16GB over 8GB when I barely use 4GB? lol

[GoStumpy]

I know, stupid question, but hey, bored on a Saturday night!

I have a spare set of Corsair XMS 8GB (2x4gb) sitting here in a box...

I have 8GB already, (2x4gb G.Skill Ripjaws), and I think I've seen a peak of about 3GB used while playing BF3.

Is there anything I can use the extra 8GB for?

Ramdisk? How does that work?

Anything else?

I wouldn't mind using it until I find another use one day

 

[hclarkjr]

not good idea to mix memory like that, might not work.

 

[Blain]

Is there anything I can use the extra 8GB for?

* Buy now before the earthquake hits and memory prices skyrocket
* The additional memory will make you cooler

 

[deimos3428]

If you do repetitive tasks with large files, you may find the extra file cache useful.

 

[ScottAD]

You get +3 nerdfactor for having a bigger set than others

 

[poohbear]

I know, stupid question, but hey, bored on a Saturday night!

I have a spare set of Corsair XMS 8GB (2x4gb) sitting here in a box...

I have 8GB already, (2x4gb G.Skill Ripjaws), and I think I've seen a peak of about 3GB used while playing BF3.

Is there anything I can use the extra 8GB for?

Ramdisk? How does that work?

Anything else?

I wouldn't mind using it until I find another use one day

huh? BF3 on ultra texture settings uses up to 6gb of RAM. When i had 4gb i had major stuttering. When i upgraded to 8gb it all disappeared. 8gb for the newest most demanding games is a must IMHO.

 

[GotNoRice]

huh? BF3 on ultra texture settings uses up to 6gb of RAM.

Negative.

BF3 is a 32-bit game. 32-bit games are limited to 2GB of memory by default. If the game is Large Address Aware, then it will be able to use up to 3GB under a 32-bit OS or up to 4GB under a 64-bit OS.

You will *never* see a 32-bit process using more than 4GB of RAM, and even that represents a best-case scenario that is fairly unlikely.

Not sure what you thought you saw.

 

[Attic]

Go for it and see if it helps. I don't think its practical to go 16gb for most users, but RAM is so cheap its not a big deal to go extreme on the RAM amount.

You already have it, so throw it in.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Extra RAM doesn't hurt unless it messes up an overclock which can happen if your overclock is tuned for a certain RAM configuration.

If you have extra all it means is that you can leave more programs open without slowing things down.

Just make sure the RAM settings are all the same for every stick. Faster RAM will need to be downclocked to match the speeds of the slower set. Timings and voltages also need to be adjusted.

 

[zephyrprime]

My computer at work got upped from 4 to 8gb and it really improved the lag I would get when running a lot of copies of visual studio.

 

[Smoblikat]

Take it from experience. Your situation is identical to mine, had 8gb pre insalled, got 8 more. Mixed sets, and everything went downhill from there, my sets do not play nicely with eachother and im forced to either underclock severley, or run just 8gb.

 

[slayernine]

Negative.

BF3 is a 32-bit game. 32-bit games are limited to 2GB of memory by default. If the game is Large Address Aware, then it will be able to use up to 3GB under a 32-bit OS or up to 4GB under a 64-bit OS.

You will *never* see a 32-bit process using more than 4GB of RAM, and even that represents a best-case scenario that is fairly unlikely.

Not sure what you thought you saw.

You forgot to factor in the other 2GB of ram is probably Windows + browser tabs open + whatever else he is running simultaneously.

Now a game that definitely uses stupid amounts of ram: Crysis

 

[taltamir]

@OP: Have you considered selling some?

 

[poohbear]

Negative.

BF3 is a 32-bit game. 32-bit games are limited to 2GB of memory by default. If the game is Large Address Aware, then it will be able to use up to 3GB under a 32-bit OS or up to 4GB under a 64-bit OS.

You will *never* see a 32-bit process using more than 4GB of RAM, and even that represents a best-case scenario that is fairly unlikely.

Not sure what you thought you saw.

well whatever it was, i dont get stuttering anymore after upgrading from 4GB DDR2 to 8GB DDR3. What else could possibly explain it? I could not play BF3 in ultra settings in MP, it was a stutter fest.

i replaced the motherboard, used the same cpu and same everything, but i used 8gb DD3 instead of 4gb DDR2. That was the only variable i changed since i doubt it was the AM2 mobo vs the AM3+ mobo i upgraded to.

 

[mikeymikec]

@ poohbear

Something else was consuming a significant amount of memory on your computer?

However, changing board and RAM are quite significant in terms of trying to figure out what the difference was.

 

[gramboh]

I find BF3 chugs a bit in 64 player Conquest if I have a bunch of video tabs (Vimeo/Youtube) left open in my browser (FireFox will be consuming 600+ MB plus other programs consuming a bunch). I'll be grabbing 16GB for my new computer, why not, it's cheap enough.

 

[GoStumpy]

I'm figuring I'll end up using it eventually, lol.

Noticed last night when I had browser, Afterburner, HWMonitor, etc. open while playing BF3 I actually went over 50% memory used with 8GB... Surprised me a bit!

I'll end up installing it tonight I'm sure

 

[taltamir]

I'm figuring I'll end up using it eventually

Sell it now, get cash in pocket.
Eventually comes, buy better ram for a fraction of the price.

End up with more, better hardware AND more cash in pocket. Miss out on nothing.