How much RAM memory should I allocate for Ubuntu when running a virtual machine?

Question

How much memory should I allocate to the host OS (in my case, Ubuntu 12.04) if I run Windows 7 Ultimate on a virtual machine (I want it for some gaming)?

I have 4 GB of RAM. If I allocate 3512 MB RAM for Windows 7, or if I allocate even more for it, will everything still be ok?

Solution

Ubuntu 12.04 minimum memory requirements suggest at least 512 megabytes for a desktop install.

Visit https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch01.html#gui-createvm, they give similar recommendations.

So I would not go below 512MB for sure. But prefer keeping 1024MB if you see your host swap being actively used though.

Comments

[Alvar]

Well that depends on like a million things, what will you be using Ubuntu for? Video editing? Gaming? coding? just testing desktop environments?

[Braiam]

@olli do not edit questions in the close queue!

[Olli]

@Braiam okay, if I understand correctly, editing questions in the close queue (even if I think it shouldn't be closed) is not ok, but editing closed questions for sake of making those better (and not because after editing it should be opened) is ok?

[Olli]

@Braiam did you actually read my reply? I edited it because I think it shouldn't be closed. If I didn't edit it, I would have clicked "Keep Open". As far as I know, editing is same as clicking "Keep Open" & opening question in new tab and editing it there.

[Braiam]

@Olli no, you pushed the Q outside the review queue and didn't changed anything that could make reviewers change of opinion. The correct step here is Leave Open and do "formatting, spelling" edit outside the queue.