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I have 4GB DDR3 RAM installed in my laptop with intel Core i3 processor. Should I add 4GB Extra RAM to it? I'm going for SSD upgrade. That's why,I am thinking that it may tear my SSD performance in future as I see cached RAM is 6.3 GB (2.3 GB more than that of my current RAM). Or, 4GB RAM is enough for me, six months or a year later I can add 4GB RAM extra.

I never play games. So don't recommend in gamers point of view. I use illustrator, Photoshop, Google Chrome, Word, Excel 2013, Thunderbird, Skype at a time with some other small programs. I have reached 4GB RAM only once.

Check this image for RAM use:

https://i.sstatic.net/4tMWi.png

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    possible duplicate of When do you know you need more ram?
    – smali
    Commented Dec 6, 2014 at 9:37
  • I have different thing like SSD upgrade. So it's not duplicate.
    – Rajat
    Commented Dec 6, 2014 at 9:39
  • Chrome & Photoshop are both RAM eaters. I'd always say 8GB is a reasonable minimum spec these days, SSD or not.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Dec 6, 2014 at 10:58

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You need to upgrade only if your usage is changing not the hardware. If you are going to increase the parallel applications usage then only think of changing the RAM otherwise 4GB of RAM will be sufficient to you, It will not give any cause to your SSD, If you really think that your usage will be increasing then only upgrade the RAM other wise it is of NO use.

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  • I have read at many places that, if SSD is used for RAM usage, then there will be problem of slowing down in future. So I wanted to know, if I'm not ruining my SSD for not adding the 4GB RAM which I have to do in future any way. But my current usage is same 4GB RAM for 6 months to 1 year. Any way I can upgrade RAM at any point I see the need for it. Have you checked the usage in pic?
    – Rajat
    Commented Dec 6, 2014 at 9:55
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    No, you have taken wrong meaning, that is for those who use SSD as a RAM, if you are using your SSD as a RAM then it will degrade the performance.
    – smali
    Commented Dec 6, 2014 at 10:35
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    @ali786 Or those who have virtual memory enabled. Which most people do, as it is a good idea to free up RAM for active processes.
    – Devon
    Commented Dec 6, 2014 at 16:36
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Your cached ram is 1.4GB not 6.3GB. The cached RAM is opposite of virtual memory. You are using RAM to compensate disk, which speeds up disk access of commonly used files. This is where you'd benefit the most from more RAM since you appear to have enough free RAM available. With an SSD as your main disk, cached RAM isn't as noticeably faster as it is compared to a spinning drive.

Virtual memory (or swapping on linux) can essentially harm SSDs because SSDs have limited write cycles but I wouldn't be too worried about it with a home PC. SSDs can handle a lot of writes these days and the average home user is never going to exhaust it. Overprovisioning is a technique that can extend the life of the SSD and TRIM can speed up the drive for rewrites. If you have a large enough SSD, I'd recommend enabling both, at the very least TRIM. The better SSD manufacturers include software and guides to help you get the most out of your SSD.

Just upgrading RAM without disabling virtual memory won't change anything.

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