said he was a computer n00b, that's why i recommended him an antivirus, i mean if you have kids especially young ones using the computer they click on anything and everything, its better just having your antivirus quarantine and delete shit that comes up rather than having nothing running and occasionally running a program like spybot or ad-aware

[adam c]

i'm running trendmicro at work, but my all, and i mean all, my coworkers don't know shit about computers, it's pretty ridiculous at some of the questions and 'problems' they have

plus all the computers except my DC and servers are set to automatic updates

[dragonone]

so if i was to run in a 32-bit env., 6 gigs is a waste? I'm looking at a new corei7 sys
av is almost an issue of how u use ur computer, the kinds of websites u go to, the browsers u use, and the programs u run. If u d/l some torrent or view a picture from a friend's trip how can anyone guarantee it's spyware/virus free? If u have 2gbs of ram running i really doubt the av program will b a hog. And i vote nod32 or kaspersky.

[adam c]

yes 6gb is a waste