whats more important for Multitasking: more CPU cores or more RAM?

[poohbear]

Hey all, i was always told that more CPU cores allows for more multitasking for one's system, but also read that more RAM is also crucial for this. Which one has a bigger effect on multitasking & running more than 1 program at once & minimizing one while working on another? If i was to choose between the 2 which one should i upgrade first? cheers.

 

[code65536]

It really depends on what programs you are running.

Run Microsoft's Process Explorer in the background for an extended period of time (I have it running all the time) (it also helps to turn on the miniature graphs in the clock area). If you often have high periods of CPU use, then upgrade the CPU. If you see your commit rising close to (or above) your total physical RAM capacity, then upgrade the RAM.

Also, where is your pagefile located? If it's on your SSD, then paging in/out won't be nearly as costly and the RAM won't help as much (though it still will help, and if you are paging in/out, then it'll be nice to reduce the write cycles on your SSD).

 

[classy]

From my personal feel on various desktops, desktops that have quad cores are smoother than dual cores, even when more ram is involved with the dual. Quads with HT don't seem to offer any improvement over regular quads, but they are smooth. If you use excel, web browsers all day, more cpu cores is better than more ram. But there does need to be a balance. 8 gigs of ram with a dual core doesn't run smoother than a machine with 4 gigs of ram and a quad core. This is not a fact based notion OMP, just my general overall opinion based on dealing with hundreds of desktops.

 

[BLaber]

Multitasking prerequisite that you have (if possible) as many cores as much as your application can run threads on.

Amount of ram - If you are running Virtual machines 6 or more of them on the same computer then you would require lots of ram to assign decent amount of ram for each virtual machine with a good multicore processor , but lets say you run some photo-editing , video editing software then higher clocked multicore processor is better , but could require lesser ram compared to above scenario , it all depends on what your multitasking application or task demand , more cores , faster clocked cores , more ram e.t.c

 

[bntran02]

CPU is gonna have a bigger effect unless you've utilized all your available RAM.

Having said that, more CPU cores wont really be noticeable unless you're using a lot of CPU resources.

 

[GammaLaser]

Yeah, it really is just a matter of which component of your system is bottlenecked (if any) in a given scenario.

 

[poohbear]

cool. yep my pagefile is on my SSD, so things are snappy! prolly the best upgrade i've ever done for my day to day stuff.^^ and its not even on SATA3!(still using SATA2 as per my mobo.) im getting 6 cores tomorrow, so curious to see the difference if any.")

 

[dbcooper1]

Even with your pagefile on your SSD, you'll be better off with more RAM if it's being accessed all the time because you're running out of RAM. All you'll do in this case by adding cores is be able to wait faster.

 

[gevorg]

Why bother choosing? i7-2600K with 16GB of RAM costs less than $500 today. Yes, its an overkill for most users, but still very cheap for enthusiasts/gamers/etc.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Why bother choosing? i7-2600K with 16GB of RAM costs less than $500 today. Yes, its an overkill for most users, but still very cheap for enthusiasts/gamers/etc.

Throwing more money at a problem rather than thinking is the American way! Remember to pay with a credit card and carry a balance while you're at it to be truly patriotic!

OP, it depends on what you do. Watch your system resources. Are you running out of RAM? Get more RAM. Are you near total utilization of all your CPU cores? Then get a faster CPU or more cores. Neither of those, but your system is sluggish opening and closing applications? SSD.

None of the above...? Enjoy your computer.

 

[gevorg]

Oops, forgot to put on my flamesuit.