Do You Really Need More Than 6 GB Of RAM?

TH: "Our 2004 article pointed out weaknesses in the once-popular single-gigabyte configurations. But 512 MB and smaller modules are now a distant memory. It wasn't long after that 2 GB became the performance standard, and by 2007, 4 GB kits could be found in all but the lowest-cost systems. Is it time to take the next step, to 8 GB or more? More importantly, were 4 GB modules ever really needed for games and everyday applications? And with the 32-bit addressing limit of 4 GB making only 3 GB available to many users, should everyone switch to a 64-bit operating system simply to support higher capacities?"

[Kakkoii]

Very interesting read. Although, since I do 3D Modeling/Animation, I need TONS of RAM for the ultra high poly counts. 3D Models easily get into the GB range.

[DarkArcani]

I do VFX and the K textures I have on some environmental objects, including calculating refect/refraction of light and the GI have crashed my system from time to time because of not having enough RAM.

Would love to have one of these in an "ideal world"
http://www.boxxtech.com/pro...

[Super-Brad]

i have 6gb of RAM lol :)

[Gothdom]

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981

[somekindofmike]

'I've got a 10mb Hard drive, nothing will ever fill this beast'

[Forrest Gump]

Anybody who does professional Video editing will tell you anything less than 4GB of RAM is absolutely useless,so yes,more RAM=always welcome.

[SL1M DADDY]

Yes. Simply put, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. More RAM no matter what application is better than too little.

[Sarcasm]

6gb of RAM?

it means only one thing...

MGS4 ON THE 360 CONFIRMED!!!

[LastDance]

hahaha that is gold!

[50CALheadshot]

lol

[titntin]

I remember reading 'do we need more than 512K' articles 20 years back.
Of course we do.

[Torkith]

I'm running 8gb's of ram, and if I'm just playing games or on the internet of course it's completely pointless. But when I'm doing work for school with film editing, 3d modeling it sure as hell helps, but I think my 8gb is still a bit overkill at the moment.

[Myst]

Well at least you are well prepared and suppose that saying of "Better safe than sorry" comes into play. Though jeez, wish I had 8gb. Heck wish I had at least 6 at the moment. Sure for things like 8gb's that it helps smooth things along especially when in the process of doing some of the 3d modeling.

[TitanUp]

running 9gbs of ram to be honest i don't know why i have so much ram. all i do is browse n4g play rct3 on the pc anyways. play a lot more console games

[somekindofmike]

Running 2GB of RAM here and system still flies running multiple apps of the Adobe CS4 suite along with web browsers & music apps to keep me entertained. :)

Although I know I would benefit from more RAM, but I'm maxed out, I'm using a MacBook Pro, & apple do have a sneaky habit of restricted maximum RAM capacity in there systems, I'm currently maxed out at 2GB, but this is a 3 year old system. I'll be due a new system in a year or 2, and I can't wait to join the 6/8GB group, although by the time I get there, they'd probably moved on the 16GB :P

[bozebo]

I have a few things in particular to say about this:
The speed of the RAM is very important, "low cost" dimms do not suffice.
Interestingly, the cost is only low because the transition from ddr2 to ddr3 is taking place - causing the average of dimms in general to go down in price.
Also, under the right operating system a 32 bit machine can access more than 4GB.
need more than 6GB? Only if you use your machine for some rather excessive or professional tasks - rendering perhaps. 4GB is ample for playing the most demanding games on maximum settings (crysis on full enthusiast, using about 1.3 - then about 900MB to vista)

Anyway, its not about how much you need - but the oppertinity costs. That mere £70 would add more performance boosts to a machine lacking in extra ram, plus its easy for people nervous about modifying their machine or not understanding the overall concept.

[Kakkoii]

32-Bit cannot address more than 3GB, doesn't matter the OS.

And OS can implement something like PAE (Physical Address Extension) but it's not always the most stable option.

To use more then 3GB efficiently and stably, you need to use a 64-Bit OS.

Also, you should take a look at this on the subject of ram speed:
http://www.maximumpc.com/ar...

[na2ru1]

allows for at least 4GB now. At least mine does.

[ThatDamnGeordie]

im running 12 GB of RAM in my custom built gaming pc :D hoping to get a ne motherboard soon and have 16GB

[zagibu]

It's interesting that this article makes you believe 4GB of RAM is standard, while not even a third of all steam survey participants have more than 2GB. People use still Windows XP, which means they can't go over 4GB. Maybe Windows 7 combined with the low RAM prices will change that.

[TheBand1t]

Yes, I do need more RAM. It makes my penis feel larger.

[Yipee Bog]

a bigger power supply always did that for me....

[na2ru1]

...thanks to Vista Home Prem 32 bit.
Now it's at 4GB. Maybe the regular updates uncapped it.

[Sibs]

It still only uses a bit more than 3.5GB, it simply reports how much ram is installed now.

[kaveti6616]

When Xbox 360 rolled out in 2005, 512MB of RAM was already seemingly dated on PCs. My laptop from 2006 comes with a gig of RAM, so already it made the 360 seem emasculated and such. The PS3 also has only 512MB of RAM and it came out in late 2006, so on paper it also seems weak.

To be honest for the next generation I hope they design the architecture to allow for open-boxed additions. Just like with PCs, there should be extra slots for more RAM. I know in reality they won't do this because the main advantage of the console is that the specs are set so the developer knows exactly what to program for. If more RAM could be added by the owner, then there would be too many different types of the same console (i.e. the problem the 360 has with some consoles having HDD and some not having HDD)

So, the likely conclusion has to be that the two major companies Microsoft and Sony will have to add an overkill of RAM to the consoles. Like one guy above me posted, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

My guess is that by 2012 when the next Xbox iteration is expected to be released, 8 Gigabytes will be a norm among the PC market, so if MS is smart they will release a console with around 16 gigabytes. This should allow for more parity between PC games and console games, unlike today, where games like Crysis require much more RAM than a console can provide, be it the 360 or the PS3, the two just can't do it. I'll go out on a limb here and say 16 gigs should be enough for the next generation consoles. Might seem small by then, but consider the difference in size from this gen. 512MB to 16GB. That's a very large leap.

[Kakkoii]

Except they won't. Because it's all about optimizing the manufacturing cost's to maximize profits. (Although Sony decided to make an even more powerful console, and sell it for cheaper than it cost's to make.)
The PS3 only has 256MB of GDDR3 memory for it's graphics, and 256MB XDR memory for everything else. While the Xbox 360 has 512MB of GDDR3 RAM for it's graphics.

What your suggesting is what PC's already do, so start PC gaming :P lol.

The next generation consoles from Sony and MS will probably have 4GB of GDDR5 at most. 2-3 years isn't that far away, games won't increase that much in size to require so much RAM. Not to mention resolution, higher resolution plays a big impact on the amount of RAM needed. And people won't be playing on higher than 1080p TV's within 2-3 years, that's a bit further down the road.

[kaveti6616]

Console gaming is becoming a much more profitable venture nowadays than PC gaming. A lot of people are starting to say that PC gaming is dead, and while I disagree, I must admit that the developers and the publishers are starting to focus more on the consoles. The idea of having no more than 4GB of GDDR5 RAM by 2012 seems impossible to me. Who knows what the future holds in technology? I expect much more RAM than that if any of these two companies (Sony and MS) wish to making console gaming a priority.

Even now we can see that PCs have not just an edge in hardware but are pretty much leaps and bounds ahead of what consoles can do. Games like Crysis have sparkd a reinvigorated interest in PC gaming, even from console gamers like myself. So, I think the best move that the console manufacturers can do is try and keep up with PC by implementing much larger specs. No matter what consoles do we can expect PCs to outstrip them within a year or two after console release, and during this gen, even before console release. So having 16GB of RAM or as little as 8GB of RAM will be the only way for the console to stay ahead of the mainstream gaming PC market for about a year or two until PCs once again surpass it.

I don't see why you think that 4GB would be the maximum. Sony at the very least will try and finish off MS once and for all from the gaming industry because of what MS has done this generation (very disrespectful and disreputable behavior). This gen, Sony had a full year to defeat Microsoft but for some reason decided to match the 512MB RAM capacity (albeit in a different presentation, pooled v. discrete) It was a stupid mistake by Sony imo, and they should try and add much more RAM next time around.

[Kakkoii]

The reason I can make predictions like this is because I have a very good understanding of how GPU's work and what the RAM is required for. I've also fallowed the game/graphics/tech industry for over a decade, so I'm quite knowledgeable in this field.

Do you really think there is going to be a much higher resolution TV produced within 2-3 years that people are going to be buying up? Hell no, HDTV still has a lot of customers to gain and it would piss a ton of people off if an even higher HD standard came out in 2-3 years. So the next gen consoles will still be 1080p consoles. Except they won't have to struggle with it like they do now, they can focus on improving the graphics more.

And the reason I say 4GB max is because resolution is the main factory when it comes to needing lots of RAM. 2-3 years down the line, 4GB would probably just start becoming standard on some top of the line GPU's for PC's. By analyzing the GPU industry, you can have a good understanding of consoles will use. You also have to take into account when a console comes out, it's not using the current top of the line GPU that's available. They use cheap mid range versions. The Xbox 360's GPU is about the power of a Nvidia 8600. They can't do top of the line, because that's an easy $200 of manufacturing cost for the console.

I would bet my house that the next gen consoles won't have more then 4GB of graphics RAM. 4GB itself is still a lot, even in 2-3 years.