How much is too much RAM and SSD storage?

Hello all!

Finally got my Malibal (Clevo) P170EM up and running, and I'm looking to add the final pieces to my brand new system.

Currently there is some Corsair Vengeance RAM, 2 x 8GB for ~$86 at Newegg. My system has 4 slots, and I have Windows 7 Ultimate, so is 32GB worth it? Doing mostly gaming, Civ 5, Skyrim, Diablo 3, Witcher 2, Mass Effect, a few others. Will be word processing and other simple student stuff, and watching movies (blu-ray player).

I'm also looking to set up a RAID 0 config with 2 SSD's. Seeing as my chipset is 7-Series and the Intel RST will pass TRIM through a RAID 0 config, what would be a good size? I have a 1TB external hard drive and I also plan to set up a wireless back-up system to prevent any loss of data in the event of a catastrophic event.

Newegg also has 240GB Corsair Force Series 3 ( Newegg.com - Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F240GB3A-BK 2.5" 240GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)) for 139.99 after rebate.

I'm hearing a lot that 32GB is just wholly excessive, and I can see why that just seems unnecessary. As for the SSD RAID 0, I need more help and advice on that.

All input is greatly appreciated, thanks!!

 

You do not need 32GB of RAM unless you're trying to run all of that at once (aside from the normal "If you're asking if you need something, you don't need it), you don't even need 16GB but if you feel like getting it, up to you, won't hurt anything.

As for RAIDing together SSDs, dual 256GB SSDs (You'll get something near 500GB with it) will probably work without being too expensive, but if you're just playing games, the most SSD's will do is allow the game to load faster, you won't get FPS gains out of it. If you're creating a backup system to keep from data loss, then again, its up to you if you want to spend the money for it. You'd get more benefit from the dual SSD's than from having 32GB of RAM, but again, do you really need to do that or do you just want to?

 

I have a sager 8150 with 8gb of 1333mhz and that is plenty for me and any future games. I am charity system builder and 99% of the time 4gb is more than enough for anyone.

I do my living on Ebay with a HP 2560p elitebook with 2gb on a single channel. That is more than enough to run 25 User Accounts.

It just depends on what your using your computer for.

 

As the others said, it really depends on your usage. I tend to recommend a minimum of 8GB for gaming now, i personally use 16GB because i either have a ton of programs opened and i also need it for work purposes. I will likely go with 32GB on my next notebook.

Regarding the SSD space, it also comes down to how much you need and what you want to be on the SSD.

 

Hell, I can't even use up the 12GB of RAM I have with what I do. Maybe if I wanted to try running six VMs at once @ 2GB RAM each, maybe... But normal usage, I can't even hit 6GB, or 8GB with a 2GB RAM VM.

I'd just go up to 8GB of RAM and use the rest of your budget on a quality SSD. I haven't heard any particularly bad things about Corsair's SSD offerings, though the usually go-to lineup includes Crucial, Plextor, Samsung, and Intel. $140 for 240GB is a good deal, though. Just avoid OCZ like the Plague and you should be fine.

 

FEM calculations (the ones that are light enough to run on a laptop anyways) are the only real RAM hog in my case, something which 99.9% of people won't ever do. In normal usage, i often go over 4GB, but rarely over 8GB, i never went over 12GB for normal use/gaming.

 

If you want the most balanced system, then I recommend to max out the RAM your computer supports.

At $85 for 16GB RAM I would be installing 64GB if I could!


Many will say 4/6/8GB is enough - they're simply wrong.

To not repeat what I've already recommended in a very similar situation:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...s/685312-so-how-much-ram-does-gamer-need.html


Hope this helps.

Good luck.

 

^^^ I'm sure that the CPU and especially GPU would be outdated and useless long before OP can max out 32GB

 

i'll upgrade to 16gb when i unintentionally max out the 8gb i have now. and, like most of us, i do some pretty serious multitasking. so i would stick to 8gb for now, if not just to keep the money in your pocket till you're sure you want to spend it.

as for storage, i'm probably not the right guy to ask. i opted for drive quality D) over quantity/space. a 120gb primary drive + external storage suits me just fine.

 

Agreed, nothing there is too RAM intensive... now in my case today I would kill for 48+ in a Precision or elitebook w

 

Assuming that along with Win7x64 Ultimate the OP has an IB 3610QM processor and above:

To 'max out' 32GB of RAM - all he has to do is:

- simply copy/backup his data across multiple devices.

- become interested in Video Editing.

- become interested in Image Editing.

- become interested in Audio Editing.

- leave his computer (and programs) running without shutting down the system (too many times) per day.

- etc., etc., etc...


The CPU doesn't get outdated by having more RAM - it is actually enabled by it...

The GPU is also enabled by more RAM (check how much RAM your GPU 'reserves' when you have more than 8GB installed).

For $85 x2 for 32GB RAM vs. the cost of his new setup (I'm guessing ~$2K) this is a ridiculous discussion.

As I said already: for the most balanced (for performance) system (Win7x64 Ultimate and IB QC), maxing out the RAM is a no brainer at these prices.

 

Of course, arguing over an $85 upgrade on a $2k computer is financially silly, but I'm just wondering why 32GB now? Of course, sometime in the future, 32GB will be the "norm" (nobody needs over 640K memory, right?), but today I don't really see it.

Maybe leaving all his programs running at once and not shutting down... that seems practical. Though for editing, I'd imagine that you'd have to get into the professional, this-is-my-day-job levels of editing to see a practical benefits of 32GB.

Just my opinion though. $85 is a drop in the bucket, as you said.

 

Thanks everyone for your opinions! I should have stated that I already have 8GB of 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM in my system already, and yes, it is i7 3610QM.

I don't plan to do more than gaming, and even then, mostly one game at a time. I'm a student whose always traveling, so movies help too, but I don't plan on watching multiple movies with multiple games open at the same time.

I believe I will be focusing on getting a RAID 0 SSD setup and take advantage of my 7-Series mobo so the RAID setup will benefit from TRIM.

EDIT:

The setup currently is:

i7 3610QM
Radeon 7970M
8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600Mhz RAM
(added a blu-ray burner and matte screen for a total of 1769, no taxes paid and free shipping)

Thanks again! And I would still appreciate further comments!

 

If you think that additional RAM will not be beneficial, why do you think that RAID0 SSD's will do anything more?

Forget the Corsair Force series SSD's; Crucial M4 (256GB or 512GB versions), Intel 520 Series or Sandisk Extreme Series SSD's (240GB versions) would be my only choices.



You're welcome for the info, but you're missing the point: no, you won't be watching multiple movies (or gaming) at once - what will happen is that you'll get into different things than what you envision now.

For the price of what you could buy 16GB of DDR3 PC3-12800 RAM, you could have 32GB right now.

And it won't go to waste (like your idea of RAID0 SSD's will... - for your uses they will make your system slower, not faster...) - you'll be enjoying it every time you use your system.

Please, read the link I posted - this has been brought up many times before...

 

RAID 0 SSD's is somewhat useless IMO, there is no speed benifit, extra headaches and if one drive fails you lose the data on both .....
Like tiller said look at the m4 and intels especially. many problems have cropped up in the Corsairs , but nothing close to the OCZ junk.

 

I have to agree on the RAID 0 SSDs unless you're of the "because i can" type which is perfectly fine, but then you'd go for 32GB too.

I'm the happy owner of 3 Crucial M4s and an Intel 320 all have been going strong without any issues. Mushkin Chronos Deluxe, not so much which is why the replacement i got through RMA is still unused right now.

 

I think I understand what you're saying. I will probably go for 32GB of RAM. Would you suggest a larger SSD instead of getting 2?

 

yes a single larger SSD is a better speed/space/cost/power usage idea normally.

 

Indeed, the difference between 64GB, 128GB and 256GB is easily observed. Lower capacity SSDs do not have all the controller channels populated which in turn means that you can't write to as many NAND chips simultaneously resulting in lower write speeds. It isn't the only factor affecting speed, but it is a major one.

 

If you'll be getting a drive bigger than 240/256GB then the only one I see worth getting is the M4 512GB version.

(ALL Sandforce based SSD's bigger than 240GB's are MUCH slower than the 240GB capacity versions).

 

I see. I'm not sure at this point. Its been awhile since I had a gaming system, and even then, my drive was messed up then because I had 2 x 500GB 7200 RPM HDD, and they had roughly 4 partions, and the OS had so little, but Steam only worked well on the OS drive...so I'm not 100% sure. I'm think 512GB is the optimal size, and I have an external 1TB that I plan to carry around my digital movies/animes/etc.

 

Steam lets you install to one drive and keep your games on another now, its buried in the options, but its there, I just found this out myself a few days ago.

As for my personal experience with SSD's, either Intel or Samsung are good choices, haven't owned a M4 but aside from the 5000 hour bug I haven't seen anything come up online of notability, and the only thing I really know to stay away from is OCZ's drives

512GB is a bit too expensive personally right now, if you can get away with carrying a 2nd drive at least, or if you can have a secondary inside of you laptop, go for a power efficient HDD. I have a 256GB SSD with a 750GB HDD inside my laptop and a 500GB external that I have almost no use for (but I picked it up for 30 dollars, was too low to pass up ).

 

Here is a good price for a good 512GB SSD ($399.99):

See:
Crucial M4 2.5in SATA III Solid State Drive, 512GB at Memory Express

Here is a better price ($374.88):

See:
Crucial M4 SSD 512GB 2.5IN Solid State Disk Flash Drive SATA3 6Gbps - DirectCanada



However, if you do a 25% price beat at Memory Express,

See:
Memory Express - Price Protection


You can get the SSD for $368.60 (or $0.72 per GB).

This is a much better option than 2x 240GB SSD's when maximum capacity is a concern - even if you're saving $50 (but losing ~32GB).

 

I'm partial to getting it on Newegg, mostly because I'm using their preferred account.

 

I wasn't pushing any specific store - just showing how the price isn't really the price anymore...

Talking about Newegg, their price is $399.99 right now.

How much do you save with a preferred account?