Are there any cons to RAM plus?

[BlackZeppelin]

Hi all. I'm not understanding RAM plus. Apparently, you can increase the phone's RAM by taking some of the hard drive shortage and allocating that to RAM.

So apart from losing a measly 2 or 4 GB storage out of 128, 256 or 512 GB hard drive storage, is there any other negative such as battery performance or something else I've missed?

 

[mustang7757]

Here's a article, a device that has lot of RAM not going see much

https://www.sammobile.com/news/samsung-ram-plus-feature-arriving-on-more-phones/

 

[PhreddMears]

It's virtual ram similar to what Windows and other computer operating systems use.
It's never as fast as real Ram because it's using storage but allows Android OS in this case to keep more apps in Ram (real and virtual) rather than completely unloading an application when real Ram is exhausted. Only real downside is you are allocating storage space over to virtual Ram. For some that might be an issue and better used for files. In my case I have the 1TB unlocked so allocated max option for Ram Plus.

 

[KPMcClave]

Because it can't be disabled, any guesses as to whether there's any practical difference in setting it to the 2GB minimum, the 8GB max, or leaving it at 4GB default? Assuming storage isn't an issue at all.

 

[gorgalis]

It's virtual ram similar to what Windows and other computer operating systems use.
It's never as fast as real Ram because it's using storage but allows Android OS in this case to keep more apps in Ram (real and virtual) rather than completely unloading an application when real Ram is exhausted. Only real downside is you are allocating storage space over to virtual Ram. For some that might be an issue and better used for files. In my case I have the 1TB unlocked so allocated max option for Ram Plus.

1TB is way too much. A good rule of thumb is to not set it much higher than the amount of RAM you have in your device.

Virtual RAM is very very slow compared to RAM so it's used to store memory from programs running in the background. You're opening yourself up to having a ton of open apps on your phone that may drastically hurt your battery life. I'm not sure it's even necessary if you have the 12GB model.

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

1TB is way too much. A good rule of thumb is to not set it much higher than the amount of RAM you have in your device.

Virtual RAM is very very slow compared to RAM so it's used to store memory from programs running in the background. You're opening yourself up to having a ton of open apps on your phone that may drastically hurt your battery life. I'm not sure it's even necessary if you have the 12GB model.

The max is 8GB, you can't allocate the entire device storage.

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

It's slow, and contributes to storage degradation. They should never have included it.

 

[tadpoles]

1TB is way too much. A good rule of thumb is to not set it much higher than the amount of RAM you have in your device.

Virtual RAM is very very slow compared to RAM so it's used to store memory from programs running in the background. You're opening yourself up to having a ton of open apps on your phone that may drastically hurt your battery life. I'm not sure it's even necessary if you have the 12GB model.

Why is 1TB too much storage? It seems like that would depend on the owner and what they like to keep locally on their device.

How does using RAM+ affect battery life? If I have the 12GB/512GB model and 5 apps open and, say, allocate an 8GB RAM+ slice how is my battery usage going to be different than if I had RAM+ disabled or had a 2GB RAM+ slice. I'm inferring that the phone does not disable or turn off storage silicon that is not used. Is this not correct?

 

[gorgalis]

Why is 1TB too much storage? It seems like that would depend on the owner and what they like to keep locally on their device.

How does using RAM+ affect battery life? If I have the 12GB/512GB model and 5 apps open and, say, allocate an 8GB RAM+ slice how is my battery usage going to be different than if I had RAM+ disabled or had a 2GB RAM+ slice. I'm inferring that the phone does not disable or turn off storage silicon that is not used. Is this not correct?

I thought OP meant 1TB was allotted for VRAM. I haven't messed with that setting so I wasn't aware there the OS limited the amount you can use for VRAM.

If you could actually use that much VRAM, your could theoretically have every app you can install on your phone open at once. All the apps in the background moved to VRAM would still be active and would allocate resources from the CPU both slowing down your phone as the the CPU processes those apps processes as well as drain the battery due to the increased demand.