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

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.

Nice article, and much needed. I was tired of telling fellow gamers 32GB is fine, upgrade to 64 down the road when its much cheaper.

The best test would be the 4060ti 8GB - comparing 16gb ram vs 32gb ram.

32 ofc, but I use 64. I already use 51 while gaming and checking my browser at the same time. I could be with 32 but id rather not have any limitations.

Would have been nice to see 1080p results. 58% of Steam users still play at 1080p

I like foxes said:

16GB is enough for 1080p but for higher res 32GB RAM .

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I have been playing at 3440X1440 resolution (ACER PREDATOR X34) with a GTX 1080 on a Maximus VI Hero and 16 GB of DDR3 since 2017.

Yep, 2017.

Steve said:

Of course, if you're playing a game that you know needs a specific amount of memory, like Skyrim with a 'use all my memory' mod or Chrome with 2 tabs open, you might need more than the typical amount of system memory.

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Chrome with 2 tabs open lol

Hogwarts Legacy - 30 euro
The Last of Us I - 40 euro
70 euro in total , which is more than the price of 32GB RAM . So , if anyone can afford both games will face no difficulty in buying 32GB RAM . Nevertheless , I think 32GB is for 1440p and higher res , as of now .

polord said:

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.

Click to expand...

As long as it posted with Expo profile at 6ghz.


I am planning to upgrade my 2022 X670e motherboard to 64 gigs probably in 2027 ( if data shows significant performance deltas in gaming)with potentially Zen6 3d ( fingers crossed). Until then I'll enjoy my cl30 ddr5 6ghz 32 gig gskill kits.

My desktop PC has DDR4 3600 Mhz CL18 memory 2x8 GB. Should I add two more sticks with 8 GB each? Or replace existing memory and go with 2x16 GB? Motherboard is Asus Prime X570.

fluffydroid said:

My desktop PC has DDR4 3600 Mhz CL18 memory 2x8 GB. Should I add two more sticks with 8 GB each? Or replace existing memory and go with 2x16 GB? Motherboard is Asus Prime X570.

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There is a risk of mixing and matching kits to post at the advertised speeds and timings. Unless you can manually tune them. I would sell old kit and buy a 32 gig kit. Ram kits can be very finicky as is I would go with the single kit to reduce chance even after checking compatibility of both motherboard and memory vendor charts.

polord said:

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.

Click to expand...

General rule: Using more sticks tends to reduce OC stability slightly.

Could it be that production of DDR-4 is so mature now that even more than before the same chips are used in many DIMMS of the same brand? Accidentally bought the wrong series to expand the memory in my system. And they play nice together with the old memory, even overclocked AND using strict timings.

Jack77 said:

Could it be that production of DDR-4 is so mature now that even more than before the same chips are used in many DIMMS of the same brand? Accidentally bought the wrong series to expand the memory in my system. And they play nice together with the old memory, even overclocked AND using strict timings.

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Updating to latest bios with added vram support will probably help as well.

Besides multi-tasking, virtualization and heavily modded games use more RAM.

Thanks for the Skyrim reference, Steve! A heavily modded Skyrim example should be added to your list of test games.

16GB vs 32GB vs 64GB RAM for gaming? Intriguing! Bookmarked to read the full article - gotta know how much RAM I really need for those smooth gameplay sessions.

From the looks of things, RAM usage isn't the smoking gun, we'd need actual benchmarks. We've all seen RAM (VRAM particularly) taking everything you have available in some instances, but not necessarily making the games run any better.

Since 2018 I have 32 and the first 5 years it was a wased of money, the dimm in laptops are more expensive.
the flight sim 2020 was the only game who needed 20 GB with big plane and a big airport. and this on a gamer laptop 1070 in 4k g-sync laptop screen. to overload, an 17" FHD is the same, only videos in 4k are nice. the graphic Vram is important, if I would gaming, 8 GB with 1070 was nice. but the 40s now its time to go over 10... (in 4k)
in premiere I had a 25 gb file, it goes fully in the RAM, but just for a moment...

now I quit gaming and be happy with 16, bit 2,5 kg are more portible than 4,5 kg laptop.

32gb is fine for games, but I need the 64gb I have in all of my systems for my work.

I was highly amused when I saw this HP "gaming" laptop marked down to like $500 a few days ago. RTX3060 but 8GB RAM and a 512GB SSD? Yeah I can see why they are having to mark them down. What were the bean counters thinking putting a 3060 in there then saving like $20 by not at least putting 16GB in it?

I'm running Ubuntu Linux, and I can say things run really nicely there with 32GB for sure I can shove up to 128GB into this desktop if I had to though.

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