16GB vs 32GB 17r3

My Alienware 17r3 currently runs 16GB of RAM. I was considering looking at upgrading to 32GB as the prices on Crucial seem quite reasonable but wondered if there is much advantage by in doing so?

I tend to only play WoW and apart from that don't do a lot of games or anything too intensive so it might not give me anything that I would notice

I also don't understand the difference between the different memory types available, 2133 vs 2400 etc. Is there any easy explanation of which is the best to get?

It looks from the invoice that I currently have 16GB (2 x 8GB) of 2133 MHz memory

Thanks for any thoughts

 

Personally i don't see any benefit in having more than 8gb of memory actually. Anything more than that would be required for video editing, virtual machines or RAM disks.
Performance wise, 2133 vs 2400 would be barely (if not at all) noticeable

 

To see any advantage you'd have to do something extremely specific to memory use. For instance you are doing some quant math task like a monte carlo simulation and you wanted to pre load a 20g data set into memory and keep it there.

Unless you are doing something like that... you will see absolutely no advantage in going from 16g to 32g

 

I concur with the previous two posters. Monitor your RAM usage and see how much you need. If you aren't using more than 16GB then adding more is purely a waste of money.

I had 32GB in my Sager thinking I could use it all. By the time I had enough VMs and other programs running to use up to 21GB the CPU was pretty taxed. I never could get it above 21GB used and that was an extreme, not real world situation because I was actively seeking to load up RAM intensive applications.

 

I don't even touch the sides of 16gb.. but i dont do any VMs.

 

As said, the primary use at these quantities of RAM would be for VFX where you are caching to RAM for playback, and possibly for very heavy renders (P sys and/or shatters, for example). But since 32gb of RAM appears to be under $200, I wouldn't quibble at the cost, it's the cheapest upgrade you'll find.

I would not choose any RAM that has not been posted on this forum as working. And I would certainly not chase high speed RAM, which cannot possible make any real world difference, while running out of RAM would.

 

Hi icewolf247,

As per the above advice, 16GB is fine unless you have a specific use for it.

I am one of those people that like to go to the max so I bought my AW 17 R3 with the minimum RAM, with a view to upgrading it straight away to the MAX fastest RAM I could get. I installed 32GB of HyperX Infinity 2400 DDR4 CL4, it's working fine including the AW L3 OC setting. I think this is the fastest RAM I could find.

You can see timings from it in my post on this page:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-alienware-17-r2-r3-owners-lounge.770314/page-282

This is what I bought.
https://m.shop.bt.com/products/king...of-2--hyperx-impact-hx424s14ibk2-32-BZN9.html

I also created a 4GB Ramdisk as I have plenty spare, the benchmark is on the following thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/ramdisk.791874/

I might go up to an 8GB Ramdisk and see if that runs OK, then I can download bigger files like 4k video into the Ramdisk, then move them to other storage if I want to keep them.

 

For ram you will get better performance from lower latency than the speed. latency will be labeled as CAS when purchasing, lower number is better.

 

Unless you need something specific for it. I have 16GB in my mac ( my main work horse ) and I run 3 27" screens, and I have between 20-30 tabs open on each ( for work ). While running some encryption software ( TrueCrypt ), Photoshop, and some other work specific software. I even play CS:GO ( on the mac ) from time to time, and I can't get the damn thing to go over 13GB. I really feel like going up to 32GB is utterly useless unless you're specifically running VM's

 

And the HyperX I installed is CAS 14, everything else I saw that fits the 17 R3 was CAS 15 or higher.

 

Thanks all,

It's not expensive to go to 32GB but seems there is very little point which is useful to know. Maybe I would be better off saving for a gfx amplifier but I only play WoW and even in 4K I can run high and I could always go 1080p and run ultra if I was that bothered I guess

 

32GB would be good for certain applications, or if you do true multitasking to a certain degree. Beyond that, 16GB should be more than sufficient for normal users.