Will doubling RAM make any difference on laptop with SSD?

Macboatmaster said:

It is very confusing at least to me
so are you now saying that this backup computer is the one with the spinning hard drive - not the SSD and you are asking will 16GB of ram be worth on it on just a backup computer, because if so the answer IMHO is NO

Sorry to confuse you. Both of my laptops have SSD. My query was about doubling RAM, if I'd notice any difference if I'm running an SSD. Both devices have solid state storage, but of course RAM has a closer path to CPU.

I had thought about possibly installing a more current (and larger) SSD, as present is older Samsung 850 model from 2017). But I suspect that the performance difference in something like the Samsung 870 won't net much of a gain.

zebal said:

@cytherian
For which games?
If it's not because of games then no, you won't even notice the difference unless you spend current 8gb with what ever programs.
getting faster RAM might give small performance for gaming, otherwise it's a waste of money.

A mix of games, but none with very intensive graphics (laptop GPU isn't up to it, IMHO). I agree, at this point it's probably not worth upgrading RAM.

RolandJS said:

RAM is providing "a work space, a work desk" for Windows. I'm old school, back when Dino used any Windows before Windows 7, more work space simply meant less pagefile operations, less hard-drive usage. Maybe speed is not the issue, just less possible page filing?

cereberus said:

It is all law of diminishing returns 1 to 2 GB makes a big difference, 2-4 still big difference. 4-8 some difference. 8‐16 can make some difference depending on what apps you are running but for most users not a lot of gain.
However, if you run virtual machines, 8 GB is bare minimum really as each vm really needs 4GB.

Yeah, not planning on running virtual machines on this laptop. It doesn't really have the coolant management to handle it well. I thought perhaps more RAM might expand page filing capacity to allow for more workspace data loaded in RAM versus page cache. But I think for the most part after looking around at current offerings, probably best to withhold any more upgrades and just save up for a new system down the road. I'm tempted to get a laptop with Thunderbolt 3 so that an eGPU could be leveraged.

RolandJS said:

"...It doesn't really have the coolant management to handle it well..."
Adding an external usb cooling assembly (one giant fan or twin fans) will definitely help keep laptop from getting hot. It will get quite warm from time to time, however, it will not get hot and do a sudden without shutdown.

I have to say that's one thing that impressed me about this old HP Envy m6 Sleekbook. It has metal all around (lid, base, etc). Very heavy. But not a generous cooling vent. At times it has gotten so hot with the laptop resting on my thighs in bed, sheet in between, that it's too hot to touch with my fingers for more than a second. Major heat, with fan ramped to the max. I'd have thought the laptop would've done a forced shut down. I'd lift up so the vent is totally clear and actually blow on it to help. Within about a minute, it would be cooled off enough that the fan would step down. I understand that extreme heat shortens the life of the CPU, so I've been mindful to avoid this now. I do have a USB cooling platform I've used on my desk, which helps a lot. It's the thigh position on the bed that's the occasional problem.

cytherian said:

Going from a mechanical HDD to a quality SSD was like going from a Ford Fiesta to a Dodge Charger. Made a nice huge difference in performance for my old laptop.

But I'm also curious to know... does it make any sense to upgrade my RAM from 8GB to 16GB? Or is by virtue of having an SSD means that cache is already fast enough? I do not run compilers or any other highly intensive programs. About the most taxing would be some video editing. I'm guessing it won't be much of a difference, not nearly if it was with the HDD still in place. But just wanted to confirm. Thanks!

Hi,

I'd personally check what laptop you have, as well as what the service manual says for your device and what your current RAM is like.
If you only have one slot, there's not much you can do.
If you have two slots and they are both populates (2x 4GB, for example) it may not be worth sourcing 2x 8GB sticks.
If you have a single RAM slot used and an empty RAM slot then the best thing you can do is fill it with another RAM stick of the same capacity. So if you have 8GB, upgrade to 2x 8GB (16GB RAM).
RAM shouldn't cost that much nowadays, I've seen RAM sticks (8GB) for about £30, or whatever the equivalent is in other currencies.

As for other people suggesting a larger SSD, 500GB should be OK for use in a secondary device. Besides, when I last checked, upgrading to 1TB would cost at least £80, normally its closer to £100. It would be cheaper, and more beneficial, to go 16GB RAM especially if you have a spare RAM slot.