12GB RAM: Is it too much?

[Khallkaroth]

Title says it all, I'm sitting on 12GB DDR3 RAM. For playing some of the current MMOs and maybe a round or two of TF2, is this too much RAM for me to get full use of?

[Judge Malthred]

Seems like that might be over kill unless you are playing a game with 'Ubersampling' which is only something I have come across in The Witcher 2.

Your operating system also has to support using that much RAM as well doesn't it?

[BlubQ]

Unless you arent playing Minecraft -> you dont need so much ram for those games ^_^

[Noomz]

8 is almost too much. 12 would be ridiculous for gaming.

[-Atlass-]

Yes. 12GB is ridiculous overkill for gaming unless you're going to run like 25 games at one time (even then, 12GB is nuts).

To the above poster, different OS's recognize different amounts of ram. For example, I think Win7 Ultimate recognizes up to ~196 Gigs.

[Arrcus]

No, just use 4 gigs of that for a ram drive. Anything over 8gb is only utilized if your using CAD, CAM, photo/video editing and after effects, etc.

[Incognito Noctix]

For what you use it for, it's a bit overkill. But lots of RAM is always nice to have

[Ximenez]

I got 16 GB DDR3 ram 1600 Mhz. but for me its not an overkill, sometimes im using up to 15 GB of RAM at the time. Using alot of after effects, photoshop and a 3D drawing program. but when youre only a gamer, 4 to 6 gb is enough

[Munk]

Need 12gb? nope, is it a problem to have? nope.

[Judge Malthred]

Yes. 12GB is ridiculous overkill for gaming unless you're going to run like 25 games at one time (even then, 12GB is nuts).

To the above poster, different OS's recognize different amounts of ram. For example, I think Win7 Ultimate recognizes up to ~196 Gigs.

196 gigs.... what would that ever be used for? Rendering a Transformers movie? lol

[Makoblade]

12gb is pretty reasonable. You don't really *need* that much, but it's a lot nicer than sitting at only 6.

[OhpUldum]

Well we don't know what else you are doing while gaming. You could have skype, mumble, teamspeak, ventrillo, and 20 firefox windows open while gaming at which point ya 12GB's of memory is great. If all you are doing is gaming and running an anti virus software then you can get away with 4. I personally run 8GB's but if you have 12 already just stick with 12.

[Deleted]

I've got 4 gig of ddr2 ram and wow runs fine with that, but i think if i had an i5 or whatever quad/6/8 core cpu (got a 8200 duelcore at min) then i'd go for 8 gig of ddr3 as that seems to be the sweet spot for not to much and not to little for hd res gameing accross the board.

Also with anything over 4gig of ram make sure your using a 64bit os as 32 bit will only see UPTO 4gig depending on gpu memory.

Found the ram limatation on each win 7 version (64 bit)

Starter: 8GB
Home Basic: 8GB
Home Premium: 16GB
Professional: 192GB
Enterprise: 192GB
Ultimate: 192GB

[Khallkaroth]

Thanks for all the feedback. With BF3 coming out I wanted to see how 12GB really stood up to what most people are using. Though I don't use it all, knowing I sit on Overkill is a good feeling

[Skuff]

It can be over kill unless you are running multiple programs at once. but also keep in mind it also depends on your operating system, Win 7 32 bit only supports 4gigs win 7 pro is only 8?? and once you get in to 64 bit Win 7 it gets out of control i think the best version of win 7 64 is something like 148Gig!! Dont quote me on some of these numbers the only one i know for sure is win 7 32bit is only able to handle 4 gigs so if this is what u are running the rest is a waste

[Saurus]

I use chrome, and I have a 64bit os - I say chrome, because every chrome tab is a new process (which means if 1 tab fails, it kills that process and not the entire browser) - and I open a lot of tabs, and games/movies open and I use about 50-60% regularly, I've been up to 80%.

IF you need it - get it - else, dont bother

[Saithes]

RAM is cheap, enough said.

[Xykotic]

i say just keep/buy the 12gb ram, ram is dirt cheap and some day you'll need that 12gb of ram

[elimin]

Lol, ram is cheap, get 16 for 20 bucks more and never buy ram again. As far as the discussion on ram capacities... go check out blade servers. One blade can have several terebytes of ram.

[Nelfie]

It's NEVER too much, if your computer is working fine while using it, then keep on truckin.