Differences between 16GB and 32GB RAM?

Man of Honour
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Hey,

And the answers not 16GB :p

From what I gather for gaming it makes virtually zero difference to frame rates, at the moment of course, but what about general system responsiveness?

I've read a few comments in various places that for general Windows stuff and PC usage, having 32GB can increase the snappiness of a computer?

Is this the case? forgetting actual frame rates, can the higher amount of RAM increase the snappiness of games as well?

I've currently got a Ryzen 3900X to be installed tomorrow along with 16GB of RAM, just considering if I need to upgrade to 32GB whilst the prices are still somewhat normal and if it makes a positive difference?

Any input gratefully received, thanks :)
 
Permabanned
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Wont make any difference unless you use programs that need that much memory or have a ton of stuff open.

I am using chrome(5 tabs), edge(4 tabs), 2 copies of visual studio, android studio, remote desktop, load of background apps and its still only using 7gig of memory.......

So, depends what you do. :)
 
Associate
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In my gaming use case it has helped as I have started using a lot of ortho4xp in xplane 11 so going from 16 to 32 has helped my fps. I could see xplane using about 13gb of the 16 and would start to slow down.

Before I was loading in the massive additional textures etc it was running well on the default scenery and all games like the division 2, doom and RD2 ran nice on 16 as well.
 
Man of Honour
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Thanks guys :)

Do you think that, even if a PC only reports, say 8GB of RAM being used, that having 32GB can still make a PC more responsive in general, maybe under the hood type stuff going on that benefits from more RAM etc...?

I'll be playing things like Xcom, Rocket League, FM20,CIV and the one that may use more than normal amounts of RAM is Cities: Skykines?
 
Soldato
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I've heard that modded Cities: Skylines can use well over 16GB of RAM.

The Division 2 uses around 13GB for me.

While I don''t think we're going to be using 32GB anytime soon for most games, I do think we'll be breaking 16GB on non modded games within the next couple of years. I'd be half tempted to spring for 32GB at the moment due to that and the way RAM prices seem to be on the rise.
 
Associate
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I got 32GB of ram back in late 2018 as I didn't want to upgrade later and get a non exact matching set or have to deal with new faulty ram. I just wanted 2 slots fully tested working for the life of the PC.

I've had up to 15GB shown being used in Monster Hunter and other games with a lot of stuff in the background, but not really used much more than that ever.

However I'm still glad I got it as Cities Skylines can use 32GB that I plan to get back into, and also the new MS Flight Sim recommends 32GB as well that I want to get, so more games are starting to use more than 16GB.

I would go for it as otherwise you'll might regret it later as you seem to be on board with the idea.
 
Man of Honour
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Yeah, it seems we're on the breaking point of games starting to need more than 16GB, so I think I'll go for it.

Still curious though if anyone has any experience or knowledge of more RAM making a snappier PC?
 
Associate
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Yeah, I'm 99.9% confident prices will be insane very soon, so I'm wondering if I should just do it?

Unless you need it in the future there is little point.

If your use might change in the next year it might be worth buying now.

But in my experience once you need the extra ram there will be something faster or better available.

Having 16gb+ sat idle won't do much for performance
 

TNA

TNA

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I was close to going 32gb but nothing I use right now needs it. Only thing coming up that does is the new Microsoft Flight Simulator. But I might be building a new system when zen 4 comes out so I can just go 32gb of ddr5 at that point. 16gb will just have to do in the mean time :)

It crazy that I went 16gb on my haswell system like around 7 years ago, yet things have not moved on much since so I did not feel I had to go 32gb. Hopefully 32GB is more of a standard in a few years time and they are not looking to charge a silly premium on it.
 
Soldato
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Got 32gb of ram
Took 8gb out to demo some pc parts I am selling
24gb is no less snappy than 32gb was
So my opinion no the extra ram won't make windows feel more snappy
Unless of course you were almost maxing out the 16gb
Tried Asus ram cache noticed no difference though that's just did it feel faster not did a benchmark show a difference
Though using fast M2 drives so it may help if you are using slower drives
 
Soldato
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I upgraded from 16 to 32gb on my 3900x system.. Made a noticeable difference. If Windows has ram to use, its pretty good at managing it to make use of it! Especially when running a ton of chrome tabs and some 3d printing software like cura and fusion360, it really starts eating into it quickly.

While gaming, generally most games don't go over 16gn system usage, but some come close. The MSFS alpha goes well into 20gb+ system usage however though.
 
Soldato
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For the price that 16Gb is these days, I’d go for it. I agree that the price of RAM is going to increase over the next few months, even more so once DDR5 is introduced. It may not make a difference today but it may well do so I. The future in which case you’ll kick yourself for not buying it today!
 
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