[xdude]

I'm still using Windows 7. I'm not the type rush at new technology. I only moved to Windows 7 when they stopped support for Windows XP. I used Windows XP for more than 12 years. So I really don't want to jump to Windows 10 yet. So I think I will go for another 8GB RAM. Here even a used DDR3 8GB RAM cost about 50 usd. I have to check if I can get 2, 4GB RAMs for cheaper. Machine has 4 RAM slots. I'm about 5 generations behind when it comes to latest Computer technology. The processor is an i5 4th Gen one.

Now what I do need is go for SSD drive for OS. I hope this might speed up things a bit.

[Drcool]

Depends on what you are doing.

If you are using Linux. You might not need a ton of ram.

If you are using a specialist distro like PuppyLinux, you wouldn’t need much ram at all.

If you are making movies and intense 3D art, you may need more ram.

[itshyzune]

In my opinion 8GB is enough rn. Often the bottleneck is the disk, if you are not using a SSD. If we wait 1,2 years more RAM is getting much cheaper and the applications may use less.

[lagos911]

It depends what kind of work you are doing... for gaming 8gb its OK.

[kezimo]

What programs are you using that you need 8gb of ram?

[Buzzy]

When using 8GB RAM without swap file on disk, some particular tabs in the latest versions of Firefox (with nearly 100 tabs open) crash with with message 'Sorry your tab is down. Reload?'
So switched to 16GB and feel good :)

[Alonzo]

The needs of ram, it depends on your usages, lemme explain more if you would like to lunch gta 5 on you computre you need a high ram if you want to run GTA sa you can run it with 1g ram like i said it depends, so what i can suggest you, if you are not going to lunch programs that use a lot of ram don't waste your money.

[rleeson24]

I had 16 GB RAM that I was filling up while using Chrome and several instances of Visual Studio.  When running the system with the RAM almost all in use, it causes the OS to write the least used memory bytes to the hard drive, which slows down reaction times too.  8 GB is barely enough to run the OS anymore.

[Freya009]

Yeah! these days 8 GB RAM is just not enough and multi-tasking is one of the reasons for it. Now browsers provide the flexibility of opening multiple tabs but that also utilizes a lot of RAM as well.

[Timfajr]

16 gb of ram and using ssd is the new standart for smoothest experiences possible :)

[lipici]

When using 8GB RAM without swap file on disk, some particular tabs in the latest versions of Firefox (with nearly 100 tabs open) crash with with message 'Sorry your tab is down. Reload?'
So switched to 16GB and feel good :)

Indeed you're a unique case. Not even people who works getting payd by ads per click not end use 100 tabs. I wonder what jobs or hobby makes you open 100 pages ?

8GB and no problem until now. Just marketing 16GB.

[adrenal]

I think in this Year (2019) , 8GB of RAM for a PC which using Windows 10 is enough if you do normal work on it , but if You want to play Games or do some graphic works like Autocad , Photoshop , etc You should Upgrade your system to a higher level of Random Access Memmory to run all programs and games compeletely without any lags!

[alberblk]

8gb ram and enough yes depending on the degree of the person, I as programmer do not use nor 90%, but yes have people who open games, browsers and other things, anyway 8gb ram still da for the expense, of course, in my opinion

[xt449]

12 GB of RAM is now often what you want to aim for with the amount of memory that operating systems like Windows reserve (or just always use).
My current desktop has 8 GB RAM DDR4, but only 6.9 GB is "available for use". And unfortunately all of my other RAM sticks that I have are DDR3 so I can't even use them.
If you are afraid that you will run low on RAM, just get a little bit more. The way that developers are writing programs now is much more focused on speed and energy usage rather then minimal memory footprints.

[reav]

I recently upgraded my PC from 8GB to RAM to 24GB of RAM. I did this to future proof my PC a bit longer and for me at least 8GB was barely enough. I was using at least 90% of the 8GB when running intense applications making it ard for me to have other applications like web browsers open at the same time. With the new upgrade everything runs a lot smoother and I now only use about 25% of the memory.

Do you think that 8GB is enough RAM or is more required to have  a smooth experience?

today 8gb is the basic setup, i swap from Chrome to Brave to save up some resource

you can have 2 or 4gb but you will be able only to use the browser and some old games

[agentsky]

Depends on what OS and application you are using.
For linux it's more than enough. For windows 7 and 10 the minimum RAM is 8GB. It will run basic application and a little multitasking, even browsing now a days is very hungry for RAM allocation specially chrome. If you are using image editing apps and multitask 16GB or more is highly recommended.

[alternjt360]

It is dependent on what you use your system for. If you're just browsing the web, checking mail, playing simple games like chess or watching youtube then it is enough as long as you don't keep 100 tabs open.

My browser tends to hit 3-4 gb if I leave it open for couple of days. (Go figure) plus I run virtual machine for couple of things. I usually use around 8-9gb on average. I have 16gb DDR3. My system is out of date, but it does what I need and I don't need to build a new system just to show off.

[hunky]

8GB RAM is now the basic requirement for a new system. Surprisingly web browsers today are the worst RAM consuming software. Even the basic computer needs like, social browsing, studying, streaming, basic office jobs like word, excel would certainly need one to use browsers like Chrome / FireFox.

Open few tabs, do some multi tasking on websites & easily you will end up with large amount of RAM being used by these browsers.

I happen to use a laptop with 4GB RAM running Windows 10 & always I am with more than 85% RAM usage. Mainly with single browsers Window & 4/5 tabs open.

Last of all, RAM prices have come down a lot plus you can easily get 8GB single stick so if you are buying new system plan for at least 8GB with ability to add more if needed in future.

Thanks.

[Genesis]

Surprisingly web browsers today are the worst RAM consuming software. Even the basic computer needs like, social browsing, studying, streaming, basic office jobs like word, excel would certainly need one to use browsers like Chrome / FireFox.

Nice post. I'm curious, since you only have 4GB RAM what browser are you using with your laptop?

[hunky]

Nice post. I'm curious, since you only have 4GB RAM what browser are you using with your laptop?

Sir, I am using Mozilla Firefox on this 4GB RAM laptop. Earlier I used to be with Chrome.

There is nothing different with both the browsers. Extremely RAM hungry.

Thanks.

[Aleš Réman]

I use 16 GB of RAM for my desktop computer. Previously I used only 8GB but the price was so low that it was worth buying. I usually use apps like Darktable, GIMP, Hugin and normal libre office and firefox. Occasionally QGIS for creating maps and FreeCAD for creating models for 3D printing.

OS: Opensuse tumbleweed

[zasnan]

Depending on your requirement. I think for normal use of computer 8 gb is more than enough but if you are a gamer or graphic designer some times even 12 gb is not enough for you to render high end games or graphic software.

[blanewaxman]

I recently upgraded my PC from 8GB to RAM to 24GB of RAM. I did this to future proof my PC a bit longer and for me at least 8GB was barely enough. I was using at least 90% of the 8GB when running intense applications making it ard for me to have other applications like web browsers open at the same time. With the new upgrade everything runs a lot smoother and I now only use about 25% of the memory.

Do you think that 8GB is enough RAM or is more required to have  a smooth experience?

I switched from Window over to Linux. A barebones Linux system can run on 512MB if you just need a server. 2-4GB if you want a fully featured desktop with all of the bells and whistles. Even the Linux community complains about bloatware though. There are a lot of complaints about systemd being bloatware. So much so that there is now a Debian fork that has no systemd. Devaun Desktop can run on as little as 512MB of RAM and a single processor core. Tried it out in VirtualBox but there were some issues getting the wireless networking up in install phase when I tried to install it on bare metal. (which is typical of Debian based operating systems). Last time I ran Windows 10 it was on a dual core system with 6GB of RAM it was painfully slow taking nearly an entire day to update.

I would say generally consumers are not picky enough about their software. If people actually complained to the developers about software being poorly optimizaed and actually opted to buy other software or use open source. What gets me is that people will pay for software that barely works. Generally 8GB of RAM and a quad core is still enough to do most things you would do at the office. Spreadsheets, word processor, email, etc. It's enough to compile a new kernel and live build the system you are working with. Really depends on what you are doing with the system.

[kblee]

Chrome uses too much RAM so I upgraded to 16GB recently, and it's still not enough lol

[Genesis]

Chrome uses too much RAM so I upgraded to 16GB recently, and it's still not enough lol

Do all browsers more or less use the same resources or is Chrome ahead of them all? Have you tested Mozilla Firefox yet?

[amsamglobal]

I was happy with 8GB of Ram till I started to host my own Discord channel. Then my computer crashed. I added 16GB of RAM and now the issue is that my processor can't use it all. But the channel worked to host 24 people.

[desmond99620]

I would say 8 GB is enough for basic browsing but for future proofing I would suggest atleast 16GB if someone building PC in 2020, preferrably dual channel memory configuration.

I mainly used for gaming and had 16GB, but recently updated to 32 GB after i started using my system for video rendering in after effects. And it is using up all the 32GB as well.

So its all depends on the application which we are using. And the Motherboard support as well

[joesab]

depends on what you do bro

I used to get along with only 2 gb of ram

now a days programing 
gamming 3D design and Ai software
32 is barely enough for me

so it depends on what tipe of thing you do

if you are just browsing and using office suite you are good even with 4 o 6 gb

[dels]

I agree with many of the comments, it depends on what you need the computer for.

That being said, I think RAM more than any other component (with SSD following closely these days) gives you the biggest bang for buck in performance improvement.
Many people go out and buy a newer computer because of performance reasons, in my experience if their computer has capacity, simply doubling the RAM will give the performance benefits they are looking for.