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is the 8gb ram worth it?

MoggSquad

Member
This article is very telling for those that are like me and want to do some gaming when they travel. This made my decision to stick with the 4gb much easier. I play mainly League of Legends (which played fine on SP2 4gb) and know most of my Steam games will run fine. I was hoping for extra scalability to do something like Battlefield 4 (which may still be playable at very low settings), but I'm not ready for the i7 / HD5000 plunge.

The Tech Buyer's Guru - Does Memory Matter? 4GB vs. 8GB vs. 16GB in Gaming (Page 2)

Their conclusion:

Two systems, ten different games, three memory amounts, and lots of runs of each benchmark. And what can we conclude? Well, it seems that the initial findings based on our first test system hold true - RAM amount simply doesn't make a big difference for performance - we witnessed at most a 4 percent difference in average frames per second jumping from 4GB to 8GB, and no boost to average FPS jumping to 16GB. Furthermore, part of the 4GB systems' deficits could have been due to running in single-channel mode. Based on our findings, we're confident saying that if you're on a tight budget, whatever money you spend on more than 4GB would definitely be better spent on the next level of video card, or perhaps a quad-core instead of a dual-core processor.

But there is a caveat, and it's a big one - you really have to "manage" your RAM more with 4GB. First of all, you'll want to limit background tasks. All of our tests were performed with the minimum of applications running in the background - if you tend to have a number of programs running while gaming, having just 4GB may be an issue. Also, keep in mind that you need to allow Windows to run a substantial page file when you have 4GB - our attempts to benchmark with the slim 1GB page file we use with 16GB of RAM led to running out of virtual memory upon launching some of our games with only 4GB of physical RAM.

So what's our advice? 8GB is probably the safest bet, not because it adds much to performance, but because it will allow you to do more with your system. As for 16GB - we'll stick to our guns here. We might run it in our test rig, but in no way, shape, or form do we recommend it to users who are only interested in maximizing gaming performance. The extra $60-70 is much better spent on other components. Maybe one day, if memory drops back down to $4/GB, which it hit in December 2012, we'll say "RAM is cheap, get 16GB," but until then, 8GB is our target for any reasonably-priced gaming system.
 
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Mikeyqp

Member
I've never had anything with 8gb of ram. I once went on my friends laptop which had 8gb, and I was blown away at how quick everything popped up and closed even with multiple programs and tabs running. It felt like nothing was going to slow his laptop down. Thus i want that experience and went ahead and got the 8gb model. Btw I'm an extremely average type of user lol.
 

scottysize

Member
...

So what's our advice? 8GB is probably the safest bet, not because it adds much to performance, but because it will allow you to do more with your system. As for 16GB - we'll stick to our guns here. We might run it in our test rig, but in no way, shape, or form do we recommend it to users who are only interested in maximizing gaming performance. The extra $60-70 is much better spent on other components. Maybe one day, if memory drops back down to $4/GB, which it hit in December 2012, we'll say "RAM is cheap, get 16GB," but until then, 8GB is our target for any reasonably-priced gaming system.
Those systems are using video cards for graphic processing. The additional RAM will help the Surface more than it would these systems. Also, their advice, go with the 8GB of RAM is especially important with on-board graphics such as the surface.
 

MoggSquad

Member
I understand, but have seen enough benchmarks from SP2 (and played a few of my own) knowing it does fine in many games.

I'd much rather have the hd5000.

Those systems are using video cards for graphic processing. The additional RAM will help the Surface more than it would these systems. Also, their advice, go with the 8GB of RAM is especially important with on-board graphics such as the surface.
 

Atomic Walrus

New Member
People never seem to get this so I'll repeat it: The amount of memory only impacts performance when you run out. Up until you saturate 4 gigs there will be no difference between having 4 or 400 GB of system memory. You may see minor variations due to timings of individual units of memory or dual vs single channel configurations, but there's zero advantage to extra empty memory from a performance perspective.

Whether or not you need more RAM is determined entirely by what your normal usage consumes, so do some experimentation and figure it out. Remember that some of the system memory will be used as VRAM so if you're right up against 4GB it would be advisable to go with 8.

I've never had anything with 8gb of ram. I once went on my friends laptop which had 8gb, and I was blown away at how quick everything popped up and closed even with multiple programs and tabs running. It felt like nothing was going to slow his laptop down. Thus i want that experience and went ahead and got the 8gb model. Btw I'm an extremely average type of user lol.

Honestly this sounds more like you went from a system with a spinning HDD to an SSD.
 

ipaq_101

Active Member
It's not a single program that causes the problem. It's running multiple programs at once. I always say, go big on RAM and stay in the middle on CPU. More RAM wins out every time you have a slowness problem. And let's face it, all version of MS are RAM hogs.

Now, let the Scott bashing begin.

Scott, I actually agree with you. When I bought laptops in the past I would always order the lowest amount of RAM and then buy and install my own memory once it got cheap enough and maxed it out.

Problem nowadays is that the memory is baked into the board or it's impossible to open up new laptops/tablets because they glue everything together to get them so slim.

Also with integrated graphic cards you are going rely even more on RAM, gaming laptops or higher end ultra-books have dedicated graphics (with 1GB or 2GB) and that is why you can get by 4GB of RAM easily.

I would say if you plan to keep the SP3 for more than a few years, upgrade to 8GB, because there is no other way to upgrade it in the future, it's soldered on to the board.
 
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Jvette

New Member
I say buy what you can afford. With the upgrades being what they are and you have to pay a lot to get 8gb It may not be worth it for you. I'm use to a system with an I7 and 32gb ram and a ssd drive so it is really fast. I do a lot of photo/video editing so I need the power.
 

JesseDiaz

Member
Are you sure you have enough pagefile? I had that problem on the SP2 4 gig with Diablo 3, then I had it with the 8 gig SP2 with Diablo 3. Turns out it was just whining for more than 1 gig pagefile...
What pagefile size did you use for your 8gb SP?
 

cdf3

Active Member
While still within my return period, I wonder as well if 4 GB is enough for my needs.
I tried opening as many programs as I could, and I never maxed out the 4 GB of RAM.
Since the Surface Pro isn't my only computer device, I'm thinking I will be fine.
I'd hate having to spend extra for something I don't need, knowing within a year or so my device will be outdated.
Especially with new chip technologies coming out.
 
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