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Currently on 16GB, should I upgrade to 32GB?

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Sep 21, 2010
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Motherboard
ASUS PRIME Z390-A
CPU
i7-9700K
Graphics
Vega 64
Sorry if this has been asked a million times, but before I pull the trigger to purchase 2x16GB, I thought I'd get some professional opinions.

I always have running: Safari (average around 15-20 tabs), Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Stocks, Messages, Photos, OneDrive, Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Teams, Skype, Microsoft Remote Desktop, HW Monitor, Box, SwitchResX.

I occasionally add: VLC, FireFox (5 tabs), Chrome (5 tabs), VNC Client

I don't think the Memory Pressure monitor has ever gone yellow or red, that said, I don't know if macOS would use more if it knew it had more. Meaning, if I upgrade from 16gb to 32gb, would the Memory Used go past 16gb because the system knows it has 32gb available?

Thanks!
 

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only reason to add ram now would be if you know you will need it later in the year as the prices will go up due to stock shortages and factory capacities
 
I don't do much more beyond what you see above. doesn't sound like I'd benefit aside from simply having headroom. I do have a dual boot with windows for gaming but I've never seen games exceed 8gb, so I'm never pushing the limit. I would assume macOS and new versions of software over time become more ram hungry, which would be about the only reason I could see to invest in an upgrade. if macOS doesn't consume more ram simply because it's available to take advantage of, then I guess I might as well stick with 16gb. I'll use that $120 towards Big Navi when it's released.
 
ok, so I bit the bullet and went for a second kit, 32gb, for a total of 48gb. glad I did. after opening all my apps , I'm already at 17gb before even starting to work. clearly 16gb was a bottleneck. 48gb is overkill but perhaps in the next year or two it won't be. best part, I'm running Adata XPG and bought 32gb gskill ripjaws and the xmp profile worked OOTB.
 
You didn't say what version of MacOS you wanted to run. For Sierra / High Sierra, 8GB is okay; for Catalina it makes sense to go for above 16GB if you want to work with more than one thing at once. If you don't want to chew RAM, don't run Safari or Google Chrome unless you absolutely need them for development / debugging purposes - there are lightweight browsers out there (eg: https://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/5-best-lightweight-browsers-for-mac-in-2020-02283087 - note I haven't tried any of these, just pointing out they exist).
 
yeah, Catalina, guess I didn't realize which version mattered so much. either way, I checked a few times during the day and I'm pushing 30gb. amazing. I would have never guessed. clearly will be leaving all 48gb intact. glad I upgraded.
 
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