How Much RAM is Enough?

A question asked by many people... But how much RAM really is enough? Well, lets look at some facts and find out.

Almost every computer out there has some kind of OS (Operating System) in it, like Windows, Mac, or Linux, and many other cellphone and PDA OS's also. We will be looking at the most popular PC OS out there, Windows. Windows XP needs a minimum of 128MB of RAM to run, but the recommended amount is 256MB. Now, most games today need about 512MB of RAM to run, but once again, that is a minimum! If you get a game, like the Sims 2 (TM), they say on the box it needs 512MB of RAM to run on a computer, but it will actually take 1GB of RAM for it to run good, and 2GB of RAM for it to run really smooth with all the visual effects. Now, lets take a look at Windows Vista...

Vista Home Basic is required to have at least 512MB of RAM to run, but yet it will take 1GB for it to run half decent. If you look at Windows Vista Home Premium, it takes a minimum of 1GB of RAM to run, but yet it will take at least 2GB for it to run smooth with Aero enabled... And amazingly, Vista can still have lag with 4GB of RAM! So how much RAM is enough then? Lets find out.

Windows XP:
128MB - Minimum
256MB - Standard web browsing and e-mail
512MB - Standard video gamer
1GB - Advanced video gamer
2GB - Extreme video gamer
4GB - Extreme programmer (3D Video Games)

Windows Vista:
512MB - Home Basic Minimum
1GB - Home Premium Minimum
1GB - Home Basic and Premium web browsing and e-mail
2GB - Standard video gamer
4GB - Advanced video gamer and porgrammer

If you go by that above, your OS should run fine. Generally on XP 512MB is enough for most users out there, and on Vista 2GB is enough for most users. I strongly do not recommend using 512MB in any version of Vista, and do not really recomend using 1GB in any version of Vista, not even Home Basic. I hope this helped you in knowing how much RAM you really need. Thanks for reading!