8gb or 16gb question

[Sharpbladez]

noob question.

If I have 2 monitors & want to run 2 WoW accounts or 1 WoW & 1 Hearthstone at the same time, would it run better with 16gb ram?

My current (really old) computer has 8gb & can run 2 games at once, but its really laggy. I assume that might be cuz of the old graphics card or processor. Just trying to decide if its worth getting 16gb when I get a new computer soon.

[chazus]

Need more spec information about what your rig is.

I upgraded from 8 to 16, but I was running WoW, HotS, Youtube stuff, 5-8 tabs in chrome, and a a couple other games too.

[JCD000]

Most new games recommend more than 8 nowadays so I'd say it wouldn't hurt upgrading.

[S7orm]

Absolutely. I'm running 2 WoW istances fine even with addons, but you can't really open anything else. WoW + Hearthstone is fine but pretty much all the other Blizz games will cap the RAM if you're running WoW on background.

Also don't buy used GPU at the moment, chances are you'll be getting worn out slave miners

[Osmeric]

Go with 16GB.

[Kagthul]

need to figure out how to tag Lathais so he can get in here with his RAM usage link.

with RAM prices currently through the roof, 8 GB is fine.

Most games work well even with 4GB of RAM, even with lots of background stuff going on.

And without knowing what your CPU and GPU are, we cant even begin to speculate.

- - - Updated - - -

Absolutely. I'm running 2 WoW istances fine even with addons, but you can't really open anything else. WoW + Hearthstone is fine but pretty much all the other Blizz games will cap the RAM if you're running WoW on background.

Also don't buy used GPU at the moment, chances are you'll be getting worn out slave miners

Just for shiggles i fired up every Blizzard game i own (HotS, Hearthstone, WoW, SC2)...

yep. using a whopping 9GB of RAM (out of 16).

Two WoW accounts is about 4.2GB of RAM.

Ill screenshot it later, just for posterity.

Games do not use as much RAM as you think they do; or, more precisely, if lots of RAM is available, theyll happily load stuff into it, but there is almost no performance loss of any kind with less RAM - most of the time, all that extra info sits there unused.

Two instances of WoW should be fine on 8GB of RAM. If you're having stuttering issues, it might be an issue with the power of the rest of your rig.

[S7orm]

Just for shiggles i fired up every Blizzard game i own (HotS, Hearthstone, WoW, SC2)...

yep. using a whopping 9GB of RAM (out of 16).

Two WoW accounts is about 4.2GB of RAM.

Ill screenshot it later, just for posterity.

Games do not use as much RAM as you think they do; or, more precisely, if lots of RAM is available, theyll happily load stuff into it, but there is almost no performance loss of any kind with less RAM - most of the time, all that extra info sits there unused.

Two instances of WoW should be fine on 8GB of RAM. If you're having stuttering issues, it might be an issue with the power of the rest of your rig.

HS, HotS and SC2 will probably use less memory combined than a single WoW instance if you only open them and stare at the login screen, just like WoW will only use ~1Gb until you log a character (1.8-2.1Gb). D3 for example is happy to eat as much RAM as it likes (I just logged for test, started at 1.4Gb and two rifts later I was close to 3Gb). It highly depends on what you're going to play and whether or not you're running addons (i.e. TSM uses a lot of memory between realm data, TSM suite and TSM App)

You're looking at an extra 65€ to be sure you can run WoW in background while playing anything else and watching Netflix/Youtube on the second monitor, not sacrificing your first born to the RAM gods.

This is Lathais' link anyway. The reason they're not seeing big FPS drops is because they're paging on a moderately fast SSD. They could completely remove the RAM from the system and achieve similar results

[Tiberria]

With WoW, 8 Chrome tabs, Outlook, Discord, Spotify, Twitch client and general background apps (Logitech keyboard and mouse apps, etc.), I hit 7-8 GB of RAM utilization. I think that if you want to leave anything else running with 2 WoW instances, you'rem going to want 16 GB as the baseline minimum. I also think that 16 GB is more and more becoming the standard, even for non gaming machines, and it won't be long before you see 32 GB be what the default is for high end machines/gaming laptops, etc. I would go with 16 GB for sure.

[Zeta333]

i mean gaming pcs should have 16 as the standard now. I just built a 32gb ram machine myself.

[Logwyn]

i mean gaming pcs should have 16 as the standard now. I just built a 32gb ram machine myself.

Pfft. 32GB Need to get up to 256GB run a RAM disk and Profit!

[Kagthul]

HS, HotS

Actually playing that. Hearthstone was just sitting at a menu. I hate that game.

and SC2 will probably use less memory combined than a single WoW instance if you only open them and stare at the login screen,

Running a replay.

just like WoW will only use ~1Gb until you log a character (1.8-2.1Gb).

Flying around the broken isles via flight paths (while playing HoTs)

D3 for example is happy to eat as much RAM as it likes (I just logged for test, started at 1.4Gb and two rifts later I was close to 3Gb). It highly depends on what you're going to play and whether or not you're running addons (i.e. TSM uses a lot of memory between realm data, TSM suite and TSM App)

ALL of my add-ons (including TSM) dont break 200MB. And yes the app is running on the desktop. All 77MB of it.

With all that going on, i decided.. hey, i dont really browse the web on here (thats what a daily driver is for), but fire up Chrome and load all of the tabs currently open on my Daily Driver, iPad, Phone, and Chromebook. Comes up to about 30 tabs. Fire up two YouTube videos at 1080p, just for shiggles, and head back into HotS after putting my Warlock on another continent spanning flight path and checking to make sure the SC2 replay is still going.

Never hit 10GB of usage.

You're looking at an extra 65€ to be sure you can run WoW in background while playing anything else and watching Netflix/Youtube on the second monitor, not sacrificing your first born to the RAM gods.

This is Lathais' link anyway. The reason they're not seeing big FPS drops is because they're paging on a moderately fast SSD. They could completely remove the RAM from the system and achieve similar results

SSDs are fairly commonplace on gaming rigs now, if not totally ubiquitous, but i dont think that's it. Tomorrow ill boot off of my old spinning rust that still has a Win 10 install on it, and see if there's a difference.

My prediction? There wont be.

Ill also add a third WoW client to the stack (i can just run the one installed on the HDD). Just for shiggles.

I was starting to get some issues primarily just because i was running out CPU grunt, with all 8 threads running pretty much maxed out.

Without knowing what kind of hardware the OP has, its impossible to say its RAM. He could have some i7-920 in there or something. We dont know.

[Sharpbladez]

Thanks for all the info. I think I'll go with 16gb

[Kagthul]

Thanks for all the info. I think I'll go with 16gb

We still have no idea what your rig is.

You could add the RAM and still have serious performance issues if the rest of your rig isnt up to the task. That's why we asked.

[Sharpbladez]

Well I was looking to buy a new computer, not just upgrade what I have since its so old, so I didnt wanna post my current specs.

Im planning on buying a prebuilt CyberPowerPC in the $600-$800 range. I know I could build my own, but I dont want to.

I was looking at this one: https://www.walmart.com/ip/CYBERPOWE...luded/55764659

It seems like a good deal to me, but Im not sure if its a big difference over a cheaper option like this one: https://www.walmart.com/ip/CyberPowe...luded/51578207

[Zeta333]

Well I was looking to buy a new computer, not just upgrade what I have since its so old, so I didnt wanna post my current specs.

Im planning on buying a prebuilt CyberPowerPC in the $600-$800 range. I know I could build my own, but I dont want to.

I was looking at this one: https://www.walmart.com/ip/CYBERPOWE...luded/55764659

It seems like a good deal to me, but Im not sure if its a big difference over a cheaper option like this one: https://www.walmart.com/ip/CyberPowe...luded/51578207

why not build it.

[Moozart]

why not build it.

Well in the same link i saw "Walmart" and "Cyberpower" . While Cyberpower by itself Ican almost let slide... But from Walmart? Get it directly from Cyberpower.

My Verdict --- Lazy and or just flat doesn't know how (regardless of what he says he can do)

[Zeta333]

Well in the same link i saw "Walmart" and "Cyberpower" . While Cyberpower by itself Ican almost let slide... But from Walmart? Get it directly from Cyberpower.

My Verdict --- Lazy and or just flat doesn't know how (regardless of what he says he can do)

in this day in age there is zero excuse to not learn how to build a pc, the knowledge will only help you more in the future. in fact it should be a requirement for every pc gamers to build thier own pc. The shit cyberpower pulls is plain stupid.

[Kagthul]

For a less snarky/arrogant apraisal of your two choices, the first one (Ryzen 1400) is the only one of the two worth considering; the FX-series isnt even worth looking at.

Troubling, though, is that the Ryzen system doesnt list a GPU. It has to have one (no onboard graphics for Ryzen) but who knows what it is.

Dont throw away your cash. For ~800 you could build FAR better.

- - - Updated - - -

Looking up the Ryzen system on Cyberpower's site, it seems it has an RX 580 4GB, which isnt awful. IF GPU prices werent sky-high because of the Etherium rush, you could still build better for that price, but with the prices up, thats actually not an awful price for that system. You are taking some risks going with Cyberpower - they often use low-end components for PSUs, HDDs, and often RAM. Thats not a "its gonna blow up for sure" statement or anything, just something to be aware of.

[Sharpbladez]

I figured I would regret admitting to buying a prebuilt. Ive built a computer before, but I just dont feel the price difference is worth it. My current computer is a CyberPowerPC & its held up great.

[Kagthul]

I figured I would regret admitting to buying a prebuilt. Ive built a computer before, but I just dont feel the price difference is worth it. My current computer is a CyberPowerPC & its held up great.

Well, like i said, with current GPU prices (especially at the midrange, like the RX 580 in that prebuilt) being sky high right now (double MSRP if you can get them at all), that sale price on the Ryzen 1400 system isn't awful.

Its a little more than you would pay to build it yourself if cards were at MSRP, and assuredly uses cheaper components than you would if you built it yourself, but its only.. "slightly" gouging. For a pre-built, and the specs, given current prices, its not awful.