8GB vs 4GB?

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MissJ84

2[H]4U
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Hi I'm waiting for my new system/components to be delivered this week, and was looking for some opinions on how much memory to use. Waiting on a P55A-UD4P, i5 750, and some other things. I don't do photo/video stuff, just mainly game, so I realize in a lot of ways there is no need for 8GB. Now, if someone gave you six 2GB sticks of DDR3 for free, and you had the choice to run 4GB and sell 4 sticks vs. use 8GB and sell 2, which would you do? I didn't get them for free, but I did somehow catch a crazy deal over the weekend.
I'd love to hear your opinions. :)

Edit: Whoops! I didn't mention it above, but I'm obviously asking about OC stability while utilizing 4 dimms. I plan on doing a 3.2-3.6Ghz OC.
 
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Now, if someone gave you six 2GB sticks of DDR3 for free, and you had the choice to run 4GB and sell 4 sticks vs. use 8GB and sell 2, which would you do
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Depends: What do you need more? Money from selling 4 sticks of RAM or zero improvement in gaming but the capability to run multiple apps 9even multiple games for you multi-boxing types) at the same time without slowing down your games?

Oh and generally yes, 4 sticks of RAM does limit the top OC possible.
 
Well thanks for being the guy who throws common sense in my face. I think this is the second time. :p
Hmmm still wanna know if I can hit that OC range with 4 sticks.
 
MissJ84 said:
Well thanks for being the guy who throws common sense in my face. I think this is the second time. :p
Hmmm still wanna know if I can hit that OC range with 4 sticks.
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It's what I do :)

Easiest way to know if you can hit that OC range is to do it yourself.
 
If your BCLK is less than your RAM speed it shouldn't be a problem using all 4 sockets.
 
heatlesssun said:
If your BCLK is less than your RAM speed it shouldn't be a problem using all 4 sockets.
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It's the other guy that's always helping me! I have DDR3 1600, so to run @ 3.2Ghz (160 x 20), I'd just set the RAM multiplier to x12??

450 said:
I want free DDR3...How did you get it?
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LOL I was using that as an example....
 
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4GB would be MORE than enough. No visible advantage over that. Check some review, it is almost the same.
 
abbasdr said:
4GB would be MORE than enough. No visible advantage over that. Check some review, it is almost the same.
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Sure, but I keep thinking that it'd be worth it, considering they were only $22/stick... I just gotta figure it for myself lol.

WTB response from heatless :)
 
Well it will have negative impact on OCing, you will also need Cooling for the sticks. SO mmm still No :)
Best of luck though mate :)
 
You don't need cooling for ram, that's what the heatspreaders are for. :rolleyes:

Unless you're running high volts, ram doesn't need active cooling.
If you're concerned about the ram affecting the cpu oc, then change the divider and run the ram at advertised or slightly above settings (instead of *way above* settings). You can get 1600 off 1333 sticks for the most part (depending on the stick), but don't expect 1700+ off 1333 sticks.

2 reasons to go over 4 gb of ram (ddr2 or ddr3 doesn't matter) -
-heavy design app use (Photoshop CS4 64-bit)
-virtual machines/VM use (can also tie into Folding@home if you're running -bigadv's)

personally - if you get the ram cheap, keep the 8. Who knows what will use how much ram down the road, and if you expect to keep the machine for awhile, keep the 8. Especially if it's ddr3 as you say which is what everything will migrate to...ram prices will probably not drop for awhile (going off info on the dram exchange).
 
zero2dash said:
You don't need cooling for ram, that's what the heatspreaders are for. :rolleyes:

Unless you're running high volts, ram doesn't need active cooling.
If you're concerned about the ram affecting the cpu oc, then change the divider and run the ram at advertised or slightly above settings (instead of *way above* settings). You can get 1600 off 1333 sticks for the most part (depending on the stick), but don't expect 1700+ off 1333 sticks.

2 reasons to go over 4 gb of ram (ddr2 or ddr3 doesn't matter) -
-heavy design app use (Photoshop CS4 64-bit)
-virtual machines/VM use (can also tie into Folding@home if you're running -bigadv's)

personally - if you get the ram cheap, keep the 8. Who knows what will use how much ram down the road, and if you expect to keep the machine for awhile, keep the 8. Especially if it's ddr3 as you say which is what everything will migrate to...ram prices will probably not drop for awhile (going off info on the dram exchange).
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This pretty much sums it up, if you're playing games or only light apps on your PC 4GB is the most you're ever going to need for *some* time to come. If however you use apps like above then by all means get 8 or 12 or 1500$ 24GB kits. :p
 
4GB is enough. I went with 8GB in my new system cuz...well bigger is better :) But also I had some friends that say they like having 8GB, but then they do things that will use it more. For my typical use and gaming, I'd have been fine sticking with 4GB.
 
Keep in mind that a 32-bit program (which includes almost all games) will only be able to use 2GB of ram per process. There are exceptions but they are very rare.

I really don't think there will be a real performance advantage of having more than 4GB until we see more 64-bit games.
 
There are plenty of reasons to have more then 4G of ram, people can do more then one thing at a time on their computers, i sure do, althought even with 8G the most i have hit was just over 6G.

It simply comes down to, if your not using 4G now, you dont need 8G.
 
Thanks everyone!
I think I'm gonna go with 8GB, I know its not the best memory in the world (latency wise), but I ran into am incredibly lucky deal over the weekend. I got 2 sets of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220365 for only $66 per set after rebate. Some kind of fluke I guess, but I figure if I paid $88 for 8GB in my system, its still kinda worth it even if its only a minimal gain.

Edit: I should say free, cuz I think I can sell the other 2 sticks and get that $88 back XD
 
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glad this topic came up - i am in same situ

asus p5ke board w 4x1GB sticks ddr2/667 = 4gb

debating whether to go to new asus p6 board, i5/7 chip, and ddr3 memory (1066,1033, 6GB) OR

get 8 gb mem ddr2/800, 4 2 GB sticks, which would max out my board, and hold off on upgrading motherboard, etc. until 2011 or so when more goodies are out (ddr3 standard, usb3, etc)

the new memory would run me $200, and i'd have the 4x1GB sticks as extra - perhaps sell?

wwyd?
 
I like having 8gb and I was still able to hit 3.8Ghz and run all 8gb @ 2000mhz.
 
I've got 8GB (4 sticks) of DDR2. They do not need any form of active cooling unless you're over-volting the crap out of them, which is usually pretty useless to do anyway. I've been running my current setup for nearly 2 years with no issues.
 
forget 4 or 8! get 12! :p I kid, I've always gone for more ram, for my uses(video editing) I normally go over 6GB so I got 12

For gaming though my system hardly passes 4GB
 
GotNoRice said:
I really don't think there will be a real performance advantage of having more than 4GB until we see more 64-bit games.
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I just put up 2 examples where over 4 is very useful. ;)
If you're a freelancer/designer in and out of CS4, 8gb+ cuts down a lot and lets Ps64 go hog wild on ram use.

If you run VM's, depending on what VM you run you can allocate more ram to the VM without taking the host os (ie Windows) down. You have 8gigs, even if Windows only uses 4 then you can allocate 4gb to the VM. Depending on what you do in the VM, you may need more. If you Fold and therefore run *nix in a VM and want to do the -bigadv WU's, you need a minimum of 4.6gb of ram for the VM alone (and most people give the VM 4.8-5gb to be safe).

I do both; I freelance and I Fold 24/7. I built this i7 with the full intent of running -bigadv, that's why I went with 12gb of ram. There's no way I could have had Win7 loaded, with a VM -bigadv going, and still been able to go from Illustrator to Photoshop to Indesign in the blink of an eye without having a crash or a huge performance hit. The primary rig it replaces, I still went with 8gb on that one (q9450, ud3p, 8gb ddr2) again because I Fold and freelance on it every day. I will say, the computer I built for work only has 4gb but that's because it's a G31 board and it only has 2 dimm slots.

Using games as a ram argument isn't really worthwhile. Games are still more gpu dependent than anything.
 
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Yeah... I run OSx86 (Mac os) on my system, and do actually VM a bit. I didn't even think about that, but I guess that's just even more reason to go with the 8GB. I hate to keep bringing up the price as I don't mean to brag, but for $22 a stick I think I'd be foolish not to utilize 8GB.
How much do you think 2 sticks of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220365 would be worth anyway? $80-100??

Thanks again for replying everyone!
 
Splitting up that kit mathematically, each stick is about $63 and change... figure cheaper (yet good) DDR3 goes for around $150 for a G.Skill 6gb 1600 kit...I think their (G.Skill's) 2x2 4gb kit, same speed goes for around $90-$95 so you could make at least $80 if not a little more (depends on how nice you want to be vs retail :)).

I'd keep the 8.
If you keep 4 and need another 4 down the road, you're going to pay more for it then than you are now for the 8. Ram prices are probably not going to go down for awhile now that demand is climbing for ddr3, and DRAMeXchange reports there will probably be shortages for the first part of this year, maybe longer.
 
Thanks Zero! I saw you post about the exchange on the previous page, but now that I've see that graph you linked, I'm sticking with what my initial thought was. Going with 8GB! :D

People on this site are so insightful! I'm only good (lucky) at finding deals, still learning when it comes to worth and how things work lol.
 
I have 12 currently in my rig and it has made a big difference in photoshop if you are thinking about doing that type of stuff in the future
 
Since you have all the sticks already do some testing and see what you like better. :)
 
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