Windows 8 Memory Requirements?

[luciusad2004]

Anyone here using windows 8 that can comment on how much memory it needs?

I'm currently running it on an older laptop and it just seems a bit sluggish when opening applications and such. Current specs are as follows:

Core 2 duo @ 2.2GHz
2 GB Ram
Intel Graphics. GM965 i think.

Windows does seem to be eating up half of my ram but I think I can put up to 4 GBs in my machine. I was just wondering if the extra 2 GBs would make it feel any snappier of if it was likely a problem somewhere else, such as my graphics chip set.

[slaveofconvention]

According to MS, if it'll run Windows 7, it'll run Windows 8 - there are some processor issues with some old P4's but the Core2 Duo should be more than fine. Having said that, if you can get the extra RAM cheaply enough, it will make a huge difference - I don't think I have any PC's now with just 2GB (which is funny as I remember my first full system was a "monster" for having 32MB instead of the usual 8 or 16 heh)

[luciusad2004]

According to MS, if it'll run Windows 7, it'll run Windows 8 - there are some processor issues with some old P4's but the Core2 Duo should be more than fine. Having said that, if you can get the extra RAM cheaply enough, it will make a huge difference - I don't think I have any PC's now with just 2GB (which is funny as I remember my first full system was a "monster" for having 32MB instead of the usual 8 or 16 heh)

LOL, I'm so behind the tech curve it's not even funny. All the guys i work with are talking about building new rigs with anywhere from 8-16GBs of memory and I'm just confused about what one does with 16GBs of memory.

But yeah, Maybe Ill see if i can spare some cash next payday for 4 Gigs of memory. It's not really slow once applications load, they just seem to take a little time to actually get there.

[slaveofconvention]

4-8 is the way to go - 16 is overkill - and I freely admit that having just built myself a new 8 core AMD system with (wait for it) 16 gig of RAM - I look at it from the point of "I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it" - either way, I should be good for the forseeable life of the machine once I get it a new video card (Radeon 4870 was THE card when I bought it but that was YEARS ago heh) and it'll be getting an SSD at some point.

Make sure you open the memory compartment on the laptop before you order anything - there's a pretty good chance it'll have 2 memory slots and they'll both be full, with 1GB sticks but there's always a chance it'll have a single 2gb stick so you'll be able to get away with buying just the one 2gb stick instead of having to replace both of 'em.

[luciusad2004]

Well at least you can admit that it's over kill lol. Is 16 enough to just load the entirety of everything you have open in to memory and not have to worry about caching to the Hard Disk?

I was gonna be lazy and just by 2 x 2GB sticks but I guess I really should open her up and see what she has. It's just a PITA to get to the memory slot that's under my keyboard.

[luciusad2004]

Had another question.

The dell website says my laptop supports up to 4GB but some other websites are saying it supports up to 8. Could it actually be limited to 4GB or is it likely that Dell says four because at the time the laptop was sold 2 x 4GB Ram Sticks weren't available and they just never updated the specifications?

I'd hate to waste money on 2 x 4 GB sticks just to find out they don't work. Though, maybe I don't even need that much memory anyway.

Edit: Google is telling me that a bios update enabled it. Updating that now, then whenever I have spare money I guess I can pick up some more memory : )

[crenn]

4GB is roughly a 'minimum' now a days (Depending on application, 2GB is usually enough to for browsing and maybe light games) and that's what I used to build my file server (which is also being used for low powered browsing/compiling work).

[slaveofconvention]

It's probably worth going for 8 if you can swing it - right now you're probably looking at throwing away 2 x 1GB sticks and replacing them with 2 x 2GB ones - it'll annoy you all the more if you end up throwing the 2 x 2GB sticks away in a year for 2 x 4GB ones.... RAM is usually the single best bang-per-buck upgrade you can do so if you can, go for 8...

[mDust]

LOL, I'm so behind the tech curve it's not even funny. All the guys i work with are talking about building new rigs with anywhere from 8-16GBs of memory and I'm just confused about what one does with 16GBs of memory.

Trying to edit/render 4k video will fill up 8GB pretty quick resulting in abnormal amounts of performance killing swapping. The macs I've seen dedicated to such tasks often had 32GB or more...and this was many years ago. They were absolute beasts for that time. It would be like having 256GB of ram today. Probably $15-20k per machine or better...makes me sick.

• video editing/rendering
• huge (useful) ram disks
• bragging rights
• ???
• profit

[Luke122]

I'm actually about to switch careers again, but I'm currently IT at an engineering firm. We build modelling machines with Xeons cpu, dual 10k raptors (or ssd's), Quadro cards, and 16gb ram.

These are people doing huge drafting jobs, structural analysis, and rendering/modelling of buildings and structures. 16gb of ram is almost not enough on some projects here, and we've actually had people request 32gb of ram already.