RAM upgrade

[fwh32720]

i just purchased:
27”
3.7 i5
580x
512 SSD
8 gb RAM

I was going to upgrade some ram myself but wanted to see how much people suggest.

I mainly do general computing, internet with a lot of open tabs, MS Office, YouTube, and some Lightroom and Photoshop (at an infrequent hobbiest level)

No games or video editing

Might do some home video editing in future—but nothing serious.

I was thinking about buying 16 Gb which would be a total of 24 gb.

I know people say you can never have too much ram. But I’d rather save the $100 if an additional 32 for total of 40 gb would be overkill.

Thanks in advance.

 

[neutrino23]

It's a very hard call. I would try it for a while just with the stock 8GB and see how that goes. This might give you a feel for how much more memory to install. I think 32GB will be the recommended choice just because it is the middle value. Adding 64GB would be overkill for almost everyone. If you are already making the effort to add memory 16GB seems a little light. On the other hand, if $100 is important to you then you should consider this seriously.

 

[fwh32720]

It's a very hard call. I would try it for a while just with the stock 8GB and see how that goes. This might give you a feel for how much more memory to install. I think 32GB will be the recommended choice just because it is the middle value. Adding 64GB would be overkill for almost everyone. If you are already making the effort to add memory 16GB seems a little light. On the other hand, if $100 is important to you then you should consider this seriously.

Thanks for the reply! The 100 dollars isn’t really important, but I figured why spend it if I wouldn’t notice a difference either way.

 

[Rockadile]

Additional 16GB.

Even if the RAM was full in your usage, the SSD is fast enough to bring the suspended apps back into the RAM with no slowdown like a regular hard drive.

You just may have to close LR and PS after you're done if OS isn't wanting to release the RAM.

 

[NoBoMac]

24GB might be overkill as well.

Why not use the machine with Activity Monitor on, to see what the memory pressure is like? Then can make an educated guess on if need to go to 24 or more.

 

[briloronmacrumo]

As others noted, you have the flexibility to test before deciding. My feeling is 16 GB of RAM is the current minimum anyone should consider. Spending a little more for 32 GB when you've already committed to a $2400 machine seems reasonable to me. YMMV.

 

[cynics]

You are going fill all the sodimm slots so you'll need to remove RAM if you ever need to upgrade again.

That said doing your task plus more (Resolve) and having 24gb would rarely start using swap files. So there is a serious loss of return on investment around there for me. With modern SSD's there is even less noticeable effect.

So while I would do 32gb, if you don't want to waste money 16gb might be better. And honestly 8gb isn't terrible, on my MBP I have 8gb and can't notice swap being using in daily task.

 

[EEzycade]

Just go online and download more RAM. Hehehe.

 

[fwh32720]

Thanks for the replies. I have received my device and will keep an eye on activity monitor.