We stretched it further by running Chrome, Firefox, Photoshop, and 2-3 more apps all together. With 8GB RAM, we opened multiple apps along with Chrome browser with 6-7 tabs, and we didn’t encounter the reloading issue. What’s significant was the number of apps opened in the background. The apps started to load a tiny bit faster, but the opening speed wasn’t significant compared to 4GB RAM. Now we upgraded the RAM to 8GB, and here’s what we have noticed. For working on MS-word or Notepad, 4GB RAM was enough. So the overall experience with 4GB RAM was laggy if you open 3-4 apps together. Chrome alone works fine with 3-4 tabs, but opening more tabs started reloading everything.

The laptop used to reload all the apps again and again. With 4GB RAM, we noticed a significant lag while opening multiple apps and switching between them. Then we upgraded the RAM to 8GB and checked how much of a difference it made in performance.

So the real question is if you are currently capped by your 8GB.To test it, we started using the laptop with 4GB RAM for a few days to see how it performs in daily life. More RAM means more available resources period, especially with a 64bit system. Besides, even if your one game can only use 2GB, doesn't mean other applications can't use more, or that you can't use many applications at one time.

If they are installed on a 64bit system there are ways for them to make use of far more than 2 or 3GB of RAM. It depends on how they are coded and how they interact with the system. I have had 32bit apps use far more than 2 or 3GB. While it is true that 32bit apps are mostly relegated to 2GB of RAM, this is not always the case. Then there is the whole 32-bit gaming concept. I would not really bother with higher speeds than 1600 either as there has been little evidence they help that much with higher OCs (unless you are doing extreme OCing with phase change cooling or LN2 cooling) or performance in games. If it does, then there is no problem using 4 sticks.Īlso, typically 1600 RAM will give you a little more room for OC over 1333 RAM, but that is not always the case. The only difference between 2 vs 4 is whether the board supports Dual Channel on all 4 Dimms. If you get XMP certified RAM, you just set the XMP profile to 1600 and you will be fine. Wow, there is a lot of information in here that is really interesting and some of it is slightly off.įirst the question of RAM being slower with 2x4GB vs 4x4GB.

8gb vs 16gb ram laptop