I always hear 16gb memory is an overkill - but why ?

[Lil-Diabo]

I got 16GB just for the sake of getting it to be honest.
I doubt I even use half of it.
I also prefer the look of fully populated RAM slots, didn't like the thought of having 2 empty ones.

[Dooms]

I also prefer the look of fully populated RAM slots, didn't like the thought of having 2 empty ones.

I got 16 because of the opposite I only wanted to use 2 sticks (more sticks = more to go wrong when overclocking) so better 2x 8GB now than having to get 4x 4GB later.

[evisceratrix666]

if you're running lots of VMs then 16gb will come in handy especially if you partnered it with fx-8350, and you'll be a hardcore multi-tasker, watching movie/rendering/ while running 10VMs and letting your brother play on your PC while you enjoy watching your movie

[tonkins]

Even now I think i'm only gonna get 8gb when I build a new PC. As long as I have 2 spare mem slots I can always add more later and 16gb for the moment for games seems overkill.

[MrRockliffe]

It depends what you're doing. Some music applications will store the input sound in the ram for quicker access - the more of it the better. That's the only situation I would personally use 16GB. 8 is plenty for me

[robredz]

I edit video, and 16 Gb helps keep things moving when editing HD files, I will go up to 32 Gb with my next build, remember a 1 hour HD movie can easily be 20 Gb. As to gaming, It makes no difference in Steam.

[Dog]

I currently use 8gb of ddr3 1600mhz, mainly use my pc for gaming and it rarely goes over 50% usage. I would prefer 16gb (to be future proof) but i really dont think its necessary. A good ram manufacturer and you should be fine.

[robredz]

Unless you have a specific need for more like editing or running multiple VMs then I agree with Dog 8 Gb is fine

[Brian224]

In my experience Excel spreadsheets expand to fill the available space (remember when only 256 columns were available?) If you are running a spreadsheet that only links to other open spreadsheets, and the hard disk doesn't come on and stay on when you recalculate, you probably don't need more memory.

Having said that, an extra 8GB only costs 15p per working day over 2 years, so if it saves you 20 seconds, 5 times a day or 5 minutes once a week it is well worth it. It is probably a productivity gain if it just makes you feel more confident about the machine's ability.

[george1979]

Yeah its very much dependent on the applications you use. I have 16Gb and, when creating some compositions, After Effects will eat up most of it. In general use I rarely get close to using it all though.

[loki365]

16 GB of RAM is required for CAD and not much else. 8GB will see to most mere mortals needs just fine, hell 4 GB will handle spreadsheets/internet browsers like a bawse.

[pastymuncher]

I only have 16Gb because i was originally going to go with X79. I got my Samsung Green from OCUK last March when i paid £65 for all 16GB (4x 4GB sticks). The last time i saw it still on sale it was £92 for just 8GB!! In the end i changed my mind and was going to stick with my old 1156 setup but eventually caved and bought Haswell. My Sammy greens are now running at 2133mhz 9-10-10-21-1T with 1.5v and i won't need a memory upgrade for a long time.

[dulcificum]

16 GB of RAM is required for CAD and not much else. 8GB will see to most mere mortals needs just fine, hell 4 GB will handle spreadsheets/internet browsers like a bawse.

Nonsense. Chrome alone uses 7GB on my system and Firefox would be at least the same again on top of that. If I wanted to leave a browser window open and do some basic image/video editing I'd be screwed.

[Willzzz]

Yeah, if you have a lot of tabs open you can use up an awful lot of RAM.
It is also nice to reduce the use of your swap file by having excess capacity.

It also allows you to make use of a RAM disk.

[peterb]

Nonsense. Chrome alone uses 7GB on my system and Firefox would be at least the same again on top of that. If I wanted to leave a browser window open and do some basic image/video editing I'd be screwed.

No you wouldn't, you'd just start using virtual Ram or the memory use would be re-alocated. One of the early 'complaints' about Win7 was that it was a memory hog - but it was just more efficient at using all the RAM that was available before using virtual RAM.

You can run multiple applications (including Chrome and Firefox) in 4GB of Ram - the system might be slower and if that is unacceptable, then fit more RM - similarly if you are running virtualisation applications with several VMs.

More RM is a benefit - if you are intending to run multiple memory intensive applications - but it isn't essential. In fact with an SSD, you might get away with Ram because virtual RAM may be faster.

[dulcificum]

No you wouldn't, you'd just start using virtual Ram or the memory use would be re-alocated.

By screwed I mean "everything will grind to a halt and doing anything constructive will be more or less impossible." Virtual RAM is useless if you actually try doing what I said... I have an SSD too.