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I am developing an Android app and have a couple physical devices, however to maximize compatibility with user's potential devices I want to run virtual machines. Currently I have 8 GB's of RAM and usually run 5-10 chrome tabs at once along with Android Studio and one or two emulators.

Usually when the emulators are running I notice a slight slowdown. Would there be any benefit to upgrading to 16 GB's of ram in my case?

Also: the emulators each use 512 MB of ram - 2 GB depending on the situation. Is over 2 GB's practical for emulators or no?

Other specs Intel i5-4670k 120 GB SSD 1 TB HDD 8 GB RAM

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    What kind of memory pressure are you currently operating at?
    – user1
    Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 4:06
  • What % of the memory is being used when you run all of them, like the maximum you had? The same for your processor and hard drive(s). If you have an SSD I assume you run the emulators on that, since it will improve performance.
    – Adrian Pop
    Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 10:10
  • @Undo I usually only use 6-7 GB's at any given time but more ram would allow me to open more tabs and one or two more emulators
    – Nick Winans
    Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 11:36
  • @AdrianPop the maximum 7 GB's on the average day for RAM and about 40-50% for the processor, and yes the emulators are stored on the SSD to increase their speed.
    – Nick Winans
    Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 11:42
  • This site was created for questions seeking a specific hardware recommendation given a set of definitive requirements. If your question involved general computing or hardware issues, it can asked on Super User; nevertheless, it is outside the scope of this site.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 16:25

2 Answers 2

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It's safe to say that upgrading to 12 GB's would be enough, but if you really want to be sure, take the 16 GB's step.

Personally I use 6-7, sometimes 8. I have 16 GB's and can say it was money well spent.

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Sure it would. Since you're running multiple processes and your main goal is to multitask better, it would really improve performance and smoothness.

For what you're currently using, 12 GB should suffice but it seems you're limiting yourself because of your 8 GB of ram so go ahead and get 16 GB.

Also if you're using Linux it would be better to set your swapness down to zero. If you're using Windows you can have a look on how to control your ram and swap usage. That way you can benefit more from your ram.

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