Understanding RAM: When is more better?

[beavereater]

I have 8GB of RAM and with the prices the way they are I can go to 16GB without a problem. The thing is, as far as I can tell, RAM is really for people who want to run multiple applications at the same time. Is this correct? Say I use Premier Pro and start rendering a video and decide that while it's rendering I would work in Lightroom and Photoshop, is this when RAM will allow me to go between those applications without anything getting 'glitchy'...or am I totally missing something?

[mike20021969]

RAM is really for people who want to run multiple applications at the same time.

I remember this being said years ago if you had 1GB of RAM.

Exactly how many applications do we want to have (or are expected to have) opened now?
I have 2GB RAM and have no more than 3 programs opened at any time.

[TimA-C]

The easiest way to tell if you could benefit from more RAM is to bring up the Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), go into the Performance tab and start loading up the programs you would normally have running and see what the Physical Memory numbers are doing.

[Cornucopia]

It is also about the applications and how they use data. Video editing doesn't use that much until you get into multilayer, compositing mode. Then it can balloon. Photoshop can easily use many GB if you are using DNG/RAW files, use 32bit-per-color modes, or have large poster/billboard sizes. The layers thing applies here, too. Same with hirez mulitrack audio, stereo 3d DI, or any 3d animation project of any complexity. And that's just media apps - don't get me started on scientific modeling stuff.

Scott

[transporterfan]

The advantage to having large amounts of available RAM is that it reduces hard disk access, thereby speeding up computer operations. Any increase in RAM is a good thing. If you can go to 16GB, do it. You will appreciate the benefits immediately if you frequently multi-task.

http://kb.iu.edu/data/aagb.html

Another added bonus is you could set up a RAM Drive, the speed increases in file swaps (video editing, clips) will be phenomenal, even faster than SSDs.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/260918/how_to_supercharge_your_pc_with_a_ram_disk.html