What is a decent amount of memory to have on a new Windows 7 box? [closed]

Question

I'm not a serious gamer or anything. Just don't want Firefox to grind to a halt after three hours.

Will 6 GB be a comfortable amount of RAM?

Update: Thanks everyone! I may stick with 4 GB until I figure out the impacts of 64-bit. Appreciate all of your responses!

Answer 1

4GB is more than ample for day to day usage and then some.

I would only start to look to go over that if you know you are going to do some serious virtualisation, CAD, or things hat will use up a lot of memory.

I do programming, basic CAD (Not huge diagrams), video editing and a heck of lot more and I only get near 4GBs when I am doing virtualisation at the same time.

My next pc will probably have 8GBs next year - but only because prices have dropped and "I can" not because I need it! I think 4GB would keep me happy for the next few years.

...So, 6GB should be fine!

Answer 2

Since most applications are still 32-bit, they are limited to 2GB of address space. So a single firefox instance completely maxed out would consume, at most, 2GB.

That being said, RAM is cheap and people multitask. There's no reason to have less than 4GB and if you can afford more then get more.

Answer 3

6 GB will be more than plenty. :)

as of this writing that is (someone else is often misattributed for having said "640K ought to be enough for anybody" :).

Answer 4

I run just fine on 2GB, Gaming, using VMs, Firefox on all day, so on.

6GB will be PLENTY.

Answer 5

I was using Windows 7 with 2GB of RAM and a dual core processor (S939 Athlon X2 4200+). It was fine. Upgraded to Core i7 w/ 8GB of RAM. Have been playing back and forth with 8GB and 4GB trying to get the RAM stable. IMO, 2GB should be the minimum for any system that you're running 7 on, although I suppose you could get away with 1GB if you're running a web-only netbook. If you're planning on doing anything more that web browsing and basic office apps, upgrade to 4GB.

Going to 8 GB won't be a complete waste. A lot of it will depend on usage patterns. However, one thing that is quite apparent to me when running 8GB instead of 4GB is that alt-tabbing in and out of full screen games is a lot smoother. Should it be, considering that the games aren't using even 2GB? No, but it is.

Answer 6

As others said, 4 GB is more than enough. I have Windows 7 with 4 GB DDR2 800 MHz RAM and it's running very smoothly.

Main reason to go for 6 GB would be if buying new motherboard with DDR3 triple-channel architecture. And even then you would probably be OK with "just" 3 GB, since DDR3 is still a bit expensive. If you have 6 slots on motherboard you can always buy more RAM later.

One thing to keep in mind though, if you buy more than 4 GB RAM, you will need to install 64 bit Windows to make use of it.

Answer 7

Have just upgraded from Vista home premium to Windows 7 works perfect....only got 2gb ram.

Answer 8

Benchmarks on games have been made to what is the best amount and configuration of phyisical memory you should have on W7. Results showed that have 2x2GB Is the way to go. They showed that having 4x2GB or 4x1GB can reduce performance actually in some situations.

Unless you are planning on running 100 tasks at the same time, 2x2GB is the best for now

Forgot the page with the benchmark, but look up on internet: you'll see most people agrees 2x2GB is better