Key takeaway: You can do a lot of work with only 4GB of memory, but if you need to work with extremely large files, you’ll want to bump up to 8GB or more. The speed your RAM is rated for is just that: A rating. Meanwhile, Apple’s latest 12.9-inch iPad Pro has 6GB of RAM to accommodate the 2-in-1 crowd. Large documents were another matter. If all of this sounds confusing, rest assured that most manufacturers are very good at identifying RAM clearly so consumers know what’s what. Where things really get interesting, however, is when you’re working on multiple photos. © Everything still worked, including the game. When you turn on your PC, your OS loads into RAM. So how much RAM do you need for streaming? For something like a Chromebook, which mostly relies on cloud-based apps and provides very little storage space, you won’t need much in the way of RAM. You must have seen that almost every AAA game list two types of requirements. The number at the end notes the memory’s speed. Sometimes even manufacturers or retailers will mix up the terms. If your open tabs routinely hit the 30+ mark, you’ll want at least 10GB of memory; more if you want to multitask in other programs as you browse. For our tests we assumed that normal browsing behavior included the use of multiple browser tabs, with no additional measures taken to cut down on data usage; meaning no ad blockers, no special permissions for media, and no other data-saving measures. On the Alienware we checked back in on GTA V and found everything running smoothly. Most current generation graphics cards use GDDR5, GDDR6, and HBM, or similar. Meanwhile, system RAM is identified with DDR3 or DDR4, with the number identifying the generation. Then 10 media streams. Whether we had one Word doc open or 10 files open across 5 programs, working with standard small documents barely exceeded 5GB of memory in use, and never exceeded 7GB of memory in use and in standby. Essentially, RAM is the memory that actually lets you work with the data needed to run programs and open files. As for the performance benefit of faster memory, it really depends. We chose Resource Monitor because it provides more granular information than Windows Task Manager, but both tools are helpful for getting an idea of how memory is used as you run processes and programs. Today’s most common operating systems are Windows 10, macOS, and Chrome OS. If you were thinking ‘how much RAM do i need for gaming,’ this is a starting point. NY 10036. Laptop Mag is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. We will never want to fall short or spend and spend extra money, so we will give you a series of tips so you can choose the right amount for your PC. You need to make sure that your motherboard actually supports the memory speed your modules are rated for and that it supports XMP (most modern motherboards do). You will receive a verification email shortly. The more RAM your system has, the more programs it can handle simultaneously. Mid-range gaming may require a GPU to handle the visuals, but titles like Tacoma or Dragon Ball FighterZ don’t demand an upgrade to the latest Nvidia or AMD offerings. One of the other things we looked at was how memory use impacted game performance, and how much memory you might need in order to multitask while gaming. For Windows and MacOS, however, you should think about bumping that number up to a standard 8GB. If you want to make the most of your multitasking, these are the tests to look at. (In this case, you can see I have 8GB of RAM installed.) we've got answers. Having a big desk doesn’t help you if you’re just working with a few pieces of paper. Serious workstation users may go further than 32GB but be prepared for higher costs if you want speed or fancy features like RGB lighting. By testing a variety of use cases on different amounts of RAM, we can get a very good idea what sort of uses can be comfortably done with how much RAM, and even give you an idea of how you can stretch the RAM you’ve got. How to Check How Much RAM You Have on Windows. At this point we started to see programs slow down, with jittery navigation and slowness in loading files as they were opened. We broke down each of our five use cases, finding the memory demands for both basic and heavy use, and matched that to common allotments of RAM. When we ran the game on our Alienware 15, we saw that firing up Steam and opening GTAV from our games library resulted in 5,324 MB of in-use memory, with 9,319 in standby. For this level of gaming, 16GB seems to be the sweet spot, meeting all of the memory needs for unimpeded gameplay without throwing extra money into an already-expensive system. We started with smaller files in multiple programs, opening Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, PDF files and photos. You can check how much RAM you have in … How much RAM you need in a system depends on what you intend to do with it, how long you intend to keep it, and whether or not you can upgrade your memory post-purchase. Copyright ©2020 Designtechnica Corporation. RAM isn’t the only determining factor — after all, you can technically open dozens of programs at once even with a very small amount of RAM. That said, as a general rule, Photoshop is a bit of a memory hog, and will put as much memory into stand-by as it can get. If you’re using applications like Premiere or Pro Tools, though, it’s a good idea to upgrade to 32GB (similar applications can actually take advantage of all of that RAM). Computers around longer than tablets or laptops, desktops, laptops, and is sufficient for the latest high-end AAA. 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