When will 2X2GB of RAM become the norm?

[Noema]

Originally posted by: n7
Haha :laugh:

In 8 days, the world will change, & RAM will be free; therefore his prediction will come true

Better oder 6 more GB now lest my new computer be hopelessly obsolete in a week!

:Q

 

[RebateMonger]

Lately, I find myself ordering PCs with double the memory each year. Here's a rough idea of what my own memory needs have been over the years:

2007 2GB (Vista)
2006 1GB
2005 512MB
2004 256MB
2003 128MB
2002 64MB (XP)
2001
2000 32MB
1999
1998 (Win98)
1997 16MB
1996
1995 (Win95)
1994
1993 8MB
1992 (Win386, DesqView 386)
1991 4MB
1990 (Win2.1)
1989
1988
1987 1MB (DesqView)
1986 512KB
1985 256KB
1984 128KB
1983 64KB (MS-DOS and AppleDOS)

Am I "state of the art". No. But I try to stay a year ahead of my clients, who typically have half the memory that I have.

My prediction: "Normal" PCs from Dell will come with 4GB sometime in 2008 and 8GB sometime in 2009.

 

[Civic2oo1x]

I just ordered my new system and went with 4GB of Patriot memory. For less than $200 AR, I figure it will hold me over for a while.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: pcslookout
8 GB will be the norm in a few months when newer power hungry games come out. You will need at least 8 GB ram to run smoothly and in a good comfort zone if you want anything else running even if its small in the background of Windows Vista.

We are about 14-22 months from that being the norm. I do agree we will see alot more 4gig machines soon, but the 32bit factions are going to cause a bit of a buildup there before the world bumps up higher.

More like 1 to 2 months.

An update:

Ok, well it's May 14st. By your estimation, by July 1st 2007 8gig will be the normal/average amount of memory on new machines. Instead of arguing, I guess we can visit this in 46 days.

Also, I noticed you still haven't answered my question: I am curious what your qualificatons are to make this prediciton?

Hey PcsLookout, 8 days to go... How is that prediction coming along? Care to admit your FOS yet?

Obviously the prophecy doomed itself, as buyers are now waiting for the price drop that accompanies the technology becoming mainstream on July 1st before they make their 8GB memory upgrades.

 

[Noema]

Lately, I find myself ordering PCs with double the memory each year. Here's a rough idea of what my own memory needs have been over the years:

2007 2GB (Vista)
2006 1GB
2005 512MB
2004 256MB
2003 128MB
2002 64MB (XP)
2001
2000 32MB
1999
1998 (Win98)
1997 16MB
1996
1995 (Win95)
1994
1993 8MB
1992 (Win386, DesqView 386)
1991 4MB
1990 (Win2.1)
1989
1988
1987 1MB (DesqView)
1986 512KB
1985 256KB
1984 128KB
1983 64KB (MS-DOS and AppleDOS)

Am I "state of the art". No. But I try to stay a year ahead of my clients, who typically have half the memory that I have.

My prediction: "Normal" PCs from Dell will come with 4GB sometime in 2008 and 8GB sometime in 2009.

Heh...I remember my first 386 came with only 2MB of RAM in 1992. Boy was that slow.

 

[Steve]

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=38&threadid=2073403">Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: Steve
Aren't you the guy who predicted that 4GB of RAM would be standard and necessary by this month?

Yes and that has happened.</a>

 

[lopri]

If you're gaming in Vista, 2GB is not enough. I say this with confidence, btw. 4GB is a sweet spot for Vista and I am actually grateful in that it will hasten the transition to 64-bit computing. I purchased my 2GB sticks for $79 per stick and they all do DDR2-800/4-3-3 and DDR2-900/5-4-4 @1.9~2.0V. I think they're affordable enough already.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: lopri
If you're gaming in Vista, 2GB is not enough. I say this with confidence, btw. 4GB is a sweet spot for Vista and I am actually grateful in that it will hasten the transition to 64-bit computing. I purchased my 2GB sticks for $79 per stick and they all do DDR2-800/4-3-3 and DDR2-900/5-4-4 @1.9~2.0V. I think they're affordable enough already.

2 gigs worked fine for me in Vista.
Most demanding game I played was STALKER though, can't say I ever checked how much memory that game uses.

 

[imported_Shepherd]

Originally posted by: lopri
If you're gaming in Vista, 2GB is not enough. I say this with confidence, btw. 4GB is a sweet spot for Vista and I am actually grateful in that it will hasten the transition to 64-bit computing. I purchased my 2GB sticks for $79 per stick and they all do DDR2-800/4-3-3 and DDR2-900/5-4-4 @1.9~2.0V. I think they're affordable enough already.

Which sticks are these. Sounds just like what I'm looking for.

 

[hans007]

uh with the deal sfor 2 x 1gb, wouldnt you just get 4 1gb sticks if you want a deal? almost all the "enthusiast" boards have more than 2 dimm slots anyway.

i still dont see the particular point in 4gb, unless you are some photoshop , 3d studio max and insane vmware user . hell i use vmware A LOT at work and 2gb seems to be "ok" even with 3 vms running though I'm sure it'd be better with 4gb.

still though for the normal user especially non gamer, even 2gb is probably a lot especially if you arent running vista.

 

[Peter]

Lots of amusing argument in here.

The bleeding obvious answer is "whenever 64-bit operating systems become the norm" - without one, you can't even use 4 gigs of RAM.

Seeing how we're now four years into availablility of 64-bit processors in consumer space and 99.99% of people still run 32-bit operating systems, it is safe to say that it's Just Not Happening Yet.

Vista will accelerate the transition a wee bit, while the games industry have both feet firmly on the brake.

We'll see.

 

[Mem]

Some people forget memory demand for gaming goes up with time,anybody here remember the good old DOS games that used 4mb ?..I do now 2-4GB in PCs is quite common.

2008-2009 is round the corner and anybody want to bet 4GB+ for some games will not be common?

 

[Nothinman]

The bleeding obvious answer is "whenever 64-bit operating systems become the norm" - without one, you can't even use 4 gigs of RAM.

Sure you can, 32-bit Linux and various 32-bit Windows Server editions using PAE will do up to 64G of memory. 32-bit Windows client editions can't touch memory addresses >4G intentionally because MS wants to protect you from poorly written drivers that can't handle those large addresses.

 

[Peter]

Only if you got either a Xeon, Core2 and a server chipset to go with it, or an AMD64 processor - and a server grade OS that uses PAE.

Even then, the 36-bit addressing in PAE mode is an awful crutch. Developers hate it (triple lookup table access, brilliant) - and besides, even in PAE mode, a single application still cannot have more than two gigs.

Bottom line: More than four gigs of RAM makes good sense in a 64-bit environment only.

 

[Nothinman]

Only if you got either a Xeon, Core2 and a server chipset to go with it, or an AMD64 processor - and a server grade OS that uses PAE.

Just about all of the hardware released in the past 10 years or more supports PAE and the only OSes with crippled PAE support are 32-bit Windows clients.

Even then, the 36-bit addressing in PAE mode is an awful crutch. Developers hate it (triple lookup table access, brilliant) - and besides, even in PAE mode, a single application still cannot have more than two gigs.

It's hardly a crutch, long mode on AMD64 processes uses 3 level pagetables as well and with the /3GB switch any process marked LargeAddressAware will be able to address up to 3G of VM.

Bottom line: More than four gigs of RAM makes good sense in a 64-bit environment only.

Only with regards to Windows clients.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: Mem
Some people forget memory demand for gaming goes up with time,anybody here remember the good old DOS games that used 4mb ?..I do now 2-4GB in PCs is quite common.

2008-2009 is round the corner and anybody want to bet 4GB+ for some games will not be common?

2gb is becoming common , but I wouldn't say 4GB is common. Outside of workstatoin users and some gamers (And its probably under 5% of gamers , just maybe the really extreme ones) its really still not that common.

 

[postmortemIA]

I have 4GB and no use for it other than fast cache known as superfetch.

 

[bigblockchevy]

i have 4gig on my xp64pro box. it seems faster on 4 gigs than it was on two. since ddr2 prices are about to tank i am thinking of going to 4x2gig sticks for 8 gigs. don't know if it will be worth it though.

i like the 64bit series of operating systems much better than the 32 bit xp's. for me the 64 bit overclocks higher is much more stable can handle more ram if need be and has pretty darned good driver support. i was able to use all of my hardware and all the newer stuff had drivers for 64bit. only one old 56k modem didn't have drivers.

heck i was running 2 gigs years ago--back in the ddr1 days. i have an old asrock 775 dual vista still running that two gigs of ddr on w2kpro!!

 

[nerp]

You dug up a really old thread. But your timing is excellent. 2x2GB ram is the norm today.

 

[Adam8281]

Originally posted by: nerp
You dug up a really old thread. But your timing is excellent. 2x2GB ram is the norm today.

Yes it is - things have changed rapidly on that front in the past few months. I just picked up a second 2x2GB set (for a total of 8GB) last month for $25AR.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: nerp
You dug up a really old thread. But your timing is excellent. 2x2GB ram is the norm today.

My comment when this started was "We are about 14-22 months from that being the norm. I do agree we will see alot more 4gig machines soon, but the 32bit factions are going to cause a bit of a buildup there before the world bumps up higher." And that was about 18-19 months ago.

Pcslookout still looks like a fool for his 8gig will be the norm by May 2007.

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: nerp
You dug up a really old thread. But your timing is excellent. 2x2GB ram is the norm today.

My comment when this started was "We are about 14-22 months from that being the norm. I do agree we will see alot more 4gig machines soon, but the 32bit factions are going to cause a bit of a buildup there before the world bumps up higher." And that was about 18-19 months ago.

Pcslookout still looks like a fool for his 8gig will be the norm by May 2007.

He looked like a fool before he made that comment

 

[lxskllr]

I have another 4gb coming this week. That'll be 8gb total. Hmm... only 17 months off :^P

 

[nerp]

You know, I'm tempted to go 8GB of ram on my main box, but I have a hard time justifying it. I don't see any memory limitations while gaming, that's for sure.

 

[lxskllr]

A big reason I bought, is it can't get cheaper, can it? I'll use the ram in my system now, and it'll be on hand to build a server, or repair other machines. Once DDR3 takes hold, DDR2 will start going up in price, and it won't make sense to buy. You''l have to get a new mb and cpu because the price of ram won't be worth it for an outdated system.