How much RAM do you really need ?

[Agent_Steal]

Just curious how much RAM do you really need ?? How much do you guys recommend ??

Me I have 512MB of RAM and I mostly use my computer for web browsing , e-mail , listening to music , some photo editing and whatnot ....

B.T.W. Operating System is Windows XP Home Edition ..

[The Texan]

I have 512 also and im not a serious gamer... just for what we do I would say 512 is enough.. I wouldnt dare go below 384 megs of ram these days even for just casual computing but, if you are a serious gamer, to run the games graphics etc i would suggest at least a gig of ram.

[Egaladeist]

Hi As,

I think it depends upon what you need...when I bought this computer it only had 64, and that was more than enough...then, on the advice of others I upgraded to 128...and then to 384...but it seems the more you have the more you use...

I'd bet that if I had stayed at 64, I'd still have more than enough to suit my needs...

Originally at 6.04GB upgraded to 80...and a year+ later I'm still only using 8GB of it...

it all depends on what you need it for.

Eg

[foxyloxley]

I know that the OS's can run on 'minimum' spec, as per the packaging, ie XP 128MB
BUT
I use 512MB as a minimum in all the boxes I run

W2k server
W2kPro
XPPro
Fedora Core 3
Ubuntu
Mandrake

as to the maths
the physical limint is 4GB in the 32 bit system
with 2GB being the top limit for the majority of the 'older' MoBo's
the 64 bit system takes RAM to extreme new heights, ones which I'll never see

[nihil]

Hi Agent_Steal ,

512 will be fine for what you are doing...............384 or even 256 for older operating systems. Linux also tends to use less RAM unless you have a very GUI intensive interface.

As mentioned you need heavy duty graphics or some pretty memory intensive apps to need more.

[Raion]

Even 128 is fine for what he does, I do all of that and more with 128, sure a little lag here and there, but nothing too bad.

[The Texan]

ya im gonna have to backtrack a little bit... i said i wouldnt dare go below 384 for casual computing but, that is a little excessive.. u could get by on 256 or 128 even... sorry if i mislead you.

[Agent_Steal]

You see the reason I am asking the question is well I'm thinking of purchasing Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 4.0 ... Well I do meet the system requirements but I am comtemplating whether or not to purchase more RAM ??? I have this really bad habit of running way too many apps at once ... So I am not to sure ...

B.T.W. this article also made me think about getting more RAM [1]. What do you guys think of the article ??

[1] How Much RAM Do You Really Need?

[Relyt]

How much memory? The only problems I have encountered thus far was when I tried 1gb in my box and booted up Win98se. It became unstable. All the other OS's in the same box (XP, SUSE, etc.) weren't adversely affected. When I dropped down to 768 mb, Win98 returned to normal ops. I have about 1.5gb available, but I don't need that much for my current applications and I don't want to have to change the sticks if I want to boot up 98.

cheers

[Egaladeist]

Hi AS,

Tom's is in the business to sell stuff, as well as advertising...so it doesn't surprise me that they would push products out the door...

I'm glad I upgraded because it opened the door to other things that required more Ram...but at the same time I noticed that when I was running at 64 it was sufficient...but as soon as I made the first upgrade it no longer was...even though I changed nothing else at the time...it was as though the ram required ram...

it really depends on your needs...which now seem to be in the 512 range...but...because I use the computer mainly for basic applications I could do with a lot less than that.

Eg