will 16GB vs 8Gb help PC run better with lots of apps

[tjodork]

I run Lightroom, Photoshop, FIrefox , GenieGo and a few other random things...and things tend to slow down a lot.
I have a Core i7 with 8gb of supposedly DDR3-1333 but considering going to 16GB
My Dell XPS8300 calls for DDR3-1333 but from what I've read I should be able to use DDR3-1600...
The question is whether going to 16GB is a waste of money ....unfortunately have to remove 4x2gb and replace with 4x4gb.
Last question the memory I'm looking has CL11 vs my current memory of CL9....is that a big deal ?
I know I haven't reloaded my computer for a long time so not sure if all the programs I've loaded are more of the problem.

Thanks for any advice!
Tim

[roadsideron]

Try opening task manger and looking at both cpu usage and memory usage during those lags. A big bottle neck is the hard drive transfers. I just installed an SSD drive and it's running at over 400 megs both read and writes. If you have a slow motherboard that could also choke transfer speeds of your components. And when is the last time you ran things like Superantispyware or malwarebytes? If you have a lot of other unknown items running in the background it can slow up a computer.

I think lightroom and photoshop are heavy memory users, so 16 gigs may help there. I'm not so sure faster would help as much as more.

[Bob]

Download Process Explorer from Microsoft Technet. Process Explorer is similar to the Windows Task Manager, but I find it much more useful. There is no installation routine, simply create a folder on your boot drive and extract the contents of the zip file you downloaded to that folder. The program file is named procexp.exe and I would recommend that you create a shortcut on your desktop to make it convenient to run it or pin it to your start menu or task bar.

To see if you need more memory, run the system for a while using the programs that lead to the slowdown. If you run Process Explorer while the slowdown is occurring, you can see whether the problem is cpu related and see what's running and how much cpu each process is using. While Process Explorer is running, press ctrl+i to see the system info panel. Select the memory tab and look at the section labeled "Commit Charge (K)". In particular, look at the "Peak" value. This is the high water mark for the combined physical (RAM) and virtual (Page File) memory that has been used during the current windows session. Compare the Peak value to the Total Physical Memory value shown in the same dialog window. You want the Peak to be much less than Total Physical Memory to allow for System cache and to avoid using the Page file. If Peak is higher than Total Physical Memory, performance is being degraded because the system had to use the page file and the System Cache had to be purged. If you consistently see this happening, you will benefit from installing additional RAM.

For the applications you are using, you probably won't see much difference between DDR3 1333 and 1600 RAM. Also, in general, CL9 would be preferred over CL11. For SDRAM, Column Address Strobe Latency, commonly known as CAS or CL, is the number of clock cycles from the time the memory address is entered until the value is available on the RAM module output pins. Because RAM modules contain multiple internal memory banks, memory from one bank can be output during the latency phase of the next read. When memory addresses are predictable, such as in sequential reads, the output pins can be kept 100% utilized despite the CAS latency. In this case, bandwidth is essentially limited by the speed of the module. However, when the addresses are random and the next memory address cannot be known rapidly, the CAS limits the speed. Real world results will be somewhere between the two.

[Ron Hunter]

Wow Bob, thanks for the helpful reply. Your explanation is sooooo easy to understand. I just installed Process Explorer and did as you advised. I will do some experimenting, like rendering in PRE12, and see how the "Peak" compares to "Total Physical Memory". Initial indications point to a RAM upgrade.

How do you know all this stuff?

[tjodork]

I also want to thank all for the great information and advise....amazing!
one other question....does anyone have advise on a *FREE* benchmark program to check before and after a change to your system ?
Thanks again!!

[Chris B]

PC Mark (general) and/or Futuremark (3d performance)
http://www.futuremark.com/support/downloads

[tjodork]

dumb question...they make you download "Steam" to get the benchmark software.....what is that ?