X-Plane Considerations - Memory

[craig_read 43]

HI,

 

Currently I'm running a i7 with 8GB RAM.  I run two separate SSDs one for P3D / FSX and one for the OS (Windows 10), I will probably by another one for X-Plane and run it on it's own drive.  I have a storage drive on the machine too of 1TB, but storage isn't really a problem as I have a NAS with a lot of capacity.  It's the memory I'm considering most, my current PC has this installed:

 

CMY8GX3M2B2133C9R - 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Pro Series Red, PC3-17066 (2133), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-11-11-31, XMP, 1.65V

 

I was considering jumping this up to 16GB, not for P3D or FSX but because I'm considering adding X-Plane to my machine as an option.  Looking at memory prices another set of this RAM for my 2 other slots works out marginally cheaper than this:

 

CMY16GX3M2A2400C11R - 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Pro Series Red, PC3-19200 (2400), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 11-13-13-31, XMP, 1.65V

 

My questions for you all are:

 

1) Am I wasting my money going up from 8GB to 16GB as far as X-Plane is concerned?

2) Is it better to just buy more of the same or simply replace with 16GB of the new stuff here instead as the cost differential is quite low.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Regards

 

Craig Read

 

[jcomm 5,926]

Regarding the amount of RAM, the more you can install and can be used by your version of Windows 10 ( beware that only some versions allow to use more than 16 GB !!! ) the best for X-plane 10, specially if you plan to use photo scenery + OSM or World2XP...

[JimmiG 244]

A good summary of RAM limits in Windows:
http://www.ricksdailytips.com/windows-memory-limits/

1. X-Plane benefits greatly from more RAM. It generally works just fine with 8GB, but if you want to use the extended draw distance, photo scenery, UHD mesh etc., you're better off with 16 GB, or even more.

2. I prefer to use only 2 sticks of RAM rather than 4. You can use tighter timings and 1T command rate, and when overclocing (even if not overclocking the memory), stability tends to be better. Many use 4 sticks, even mixing brands, and it works just fine for them, however I prefer to not take any chances.