6, 8, or 12 gigs of RAM

[heartspains88]

Seems everyone here is running the triple channel RAM. I've read that 8 gigs of RAM is the new staple now in order for your hard drive to be the least accessed. Though newer DDR3 RAM runs better in triple pairs correct? So in otherwords, if I wanted to reach this (8 gig standard), is my only option for optimzation going with the 12? Will 8 hinder my system as it's dual pairs, rather than triple?

Simple speculation for my new build early next year.. doing all the research I can.

[tinytomlogan]

depends on your mobo for double tripple. double = 4gb min tripple = 6gb min with win7. Your hdd is always accessed as the ram is just a stop gap on the way to and from the CPU and for programs that are running

[heartspains88]

I'm going to be running win 7 ultimate 64 bit, so i'll just aim for 12gigs anyhow, i do a lot of multi tasking, and it would certainly be utilized... was gonna pick up the asus x58 sabertooth late next month most likely.

[tinytomlogan]

6gb is fine unless you are a mental video editor. Ive never seen my rig go over 6GB

[AlienALX]

The trick with ram is getting it right, as always.

If you have too much and you don't use all of it you will hurt performance as it all needs constantly addressing. 6gb (as Tom said) is usually way way enough.

I have 4gb, 3gb usable and have never seen it all in use. Even though my 470 is stealing 512mb of the 3gb available.

[equk]

I think the only reason to have 12gb+ is if it's for something like a vmware esx server. Otherwise it just seems a waste.

Originally Posted by Heart

I'm going to be running win 7 ultimate 64 bit, so i'll just aim for 12gigs anyhow, i do a lot of multi tasking, and it would certainly be utilized... was gonna pick up the asus x58 sabertooth late next month most likely.

I know windows uses a lot of memory but I've never seen any home user fully utilize 4gb so 6gb triple channel should be more than enough.

It depends on what you use it for, I think everyone multitasks on their systems as it's been a selling point since the pentium MMX

Obv depends on what apps you're 'multitasking' but would say unless you're doing something like editing 1080p video streams or running your pc as a esx host 6gb should be more than enough