Just read this, very interesting.

http://corsair.com/_appnotes/AN804_G...e_Analysis.pdf

"Conclusion These results show that using 4GB of system memory provides significant performance benefits in modern, resource-hungry PC games. Using 4GB of system memory allows your PC’s other components to function at peak performance by drastically reducing the need to access data from the pagefile stored on the hard disk drive, which is typically the slowest component in a PC.
The effects of using 4GB of RAM can be clearly seen in our results. With 4GB installed the average frame rate in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts increased by 21% and the minimum frame rate rose by an incredible 460%. Similarly, with 4GB installed the minimum frame rate in Crysis rose by 46%, making the game run much more smoothly and enjoyably.
Game loading times were also significantly enhanced by installing 4GB of RAM; a game of Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts loaded 75% faster with 4GB installed compared to 2GB.
In addition, using 4GB of memory also provides secondary benefits such as increased multi-tasking flexibility. Switching between a game and a forum window in order to make a post is more than 11 times faster with 4GB than with 2GB.
As games become more and more complex the need for 4GB of system memory will only increase, and this means that 4GB of memory is now an essential upgrade for gamers."

I agree. 2gb feels slow on my laptop. Though I doubt things will be a problem now with triple channel memory in the i7 systems. Some people have 12gb installed... just cause. I used to have 8gb, but had one bad stick so I 'downgraded' to 4gb. It's been working fine for a year now and have yet to utilize it all outside of stress tests.

Though a significant upgrade would be investing in a new HDD... aka an SSD. I got some and everything feels quicker. Load times are so fast. I will definitely place a significant chunk of money towards SSDs in any and all future builds.

Good article though!

First off, holy ****, I can finally post!

Second, I ran my current computer at 2GB of RAM for quite a while, then upgraded to 4 just for the hell of it. I noticed zero difference, but then again, I am not a gamer, and I don't really stress my computer out a whole lot.

My PC desktops still have 2GB and 2.75GB. My first MacBook Pro came with 2GB. About two weeks after I bought it I upgraded to 4GB and noticed a huge difference. It makes sense that there'd be a big difference because you are doubling the amount but that one modification, that ended up costing just under $40, sped up my entire computer in every way. Games ran faster, the OS was snappier, and of course my Pro-Apps ran faster and allowed me to work with more content in real-time.

When I bought my Mac Pro early last year I had it configured with 8GB. I've now upgraded to 16GB. I don't use that computer for games, only Pro-Apps. I didn't think that I would see much of an improvement in the performance at the time. Since 8GB was already a huge number for the time, 16GB just seemed excessive. But I did see an improvement. Things rendered a lot faster, and I could again edit larger amounts of real-time footage. I'm just waiting till I can upgrade to 32GB lol.

LOL that sounds funny doesnt it?