Is 8gb a lot: 8GB of Data: How much is it & how long does it last?

8GB of Data: How much is it & how long does it last?

How much is 8GB of data?

8GB is a little difficult to quantify as it lies between the more common data plans of 5GB and 10GB. 

According to Ofcom’s 2021 report, people on average opt for 4.5GB of mobile data per month. With that in mind, an 8GB is just under double the average plan. For people who want around 10GB, but for a little less money, an 8GB data plan might be the most cost-effective deal. 

How long does 8GB of data last?

Simply put, different activities on your smartphone will use up different amounts of mobile data. 

Some activities will only eat up a few megabytes (MB) from your data allowance, whereas others could consume a gigabyte (GB) or more! Take a look at our table below for a breakdown of data by activity:

Activity	Data consumption
Browsing the internet	60MB per hour
Listening to music	Spotify 10. 8MB per hour (24kbps) 43.2MB per hour (96kbps) 72MB per hour (160kbps) 144MB per hour (320kbps)
Watching Netflix	1GB per hour (standard definition) 3GB per hour (HD)
Watching YouTube videos	1.56GB per hour (1080p) 2.7GB per hour (4K)
Browsing social media	90MB per hour (scrolling) 156MB per hour (interacting)
Using Skype / FaceTime	Skype 270MB per hour   FaceTime 180MB per hour

The more data that needs to transfer, the more of your allowance you’ll use up. 

For example, browsing the internet uses very little data, as you’re only loading up web pages which (generally) have small file sizes. 

On the other hand, watching a Netflix episode or YouTube video uses significantly more mobile data per hour. This is because video files are incredibly large in comparison to web pages. 

To save data, you could play videos in a lower definition, or download episodes prior to disconnecting from Wi-Fi.

Similarly, you can see how different audio qualities alter how much mobile data is consumed. If you stream a Spotify song or playlist in its highest quality, it will consume more data than in a lower quality. It’s up to you to judge which quality to use so you don’t run out of data early. 

How many hours will 8GB of data last for?

Now you know how much MB or GB each activity uses up, let’s take a look at how long each of these tasks can last for with 8GB of data. 

Activity	Time duration with 8GB*
Browsing the internet	133 hours
Listening to music	Spotify 740 hours (24kbps) 185 hours (96kbps) 111 hours (160kbps) 55 hours (320kbps)
Watching Netflix	8 hours (standard definition) 2. 6 hours (HD) / 39 minutes (HD)
Watching YouTube videos	5 hours (1080p) 2.9 hours (4K)
Browsing social media	88 hours (scrolling) 51 hours (interacting)
Using Skype / FaceTime	Skype 29 hours   FaceTime 44 hours

*Calculated based on data consumption values in previous table — 8000MB or 8GB / XXMB or XXGB

With 8GB of data, you could stream songs (using Spotify’s lowest quality) non-stop for an entire month, though you’d probably never do this!

You could use your allowance to browse the internet or interact on social media for hours a day without the worry of running out. You could even FaceTime or Skype a friend or loved one for a couple of hours per week. 

If you don’t need to use your data for much else, you could watch YouTube or Netflix videos during a long commute and still have a little data left at the end of your journey.  

 

Is 8GB of data enough for me?

As you can see, 8GB is plenty for an average mobile user. It could be the most ideal mobile data plan for you if:

• You enjoy streaming audio content on the go
• You watch video content on mobile data sparingly throughout the month
• You browse the internet and other applications often
• You’re looking for a deal close to 10GB, but with a little more affordability

This bundle size wouldn’t be suitable for someone who needs mobile data all of the time — you’re better off with an unlimited plan.

 

SIM plans to suit you If you’re looking for a great value SIM plan with no contract, look no further than Asda mobile! For just £10 a month you could get 12GB of data, as well as unlimited minutes and texts. You can also take advantage of 5G, Wi-Fi Calling, roam like you’re home, and much more!    Buy 12GB SIM deal

 

 

Discover more

If 8GB isn’t right for you, we have a range of other data guides available for you to look at:

• 250MB
• 1GB
• 2GB
• 3GB
• 5GB
• 6GB
• 10GB
• 15GB
• 20GB
• 30GB
• 50GB
• 100GB

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more helpful blogs and news updates!

How Much Is It & How Long Does It Last? Mobile Data Limits

A 8GB data plan will allow you to browse the internet for around 96 hours, to stream 1,600 songs or to watch 16 hours of standard-definition video.

Nowadays, the key difference between mobile phone price plans is how many gigabytes of data it comes with.

If you’re looking for a mobile phone plan with 8GB of data, prices currently start from £7/month in the UK. With your 8GB of data, you’ll be able to browse the internet for approximately 96 hours per month, to stream 1,600 songs online or to watch 16 hours of online video in standard definition.

In this article, we’ll discuss what you can do with 8GB of data and how long you can expect your 8GB allowance to last for. We’ll also discuss 8GB data plans, where you can find one in the UK and how much you can expect to pay.

Contents

• 1 How Much Is 8GB Data?
  • 1.1 Pay Monthly SIM Cards
  • 1.2 Pay As You Go SIM Cards
  • 1.3 Alternatives
• 2 How Long Does 8GB Of Data Last?
• 3 More Information

How Much Is 8GB Data?

In the UK, a number of mobile networks currently offer 8GB data plans. There’s a choice of 6 mobile networks if you’re looking for a Pay Monthly SIM card, and a further choice of 1 networks if you’re looking for a more flexible Pay As You Go bundle.

Pay Monthly SIM Cards

If you’re looking for the lowest possible prices, you can get a Pay Monthly SIM card with 8GB of data from £7.00/month. The following table shows a list of currently available deals:

Network	Minutes	Texts	Data	Monthly Cost
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 1 month
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 1 month
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 24 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£10.00 6 months half price 24 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£11.00 12 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£15.00 12 months
To show you the most relevant plans, 3 similar but more expensive plans have been hidden. Tap here to show them.

Contract lengths will vary when taking a Pay Monthly contract. You’ll normally need to undergo a credit check when taking out a Pay Monthly contract.

Pay As You Go SIM Cards

If you’re looking for a bit of extra flexibility, a Pay As You Go bundle allows you to have this with 8GB of data from £10. 00/month. There’s no commitment to renewing your bundle every month. You can also increase or decrease your data allowance at the end of each month if you find you’re on a plan with the wrong amount of data.

The following table shows Pay As You Go bundles with 8GB of data per month:

Network	Minutes	Texts	Data	Monthly Cost
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£10.00

There’s no need to undergo a credit check when taking a Pay As You Go bundle. It’s normally possible to order a free Pay As You Go SIM card: you’ll then simply need to top it up with credit to get started.

Alternatives

Instead of choosing a 8GB data plan, it may sometimes make sense to choose a plan with more data. This is especially the case when special offers and promotion are available: you might be able to get a larger allowance of data for the same or for a very similar price:

Amount of Data	Pay Monthly	Pay As You Go
250MB Data	—	£5.00 £5 cheaper
500MB Data	—	—
1GB Data	£5.00 £2 cheaper	£3.00 £7 cheaper
2GB Data	£5.00 £2 cheaper	£7.50 £2.5 cheaper
3GB Data	£4.50 £2.5 cheaper	£5.00 £5 cheaper
4GB Data	£4. 95 £2 cheaper	£6.00 £4 cheaper
5GB Data	£6.00 £1 cheaper	£7.00 £3 cheaper
6GB Data	£5.95 £1 cheaper	£1.00 £9 cheaper
8GB Data	£7.00	£10.00
10GB Data	£7.00	£10.00
12GB Data	£6.95 £0 cheaper	£10.00
20GB Data	£8.00 £1 more	£10.00
30GB Data	£8.00 £1 more	£10.00
40GB Data	£10.00 £3 more	£20.00 £10 more
50GB Data	£10. 00 £3 more	£15.00 £5 more
100GB Data	£11.95 £5 more	£19.88 £10 more
Unlimited Data	£16.00 £9 more	£20.00 £10 more

Some price plans include a data rollover feature giving you a second opportunity to use your data allowance. Alternatively, an unlimited data plan could also be worth thinking about if you’d like a worry-free plan where you never need to think about how much data you’re using.

How Long Does 8GB Of Data Last?

When figuring out how much data you need, it’s important to think about your own individual usage requirements.

If you choose a plan with too much data, you could be overpaying for lots of data that you don’t actually use. On the other hand, choosing a plan with too little data could mean being cut-off from the internet in the middle of the month.

The following table gives you an approximate guide to what you can do with 8GB of data:

Activity	8GB data is equal to…
Accessing web pages	4,800 web pages (approx 96 hours browsing)
Basic e-mail/instant message	2,800,000 messages
Rich e-mail/IM (with attachments)	16,000 messages
Downloading or streaming music	1,600 songs
Downloading or streaming video (SD)	16 hours
Downloading or streaming video (HD)	4 hours
Skype voice call	240 hours
Skype video call	32 hours
Listening to online radio	128 hours
Downloading or updating apps	200 apps

We’ve made a number of assumptions in coming to these numbers. You can read about these in more detail here.

As of 2019, the average UK consumer uses around 3GB of mobile data each month. This has been growing rapidly in the past few years (e.g. it was only 1.9GB in 2017 and 0.2GB in 2012). This means a 8GB data allowance should comfortably cover the average UK consumer’s monthly data usage.

For more information, see our guide on how to find out your current data usage.

More Information

Our full guide to mobile download limits has more information including on how to find out how much data you need.

Once you’ve decided how much data you need, we’ve summarised the best Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go SIM cards across a variety of price points in the UK.

How Much Is It & How Long Does It Last? Mobile Data Limits

A 8GB data plan will allow you to browse the internet for around 96 hours, to stream 1,600 songs or to watch 16 hours of standard-definition video.

Nowadays, the key difference between mobile phone price plans is how many gigabytes of data it comes with.

If you’re looking for a mobile phone plan with 8GB of data, prices currently start from £7/month in the UK. With your 8GB of data, you’ll be able to browse the internet for approximately 96 hours per month, to stream 1,600 songs online or to watch 16 hours of online video in standard definition.

In this article, we’ll discuss what you can do with 8GB of data and how long you can expect your 8GB allowance to last for. We’ll also discuss 8GB data plans, where you can find one in the UK and how much you can expect to pay.

Contents

• 1 How Much Is 8GB Data?
  • 1.1 Pay Monthly SIM Cards
  • 1.2 Pay As You Go SIM Cards
  • 1.3 Alternatives
• 2 How Long Does 8GB Of Data Last?
• 3 More Information

How Much Is 8GB Data?

In the UK, a number of mobile networks currently offer 8GB data plans. There’s a choice of 6 mobile networks if you’re looking for a Pay Monthly SIM card, and a further choice of 1 networks if you’re looking for a more flexible Pay As You Go bundle.

Pay Monthly SIM Cards

If you’re looking for the lowest possible prices, you can get a Pay Monthly SIM card with 8GB of data from £7.00/month. The following table shows a list of currently available deals:

Network	Minutes	Texts	Data	Monthly Cost
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 1 month
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 1 month
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 24 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£10.00 6 months half price 24 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£11.00 12 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£15.00 12 months
To show you the most relevant plans, 3 similar but more expensive plans have been hidden. Tap here to show them.

Contract lengths will vary when taking a Pay Monthly contract. You’ll normally need to undergo a credit check when taking out a Pay Monthly contract.

Pay As You Go SIM Cards

If you’re looking for a bit of extra flexibility, a Pay As You Go bundle allows you to have this with 8GB of data from £10. 00/month. There’s no commitment to renewing your bundle every month. You can also increase or decrease your data allowance at the end of each month if you find you’re on a plan with the wrong amount of data.

The following table shows Pay As You Go bundles with 8GB of data per month:

Network	Minutes	Texts	Data	Monthly Cost
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£10.00

There’s no need to undergo a credit check when taking a Pay As You Go bundle. It’s normally possible to order a free Pay As You Go SIM card: you’ll then simply need to top it up with credit to get started.

Alternatives

Instead of choosing a 8GB data plan, it may sometimes make sense to choose a plan with more data. This is especially the case when special offers and promotion are available: you might be able to get a larger allowance of data for the same or for a very similar price:

Amount of Data	Pay Monthly	Pay As You Go
250MB Data	—	£5.00 £5 cheaper
500MB Data	—	—
1GB Data	£5.00 £2 cheaper	£3.00 £7 cheaper
2GB Data	£5.00 £2 cheaper	£7.50 £2.5 cheaper
3GB Data	£4.50 £2.5 cheaper	£5.00 £5 cheaper
4GB Data	£4. 95 £2 cheaper	£6.00 £4 cheaper
5GB Data	£6.00 £1 cheaper	£7.00 £3 cheaper
6GB Data	£5.95 £1 cheaper	£1.00 £9 cheaper
8GB Data	£7.00	£10.00
10GB Data	£7.00	£10.00
12GB Data	£6.95 £0 cheaper	£10.00
20GB Data	£8.00 £1 more	£10.00
30GB Data	£8.00 £1 more	£10.00
40GB Data	£10.00 £3 more	£20.00 £10 more
50GB Data	£10. 00 £3 more	£15.00 £5 more
100GB Data	£11.95 £5 more	£19.88 £10 more
Unlimited Data	£16.00 £9 more	£20.00 £10 more

Some price plans include a data rollover feature giving you a second opportunity to use your data allowance. Alternatively, an unlimited data plan could also be worth thinking about if you’d like a worry-free plan where you never need to think about how much data you’re using.

How Long Does 8GB Of Data Last?

When figuring out how much data you need, it’s important to think about your own individual usage requirements.

If you choose a plan with too much data, you could be overpaying for lots of data that you don’t actually use. On the other hand, choosing a plan with too little data could mean being cut-off from the internet in the middle of the month.

The following table gives you an approximate guide to what you can do with 8GB of data:

Activity	8GB data is equal to…
Accessing web pages	4,800 web pages (approx 96 hours browsing)
Basic e-mail/instant message	2,800,000 messages
Rich e-mail/IM (with attachments)	16,000 messages
Downloading or streaming music	1,600 songs
Downloading or streaming video (SD)	16 hours
Downloading or streaming video (HD)	4 hours
Skype voice call	240 hours
Skype video call	32 hours
Listening to online radio	128 hours
Downloading or updating apps	200 apps

We’ve made a number of assumptions in coming to these numbers. You can read about these in more detail here.

As of 2019, the average UK consumer uses around 3GB of mobile data each month. This has been growing rapidly in the past few years (e.g. it was only 1.9GB in 2017 and 0.2GB in 2012). This means a 8GB data allowance should comfortably cover the average UK consumer’s monthly data usage.

For more information, see our guide on how to find out your current data usage.

More Information

Our full guide to mobile download limits has more information including on how to find out how much data you need.

Once you’ve decided how much data you need, we’ve summarised the best Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go SIM cards across a variety of price points in the UK.

How Much Is It & How Long Does It Last? Mobile Data Limits

A 8GB data plan will allow you to browse the internet for around 96 hours, to stream 1,600 songs or to watch 16 hours of standard-definition video.

Nowadays, the key difference between mobile phone price plans is how many gigabytes of data it comes with.

If you’re looking for a mobile phone plan with 8GB of data, prices currently start from £7/month in the UK. With your 8GB of data, you’ll be able to browse the internet for approximately 96 hours per month, to stream 1,600 songs online or to watch 16 hours of online video in standard definition.

In this article, we’ll discuss what you can do with 8GB of data and how long you can expect your 8GB allowance to last for. We’ll also discuss 8GB data plans, where you can find one in the UK and how much you can expect to pay.

Contents

• 1 How Much Is 8GB Data?
  • 1.1 Pay Monthly SIM Cards
  • 1.2 Pay As You Go SIM Cards
  • 1.3 Alternatives
• 2 How Long Does 8GB Of Data Last?
• 3 More Information

How Much Is 8GB Data?

In the UK, a number of mobile networks currently offer 8GB data plans. There’s a choice of 6 mobile networks if you’re looking for a Pay Monthly SIM card, and a further choice of 1 networks if you’re looking for a more flexible Pay As You Go bundle.

Pay Monthly SIM Cards

If you’re looking for the lowest possible prices, you can get a Pay Monthly SIM card with 8GB of data from £7.00/month. The following table shows a list of currently available deals:

Network	Minutes	Texts	Data	Monthly Cost
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 1 month
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 1 month
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 24 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£10.00 6 months half price 24 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£11.00 12 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£15.00 12 months
To show you the most relevant plans, 3 similar but more expensive plans have been hidden. Tap here to show them.

Contract lengths will vary when taking a Pay Monthly contract. You’ll normally need to undergo a credit check when taking out a Pay Monthly contract.

Pay As You Go SIM Cards

If you’re looking for a bit of extra flexibility, a Pay As You Go bundle allows you to have this with 8GB of data from £10. 00/month. There’s no commitment to renewing your bundle every month. You can also increase or decrease your data allowance at the end of each month if you find you’re on a plan with the wrong amount of data.

The following table shows Pay As You Go bundles with 8GB of data per month:

Network	Minutes	Texts	Data	Monthly Cost
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£10.00

There’s no need to undergo a credit check when taking a Pay As You Go bundle. It’s normally possible to order a free Pay As You Go SIM card: you’ll then simply need to top it up with credit to get started.

Alternatives

Instead of choosing a 8GB data plan, it may sometimes make sense to choose a plan with more data. This is especially the case when special offers and promotion are available: you might be able to get a larger allowance of data for the same or for a very similar price:

Amount of Data	Pay Monthly	Pay As You Go
250MB Data	—	£5.00 £5 cheaper
500MB Data	—	—
1GB Data	£5.00 £2 cheaper	£3.00 £7 cheaper
2GB Data	£5.00 £2 cheaper	£7.50 £2.5 cheaper
3GB Data	£4.50 £2.5 cheaper	£5.00 £5 cheaper
4GB Data	£4. 95 £2 cheaper	£6.00 £4 cheaper
5GB Data	£6.00 £1 cheaper	£7.00 £3 cheaper
6GB Data	£5.95 £1 cheaper	£1.00 £9 cheaper
8GB Data	£7.00	£10.00
10GB Data	£7.00	£10.00
12GB Data	£6.95 £0 cheaper	£10.00
20GB Data	£8.00 £1 more	£10.00
30GB Data	£8.00 £1 more	£10.00
40GB Data	£10.00 £3 more	£20.00 £10 more
50GB Data	£10. 00 £3 more	£15.00 £5 more
100GB Data	£11.95 £5 more	£19.88 £10 more
Unlimited Data	£16.00 £9 more	£20.00 £10 more

Some price plans include a data rollover feature giving you a second opportunity to use your data allowance. Alternatively, an unlimited data plan could also be worth thinking about if you’d like a worry-free plan where you never need to think about how much data you’re using.

How Long Does 8GB Of Data Last?

When figuring out how much data you need, it’s important to think about your own individual usage requirements.

If you choose a plan with too much data, you could be overpaying for lots of data that you don’t actually use. On the other hand, choosing a plan with too little data could mean being cut-off from the internet in the middle of the month.

The following table gives you an approximate guide to what you can do with 8GB of data:

Activity	8GB data is equal to…
Accessing web pages	4,800 web pages (approx 96 hours browsing)
Basic e-mail/instant message	2,800,000 messages
Rich e-mail/IM (with attachments)	16,000 messages
Downloading or streaming music	1,600 songs
Downloading or streaming video (SD)	16 hours
Downloading or streaming video (HD)	4 hours
Skype voice call	240 hours
Skype video call	32 hours
Listening to online radio	128 hours
Downloading or updating apps	200 apps

We’ve made a number of assumptions in coming to these numbers. You can read about these in more detail here.

As of 2019, the average UK consumer uses around 3GB of mobile data each month. This has been growing rapidly in the past few years (e.g. it was only 1.9GB in 2017 and 0.2GB in 2012). This means a 8GB data allowance should comfortably cover the average UK consumer’s monthly data usage.

For more information, see our guide on how to find out your current data usage.

More Information

Our full guide to mobile download limits has more information including on how to find out how much data you need.

Once you’ve decided how much data you need, we’ve summarised the best Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go SIM cards across a variety of price points in the UK.

How Much Is It & How Long Does It Last? Mobile Data Limits

A 8GB data plan will allow you to browse the internet for around 96 hours, to stream 1,600 songs or to watch 16 hours of standard-definition video.

Nowadays, the key difference between mobile phone price plans is how many gigabytes of data it comes with.

If you’re looking for a mobile phone plan with 8GB of data, prices currently start from £7/month in the UK. With your 8GB of data, you’ll be able to browse the internet for approximately 96 hours per month, to stream 1,600 songs online or to watch 16 hours of online video in standard definition.

In this article, we’ll discuss what you can do with 8GB of data and how long you can expect your 8GB allowance to last for. We’ll also discuss 8GB data plans, where you can find one in the UK and how much you can expect to pay.

Contents

• 1 How Much Is 8GB Data?
  • 1.1 Pay Monthly SIM Cards
  • 1.2 Pay As You Go SIM Cards
  • 1.3 Alternatives
• 2 How Long Does 8GB Of Data Last?
• 3 More Information

How Much Is 8GB Data?

In the UK, a number of mobile networks currently offer 8GB data plans. There’s a choice of 6 mobile networks if you’re looking for a Pay Monthly SIM card, and a further choice of 1 networks if you’re looking for a more flexible Pay As You Go bundle.

Pay Monthly SIM Cards

If you’re looking for the lowest possible prices, you can get a Pay Monthly SIM card with 8GB of data from £7.00/month. The following table shows a list of currently available deals:

Network	Minutes	Texts	Data	Monthly Cost
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 1 month
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 1 month
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£7.00 24 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£10.00 6 months half price 24 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£11.00 12 months
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£15.00 12 months
To show you the most relevant plans, 3 similar but more expensive plans have been hidden. Tap here to show them.

Contract lengths will vary when taking a Pay Monthly contract. You’ll normally need to undergo a credit check when taking out a Pay Monthly contract.

Pay As You Go SIM Cards

If you’re looking for a bit of extra flexibility, a Pay As You Go bundle allows you to have this with 8GB of data from £10. 00/month. There’s no commitment to renewing your bundle every month. You can also increase or decrease your data allowance at the end of each month if you find you’re on a plan with the wrong amount of data.

The following table shows Pay As You Go bundles with 8GB of data per month:

Network	Minutes	Texts	Data	Monthly Cost
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8GB	£10.00

There’s no need to undergo a credit check when taking a Pay As You Go bundle. It’s normally possible to order a free Pay As You Go SIM card: you’ll then simply need to top it up with credit to get started.

Alternatives

Instead of choosing a 8GB data plan, it may sometimes make sense to choose a plan with more data. This is especially the case when special offers and promotion are available: you might be able to get a larger allowance of data for the same or for a very similar price:

Amount of Data	Pay Monthly	Pay As You Go
250MB Data	—	£5.00 £5 cheaper
500MB Data	—	—
1GB Data	£5.00 £2 cheaper	£3.00 £7 cheaper
2GB Data	£5.00 £2 cheaper	£7.50 £2.5 cheaper
3GB Data	£4.50 £2.5 cheaper	£5.00 £5 cheaper
4GB Data	£4. 95 £2 cheaper	£6.00 £4 cheaper
5GB Data	£6.00 £1 cheaper	£7.00 £3 cheaper
6GB Data	£5.95 £1 cheaper	£1.00 £9 cheaper
8GB Data	£7.00	£10.00
10GB Data	£7.00	£10.00
12GB Data	£6.95 £0 cheaper	£10.00
20GB Data	£8.00 £1 more	£10.00
30GB Data	£8.00 £1 more	£10.00
40GB Data	£10.00 £3 more	£20.00 £10 more
50GB Data	£10. 00 £3 more	£15.00 £5 more
100GB Data	£11.95 £5 more	£19.88 £10 more
Unlimited Data	£16.00 £9 more	£20.00 £10 more

Some price plans include a data rollover feature giving you a second opportunity to use your data allowance. Alternatively, an unlimited data plan could also be worth thinking about if you’d like a worry-free plan where you never need to think about how much data you’re using.

How Long Does 8GB Of Data Last?

When figuring out how much data you need, it’s important to think about your own individual usage requirements.

If you choose a plan with too much data, you could be overpaying for lots of data that you don’t actually use. On the other hand, choosing a plan with too little data could mean being cut-off from the internet in the middle of the month.

The following table gives you an approximate guide to what you can do with 8GB of data:

Activity	8GB data is equal to…
Accessing web pages	4,800 web pages (approx 96 hours browsing)
Basic e-mail/instant message	2,800,000 messages
Rich e-mail/IM (with attachments)	16,000 messages
Downloading or streaming music	1,600 songs
Downloading or streaming video (SD)	16 hours
Downloading or streaming video (HD)	4 hours
Skype voice call	240 hours
Skype video call	32 hours
Listening to online radio	128 hours
Downloading or updating apps	200 apps

We’ve made a number of assumptions in coming to these numbers. You can read about these in more detail here.

As of 2019, the average UK consumer uses around 3GB of mobile data each month. This has been growing rapidly in the past few years (e.g. it was only 1.9GB in 2017 and 0.2GB in 2012). This means a 8GB data allowance should comfortably cover the average UK consumer’s monthly data usage.

For more information, see our guide on how to find out your current data usage.

More Information

Our full guide to mobile download limits has more information including on how to find out how much data you need.

Once you’ve decided how much data you need, we’ve summarised the best Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go SIM cards across a variety of price points in the UK.

How Much RAM Do You Need? A Guide to Capacity

Random access memory, usually shortened to RAM or simply “memory,” is one of the most important parts of any computing device. Modern PCs, tablets, and phones typically have from 2GB up to 32GB, though some have even more. But how much RAM do you need, exactly?

Contents

• Overview: How much RAM do you need?
• An introduction to RAM
• RAM-heavy applications
• How much RAM for tablets?
• How much RAM for laptops?
• How much RAM for desktops?
• How much RAM do you need for gaming?
• Upgrading your RAM can be easy and inexpensive

Adding more RAM to your computer won’t always make it run faster, so it’s important to buy an appropriate amount based on your computer and the applications you want to run. Windows 10, for example, takes about 2GB of RAM on its own, while the ChromeOS featured in the best Chromebooks requires far less.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how much RAM you need for a tablet, laptop, desktop, and gaming machine. If you want to know how much RAM you need for a smartphone, we have a guide for that, too.

See more

• Windows 11 Vs. Windows 10
• What is RAM?
• How to overclock RAM
• Best RAM

Overview: How much RAM do you need?

ian woolcock/Shutterstock

In a nutshell, here are some simple guidelines that apply to most PCs and Macs:

• 4GB: Low-end Chromebooks and some tablets come with 4GB of RAM, but it’s only worth considering if you’re on an extreme budget.
• 8GB: Typically installed in entry-level notebooks. This is fine for basic Windows gaming at lower settings, but rapidly runs out of steam.
• 16GB: Excellent for Windows and MacOS systems and also good for gaming, especially if it is fast RAM.
• 32GB: This is the sweet spot for professionals. Gamers can enjoy a small performance improvement in some demanding games, too.
• 64GB and more: For enthusiasts and purpose-built workstations only. Engineers, professional A/V editors, and similar types need to start here and go higher if needed.

Remember, buying more RAM than you need doesn’t net you any performance benefit — it’s effectively wasted money. Buy what you actually need, and spend the remaining budget on more important components like the CPU or graphics card.

An introduction to RAM

Memory capacity is often confused with the long-term storage offered by a solid-state or mechanical hard drive. Sometimes even manufacturers or retailers will mix up the terms.

RAM is the same thing, technically, but it serves a very different purpose. Instead of a large amount of slow storage — like you’d find on a mechanical hard drive — RAM is a small amount of extremely fast storage. As you open programs, it stores data that they need access to quickly in system memory.

Different programs require different amounts of RAM (we’ll detail a few intensive applications next), but regardless of the application, it’s likely to use at least a little bit of RAM. That adds up over time, and if you don’t have enough RAM to go around, the applications you’re using will severely slow down. You can still launch them, but if you run out of RAM, the application won’t have access to the ultra-fast storage RAM provides to quickly access the data it needs.

You can also have too much RAM. If, for example, you’re only using 12GB of RAM under the most demanding circumstances and you have a 16GB kit, upgrading to a 32GB kit (assuming all other aspects are equal) won’t impact your performance whatsoever. It’s effectively wasted money.

Because of that, it’s important to choose a capacity that slightly exceeds your needs without going overboard. You can buy more RAM, and it won’t negatively impact performance. But that’s a bit like buying a house with four bedrooms and only using two of them.

System RAM shouldn’t be confused with the dedicated memory used by discrete graphic cards. High-end 3D games rely on video RAM, or VRAM, to temporarily store image data, like textures. Most current-generation graphics cards use GDDR5, GDDR6, and GDDR6X.

Meanwhile, system RAM is identified with DDR3 or DDR4, with the number identifying the generation. The newer term DDR5 indicates the latest RAM generation, although compatible devices may not appear in the wild for a while. You can stay up to date on what to expect with our guide to DDR5.

DDR6 is in development but not readily available.

If all of this sounds confusing, rest assured that most manufacturers are very good at identifying RAM clearly so consumers know what’s what.

RAM-heavy applications

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

The operating system and the web browser typically consume the most RAM, though some applications and games can use more than everything else combined. There’s not much you can do to make Windows or MacOS use less memory, but more RAM in your computer means that you can open more browser tabs in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and so on.

In addition, more complex websites use more RAM than others. For example, a simple text news story is relatively light on memory, while something like Gmail or Netflix uses a lot more.

The same goes for offline programs. A chat program or a game like Minesweeper will use almost no RAM, while a gigantic Excel spreadsheet, a huge Photoshop project, or a graphics-intensive game like Wolfenstein: Youngblood may use gigabytes by themselves.

Outside of games and general browsing, professional applications tend to hog the most RAM. In particular, video editing applications like Adobe Premiere and digital audio workstations (DAWs) like Pro Tools are memory hungry. We’ll get into specifics for tablets, laptops, and desktops below, but 16GB usually does the trick for a desktop application. If you’re using applications like Premiere or Pro Tools, though, it’s a good idea to upgrade to 32GB (similar applications can actually take advantage of all of that RAM).

How much RAM for tablets?

Tablets are not expected to deal with heavy-duty software tasks, so their RAM needs tend to be pretty low — similar to a lot of smartphones.

However, as multi-tab browsers and more complex software continue to make the transition, tablet needs are becoming more and more similar to laptop needs. Current spec options typically range from 2GB to 16GB of RAM, with other considerations like battery life and processor speed often being of greater consideration.

With something like the iPad Mini, which touts 3GB of RAM, its design is more focused on its vibrant display and long battery life. Meanwhile, Apple’s latest 12.9-inch iPad Pro has 6GB of RAM to accommodate the 2-in-1 crowd, although the new 2021 models will ship with 8GB or 16GB. Microsoft’s Surface Go 2 has a default 4GB with an option of 8GB because it falls somewhere between a laptop and a tablet — our reviewer was not entirely won over.

Ultimately, this gives us a guideline for choosing tablet RAM:

• 4GB is OK for lightweight users.
• 8GB is a better fit in most tablet cases.
• 16GB if you plan to use a tablet as your primary PC.

Remember, tablets are generally complementary devices that reside between your smartphone and your PC. If you’re leaning more toward a laptop replacement, buy a tablet configuration with the RAM you’d need for any other desktop or laptop.

How much RAM for laptops?

Most laptops come with 8GB of RAM, with top-tier machines packing 16GB — even up to 32GB for the most powerful gaming notebooks. As previously mentioned, tablet and laptop needs are converging, but most users feel comfortable running more complex programs on laptops, which means RAM has a more important role here.

For something like a Chromebook, which mostly relies on cloud-based apps and provides very little storage space, you won’t need much in the way of RAM and will be fine for 8GB of RAM when buying a Chromebook, especially since you can now use the Google Play Store to download Android apps directly on your machine.

For Windows and MacOS, however, you should treat 8GB as a starting point and think about bumping that number up to 16GB. Most of the best laptops come with 16GB for good reason. Windows 10, for example, consumes around 2GB of RAM before you even open an application. If you are doing a lot of graphic design work or are planning on dabbling in some higher-end gaming, you may want to consider increasing that to 16GB.

You’d only need to go past that if you perform certain tasks, like editing huge video or photo files — the kind of thing you’d normally do on a desktop. Most people don’t use a laptop for such tasks, but if you do, buying enough RAM is crucial. It’s more difficult to upgrade RAM in a laptop (or, in some recent models, impossible) compared to a desktop, so buying what you need at the start is paramount.

How much RAM for desktops?

In 2021, prices of all components, including RAM, are heading upwards. That’s a shame as we would love to be able to recommend you always err on the side of more RAM for new builds. A decent 16GB kit that cost $50 a couple of years ago is likely to cost $80 now, with prices increasing as you increase clock speeds and tighten the latency timings. We list some of our top recommended kits that money can buy in our roundup of the best RAM.

People tend to keep their desktop computers around longer than tablets or laptops, so planning for the future is worthwhile. 16GB is a good place to start. While you may be able to get away with less, when you’re only saving $30 or so, it’s worth future-proofing yourself with 16GB.

An upgrade to 32GB is a good idea for enthusiasts and the average workstation user. Serious workstation users may go further than 32GB but be prepared for higher costs if you want speed or fancy features like RGB lighting. Anything beyond that is the realm of extreme specialty rigs equipped to handle huge datasets, staggeringly large video files, or niche programs designed for researchers, corporations, or government.

Desktop users should pay attention to their motherboard’s DIMM slots, too (the spaces where your RAM sticks snap in). Most motherboards use dual-channel or quad-channel memory, and they have requirements for where you should place the sticks. For dual-channel, it’s usually the second and fourth slot on a full-sized motherboard, but it’s best to consult your motherboard’s manual.

How much RAM do you need for gaming?

16GB of RAM is the best place to start for a gaming PC. Although 8GB was enough for many years, new AAA PC games like Cyberpunk 2077 have an 8GB of RAM requirement, though up to 16GB is recommended. Few games, even the latest ones, will actually take advantage of a full 16GB of RAM. Instead, the extra capacity gives you some wiggle room in running other applications while your games are running.

For the vast majority of gamers, 16GB is enough. However, if you plan on streaming or running multiple applications while your games are running — OBS Studio, a web browser, etc. — 32GB will give you a little more room. You won’t notice any performance benefits between 16GB and 32GB solely in games, however, so prioritize buying fast RAM if you’re only interested in gaming.

RAM speed versus capacity

While you won’t see any performance improvement by adding more RAM to your system if you already have what you need, the same cannot be said when it comes to RAM speed. Right now, DDR4 is the standard across desktops, laptops, and tablets. Each DDR generation has a range of speeds, with DDR4 starting with DDR4-1600 and ending with DDR4-3200. The number at the end notes the memory’s speed. The benefit of faster memory is simple: More cycles per second means the module can read and write data faster.

It’s not as simple as buying RAM sticks with a higher number, though. DDR4 memory modules are all rated to run at 2133MHz, and it doesn’t matter what modules you buy or what they’re rated for, they’ll run at 2133MHz out of the box. That presents a problem if you bought memory rated for 3200MHz. The speed your RAM is rated for is just that: a rating. That means the manufacturer has verified that the modules work at that speed, but it doesn’t mean they run at that speed out of the box.

Enter Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP). Instead of shipping at a faster speed, faster memory modules come with a profile on-board, and you can easily activate the profile through your motherboard’s BIOS. To be clear, we’re not talking about overclocking your memory past the recommended speed (it’s possible, though the performance benefits aren’t always worth the effort). We’re just referring to activating the speed your memory is rated for. It’s free performance, so it’s worth taking.

You need to make sure that your motherboard actually supports the memory speed your modules are rated for and that it supports XMP (most modern motherboards do). As for the performance benefit of faster memory, it really depends. Different applications react differently to faster memory, and there are even differences between Intel and AMD. However, if you bought faster RAM sticks or plan to buy them, you’ll want to enable the XMP profile in your BIOS to get the most out of your purchase.

This can be critical to performance depending on your configuration. AMD’s APUs, for example, perform much better in games when paired with fast DDR4 memory. Similarly, certain Intel chips, such as the Core i5-11400, take kindly to faster memory.

Upgrading your RAM can be easy and inexpensive

RAM isn’t that expensive, and it’s the easiest component to upgrade in a desktop PC — laptops, too, in many cases. Buying a generous amount is wise, but don’t go crazy. There’s not much reason for a gamer to exceed 32GB for now, and no reason to exceed 16GB if all you want to do is watch Netflix.

If your system does eventually become restricted by RAM, you can just add more. This is a good idea even if you don’t feel comfortable upgrading yourself, as the charge for installing RAM at your local PC store should hover around $40 to $60.

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Volume matters? 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB — how much do you need?

March 29, 2018

Reading time 5.5 minutes

How much RAM is suitable for your tasks? Until now, there are opinions of «experts» on the Internet that it is stupid to install more than 8 GB in a device, and that this volume is enough for everything in the world. Is this true and for what tasks do you need more memory?

How it works

RAM is needed for real-time system processes: browser, email clients, office applications, computer games, and so on. It is the second fastest in the system — RAM comes immediately after the processor cache or, as it is also called, super-RAM memory. During operation, RAM continuously consumes energy, and when the computer is turned off, all data from it is erased.

RAM contains all the information that needs to be received by the computer’s central processing unit. Although users underestimate the importance of random access memory, it is an essential component of a computer. It is from its volume and frequency that the overall performance of the system, the absence of freezes and the level of performance when multitasking depends.

So how much do you need?

Indeed, in the assembly of a personal computer or laptop, 8 GB of RAM is sufficient. This is quite enough for watching videos, using several programs at the same time, launching a browser with a dozen open tabs.

Everything you need from a laptop for study, work and play.

A laptop like the Lenovo IdeaPad 510-15ISK will do just fine. If you use many applications at the same time, it makes sense to increase the amount of RAM. Some modern games and heavy applications may require more than 8 GB.

Not only the amount of RAM makes a laptop gaming. Created by gamers for gamers, the Lenovo Legion line of laptops features powerful processors, gaming graphics cards and advanced dual-fan cooling. Therefore, the Lenovo Legion Y520 and its “legionnaire brothers” are able to run 2017 games with high graphics settings. Naturally, their performance is sufficient for many other demanding tasks.

Do you want to give a laptop to your child by the beginning of the new school year to create presentations, essays and creativity? A future student-programmer needs a decent laptop for work, study and entertainment, on which you can safely “code”? 8 GB is enough for office applications like PowerPoint, Word and Excel, social networking, watching YouTube videos and other daily activities.

A laptop with 8 GB of RAM is comfortable to work in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premier with simple projects. About any 3D modeling, of course, is out of the question. To work with «heavyweight» computer graphics, you will need 16 GB or more.

4 GB — a volume designed for solving simple tasks and office applications. This volume is disappearing, and modern applications require much more RAM resources. If 8 GB is the standard, then 4 GB is the «absolute minimum» . This amount of memory is enough for quiet web surfing in two or three tabs, a pacifying session in a ten-year-old game, as well as watching videos.

If your budget is strictly limited, and you need a full-fledged laptop for work, you should consider such an option as the Lenovo IdeaPad 320-15IAP — such a laptop can handle basic tasks without any problems.

What about 16 GB?

To say that 16 GB of RAM is necessary for the average user is not fair. If you work with video editors, computer graphics or you are an avid gamer, a device with 16 GB of RAM will be a rational solution . Of course, professional activities will require even more memory, but this is an exceptional case.

By the way, real «monsters» like the ThinkPad P71 have been created for architects, engineers and 3D designers — a laptop based on a Xeon server microprocessor and a professional Nvidia Quadro P5000M video card. Professional graphics cards handle graphics and complex calculations much better than even the most powerful gaming graphics cards like the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080Ti.

Games such as Mass Effect: Andromeda at 4K require up to 13 GB of memory. With the current pace of development in the computer entertainment industry, systems running on 8 GB of RAM will soon become obsolete and will require an upgrade. In the professional sphere, everything is different: 16 GB is the minimum, and 32 GB or more is useful for most tasks.

To summarize:

• 4 GB is the «absolute minimum» for running a system with almost no multitasking. You should forget about games on such a PC / laptop;
• 8 GB — Standard enough for most daily activities, games and work in graphics / video editors;
• 16 GB — the amount of memory you need to work with large projects, as well as for the most demanding games;
• 32 GB or more is the top choice for those who want maximum performance for the toughest tasks. Required only for professional activities.

Many Lenovo notebooks can be upgraded with RAM. You can learn about the capabilities of your model from shop.lenovo.ua consultants. And we recommend that you entrust the replacement of the strap to a service center specialist.

Remember: when choosing, always look to the future. Work tasks change and require more and more resources, and technology develops very quickly. This means that the device must have sufficient potential for reliable operation for three to five years.

If development and moving forward is your priority, be on the wave of innovation. Be with Lenovo!

#LenovoGuide

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Home News & Reviews All About Computers How much RAM do you need?

Introduction

With the introduction of the new Intel Skylake processors this year, many people are thinking about upgrading their computer to a new platform. And for this you will need to buy not only a new processor, but also a motherboard based on a new chipset. In addition, many new boards have slots for a new standard of RAM — DDR4, the prices for which differ from those for DDR3 by an average of 20-40%.

But whether you’re looking to build a computer with the latest platform using DDR4 or upgrade your system with DDR3 memory installed, you’ve probably wondered, “How much memory do I need? 8 or 16 gigabytes?

When the price of an 8Gb DDR3-2400 memory kit averages $55 — less than many of you would spend on a piece of aluminum your processor is made of — you probably don’t think much about saving big on memory and put 16Gb, the average price for a set of which is 90$. For DDR4 those numbers would be $65 for 8Gb and $130 if you want 16Gb.

In fact, if you buy a computer with a Corei7 processor, a top-end graphics card and a high-speed SSD drive, spending on RAM will seem like nothing to you. However, if you’re going to get the most bang for your buck by choosing parts for the best price-performance ratio, building a PC based on Core i5, Core i3, or whatever, then you really want to know if adding an extra 8Gb will do you good. And how much will this improve performance?

It makes little sense to take a large amount of memory «for the future», because on the motherboard, as a rule, you will have free slots and, at any time, you can buy a memory bar and insert it into your computer.

The last time I asked myself the question of comparing the performance of different amounts of RAM was in 2007. Back then, DDR2 memory was all the rage. And I found that at the time, doubling the memory from two gigabytes to four gigabytes was almost no advantage in games.

Today’s games can consume over 4 gigabytes, so there’s no reason not to set the bar at 8Gb. But the need to upgrade to 16 Gb has become a topic of discussion on the Internet, and today we will figure out when such a large amount of memory will be useful and for how much.

Test bench specifications0003

Set of RAM (two-channel mode): 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM

RAM set (two-channel mode): 8GB DDR4-2666 RAM

RAM 40006: 4GB DDR4-2666 RAM

Video Card : GeForce GTX 980

Winchester : Crucial MX200 1TB

Power Supply : SilverStone Essential Gold 750w

Operating System : Windows 4-6 1bit0003

Working with applications

After spending several hours going through the popular applications used to perform typical tasks, it was difficult to find one that would use more than 4 gigabytes.

For example, running on a Windows 10 computer, a couple of browsers with a dozen open tabs in each, Postbox email client, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word and Excel, a couple of IM clients, Sublime Text, an SFTP application, Plex Server, Dropbox, OneDrive, and other system utilities running in the background, the memory was used no more than 70%.

When you have enough memory installed to run all the applications you use at the same time, further increase in memory will not increase performance. In other words, working on a computer with ordinary programs, it will be difficult to catch any significant performance differences between 8Gb and 16Gb.

Among the programs we tested, the Adobe Premier CC video editor turned out to be the most demanding on RAM. And you can see it in the graph below:0003

As an experiment, we edited a 17-minute video made up of several small clips, pictures and audio recordings. In order to use the RAM to the maximum, we made the necessary settings for the program, which can use up to 12Gb when encoding.

With 16Gb of memory installed, the job was completed in 290 seconds. Surprisingly, with 8Gb of memory, the encoding time almost did not increase and amounted to 300 seconds. And only when we replaced the memory with 4Gb, we saw a significant loss in performance. To be precise, 4Gb was 38% slower than 8Gb.

Let’s move on to the 7-Zip archiver. By default, the benchmark settings use a dictionary length of 32Mb, which is usually enough to carry out compression. But if you are going to compress several files, the size of which is measured in gigabytes, then it is preferable to set the size of the dictionary to a larger one. This will slow down the compression process, but will give a better result. The larger you set the size of the dictionary, the smaller the resulting archive will be. And the more your RAM will be involved.

When running the benchmark with a dictionary length of 32Mb, our Intel Skylake-based computer used about 1.7Gb of system memory, while showing a performance rating of 25120 MIPS (millions of instructions per second). Increasing the length of the dictionary twice, up to 64Mb, required 3.1Gb of system memory, up to 128Mb — 6.1Gb.

We conducted our test by setting the length of the dictionary to 512Mb, which gave a staggering load on the system memory. The required amount of memory was determined as 24Gb and the system began to use the Windows paging file to cope with this process. The more we load data onto the SSD drive, the slower our system becomes.

With 16Gb of memory on board, the system produces 9290 MIPS, and the system with 8Gb becomes more than three times slower.

If we compare the compression speed measured in kilobytes per second, we will see that the configuration with 8 gigabytes is 11 times slower than the configuration with 16 gigabytes.

Although in this test we saw a significant difference between 8Gb and 16Gb, we still created a very unlikely scenario for using the archiver. Of course, those people who are engaged in compressing large amounts of information are well aware of the need to install as much RAM as possible, but the average user is unlikely to need it.

Application Benchmark

We tested with the SPECwpc V1.2 benchmark. There are not many tests in this program that are related to applications regularly used by ordinary users. However, this benchmark is one of the few that allows you to run tests that use more than 8Gb of system memory. We have carefully selected some of them that most strongly reflect the difference in memory performance, although it should be noted that not all of them used more than 8Gb.

Blender is a free and open source 3D graphics software used by professionals around the world. Unfortunately, during our testing, the benchmark used a maximum of 6.1 Gb of memory, so it would be incorrect to compare the performance of 8 and 16 gigabytes in this test. Still, we didn’t see any significant performance gain between 4Gb and 8Gb.

LAMMPS is a software package for calculations in molecular dynamics. The performance test in this program using the SPECwpc benchmark used 10. 5Gb of memory. And this means that it will suit us for comparing 8Gb and 16gb.

According to the results, you can see that the use of additional 2.5Gb of memory gave an increase of 10%. This is a pretty significant difference. It can be seen more clearly when comparing 4Gb and 8Gb. The difference in the productivity of these volumes was 306%.

NAMD is another software package used in molecular dynamics. It uses only 7.2Gb, so we will compare the results of 4Gb and 8Gb. Looking at the test results, we can say that increasing the amount of memory does not significantly affect performance in the NAND program. 8Gb is only 10% ahead of 4Gb.

And the last of the application tests is the test of the Rodinia program, which is designed for developers studying the architecture of GPUs and other platforms.

Our test shows a slight increase in performance with additional memory. Installing 16Gb instead of 8Gb only increased system performance by 4%.

Gaming performance

As expected, many gamers find 8Gb to be sufficient. The last time we talked about the potential of memory, many of you wanted to see tests with the Google Chrome browser running in parallel with a large number of tabs, expecting that this would affect the conclusions drawn from the tests.

Given the way Windows allocates system memory, we don’t think it will have much of an impact on game performance. However, this time we ran the game tests with a browser running in the background, which loaded 65 tabs and consumed 2.26Gb of memory with 16Gb available.

With 16Gb of memory installed, we saw that Chrome and GTA V consumed 9Gb of memory, but did not see any difference between the 16Gb and 8Gb configurations. Moreover, the configuration with 4Gb in single-channel mode showed a result only 1 fps less than with 8Gb.

Batman: Arkham Knight may not be the smartest choice, but this test allows you to test a significant amount of memory, almost 10Gb with Google Chrome open in the background. Despite this, the configuration with 16Gb was only 1 fps faster than the configuration with 8Gb, and with 8Gb it was 4 fps faster than with 4Gb. That is, sixteen gigabytes were only 4% faster than four.

Of the next twenty games tested, only one test consumed more than 6Gb. It was an F1 2015 game that had no effect on memory stick changes.

Drawing conclusions

For those who are building a new system or just thinking of upgrading the existing one to 16Gb, the answer is simple: don’t throw money away. For ordinary users and gamers, there are no special advantages in using 16Gb.

In gaming scenarios, 4Gb of memory usually produces acceptable fps, but 8Gb remains the ideal choice. For those of you who are solely focused on gaming and don’t have the budget for 16Gb, don’t worry, you’re not missing out on anything. For people who will insist that certain game mods use more than 8Gb, well, go ahead, but so far we have not been able to find any modern game without extra mods that required more than 8Gb.

Moreover, in a test where we used almost 10Gb of memory, running the Batman game and the Google Chrome browser with a lot of tabs loaded, reducing the amount of memory from 16 to 8 gigabytes did not lead to a decrease in frame rate.

Game aside, even an application like Adobe Premier CC, which used 12Gb in our test, didn’t run much faster when we upgraded from 16GB to 8GB. However, we saw significant system slowdown with 4GB. For users who are engaged in video encoding, we recommend setting at least 8Gb.

Only one SPECwpc test showed an advantage in using 16Gb of memory instead of 8Gb, although the gap was not so significant. And for those people who use professional software, the $100 extra cost of RAM is unlikely to bother you at all.

The only application that really benefited from 16Gb was the 7-Zip archiver, although at the same time we set an unrealistically large dictionary length in the settings in order to use the maximum amount of memory. With a dictionary length of 128Mb, the system needs 6Gb of memory, and it is unlikely that many of you will ever need more. Of course, I am not an expert in file compression and do this very rarely, so I can not give one hundred percent reliable advice, but I think if you regularly compress files of crazy sizes, then you probably know what is required from your system.

Virtualization is another case where you might need a lot of RAM. If you are hosting multiple virtual machines, then I must say you want to have a ton of RAM in your computer, but this has nothing to do with ordinary users.

To sum it up, 8Gb is the standard now to be followed. Whether you’re building a budget system or a powerful gaming PC, 8GB is a good choice, while 16GB is only needed for some highly specialized tasks today.

You can find the original article at techspot.com. The text was translated for you by Alexandr Cross.

8, 16 or 32 GB?

Recently, the cost of RAM sticks tends to decrease due to falling demand and decreasing sales, and manufacturers are not shy about saying that there is an overproduction of memory chips on the market. Buy what?

So, for example, a full set of G.Skill TridentZ DDR4 RAM with a capacity of 16 GB (2 sticks of 8 GB each), which cost about $ 215 about a year ago, can now be found for $ 100 cheaper. You can also get a 32GB kit for less than $230, which used to be priced at over $300.

With prices like these, you can already consider buying much more RAM for your PC. But how much memory do you really need — 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB?

Over the years, the need for large amounts of RAM has increased solely for objective reasons. Web pages, apps, and games use a lot more memory than they used to. A few years ago, only 8 GB was enough for computer users to perform everyday tasks or even play games. Today, this value seems completely irrelevant — just launching a game, doing a resource-intensive rendering, or simply browsing the web with a dozen open tabs and memory may not be enough.

If the amount of RAM installed in the system is used up, the system on the hard drive or SSD drive will write to the page file. And this can cause braking and even failure. No matter how fast the drive is, its performance will still be exponentially slower than if all applets and programs were run directly from RAM.

While running out of RAM can turn a solid system on its head, buying too much doesn’t always seem like a viable option. And no matter what your PC build budget is, every penny counts. Let’s see how to choose the optimal amount of RAM.

8 GB — average minimum for most users

For starters, you have to completely forget about 4 GB. Unless you’re repairing or upgrading old computers or buying a Chromebook, 8GB is the bare minimum for most average users. At the moment, 4 GB is reserved only for websites, email or regular games. But most computer games use a fair amount of RAM. We ran six games (F1 2018, Apex Legends, Battlefield V, PUBG, The Division 2 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider) to find out which ones. Please note that in this case, no other third-party applications were launched, but only those processes that start naturally with Windows (this is about 2. 7 GB in standby mode) and are used by the game itself remained.

These games have total RAM usage ranging from 6.6 GB to 11.3 GB (F1 2018 and The Division 2 respectively). Even the seemingly budget 6.6 GB is too close to 8 GB, given the amount of memory allocated to the operating system itself. So if you’re an avid gamer, it’s possible you can get by with 8GB, but it’s highly recommended to use at least 16GB.

In general, 8 GB of RAM will suit those who stick to using only basic functions, or those who do not play modern games. Of course, you can work without switching to the swap file, but if you plan to run applications that require more memory, and even perform other tasks at the same time, you can easily exceed the set limit.

16 GB sweet spot

Today, 16 GB for most enthusiasts and gamers can be called the «golden mean» in the ratio between price and volume. This capacity gives you a certain margin of safety for performing several tasks at the same time, and even without having to close tabs or applications, so that God forbid you do not exceed the amount of available RAM.

Even though The Division 2 eats up a total of 11 GB across the system, supports a 14-tab browser, uses MS Word, and streams Twitch in the background, I used about 14 GB. This is commensurate with the 16 GB limit. But how often do you actually play games while leaving other work apps open?

I have a total of 32 GB installed, but even with my RAM usage pattern, going over 16 GB proved to be very difficult. I usually play games, use MS Word and Excel, do graphics processing in Paint.Net, and have a dozen or more tabs open in the Chrome browser.

However, if you are a creative professional, your needs will be different accordingly. Those who process large files or perform other resource-intensive, RAM-intensive tasks should consider installing 32 GB or more. But if such tasks are not provided, most of us can easily get by with 16 GB.

32 GB overkill?

Increasing the RAM to 32GB gives you quite a lot of freedom as apps (and/or lots of open browser tabs) stay active without any negative effects. None of the games I tested made full use of 16 GB, let alone 32. Some users who work with large files or more than one file at a time should use 32 GB or more in terms of performance. Of course, there are situations when you need to use more than 16 GB, which, no doubt, will push the user to move to 32 GB. But for many (probably most) users, this situation is rare.

So what can you do with the extra 32 GB if you don’t use it regularly? Some video and graphics editing tasks, especially at 4K+ resolutions, can only benefit from a RAM disk, which will turn some of the ultra-fast volatile RAM capacity into storage and take over resource-intensive processes. In the future, such a drive can be used as a working tool for other projects, since the data transfer and processing speed in it is much higher than on a traditional drive, even the best SSD equipped with a PCIe interface. In such cases, having a RAM disk can reduce project time and improve overall performance by making it ramp up more smoothly.

So where is the border?

Is 8 GB enough or do you still need 32 GB? For most PC users, the answer to both of these questions is no. Although you can find some users who can easily get by with 8 GB of RAM, but if you play modern games or do complex work that requires high computer system performance, it is still better to go for 16 GB. With 16 GB, most users can leave the tasks they are working on active for a while, to, say, continue working later, play a game, or switch to browsing websites, movies, or something else.

On the other hand, for most enthusiasts today, with the exception of people who edit RAW photos or high-resolution video (or work with other tasks with a similar amount of memory), 32 GB of RAM is too much. However, the extra capacity, if left unused, makes it possible to create ultra-fast access RAM disks, which can be beneficial for some applications and complex tasks.

If your RAM usage model isn’t currently approaching 16 GB when RAM is fully loaded, stop at 16 GB. If you see your system coming close to 16GB often, it’s better to upgrade to a 32GB kit, especially since the prices are much lower now.

Now the smartest move. If you have a full size ATX board with four or more RAM slots, it’s worth going for 16GB with two DIMMs for now (if that’s enough), and then just wait until memory prices drop even more. A system with four DIMMs may have lower performance than a system with dual DIMMs. But if you can really make use of the extra memory, having twice as much storage is much more beneficial than having half of it, which is also a little slower. As we have already seen in our memory reviews and in a recent article on overclocking RAM on the AMD Ryzen X470 platform, going for the fastest RAM can rarely give a significant (or even substantial) performance boost, unless you are using integrated graphics or several specialized programs.

Source:

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How much RAM should be in the phone and how it is spent

The most popular phones now have a wide range of RAM values. On the one hand, you have ultra-premium devices with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM. On the other hand, budget models, many of which have variants with as little as 4GB of RAM. Meanwhile, the happy medium is usually between 6 GB and 8 GB of RAM. To the common man, these figures mean nothing, except that «more is better.» But is it really so, or sometimes you can not overpay for extra numbers that you still won’t use? Here it is necessary to understand.

Not everyone thinks about how much RAM a md phone should have.

Contents

• 1 Phone RAM
• 2 Is 4 GB of RAM Enough
• 3 RAM Swap
• 4 How much RAM do games take
• 5 What applications should be unloaded from RAM

6 Phone

Phone RAM

In general, less expensive phones tend to have less RAM, while premium flagships offer more. While everything is logical. The question is, how much RAM do you need when buying a new phone? What is the ideal amount of RAM for an Android phone in 2022? Let’s figure it out.

What is the maintainability of smartphones and how is it determined.

Every computer, including your phone, uses random access memory (RAM). The currently running programs, their data, and parts of the operating system itself are stored in RAM while the device is running. Ten years ago, Android devices had 512 MB or 1 GB of memory, which was good at the time. However, the average amount of RAM in devices has grown rapidly. In 2014, many premium devices had 3 GB RAM , and in 2016 and 2017 — 4 GB . It has become the gold standard for the industry. 4 GB is now considered the minimum for a new device. With less volume, you will really have problems.

No matter how much RAM your device has, is a limited resource that needs to be managed. When you launch a new app on Android, it takes up some memory. Simple applications and games will use several hundred megabytes. More complex games can use up to a gigabyte of RAM, while the most demanding games will take up to 1.5 GB of RAM.

Many games require memory. keep that in mind.

Is 4 GB of RAM enough

4 GB of RAM is generally enough if you do not install and run a large number of applications at the same time. This is even enough for a few average games. But with this volume, you won’t have a headroom if you want more.

How to search by image on Google. Even from a phone.

RAM swap

To somehow expand the amount of memory, modern devices use a technique known as swap . The oldest and unused data is uploaded to a special storage inside the permanent memory. If this paged memory is needed later, the saved data is taken from storage and copied back to RAM, being replaced by others. This greatly increases the amount of available memory for storing applications and data, but the trade-off is that persistent memory is much slower compared to RAM. And this affects the speed of the device.

Unlike computers, instead of writing pages to storage, Android compresses data and writes it back to RAM. This is known as zRAM, following the Unix/Linux tradition of using «z» for compression. Compressed memory is not directly readable, so if it is needed, it must be decompressed and copied back, as with traditional swap. And this is again a decrease in the speed of work. Therefore, the more memory, the better. The main thing is to understand whether you are ready to pay for it.

When the RAM is busy, this can cause the phone to slow down.

As in the case of normal data in the RAM, and in the case of zRAM, when the amount of memory runs out, applications will simply start to be unloaded from it. This means that the app you wanted to go back to might be force closed as the Android OS needs to make room for the new app you launched later.

How much RAM do games take up

For a rough idea of ​​how much memory an app needs, here are some examples of the most popular Android games: MB

• Brawl Stars — 500 MB
• Minecraft — 800 MB
• ASPHALT 9 — 800 MB
• Shadowgun Legends — 900 9000 MB
• Elder Scrolls Blades — 950 MB
• Genshin Impact — 1.4 GB
• Chrome — 2. 2 GB

a smartphone with 4 GB of RAM will not hold more than three such applications in memory. And in the event of an unload, you may lose unsaved data.

Some phones will upload applications in a chronological order. That is, the one that has not been used for the longest time will go first. But some operating systems can deal with memory more gently. For example, OnePlus offers the RAMBoost feature. It analyzes your usage and tries to keep the apps you use frequently in memory and kills the apps you rarely use. It can even load apps into RAM if it thinks you’ll be using them soon. But this feature can be disabled, because often applications are closed when there is still enough space in RAM.

When choosing a phone, think about how much RAM you need.

How much RAM should be in the phone

Summing up, we can say that 4 GB RAM will be enough only for the most undemanding users. 6-8 GB RAM will be the best choice for the average user. 10-12 GB is already more than enough for almost everyone. And 16 GB is more to say that they are. Although Android is so arranged that no matter how much you give it, it will still gobble up everything. It’s just that in RAM you will store everything that you don’t even need.

Of course, if your budget doesn’t allow for more and your phone only has 2 GB of RAM, you can use it too. Moreover, its performance is not enough to score such a volume. On the other hand, even in the budget segment there are models with 4, 6 and even 8 GB of RAM. Its type and speed are also important, but this is a topic for a separate discussion.

How much memory do you need for games?

Jul 2021

• Games

• PC performance

• Memory

• DDR4

• Kingston FURY

Blog Home

RAM is very important for PC gamers who want to make their gaming experience as realistic as possible. If your PC is experiencing crashes and slow response while playing a game, it may be worth increasing the amount of RAM. Having enough memory for the games you want to play is recommended for any gamer who wants to improve their gaming experience and load faster. Expanded RAM will increase system responsiveness, load games faster, and improve frame rates. The exact amount of storage you need will depend on the type of games you want to play and whether you need to use any other apps at the same time. However, it is important to note that RAM is not the only component that allows you to improve the overall gaming experience. It will also be affected by the operating system, SSD, processor, and graphics card.

How does RAM work?

RAM (Random Access Memory) is a computer’s short-term memory for temporary storage of information that the PC needs to access. In contrast, a computer hard drive or solid state drive is its long-term memory, in which information is stored for a longer time. When you launch a game on a PC, all relevant data that your computer may need to access while playing the game is loaded into RAM. Constantly retrieving information from a hard drive or SSD drive is inefficient and much slower. RAM is much faster, so it can load the game and read the game data faster.

How much RAM do you need to play games?

The amount of RAM you need actually depends on the games you want to play, since the RAM requirements for different types and formats of games vary. For specific games, it is important to familiarize yourself with the system requirements recommended by the developers. For a clearer idea of ​​how much RAM you’ll need, check out the Can You Run It website. ^*

The right amount of memory is important for every game because without enough RAM, your computer won’t be able to store all the information you need to play the game. This will result in reduced frame rates and performance.

In this article, we will provide recommendations on how much RAM you need for games and provide frames per second (FPS) for four popular games: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty Warzone, Apex Legends and Fortnite.

4 GB

A few years ago, 4 GB of RAM would have been enough for gaming. However, as games evolve and become more complex, this volume is no longer enough. Older games can still run with 4GB of RAM, but it’s worth investing in at least 8GB to afford a wider range of games. However, games such as Valorant, League of Legends (LoL), Minecraft, Counter Strike: Global Offensive System, DOTA 2, and GTA 5 can still be played with 4 GB of RAM, but performance may degrade.

Game	FPS
World of Warcraft:	42 fps
Call of Duty Warzone:	43 fps
Apex Legends:	58fps
Fortnite:	64 fps

8 GB

8 GB RAM is the minimum amount of RAM for any gaming PC. 8 GB of RAM will allow you to play most released games without problems, but some of them may not play at the highest quality, and you may have to close other applications. Games like Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Rainbow 6 Seige (R6) and World of Warcraft Shadowlands can be played with 8 GB of RAM.

Game	FPS
World of Warcraft:	73 fps
Call of Duty Warzone:	61 fps
Apex Legends:	108fps
Fortnite:	85 fps

16 GB

16 GB is the recommended amount of RAM for most games and will provide a noticeable performance boost over 8 GB. You will also be able to run apps in the background without affecting your gameplay. Games such as Call of Duty Warzone and Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) are recommended to be played with 16 GB of RAM.

Game	FPS
World of Warcraft:	91 fps
Call of Duty Warzone:	69 fps
Apex Legends:	135 fps
Fortnite:	108fps

32 GB

32 GB RAM is becoming more and more popular among gamers and the most likely reason is probably the increase in frames per second compared to 16 GB. 32 GB will improve the graphics performance of the game, while providing the ability to perform many tasks in the background, such as streaming, using Chrome, system software or Spotify. However, it is unlikely that you will ever be able to use all 32 GB in the game. So if you’re on a budget or only use your PC for gaming, it’s probably best to stay at 16GB. However, with 32GB you will see a significant performance boost and will also be able to confidently face any upcoming game releases requiring more RAM.

Game	FPS
World of Warcraft:	103 fps
Call of Duty Warzone:	81 fps
Apex Legends:	143 fps
Fortnite:	115 fps

Conclusion

How much RAM you need to play games really depends on what games you want to play and how many other apps you have open in the background. For some older games, 8 GB can be used. If you like to play modern games and leave other tasks in the background, 16 GB will definitely improve your gaming experience. What about 32 GB? 32GB of RAM is a lot, but the FPS difference shows why so many gamers spend money to upgrade their system’s RAM to 32GB. A minimum of 16 GB of RAM is already recommended for new games. So, if you’re using your PC for more than just gaming, or want to prepare for future releases, 32GB is the way to go.

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How much 3G Internet traffic a user needs / Articles / Mobitek

Cellular operators have already deployed their own 3G networks (and some of them have been deployed and have been successfully operating for a long time) and have decided on new tariff plans. As a rule, subscribers are offered packages from 0.5 GB to 4 GB of traffic (and in some cases even up to 8 GB). To answer the question, is it a lot or a little for the owner of a mobile device, we took some measurements.

We took 1 GB of traffic and tried to spend it on the most popular and requested tasks by users. It turned out such a curious infographic (see the image below).

1 GB of traffic with good speed is not so much. Provided that it needs to be stretched for a month, this is practically nothing at all. Correspondence in messengers, social networks, mail, online navigation and sometimes on the Internet, see the transport schedule, the address of a store or restaurant, a few short videos a day (5 minutes), 30-40 minutes of reading a feed on Facebook or another social network a day, 150-200 pages of web surfing, uploading 50-60 photos to social. network, 30-40 minutes of Skype calls, 2-3 songs a day online and not in the best quality. Keep in mind that smartphones and tablets are constantly updating installed applications and the information they need (for example, weather, location data, etc. ), which also eats up a certain amount of traffic. Perhaps, only by limiting yourself to such a set of services, you can stretch 1 GB of traffic for the whole month. But all of the above can be done fairly quickly. Well, you can forget about showing your child a cartoon on the Internet, or watching for example online a match of your favorite team with such a volume of traffic. There is a high probability that a full-length cartoon can be watched until about the middle, and a football match, at best, before the start of the second half. If the average user does not need to watch videos, listen to music, update and download applications on a smartphone, communicate in instant messengers by voice and, especially, video calls, then perhaps the most economical ones will be able to last until the end of the month. And one cannot even dream of using 3G Internet as a replacement for home Internet with everyday use of a significant amount of information, with the exception of CDMA tariffs of the operator Intertelecom or of the national operator Kyivstar in its new unlimited tariff «Maximum Unlim» for 155 UAH/month. and use a large number of services that require an Internet connection, as well as listen and watch a lot online or communicate on Skype with video calls, then you should think about a tariff plan for 3-5 GB / month.

Below is an infographic of how many different types of mobile services fit in 1GB of traffic. Please note that the diagram shows the traffic consumption of certain applications and services according to the «or» logic, and not according to the «and» logic. That means 17 hours of navigation, or 257 songs online, or 16.5 hours of listening to the radio, or 50 hours of Facebook, or 500 high quality photos, etc.

How much internet do you need for a smartphone?

The smartphone lives its “smartphone life”, regularly visiting the Internet for updates of installed programs in the background, checking your mail, synchronizing various data (for example, weather), etc. It does not matter on which platform it works — Android, Windows Phone, iOS (iPhone), or even the ancient OS Symbian or Bada. Therefore, it is quite normal to spend 50 MB per day on his affairs. And this is 1.5 GB. per month! Of course, they can be reduced to 1 GB or less by turning off updates to various programs or turning off the Internet itself for long periods of time, but then the question arises — why do you need a smartphone? As a result, know that if the operator happily informs you about an Internet package of 500 MB (about 0.5 GB) as part of the tariff, with the full use of the device (together with browsing, Viber, WhatsApp, Skype, social networks, correspondence, etc. ) this may not be enough for you even for half a month. Package 1 GB — with a stretch. Optimal — at least 2 GB, and even better 4 or 6 GB.

For normal use of a smartphone with all its advantages, on average, a user needs from 2 to 4 GB of traffic per month.

How much internet do you need for a tablet?

Here you can take internet tips for your smartphone and simply multiply the size of required packages by 2 or 3 (depending on how you plan to use your device). Tablets are more adapted for games, and modern games increasingly require an Internet connection for their full use, so tablet owners, and especially gamers, consume much more traffic. Fortunately, for tablets, some mobile operators already offer other, more “voluminous” traffic packages (for example, from 3 to 8 GB per month)

Important 1! Do not try to use the «basic» megabyte Internet with a modern smartphone or tablet! With the high cost of per-megabyte traffic (on average, from 3 to 10 kopecks per megabyte, and for some operators on some tariff packages the cost reaches UAH 0.20 per 1 Mb, and even when rounded by 100-250 Kb per session!) your balance can be depleted very quickly!

Important 2! In roaming (both domestic or intra-network, and foreign) prices for mobile Internet may differ significantly from prices in the subscriber’s connection region. So check them out in advance! And if for traveling around Ukraine many tariffs and options already retain the “home (or intranet) tariff” for the Internet, then in international roaming it hits the pocket hard even with connected options. Therefore, abroad we strongly recommend using local SIM cards.

For normal use of the tablet, a fairly active user needs from 3 to 6 GB of traffic for a month.

How much internet do you need for a laptop or computer?

Recall that we are talking about mobile Internet traffic (3G Internet). If you need the Internet to give, just to check your mail before going to bed, read the latest news, see what is “being done on social networks” after spending only half an hour or an hour online, then 1-2 GB for a month is enough. Especially if, within the framework of the inexpensive package you have chosen, the access speed is limited by the operator, after which the speed will be very slow, but the traffic is free.

If you plan to spend more time on the Internet, but are not going to download movies or music, plus take care of disabling updates, then 5-8 GB of traffic should be enough for you for a month of daily work.

If you are going to use the Internet in full — during the day for work, and in the evening and on weekends for entertainment (or in rural areas as home Internet), then you will need significantly larger resources: 8-10 GB and more, plus high or unlimited speed.