Advantages of 8GB vs 4GB

Has anyone found any real advantage of running an 8GB compute module board over the stock 4GB board? Instead of upgrading RAM would it be better to wait for the new CM5 board? Thoughts and comments are appreciated. Thanks

More RAM is only useful if you fill it up - by using multiple applications, many browser tabs etc… You should know best if that is the case in your situation.

I will probably wait and see if the (not even yet announced) CM5 board could be and option. But first I have to get my uConsole which is already in country but not yet in my hands :wink:

More ram is better. In linux any free memory gets used as disk cache. This will help out with slower disks like a micro SD card.

It also allows you to turn your vm swappiness to zero, so you only hit swap when you have no other choice. This is also good on a SD card as you have a limited number of writes.

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Whether or not you’ll see a difference depends on what you want to do with it. Honestly, the CM4 is so under-spec’d that the RAM isn’t going to be the biggest bottle neck.

If you’re emulating old DOS and console games, nothing that the Raspberry Pi 4 can run would benefit from 8GB of RAM. You could even get away with 2GB of RAM on a Retropie setup.

On the other hand, running Steam with Box86, Box64 and Proton/WINE will be RAM-intensive. That said, Steam is painfully slow on the CM4 and while there are 2D indie games that run well, you’ll have a better experience streaming those games over Moonlight.

Using multiple tabs in a web browser is where you’ll see the biggest difference between 4GB and 8GB in regular use, but even then it’s not going to be as smooth an experience as browsing the web on your phone.

I think you can save your money until we get a more powerful SoC that can run in the uConsole.