[quote name='Sirisian' timestamp='1313511065' post='4849897']
[quote name='Lode' timestamp='1313494036' post='4849801']
That means I need to dive into the world of current hardware again, but some websites are just too chaotic or require you to have followed the hardware trends for the last years.

Don't bother with 16 gigs unless you actually have a need for it.

With 2 - 4 GB package deals on New Egg for just $60 why the hell not? I plan on buying a new PC by christmas and it's going to have a 2 GB vidya card, 16 gig ram and either a pehnom x2 6 core or the bulldozer. Beasty.

Why buy something that is as easy to update as RAM now, just 'so you have it' in the future?

because all the powerful AMD cards have been snapped up by bitcoin miners

Buy one 2x4GB for $60 now, plus a game or two. In a few months/years when you find yourself actually using more than the 8GB, then buy more. Maybe you'll find it on sale for even less at that point, or be upgrading to a completely new system with the next gen of ram.

It makes zero sense to buy computer hardware that you're not going to actually use, because you'll just pay more for no good reason.


If you expect to use it, then yes, of course, spend the money now and make use of it. But if they don't plan to make use of it, then it is as useful as suggesting to someone that they need to buy a set of spare knobby off road tires for their new truck when all they want it for is moving stuff around in a city. Pointless and a waste of money for something they're not going to use at that time.

Why buy something that is as easy to update as RAM now, just 'so you have it' in the future?

Wow, seriously? Bitcoin has an actual effect on the hardware market?

So that's what all this computational power is used for, rather than for science, or, of course, games?

Oh heck yeah. Graphics cards are cheaper than multi-cpu boards that support multi-core cpus. With the projects that turn GPUs into massively parallel processors just set up a three way sli/xfire and you've got a bitcoin churnin machine.

It makes zero sense to buy computer hardware that you're not going to actually use, because you'll just pay more for no good reason.[/quote]

Unless you are SC2 pro-gamer, you won't be using full GPU 95% of the time. There is also next to no software which is multi-threaded to any meaningful degree, so 2 cores will do.

8GB is good, 16GB is better, 24GB is nice.

The advantage of plenty of RAM is that you never hit swap file. And if there's still too much, make 4GB ramdrive, put /tmp or \temp on it. Or run CI on it.

Or run 5 VMs, each with 2GB of RAM. Or something.

Considering the prices, RAM is one of cheaper ways to scale. Especially since anyone doing any kind of creative work never has "will not use more than". It also saves you from that annoying swap trashing when trying to process 100 RAW photos or similar.

It makes zero sense to buy computer hardware that you're not going to actually use, because you'll just pay more for no good reason.

Unless you are SC2 pro-gamer, you won't be using full GPU 95% of the time. There is also next to no software which is multi-threaded to any meaningful degree, so 2 cores will do.

8GB is good, 16GB is better, 24GB is nice.

The advantage of plenty of RAM is that you never hit swap file. And if there's still too much, make 4GB ramdrive, put /tmp or \temp on it. Or run CI on it.

Or run 5 VMs, each with 2GB of RAM. Or something.

Considering the prices, RAM is one of cheaper ways to scale. Especially since anyone doing any kind of creative work never has "will not use more than". It also saves you from that annoying swap trashing when trying to process 100 RAW photos or similar.
[/quote]

Did you actually read what was written, and think about what it says?


If you are actually using all that ram, then guess what,... You are using it, and therefore it makes perfect sense to have it.

If you never find yourself pushing more than 2-6 GB of ram, then running 16+ is a waste of money that could have been spent on something more valuable to you. Such as putting a little more of the budget toward a SSD that will make performance that much better.

If you usually find yourself only pushing 2-6 GB of ram, but know that you may sometimes be using more, then you have to make a judgement call on whether you want to put that little extra in for those few times you need it, or just suffer through the handful of slow times. There is nothing wrong with having lots of ram you rarely use, just think before you build a system.