Does Skyrim SE really use 16+GB of RAM?

[Fixadent]

According to this video, it shows that Skyrim special edition is using ~16GB of system memory, which I've never seen any game do before.

 

I'm in the process of building a new gaming PC, should I buy 32GB instead of 16GB?

 

[Poet Olette]

What? No. No nOOOOoooOOOooo. You dont need that much.

[RealGordon]

Even though it does show a usage of approx. 16GB, you have to keep in mind that this number is a total. It shows the total RAM usage of the system. While Skyrim will probably be the application that uses most of the 16GB, the OS, recording software, etc. uses some aswell. I would guess Skyrim used approx. 14GB of RAM. That being said, 32GB would not hurt since Windows can then use RAM more freely and allocate as much as possible but you wouldn't feel any difference. With 16GB RAM Skyrim would probably use 12GB max., which is more than enough. Better invest the money in higher clocked 16GB RAM or save the money and buy standard issue 16GB RAM.

[Rayblue]

32gb is overkill unless you plan on running multiple virtual machines, a diskless server, or engaged in heavy Photoshop work. 16gb is enough, as that amount has become the de facto standard of how much memory is needed for gameplay and everyday use.

[27X]

You obviously didn't pay the remotest attention to the the video because it shows exactly how much ram is used by skyrim, both system ram and video ram.

[yatol]

According to this video, it shows that Skyrim special edition is using ~16GB of system memory, which I've never seen any game do before.

 

I'm in the process of building a new gaming PC, should I buy 32GB instead of 16GB?

 

 

he isn't using 16gb, he is wasting 16 gb

 

as for how that look in game

 

 

old stuff, that grass and those trees suck for their performance cost

 

verdant, grass&groundcover, lush trees, enderal trees (with 2k textures from random mods)... much smaller impact on fps

 

no idea what he use to waste so much ram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[27X]

 

Yatol at least watch the video before starting your usual rhetoric

[yatol]

 

Yatol at least watch the video before starting your usual rhetoric

 

a small look was more than enought

 

have replace much more textures than him and skyrim barely use 5 gb (but it's optimised)

 

he probably pick better for some stuff, there's too many textures to check (time consuming crap too)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[27X]

Apparently it wasn't, because he uses 1.6 gigs of ram and 3.2 gigs of vram for skyrim max.

[Fixadent]

So it doesn't use 16GB?

[ariantes]

No, Skyrim SE does not use 16 GB of RAM, except maybe if you run alot of mods. That said, if you are building a new rig, you should get 16 GB of RAM, since some new games use 6+ GB of RAM. If you add windows, anti vir and other stuff to that, 8 GB are not enough. 32Gb on the other hand, or more, are only needed if you do video editing, 3d design, matrix calculations and other professional work, but not for gaming.

 

Additionally, running more than 2 sticks of RAM or running double sided RAM has a performance cost. So you should only do that, if you really need that much RAM.

[Xiderpunk]

Memory usage can be a very deceptive thing.. If you have 16GB of total RAM and run just Skyrim SE.. then the OS (Windows) will assign as much of it's free ram to Skyrim SE for use as it can. Whether it is used or not. If you have 8GB of RAM Skyrim SE will happily run inside that.

 

Yatol as usual has completely misunderstood how memory works. Wasted ram is ram not used by any process. The fact that his Skyrim uses 5GB.. is because that is the the limit of what a 32bit process can use (4GB available to Skyrim, and 1GB for Skyrim itself).

[27X]

Memory usage can be a very deceptive thing.. If you have 16GB of total RAM and run just Skyrim SE.. then the OS (Windows) will assign as much of it's free ram to Skyrim SE for use as it can. Whether it is used or not. If you have 8GB of RAM Skyrim SE will happily run inside that.

 

Yatol as usual has completely misunderstood how memory works. Wasted ram is ram not used by any process. The fact that his Skyrim uses 5GB.. is because that is the the limit of what a 32bit process can use (4GB available to Skyrim, and 1GB for Skyrim itself).

 

 

 

That's just vram btw.

[yatol]

Yatol as usual has completely misunderstood how memory works. Wasted ram is ram not used by any process. The fact that his Skyrim uses 5GB.. is because that is the the limit of what a 32bit process can use (4GB available to Skyrim, and 1GB for Skyrim itself).

 

it can use more than that...

but not 16 gb, don't have them

skyrim.exe got full before i start seing lot of purple

 

what i call wasted ram, it's using 4k textures that are copy paste reverse of the 2k texture, uncompressed 4k, transparent tree texture that are mostly nothing...

[Xiderpunk]

 

Yatol as usual has completely misunderstood how memory works. Wasted ram is ram not used by any process. The fact that his Skyrim uses 5GB.. is because that is the the limit of what a 32bit process can use (4GB available to Skyrim, and 1GB for Skyrim itself).

 

it can use more than that...

 

but not 16 gb, don't have them

skyrim.exe got full before i start seing lot of purple

 

what i call wasted ram, it's using 4k textures that are copy paste reverse of the 2k texture, uncompressed 4k, transparent tree texture that are mostly nothing...

 

 

You are mistaking pagefile for RAM. Skyrim CAN NOT use more than 4GB because it simply does not have the capacity too as a 32bit process, there is no if's/buts/maybes about this, 32bit is literally incapable of managing address sizes beyond 4GB. For example installing 16GB of ram to run Skyrim would be a waste because of that limitation.. Skyrim can not utilize it. Skyrim SE however can.  

[CanadianBlueBeer]

If you can afford 32gb, then go with it.

 

SE may not always use it, may never. What's the NEXT game gonna use though?

 

(me, I went with 64. I don't like running out of ram, and I absolutely hate waiting for pagefiles)

 

I do use a ton of it.  CK open game open, buncha other stuff open. multiple monitors...

 

It's never fast enough, there's never enough drive space, never enough memory.

No such thing as overkill.

 

(really tho, 32 is probably a good amount as we start seeing more 64bit games.  I had Civ6 hit a bug, and actually use 16gb ram, then crash. repeatedly. I could watch it go from about 4-5 and climb, hit 15-16 and barf)

 

 

[27X]

 

 

Yatol as usual has completely misunderstood how memory works. Wasted ram is ram not used by any process. The fact that his Skyrim uses 5GB.. is because that is the the limit of what a 32bit process can use (4GB available to Skyrim, and 1GB for Skyrim itself).

 

it can use more than that...

 

but not 16 gb, don't have them

skyrim.exe got full before i start seing lot of purple

 

what i call wasted ram, it's using 4k textures that are copy paste reverse of the 2k texture, uncompressed 4k, transparent tree texture that are mostly nothing...

 

 

You are mistaking pagefile for RAM. Skyrim CAN NOT use more than 4GB because it simply does not have the capacity too as a 32bit process, there is no if's/buts/maybes about this, 32bit is literally incapable of managing address sizes beyond 4GB. For example installing 16GB of ram to run Skyrim would be a waste because of that limitation.. Skyrim can not utilize it. Skyrim SE however can.  

 

 

Which is the point of spawning multiple instances of enboost.

[yatol]

 

 

Yatol as usual has completely misunderstood how memory works. Wasted ram is ram not used by any process. The fact that his Skyrim uses 5GB.. is because that is the the limit of what a 32bit process can use (4GB available to Skyrim, and 1GB for Skyrim itself).

 

it can use more than that...

 

but not 16 gb, don't have them

skyrim.exe got full before i start seing lot of purple

 

what i call wasted ram, it's using 4k textures that are copy paste reverse of the 2k texture, uncompressed 4k, transparent tree texture that are mostly nothing...

 

 

Skyrim CAN NOT use more than 4GB because it simply does not have the capacity too as a 32bit process, there is no if's/buts/maybes about this, 32bit is literally incapable of managing address sizes beyond 4GB.

 

that problem is history since a few years

 

skyrim.exe limit is 3.1 gb

heard of something called enb?

if reduce memory usage is set to true, enbhost.exe take care of the textures

and bye bye the 3.1 gb limit problem

 

 

 

 

 

[MisukoB]

IMO, 16GB is tiny nowadays. 32GB will soon become the new 16.

 

Personally I had 32GB but upgraded to 64GB, but I would prefer to have at least 128GB. The reason is because rendering in 3DS Max and Daz Studio, Photoshop, etc. RAM runs out lightning fast when you do all these things at once; 3 monitors, watching some cartoon in the background, listening to music, render, edit pics, YouTube. And so on.

[khumak]

Well more RAM is probably always a good thing, but for most people once you have 8-16GB of system RAM you're probably better off spending any extra money on a faster CPU or a better video card.  Video rendering might well break that rule but most people aren't doing anything that needs huge amounts of system memory.

[aim4it]

 

that problem is history since a few years

 

skyrim.exe limit is 3.1 gb

heard of something called enb?

if reduce memory usage is set to true, enbhost.exe take care of the textures

and bye bye the 3.1 gb limit problem

 

No one is debating that using enboost memory proxy lets you get around the limitations of a 32 bit exe.

 

However the post is asking about SkyrimSE's memory usage, not SkyrimOE. Therefore any discussion of OE and how it uses memory with or without enboost is irrelevant.

 

[ariantes]

 

 

 

Yatol as usual has completely misunderstood how memory works. Wasted ram is ram not used by any process. The fact that his Skyrim uses 5GB.. is because that is the the limit of what a 32bit process can use (4GB available to Skyrim, and 1GB for Skyrim itself).

 

it can use more than that...

 

but not 16 gb, don't have them

skyrim.exe got full before i start seing lot of purple

 

what i call wasted ram, it's using 4k textures that are copy paste reverse of the 2k texture, uncompressed 4k, transparent tree texture that are mostly nothing...

 

 

Skyrim CAN NOT use more than 4GB because it simply does not have the capacity too as a 32bit process, there is no if's/buts/maybes about this, 32bit is literally incapable of managing address sizes beyond 4GB.

 

that problem is history since a few years

 

skyrim.exe limit is 3.1 gb

heard of something called enb?

if reduce memory usage is set to true, enbhost.exe take care of the textures

and bye bye the 3.1 gb limit problem

 

 

This is both wrong. A 32 bit process can only access 2 GB of RAM under normal circumstances. When you make it LARGEADRESSAWARE (which is a windows flag) it can use up to 4 GB RAM (because it's adresspace is still limited to 32 bit). SSE on the other hand as a 64 bit application could theoretically utilize 2^64 GB (approx. 17 billion GB) of RAM.

 

If a 32 bit process that is LARGEADRESSAWARE uses less than 4 GB of RAM it's because that is all that remained available for its use. Windows assigns itself to the bottom of the memory stack, so that's where the 3.1 GB comes from.

 

enbhost can only work under 2 requirements, you need more than 4 GB of system memory and a 64 bit OS. Even then, it only circumvents the memory allocation problems of 32 bit applications for graphics files as far as i understand it. If your skyrim would need 12 GB of RAM, but you only have 8 GB installed, enbhost can't help you with that. 

[yatol]

 

No one is debating that using enboost memory proxy lets you get around the limitations of a 32 bit exe.

 

However the post is asking about SkyrimSE's memory usage, not SkyrimOE. Therefore any discussion of OE and how it uses memory with or without enboost is irrelevant.

 

 

 

...

 

The fact that his Skyrim uses 5GB.. is because that is the the limit of what a 32bit process can use (4GB available to Skyrim, and 1GB for Skyrim itself).

 

as for the ram usage of the video

if he teleport from riften to whiterun, he have enought ram to not have to unload riften textures to free ram for whiterun textures, so it stay there, until game will have to free some for new textures

what's the point to have more ram if you don't use it?

 

there's nothing new for that stuff with sse

[CanadianBlueBeer]

uh, the OP is talking about Skyrim Special Edition, which is 64bit.  It most certainly can and does use more than 4GB.

 

yes, 16gb is generally fine TODAY.  8 is too small.

 

I tend to go at least 5 years between CPU upgrades, although I may upgrade the GPU (a good sale, or one just dies)

So, I tend to stuff as much RAM in as I can (max the mobo will take)

 

I wanted to go with 128gb this time, but couldn't find a mobo that could do that and have other things I wanted.

(last upgrade was 2009, so 7 years between them)

 

Seriously though, once you start adding in all the goodies to todays games, memory usage does get high.

Windows really doesn't like to run out, and if you're playing a game, you also don't want it hammering the swapfile

 

You also could go with 16 now, with plans to add another 16 down the road.

 

Most games are coming out as 64bit now, aiming for 4k etc, so yep, if yer doing a NEW machine, stuff it full of goodness.

 

[khumak]

Well in my case, I wanted to stick to a budget when building my new computer.  So it was a choice between 16GB and a good video card or 32GB and a crappy video card.  1st option was the clear winner IMO.  I do have Windows on an SSD but it's really only big enough for Windows and 1 other significant app.  I usually install everything on my HD.  I usually upgrade every 7 years or so.  Video card sometimes gets an upgrade sooner if I can get a good one for less than $150.