So I recently updated my laptop with a new ssd and cloned the old one without an issue. I bought a new 1tb nvme ssd as I want to continue using the laptop for a long time as old ssd running low on space. I got over 700gb space left in it even after cloning from the old ssd in my laptop to it. The only upgrade that I can make to my laptop is the ram. There is no more possible upgrade I can make to it as cpu cannot be done


Laptop is dell xps 15 9550 and been using it since late 2016 so its pretty old.


Processor is i5-6300hq and it still is good. Ram is 8gb.



Now, I always read years ago 32gb is almost never necessary. I been using 8gb ram ever since I got the laptop years ago and its fine... but sometimes lag. I do have a ton of chrome tabs on though. Right now its using like 6.2gb/7.9gb ram and I have about 20 chrome tabs opened... even though task manager shows 27 next to it. Why does it never show correct amount?



I play lot of tables and use HEM2 and starscaption/partycaption and all those captions. I do not use piosolver or any of those programs etc on my computer. But would having 16gb ram limit me to these issues if i use programs like that in the future? I read most people who use those programs usually get like a desktop and like 64gb or 128gb ram so i assume this wouldn't be any concern since my laptop processor even though its quad core... well wouldnt be good enough?

I bought 16gb of ram recently but didn't open the package yet as I wasn't sure if i should upgrade to 32gb ram or not. My machine supports up to 32gb max ram but again its an older system but it works fine. Now I asked fozzy who is in charge of HEM support and asked if I use hem3, would 16gb ram be good enough? He said 8gb ram is the absolute minimum, 16gb would be recommended but 32gb would be the best if you can.


From what I read online, people say 8gb ram is more than enough for most ppl, and 16gb is more enough for people who has tons of chrome tabs and play video games... i don't play any video games, just poker online and use hem2/captions and possibly hem3 soon. I did read 32gb is good if you run VM and use data intensive programs etc. Fozzy tells me HEM3 is very intensive with ram and if you have a big database... which I do since i cloned my ssd...16gb ram might not be enough. I was shocked by this. He even said one guy had such a huge database, that his 32gb ram was slow on his computer etc but thats rare.



Now for ppl who use hem2 and hem3, do most of you have 8gb, 16gb or 32gb ram? I assume majority of you have 8gb ram right... then 16gb ram? Anyone here use hem3 or even hem2 and lag with 16gb ram? I see most laptops configured now is mainly 8gb ram. Now i could always upgrade my ram from 16gb go 32gb in the future easily, but would it be better to just upgrade it now so there won't be any possible upgrades left for ram?



I thought 16gb ram is more than enough as people said and nobody almost need 32gb ram... until fozzy mentioned hem3 is very ram intensive. He said like if you have big database and run hem3, 16gb might not be enough and it could use 20gb ram or more. Experiences on this from you guys? I had thought why pay more for additional ram when its never needed... like imagine it only show max 12gb/15.8gb used at the most... then 32gb would not be necessary right? Then i thought... well if many years ago i bought a 500gb ssd or 1tb ssd as oppose to a 250gb ssd, well i would never had needed to buy a new one. Of course this was many many years ago where i couldnt imagine ppl use up to 250gb in a ssd.



Thanks.

16gb is OKayish for regular use.

For solvers you can't build a normal postflop tree with such low Ram (100bb stacks, wide ranges, multiple sizings). If you plan on using them you should consider a desktop PC with a more RAM and a Ryzen CPU with more cores the better.

For reference I'm currently running Ryzen 5 2600 with 16gb ram and I feel handicapped when using a solver.

Thanks for that info. Well I never used a solver before or any of that software. I read you should get a desktop with ryzen 5 processor for it.


So that means you can't really use a laptop even with 32gb for solver then right assuming processor is old like mine i5-6300hq? But what if you have the new laptop now with i7 or i9 and get 32gb ram... that still won't work as well as the desktop ryzen processors right?



So any solver work and those programs like, most laptops can't handle it even with 32gb ram or even 64gb ram if certain laptops allow it? My laptop max ram is 32gb only.


But has anyone here had issues with lagging while using hem3 with 16gb ram? That is my main concern now as I only used hem2 but i read updates for hem2 would stop later on which mean everyone has to use hem3 eventually.


I mean ppl who use hem3... i assume most users have 16gb ram right as oppose to 8gb or 32gb? Fozzy said 8gb ram is like the absolute minimum for hem3 and 16gb is recommended... similar to like how its said for hem2... 4gb ram is absolute minimum and 8gb is recommended... and im sure 16gb ram is more than enough for hem2 right? Again i do have some lagging a few times when playing lot of tables with hem2 and starscaption and other caption on etc. So 16gb should fix it... but what about 32gb is needed?

If you just want to check a hand vs 1 sizing that opponent used and it's not super wide ranges or it's low SPR (3bp / 4bp) than by all means you can do that even with your PC.

Buuuut if you want to study 100+ flops and their runouts in each position, versus each position... than yeah, buy a powerful desktop.

Or rent a server. That's also an option.

Well I never used any of that software ever... so I don't really understand what you mean
by that. But i heard with more sizing, you need more ram. Again, i never used piosolver, gto+ or any of the software ever.


So i just wanted to know if me just upgrading my old xps 15 9550 laptop to just 16gb ram as oppose to 32gb ram would have any restrictions if i were to try to use pokers like piosolver, gto+ or any other program in the future. I read someone said with gto+, 16gb is more than enough except for bvb and deep stack scenarios... but again, i never used any of these programs.


But no one here ever gotten 32gb ram and go... wait i might as well just gotten 16gb ram right as its overkill? Like when i got a new 1tb nvme samsung ssd... I got it because i was going to clone my old 250gb ssd... but also dont want an issue where i would go low in space for a long time etc as I plan to use this laptop for many years. The desktop thing... i dont consider because again, i dont use piosolver now or gto or any of those programs. I just want to know like in future if i use programs like that on my laptop, would the 16gb restrict me or not. Same as with using hem3 etc since i heard that uses lot of memory.

The key takeaway from this post is that anyone can clone a SSD without any trouble.

hahahhaha

ah man Lol'd so hard

Also, on a more serious note, if you have already bought the RAM then you should use it. It will increase the performance of your PC somewhere between nothing and a lot. It certainly won't harm it. And since you already have the RAM in your possession you might as well install it and use it.

But what if it's not enough for some solver I may not use in the future?

That's not enough to cover your CTH threads