MEMORY

Hi all i have 6gigs of memory i7 asus sabertooth x58 modo what can i expect if i put in 3 more sticks to take it to this is what i have now
Cas Latency: 9
Voltage: 1.65V
Multi-channel Kit: Triple Channel Kit
Timing: 9-9-9-24
Model #: CMX6GX3M3A1600C9
12 gigs ?

Unless you're a heavy gamer, I doubt you'll see much difference.

6-8GB is fine for what most of us want to do.

Is the extra expense worth it?

Cas Latency: 9
Voltage: 1.65V
Multi-channel Kit: Triple Channel Kit
Timing: 9-9-9-24
Model #: CMX6GX3M3A1600C9 I am not sure about timing would it be better to get fastertiming just trying to see if thire is any littel thing I can do to make it better this was my first build and it blows my d@ll xps out of the state .The build was simple booted first time with no problems

One more opinion FWIW. The extra RAM may not do much today, but with all the advances being made in software, peripherals, devices, etc the extra RAM may be a necessity in the very near future. So if you think you're going to keep the machine for a while, I'd say go for it.

The speed of the ram or it's stable overclock makes a little larger difference IMHO.

I think there is balance that needs to be obtained. Faster RAM is not really going to help if you don't have enough RAM to begin with. I would much rather have 6Gb of standard speed RAM than 3Gb of super fast RAM, for example. And if I am bottlenecking performance with a graphics card that can't keep up, then extra and/or faster RAM will just be in a "hurry up and wait" state most of the time - a waste.

Some people will say that 4GB with Win 7 Ultimate is very adequate, but it will utilize more if it is avaiable. Go with matching modules or a matched kit of 12GB.

4Gb is more than "adequate" for most people! In fact, so is 3Gb on a triple channel architecture motherboard.

Most people use their computers to research on the Internet, do work and school (Office) projects, read email, manage their photos, and music, do their banking and social networking, and perhaps watch an occasional movie.

Most people don't do hard-core gaming or graphics editing. And by graphics editing - that's not photoshop stuff - that's serious computer aided design and engineering (CAD/CAE) graphics.

Sadly, we don't know the intended purpose here.

That said, "adequate" in my book means "satisfactory - just barely". That would probably be running with 2Gb or less. With Windows 7, my recommended minimums are 3Gb or 4Gb (depending on channel architecture) for more than "adequate" performance for most people, even the occasional gamer.

As Britton notes, Windows will happily use more if it is available. And to that, my preferred and the "sweet-spot" (that is, the most bang for your money) with Win7 and modern hardware is 6Gb for triple channel and 8Gb for dual channel motherboards. Less than that and performance degrades at a steep, noticeable rate; more than that and performance gains are just marginal, if noticeable at all. And much of that is because 6/8 is already more than enough.

Of course, to take full advantage of 6, 8 or more, you MUST have a 64-bit OS. But 32-bit is legacy stuff. Windows 7 and 64-bit are meant for each other.

6Gb is already a lot. Will you notice an improvement bumping to 12Gb? I know I would be upset if I didn't. But the facts are, it may not be noticeable at all. And if it is, it would only be during "extreme" demands - which tend to be few and far between. What does Resource Monitor say now? My motherboard is dual-channel, so I have 8Gb. I rarely have less than 5Gb available. Though not a gamer, I do have two 22" widescreens full of gadgets (and they can use a lot! ), open docs and browser windows with many tabs, Mailwasher, and Sirius/XM Internet radio streaming - currently using 2605Mb total. So the question is, do you need more than your 6Gb or would your money be better spent somewhere else?

We also don't know anything about the rest of your system. Can your PSU and system cooling handle the extra demands? What is your graphics solution?

At this point, not knowing anything else about your system, my recommendation would be my standard recommendation when there's already a decent amount of RAM - spend your money on more graphics horsepower instead of RAM - even if that requires a power supply with more horsepower too.

Today's computing is VERY graphics oriented. If you already have a monster graphics card (or two) (or three!), and a properly sized, quality PSU, and money to burn - then go for the RAM. Wait! Which i7?

It really just depends on your system, the software programs you run and what you typically do with your system, as to what might be an "appropriate" amount of physical memory if there is such a measure.

But there certainly are ways to evaluate your current usage, under various stress/load conditions or normal idle/steady-state or when you have your typical mix of programs and windows open. Some people have dozens of tabs open simultaneously in one or more web browser windows forever, some people have 30 programs open at once, and others don't.

First, some 3rd-party products like Aida64 (formerly Everest) very clearly show your current utilization and remaining free memory, as well as total available.



Or, you can use Windows TASKMGR, and then go to the Performance tab, and push the Resource Monitor button, and then select the MEMORY tab:



Or, you can run PERFMON.MSC setting up a set of "properties" that displays the same Resource Monitor information which TASKMGR displays, but over time in a graphical window on your desktop.

For example, here's the "properties" setup for running PERFMON.MSC:



and here's the resulting graph showing the paging rate over time in yellow, with the CPU usage over time in dark blue (for my 4GB Win7 Pro x64 system):