Is 16 GB ram overkill?

[MASONTX]

I received an offer from Newegg today for 16 GB ram (4 x 4 GB). The price was reasonable, but I couldn't help thinking that 16 GB would be way more than I would likely need. This brings up the question, who would need 16 GB ram, and what is the optimal amount for most users?

[Irithori]

Depends on the usecase.
My workstation has 8gb. Which is ok as I run 2-3 VMs on it concurrently.
For a DB developer trying things on his workstation, 16gb is also nice.
Server usage? Yes please. Can I have some more?

A desktop for web browsing and mail? 16gb are overkill

my 2c

[oz]

Depends on the usecase.

That says it pretty well.

Most users can probably get by fine with 2 to 4 GB of RAM, while others might need 24 GB, or more, depending on what they do with their computers.

[elija]

Well, I'm running 16GB of ram and the good thing about it is there is a lot to play with. For example, I have a 512MB /tmp mounted from my RAM which gives a real speed boost. You can also run multiple and quite chunky VMs with memory left over.

But ultimately, I'm running 16GB because I can ^_^

[oz]

But ultimately, I'm running 16GB because I can ^_^

Right... it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. I've never liked being close to the limit with hard disk space, either.

[Roxoff]

I received an offer from Newegg today for 16 GB ram (4 x 4 GB). The price was reasonable, but I couldn't help thinking that 16 GB would be way more than I would likely need. This brings up the question, who would need 16 GB ram, and what is the optimal amount for most users?

There is an old vulcan proverb... The size of your memory is important.



If the price is reasonable and you don't have any more pressing need of the money, then go ahead. If you find it's too much (yeah, right...) you can always take some out and send it to me

[Rubberman]

I have 8GB on my workstation, but if I was to enable more servers I would increase it to 16GB most likely. Better more than you need than less...

[MASONTX]

So the answer seems to be that servers need more, work stations that run multiple VM's need more, and home users may not have to have that much memory, but it can't hurt. Is that about right?

[Rubberman]

As someone once said, there are times when more is better...

You need to determine what your normal maximum memory requirements are, and then make sure that you have adequate RAM to support that. Once you hit the swapper, performance will take a significant dive; however, if this is a rare situation, then you might be able to tolerate it when it happens.

[MASONTX]

With the 4 GB I have now, I never see any lag that appears ram related. Occaisionally I have wireless issues, but that is the network not my ram. The cropping of snapshots seems fast, my system goes from off to ready to use in 41 seconds, and the sudoku, majong, and foobilliards I play all seem snappy. I keep multiple browsing windows open, and when I am working on documents often have 2,3, or more search windows open, all of which seem to be plenty fast. All that is why I wondered what I would need 16 GB for, especially as a home user. Thanks to all who enlightened me.