How much RAM do you consider adequate?

How much RAM do you consider adequate?

  • 512MB

    Votes: 41 15.8%

  • 1GB

    Votes: 117 45.2%

  • 2GB

    Votes: 77 29.7%

  • Over 2GB

    Votes: 24 9.3%
  • Total voters
    259
Ian

Ian

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The amount of RAM required to run new OS's and software applications has increased quite considerably over the past few years, and yet some computers still only come with 256MB RAM.

What do you consider the "baseline" to be for the average system to run well?
 
You can get away with 512MB, but i think 1GB is the way to go for a non gaming machine. :)

But i think 2GB for games is almost a must. :nod:
 
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Depends on what the PC is running and what the desired performance is.
I voted 2GB because by todays standards, that's where things are headed.

Remember when things worked sufficiently on 16MB?
Sloppy code and cheap RAM dictates that you gotta buy it!

512 is fine for the patient/archiving/Office apps.
2GB is really needed to use anything like VMWare/Video Editing/Any game less than 12 months old/the impatient.
 
i reckon 512MB is the minimum for a basic PC, 1GB is preferable for a general PC that is used for things a bit more than just word processing and internet, 2GB if you can afford it is the way forwards i'm running 2GB on my new system and have quite easily used half of it through multitasking
 
If you do any graphics intensive programs, CAD, video editing and the like, or gaming, 2Gb minimum.

1Gb for Office, Photoshop & similar.

512Mb minmum for any machine.

In my opinion ;)
 
For as cheap as it is ....fill all available slots ...2GB defo minimum though
happywave.gif
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I have learned the hard way ...upgrading 2morrow as machine is sluggish with 1GB. Friends has 4GB maxed out
 
The amount of RAM required to run new OS's and software applications has increased quite considerably over the past few years, and yet some computers still only come with 256MB RAM.
Click to expand...
There has been a few Laptops I have "worked" on that only had 128mb ram, and yes, these were brand new. :rolleyes:


No comment! ;)
 
Ian Cunningham said:
What do you consider the "baseline" to be for the average system to run well?
Click to expand...
For the 'average' system I would say 1GB these days, but my primary rig has 2GB even though I don't do gaming and just a bit of video editing every now and then - keeps it running nice and smooth :)
 
2GB here too - and now that I've had it I wouldn't want to go back to much less. Bex's PC has 512MB in it and I'm probably going to upgrade that if she gets back into playing HL2/Neverwinter as it just isn't enough.

I'm with the general consensus that 1GB should do the trick for most people and 2GB for power users.
 
2Gb for video and gaming . So why am I running with slow 1Gb . Well the poxy 2Gb of fast ram I bought ain't compatible with me mobo . So do check that your memory will work before you buy . :(
 
A gig, sometimes a gig and a half. depends on what you are doing, but it is so very easy to over spend money on sticks of RAM.
 
Ive got my laptop with 512Mb, and while its still working alright, i think a little memory doubling may be in order soon!!
 
Adywebb said:
For the 'average' system I would say 1GB these days, but my primary rig has 2GB even though I don't do gaming and just a bit of video editing every now and then - keeps it running nice and smooth :)
Click to expand...

I think so too, 1 GB is a must for any average user.

But sadly I only have 256mb on my PC and laptop :(
 
floppybootstomp said:
If you do any graphics intensive programs, CAD, video editing and the like, or gaming, 2Gb minimum.

1Gb for Office, Photoshop & similar.

512Mb minmum for any machine.

In my opinion ;)
Click to expand...

Well i would say 256Gb of ram for windows xp.

Gaming 1Gb of ram.

But the basic today i would say is 512Gb ram.

There is no game at the moment using 2Gb of ram.
 
Remember when not so long ago 1GB of ram was considered "more than enough" for gaming? Then soon after a game came along that actually gave people with 2GB's of ram a loading time edge over the 1GB'ers for the first time. (i.e. Battlefield 2)

As a Power PC enthusiast I was already ready for the incoming gaming advantage of all these new games that now have "2GB of ram" in the "preferred" specs.. because I ignored the "1GB is really enough" thing back then. Now the next PC I build in 2007 will again have a lot more ram that I think I'll need; because I know that soon enough the bar will eventually be raised again, like it always does.
 
For the basic PC system that will be used to surf the 'net, check email and possibly the occasional word processing task, 512 MB should be enough. However, if you think you'll do more than that, go for 1 GB. My Pentium III, 1 GHz has 512MB of memory and it runs fine with Windows Professional 2000 on it. My PowerMac G5 runs OS X 10.4 with 1 GB of memory, and sometimes I find it runs slow... but then again, I'm heavily using Adobe Creative Suite along with other programs.

I'm sure when my kids grow up, we'll be laughed at when we talk about our computers having 512MB or 1 GB of memory. Probably by then, basic memory will be 8GB or more...
 
I can remember when 4MB of RAM was the pinnacle of the modern PC & anything else was just so OTT.
My DX486 had a massive 2MB and it was one of the quickest PC's you could buy for 2k, now it's not worth 10p!
 
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