How Much RAM Does a Programmer Need?

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How Much RAM Does a Programmer Need?

Whether you call yourself a web developer or a budding programmer, you need a system with enough amount of RAM that can comfortably let you operate while programming.

RAM (random access memory) alone isn’t the only factor that decides your computer’s speed.

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First, make sure that it’s the RAM that your computer needs for better performance. Remember, other factors can directly impact your computer’s speed as such.

Available space on your hard drive
RPM on your hard drive (rotation per minute)
Built-in memory of your graphic card
Model, brand and bus speed of your motherboard
Your CPU make, model and usage
Your operating system

And more…

Now, see below and compare the use cases with your daily usage. If your RAM is within the use case range documented below, then you may need to optimize the other things mentioned above before upgrading your RAM for programming.

Generally speaking, the programming itself does not consume too much from your RAM but it’s the other stuff you have constantly open and running during your daily computer usage.

RAM Consumption by Common Daily Tasks:

Use Case	2GB	4GB	8GB	16GB	32GB
Basic Document Editing	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Large Documents and Multitasking	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES
Basic Web Browsing	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES
Heavy Web Browsing (20+ tabs)	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES
Media Playing	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES
Photo Editing	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES
Full HD Video Editing	NO	NO	NO	YES	YES
Mid-Range Gaming with Old GPU	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES
High-End Gaming with Latest GPU	NO	NO	NO	YES	YES

RAM Consumption by Programming Languages (MB):

Pascal 1.00 (c)

Go 1.05 (c)

C 1.17 (c)

Fortran 1.24 (c)

C++ 1.34 (c)

Ada 1.47 (c)

Rust 1.54 (v)

Lisp 1.92 (c)

Haskell 2.45 (i)

PHP 2.57 (c)

Swift 2.71 (i)

Python 2.80 (c)

Ocaml 2.82 (v)

C# 2.85 (i)

Hack 3.34 (v)

Racket 3.52 (i)

Ruby 3.97 (c)

Chapel 4.00 (v)

F# 4.25 (i)

JavaScript 4.59 (i)

TypeScript 4.69 (v)

Java 6.01 (i)

Perl 6.62 (i)

Lua 6.72 (v)

Erlang 7.20 (i)

Dart 8.64 (i)

Jruby 19.84

Yet, you should know that price is not that important when it comes to laptops. Here are a couple of tips to take into consideration when seeking to buy a perfect laptop for your web development and programming needs:

Go for 8GB of RAM

Vengeance 8GB ram for programming

As the number of RAM increases, your computer will become faster and have a decent processor.

As a programmer, you don’t really need to spend hundreds of dollars more on a 32GB of RAM capacity unless you are often multi-task by running multiple software simultaneously.

So the answer is most programmers will not need more than 16GB of RAM for major programming and development work.

Nonetheless, those game developers or programmers who tend to work with higher graphics requirements might need RAM of around 12GB.

16GB of RAM will suit better for only graphic designers and video editors as rendering videos and some high-resolution graphics can be quite consuming for a system with 8GB of physical memory.

Choose an SSD

Solid State Drives (SDDs) are swifter than any of the traditional hard disk drives.

HDD is also acceptable on the condition that other specs are in line as well. When you’re on a budget, you may not be able to afford an SSD and only be able to afford an HDD.

SSDs can truly benefit programmers, yet their only weakness is the lack of storage space. While HDDs give you up to 1TB of storage space, and SSDs may be limited to 256GB or 512GB.

Analysis

If you’re an aspiring programmer looking for the right laptop, focus on the amount of RAM for easy Multi-Tasking.

The amount of RAM is one of the most important things to consider. Being a programmer means you might need to run heavy IDEs and virtual machines.

Running such massive applications will take up a lot of memory. Working with them together at the same time will harm your laptop.

So, for that reason, you need to make sure that you choose a laptop with a lot of RAM.

Web developers may not see RAM as a major concern because the tools they work on are not that heavy and there is little compiling to do: 4GB of RAM should be enough.

Yet, application or software developers working with virtual machines, emulators, and IDEs for the compiling of massive projects will require a lot more RAM: at least 8GB of RAM will suffice.

Game development environments and level design will need stronger systems to work with: 16GB of RAM, or a bit less but with the ability to expand to 16GB later on.

RAM

for programs and data. Also, by the operating system for disk caching.

Installing more RAM: improves transfers between the CPU and both the RAM and hard drives.

Running short of RAM can be substituted by the use of a hard drive as virtual memory (slow substitute).

RAM loses its contents when shutting down the computer, but magnetic storage holds data for years to come.

RAM is swifter than magnetic or SSD storage; its speed is measured in nanoseconds which are billionths of a second; magnetic and SSD storage get measured in milliseconds which are thousandths of a second.

More amounts of RAM are needed while the operating systems and applications become stronger and get more features added to them.

Since RAM is one of the most popular upgrades to add to any laptop or desktop system during its lifespan, you need to understand the differences between the types of RAM which exist.

5 Types of RAM

1. SRAM: Static random-access memory (SRAM)

Does not need periodical memory refreshing.

Used as:

Buffers within hard drives
Cache memory for CPUs
Temporary storage for LCD screens
Automatically soldered to a printed circuit board (PCB), or quickly integrated into a chip: You won’t be replacing it.
Faster and found in smaller quantities than DRAM.

2. SDRAM: Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM)

The first type of memory to run in sync with the processor bus.
168-pin DIMM modules use their memory.
SDRAM modules contain a one-bit prefetch buffer and undergo one transfer per clock cycle.
PC133 modules may be used at times on systems created for PC100 modules.

3. DDR SDRAM: The second generation of systems running synchronous DRAM

Uses double data rate SDRAM.
Makes two transfers per clock cycle.
Features a two-bit prefetch buffer.
184-pin DIMM memory modules use its chips.

Speeds for DDR SDRAM:

PC1600 (200MHz/1600Mbps)
PC2100 (266MHz/2100Mbps)
PC2700 (333MHz/2700Mbps)
PC3200 (400MHz/3200Mbps)

4. DDR2 SDRAM: Double data rate 2 SDRAM

Successor to DDR SDRAM.
Runs external data bus 2x the speed of DDR SDRAM.
Features a four-bit prefetch buffer, allowing for even faster performance.
Has greater latency than DDR SDRAM memory.
Typical latency values are CL=5 and CL=6; in comparison to CL=2.5 and CL=3 for DDR memory.
240-pin memory modules use it.
Memory clock speed x4 or the I/O bus clock speed x2
DDR2-533 is used in PC2-4200 modules, which have a throughput of more than 4200Mbps.

5. DDR3 SDRAM: Double data rate 3 SDRAM

Runs at lower voltages
Twice the internal banks
Most versions run at faster speeds than DDR2.
Eight-bit prefetch bus. Greater latency than DDR2.
Typical latency values: CL7 or CL9, in comparison to CL5 or CL6 for DDR2.
The memory clock speed is x4 or the I/O bus clock speed is x2.
DDR3-1333 is used in PC3-10600 modules that contain a throughput of over 10,600MBps or 10.6GBps.

TABLE OF COMPARISON FOR RAM TYPES:

RAM Type	Pins (DIMM)	Pins (SODIMM)	Common Type & Speed	Defining Characteristic
DDR SDRAM	184	200	PC3200 = 400MHz/3200Mbps	Double the transfers per clock cycle compared to regular SDRAM
DDR2 SDRAM	240	200	DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) = 800MHz/6400Mbps	External data bus speed (I/O bus clock) is 2x faster than DDR SDRAM
DDR3 SDRAM	240	204	DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600) = 1333MHz/10600Mbps	External data bus speed (I/O bus clock) is 2x faster than DDR2 SDRAM (4x faster than DDR SDRAM)
DDR4 SDRAM	288	260	DDR4-2400 (PC4-19200) = 2400MHz/19200Mbps	External data bus speed (I/O bus clock) is 2x faster than DDR3 SDRAM (8x faster than DDR SDRAM)
UniDIMM	-	260	DDR3 or DDR4	Designed for use with Intel Skylake (6th generation Core i-series CPU); memory controller on motherboard/ processor must support both DDR3 and DDR4 memory

Recommended RAM for programming depends on the programming language you use as well as your multi-tasking habits while programming.

Remember that the RAM you will need for your programming also depends on whether or not you use your computer for coding only.

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