How Much RAM Do Gamers Need? 16GB vs. 32GB vs. 64GB

[hwertz]

I have been recommending 32GB of RAM for gaming for a few years now because memory is just so cheap and 16GB just doesn't really cut it anymore. I also highly recommend sticking to 2x 16GB modules because having 4 modules can cause you all sorts of issues with trying to get the RAM running at it's rated speeds and timings.

Also, I have noticed that if I run YouTube videos in the background while I am playing games then the quality automatically gets degraded down to 720p or lower. This is annoying when I go to actually watch a video instead of just listening to it and it is a blurry mess because YT defaults to the last video quality setting it was on lol

Youtube's been giving me fits the last couple weeks. Last night it was running at 144p!

Yup! DDR4 is down to only $1.50 a GB (It's literally dropped by about 33% since I looked a few months ago, not that I need more than 32GB but my current box can take 128GB if I need it).

If you are sweating the assets and still have DDR3? Lucky you! I maxed out my Ivy Bridge system a few years ago for like $80, now 16GB DDR3 is $16! It's tempting to spend 0 on an old system but that's not much to spend to get the nice speedup you'd get from a 8GB or (god forbid) 4GB system.

 

[daffy duck]

Shouldn't this site change it's name to Gamespot? 100% focussed on gaming as a metric for gauging the worth of any tech.

 

[Headloser]

To me, I gotten a 32 GB of Ram Speed 3200 since I was using AMD Ryzen 5600G.
Today CPU, it depend on the SPEED of the Ram. So many choices to choose.

 

[toooooot]

I know not a lot of people do it, but if you use several browsers at once with tens (or more) tabs open, 32gb is not enough. I am thinking about buying 32 more if I manage to find the same model I have. It just not enough, especially with win 11 being relatively hungry for ram.

 

[romainB]

If you want ultimate gameplay, 32GB is the option to go for. With 32GB of RAM, you should be able to run today's games at the highest resolution with few drops.

 

[BabaYaga]

https://www.xda-developers.com/apple-finally-admits-that-8gb-ram-isnt-enough/

Apple finally admitted that 8GB is not enough. I'm starting to see 16GB Airs for the first time ever at Costco. The one good thing out of this AI craze is that it consumes a lot of RAM so even RAM stingy companies have to add RAM.

Ideally, buy 32GB now and add another 32GB when needed. That's why there are 4 RAM slots on mobos.

Currently not seeing a high availability of quality 64GB kits. A lot more options to choose from when shopping 32GB kits.

Zen 5 has DDR5-5600 as it's base speed. I couldn't find anything about what the EXPO speeds will be. Will probably have to buy at least DDR5-6400 for Zen 5.

 

[JamesBlond]

I would suggest anyone who has the money, get 32GB, but if not, make sure you have a swap file on a fast NVME

 

[internaltext]

This article is confusing memory ranks and memory channels. Rank refers to the arrangement/number of memory modules on the memory stick itself. Channel refers to the number of slots on the motherboard and whether or not the amount of data transfer between memory and processor can be increased based on stick and motherboard configuration.

This is hardware 101 so it's extremely disappointing to see this from a site that I regularly read. I also think it would be far more interesting to see if there are actual increases in speeds between single vs dual rank, if b-die specific tuning is beneficial for Ryzens, and so on. But you need to understand the basic difference between channel and rank first.

 

[Dimitrios]

I'm shocked about DAYS GONE not being included. I know I'm late to the party, but that game is awesome.

 

[Bionix]

Trying to save money on ram is pointless unless the rest of your system is also budget borderline.

The point of just going 64GB+ is to never have to think about it again until the next full system upgrade.

Also closing stuff to play games is a chore you shouldn't have to do in 2024.

Most people don't have clean install test rigs that much is for certain.

We are well behind what could have been the standard. 32GB was becoming the standard over a decade ago during the memory glut, and then like gpus the price spiked and stayed wrong for a decade.

Its just something you should have when you need it, just running a comparison on winmerge on two large files in data recovery for instance will wipe out huge amounts of ram.

All ram is cache for windows now, saves wear on SSD.

Skimping on memory is a bad way to save $100

 

[guillejp]

TERRIBLE article.
- Memory allocation and use is dynamic. If you give Windows and programs more RAM, they will relax and use it.
- Most AAA games nowadays are mostly terribly unoptimized, especially at launch. Some get improved on a decent amount over months though rarely much, but some don't. I wouldn't suit my PC to that.
- Also Max Settings are usually terribly unoptimal for the performance cost, and double so on unoptimized games.
- Should have compared 16 vs 32 more clearly, and at 1080p too.

That's my take.

 

[yesnt]

Shouldn't this site change it's name to Gamespot? 100% focussed on gaming as a metric for gauging the worth of any tech.

You know full well Gamespot is taken.

 

[pett3rson]

Last october I build new system with 4x16gb 6000.(7800x3d)
I wonder if it was a good choice, to put 4 rams instead of 2.
On forums some said no beceause of the overclock.

Hi there.

Can you tell me your experience about your choice of getting 4 memories instead of 2?

I bought the same setup, 7800x3D with 2x16 GB memory (Kingston Fury beast) and I'll use it for mainly gaming, but at the same time I'll streaming it.

Do I need more RAM to have the best experience at gaming and streaming in the same time?

 

[godrilla]

Microsoft flight simulator 2024 recommended ideal spec is now 64 gig of ram. Meanwhile Steam survey extrapolates barely 3 to 4% of users have such memory capacity and majority sit at 16 gigs ( slightly below 50% ). 32 gigs capable hardware sits at 30%.

 

[hwertz]

Hi there.

Can you tell me your experience about your choice of getting 4 memories instead of 2?

I bought the same setup, 7800x3D with 2x16 GB memory (Kingston Fury beast) and I'll use it for mainly gaming, but at the same time I'll streaming it.

Do I need more RAM to have the best experience at gaming and streaming in the same time?

I think you're fine. OBS Studio apparently recommends 4GB of RAM, minimum, but that's for the whole system. It sounds like it's possible to get it's RAM use up over 4GB if you have some addons and run multiple 4K streams, but ordinarily it's under 1GB RAM usage.

As godrilla says, a few games are so RAM intensive that 32GB might be tight; but even the AAA titles are typically designed to run well in the 20GB or so current consoles offer (and these use shared memory so that's split between system RAM and VRAM.) I think you'll find everything performs fine.

 

[DinduNuffinLV]

I have to big time disagree with the post. Do you need 32gb ddr4 for 60 fps 4k gaming in 2024? Absolutely no
I'm gaming 4k 60 fps, 12gb vram + 16gb ddr4. My vram handles all gaming memory needs