is 8gb of ram overkill?

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dlahoud

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im building a system with jsut 1 video card probably 5870 or gtx 285 on a amd mobo with phenom 2 x4 265, ive heard people say 4gb is more than enough and other people say more ram is always better, will i be fine with 4? 6? i dont really do that much multitasking, when im palying a game it's usually the only thing thats running.

another question does overclocked memory really make any difference that i will notice?
 
As far as I know, today there's no application that can eat up all 8gb of RAM. Such as bkolk told, 4gb is plenty and sholud be enough for a gaming computer. (As far as you don't use iTunes, Messenger, Photoshop, Cryisis, Flash and many aplications at the same time, LOL.)
 
Well if you plan to hardcore multitask (like multiple CS4 programs open, VM's etc) then 8GB might be for you, but 4GB is really hard to use up with gaming, and normal multitasking.
 
Decoding, photo shop, hardcore video editing work etc could use the more ram, but over all it is not really necessary. But i should not say that though, because when i build my new computer in a few months i will most likely go for 8 gb's. Mostly because i would get six, but it is only a little bit more for 8gb...then i'll will also be running all the same size dimm's. Although i do a lot of multitasking and use cs4...so i guess i can use it.
 
I have 8GB of ram. When gaming I never even come close to useing it all. I used to run VM's though and I did use it then but only then.
 
I am running 8Gb in my rig as I do plan to go to 64-Bit when I get Win 7 on my rig.
 
well if if you are running a 32-bit operating system then there is absolutely no point to run over 3.5 (or what ever that number is) gb of ram. Because it is simply dormant. (im not saying this to you KC, as you know this, I'm saying it to the OP)
 
I have 8GB RAM in my system, and Windows 7 64-bit.
For me, 8GB is useful if I have virtual machines running, or if I have a lot of large programs running at once (for example, Crysis, Firefox with about 50 tabs, Photoshop CS4).

Having 8GB RAM allows me to do a lot, and at the same time I can still have page file disabled.
That makes my system very responsive when switching between programs, and it also means the Operating System has a lot of memory to use for superfetch.
So when I launch frequently used programs, it doesn't take long at all for them to load.
Photoshop CS4, for example, would usually takes a while to load. But on my system, it takes about 1-2 seconds.
As far as I know, today there's no application that can eat up all 8gb of RAM.
But you might not necessarily be using only one application.

For users that basically use the computer to browse facebook and email, then 1-2GB RAM is enough.
For users that like to play some games and do more demanding tasks, 4GB is usually enough
For users like me, 8GB can be beneficial
 
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