The 8GB of RAM of my Win10 x64 system seem to be quite enough for the installed applications, as the amount of used memory (as shown by Task Manager) never gets over 5-6GB during normal use.
Having recently recovered from another PC a 4GB compatible memory bank, I'm wondering whether to install it or not.
Would Win10 benefit, performance wise, of 4 more GB of RAM or would it be just an... useless addition?
First, I never recommend mixing ram, brands, speeds or models. Although it is possible to do it, you are asking for trouble.
Second, unless you are running low on ram, it is not worthwhile. Unless you are using all of what you have, you would not use the additional ram.
I too, having dealt with PCs for a few decades, tend to think it's not worthwhile.
However, fearing that some kind of... narrow-mindedness could arise from those decades, I thought that maybe modern operating systems could somehow profitably "use" the excess memory, thanks to some new technology or optimization technique I was not aware of.
PS. I also agree about not mixing ram; in this case, anyway, the mix shouldn't be particularly dangerous as no overclocking is involved and both the memory types are included in the compatibility list provided by the motherboard manufacturer.
I wouldn't buy more RAM for an 8GB system, but since you already have the 4GB, it wouldn't hurt to install it just to see if there is any performance gain.
The biggest benefit of that additional RAM is you can run virtual machine without having big impact where you are now. I upgraded from 8 GB to 12 GB and can now run 2 4GB windows vms concurrently with main OS. Windows vms will run in less but they are slowwwwwwwwww.
Hi there
just to add to previous posters comments
for VM's you can never have too much RAM -- even dissimilar RAM provide system accepts it at boot time.
RAM is so much faster than even SSD's that the problems of mixing different RAM combinations these days is grossly over exaggerated.
Technically it could slow down the OS by a smidgen but compared with even SSD's it's still lightning fast.
My main criterion would be if you insert the RAM and the system recognises it and boots -- go for it.
That said for typical type of non gaming applications most systems don't have a problem with RAM --hideously slow HDD's with almost zero cache will have a far worse effect on performance than almost anything else.
Cheers
jimbo
If concerned with performance one can adjust the BIOS to use dual-channel memory [instead of single channel] when using 2 or more memory modules. Haven't tried it with 3 modules, only 2 or 4 in matched pairs. And the modules need to be in specific banks or slots, e.g. DIMM 1 & 3 or DIMM A & C, there's a few combinations as determined by the maker of the motherboard.
Mixing memory is iffy. If it works consider yourself lucky. Even my ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero Z170 motherboard will not work with mixed memory. I have 16GB of Corsair memory (certified for this motherboard by ASUS) and 16GB of GSkill memory, also listed for this motherboard. Both are same speed, etc. Either will work OK but if I install both it will not boot and shows a memory error.
Back to the 16GB, which I have installed as I also use this for my recording studio. I have never been above 6.4GB of RAM used, that I know of, even with a relatively large recording file.
Some gold standard for today's computers is minimum of 1GB per CPU core and 2GB/Core very comfortable. Even if it doesn't look like you are using a lot or RAM, a lot of it is going to be written to virtual memory so even with a fast SSD it's noticeable hit on performance.
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