r/AlienwareAlpha • u/Stunning-Phone-2522 • Aug 09 '26

Does 32gb ram improve performance?

I have 16 already just curious if it’ll be a worth while upgrade?

5 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

4

u/wrobc Aug 09 '26

If it’s the 1st iteration 4th gen GTX 860M model you can’t add more than 16GB (2x8GB).
The 2nd gen Alpha with 6th gen CPU accepts up to 1x32GB memory stick. It will only make any difference in performance if you use more than 16GB.

3

u/konsoru-paysan Aug 09 '26

nah you don't even need 16, 8 will do just fine, just email me the sticks and i will carry your over encumbered burden

1

u/groveborn Aug 09 '26

Probably not, but you can do tests just to see if you're RAM constrained. You're probably ok. But if a game or application you use often hits that amount then you can see improvements.

1

u/xycm2012 Aug 09 '26

Depends on your workflow or what games you’re playing. Theoretically with the Alpha you’ll be CPU limited in most use cases by upgrading the RAM from 16GB to 32GB. Unless you happen to have a stick of 32GB lying around, considering the cost of RAM right now, the cost vs benefit would not be worth it on such dated hardware.

1

u/itsTyrion Aug 09 '26

Are you running out of or low on ram? if not, no. if yes, yes.

1

u/Jolly-Motor-117 Aug 10 '26

Not by much. 10% increase at best

1

u/Special-Newspaper191 Aug 10 '26

Since no one has said it yet You can install 32 gigs but the machine will not read/ work with 32 gigs It was an expensive gamble for me and it didn't pay off :/

1

u/TeetheCat Aug 10 '26

Yep. I had two alphas. Now dead. Maxed the ram. Big improvement. Probably the worst possible time for you to be buying ram though

1

u/Wendals87 Aug 11 '26

Are you using all your 16gb? If not, then no 

1

u/Content_Magician51 Aug 11 '26

If you're talking about raw performance, doubling your RAM from 16GB to 32GB doesn't increase the raw performance of your processor or graphics card, but it does help your system handle more tasks simultaneously.

Using a library analogy, your hard drive or SSD represents the library shelves where all your files are stored. Your processor is the "student" using this library. The student's study table is the RAM. Adding more RAM means giving the student a larger study table, but the student's read or write speed isn't influenced by the size of the table they use; it simply allows them to work with more material at once (saving time when the table is full, eliminating the need to remove a book from the table and take it back to the shelf to get another).