How much ram do I need for google multi tasking?

Question

So I usually have more than 7 tabs of Youtube opened in google chrome, So is my 8 GB of ram always enough? My PC specs are: Core i5 4590 3.30 GHz (3.70 turbo speed Quad Core) and 8 GB of ram and AMD Radeon RX 570.

Answer 1

Windows has a technology called "paging". This technology will make sure that if you don't have enough RAM available, stuff that currently is not being used, will be swapped out to the pagefile (also known as swapfile).

In addition, if you use Windows 8 or later, Windows also will use a technology called "memory compression". When something is not actively used and windows needs more ram, the current inactive ram will be compressed first but kept in ram until memory compression cannot hold all the ram. The compressed version will then be moved to the pagefile.

What happens if memory compression is applied, aside of the memory compression itself?

Not much really. There is nearly no speed decrease. Once the memory is needed again, the memory decompression happens very fast and is not that noticeable.

What happens if Windows pages to the pagefile?

A lot actually. Because the pagefile is located on your harddrive, if you have a traditional HDD, it will be slow. If you have an SSD, it will be a lot faster, but it will still be noticeable.

In either case, all you will experience too little ram, is a slowdown in one way or another.

To answer how much ram you really need is subjective to opinion though. I run a Windows server 2016 with just 6 GB of RAM and I run Chrome inside with 32 tabs open currently. The performance is adequate. If I run the same amount of tabs on my main computer with 16 GB of ram and a fast processor and video card, then it is of course blazing fast.

Now, the biggest question is, what do you have open in your tabs in terms of how much memory it takes. Keep in mind that Chrome used to be very memory intense, but they have tried to apply techniques that will make it less of a performance hog, such as hibernating background tabs, etc. This effectively means that the tab will be unloaded from memory, and when you switch back to it, the page refreshes and loads at that moment.

So yeah, I can't say how much ram you need and I won't. I'll just say this: If you have too little ram because next to Chrome, you also use photoshop, play games, email, and what not at the same time, you will notice that the system will slow down. If that is unacceptable, either close programs, get more ram, or upgrade to an SSD and move the pagefile to it.