RAM Matters: How Much Do You Need for Gaming?

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Gameguru Mania News - Dec,16 2017 -

RAM Matters: How Much Do You Need for Gaming? - tech
(hx) 01:20 PM CET - Dec,16 2017 - Post a comment / read (6)
It's hard to determine the impact that RAM capacity has on gaming because of all the factors at play. Before we get into the results, we'd just like to discuss a few challenges we faced when testing system memory capacity. The first and possibly the biggest challenge is picking the right hardware to test RAM capacity. The graphics card you use can influence how much memory you'll need for smooth gameplay, the speed of your storage can also impact performance. For casual gamers, the bare minimum is still 8GB but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the upgrade to 16GB will ensure smoother gameplay.

For serious gamers with mid-range to high-end hardware, we're almost at the point where we'd say 16GB the the minimal acceptable amount of system memory. Of course, as we said earlier, if you've invested over $1,000 in your GPU and SSD combo then chances are spending just shy of $200 to secure a decent 16GB DDR4 memory kit probably isn't something you're going to think twice about. For GTX 1060 or RX 580 owners who've spent $200-$250 on their graphics card, dumping another $200 on DDR4 memory is something they're probably umming and ahhing about. If you're playing games such as Battlefield 1 or in particular Call of Duty WWII and you care about being competitive, then 16GB really is a must.

Alternatively, if you have a relatively high-end GPU such as the GTX 1070 or Vega 56 but play older, less memory-intensive games, then 8GB will no doubt be fine. But again, for these newer titles you'll ideally want 16GB.

last 10 comments:

Csimbi

(04:52 PM CET - Dec,16 2017 )

I invested into 32Gbytes about 3 years ago. Never had a problem. :P

I just finished Spellforce 3.
I set the asset caching to full - meaning nothing ever gets unloaded.
SF3 ate up ~12Gbytes of RAM at the highest. I can't recall any other game caching that much data.
On XP, leave 1G for the OS, on 7 and 10 leave 2Gbytes for the OS itself.
Then, you will want to leave another 2-4GBs for the OS to use as file system cache.

So, yeah, 16G is the bare minimum these days, not 8 as described in that article.
That article is based on 3-4 years old data.

gx-x

(02:10 PM CET - Dec,17 2017 )

I disagree. I have 8 gigs, win 10 x64, everything works fine. I never even think about RAM unless I see someone mention it. I didn't bother with setting any caching options on win10.

I do know one thing: the more RAM you have, the more stuff windows will load into it. Most of them will almost never be used but hey...

My typical usage is to have AIMP open and playing music, torrent client working, firefox is usually open as well, and I run games on top of those. No problem. Even Wolfenstein TNC ran just fine, no RAM related problems, no sudden long loads or anything like that.
Sure, 16GB is nice to have, but I wouldn't call it minimum req. I do "office" win 10 PCs with 4GB of ram. They all work fine.

quote:
For casual gamers, the bare minimum is still 8GB but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the upgrade to 16GB will ensure smoother gameplay.

I am waiting for just one, not just empty words.

Then they insert this:

quote:
For content creation, the more the merrier -- 16 GB for example is the bare minimum when working with 4K footage in Premiere Pro.

Well, that makes a lot more sense. I wouldn't start serious work with editing unless I had 32GB of ram, but that's another type of PC and RAM is the cheapest upgrade for it that you can get.
Then again, I wouldn't work with outdated Premiere Pro that is wanting a total rehaul for past 6 years...

Tom

(08:09 PM CET - Dec,18 2017 )

gx-x> I disagree. I have 8 gigs, win 10 x64, everything works fine. I never even think about RAM unless I see someone mention it. I didn't bother with setting any caching options on win10.

I do know one thing: the more RAM you have, the more stuff windows will load into it. Most of them will almost never be used but hey...

My typical usage is to have AIMP open and playing music, torrent client working, firefox is usually open as well, and I run games on top of those. No problem. Even Wolfenstein TNC ran just fine, no RAM related problems, no sudden long loads or anything like that.
Sure, 16GB is nice to have, but I wouldn't call it minimum req. I do "office" win 10 PCs with 4GB of ram. They all work fine.

quote:
For casual gamers, the bare minimum is still 8GB but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the upgrade to 16GB will ensure smoother gameplay.

I am waiting for just one, not just empty words.

Then they insert this:

quote:
For content creation, the more the merrier -- 16 GB for example is the bare minimum when working with 4K footage in Premiere Pro.

Well, that makes a lot more sense. I wouldn't start serious work with editing unless I had 32GB of ram, but that's another type of PC and RAM is the cheapest upgrade for it that you can get.
Then again, I wouldn't work with outdated Premiere Pro that is wanting a total rehaul for past 6 years...

8gb is not enough sorry. GTA 5 with mods and most any game wit texture mods will tax 8gb. I too have 32GB. 16gb if you're hard up.

KuBr0	(08:24 PM CET - Dec,18 2017 )
yup, last time that 8GB was enough was when BF4 came out - 2013/2014. Major AAA titles clock in at >10GB with only win running in the background. Even a crappy game like ME Andromeda is listing 8GB as bare MINIMUM, so go figure ...

gx-x

(06:38 AM CET - Dec,19 2017 )

I guess you'll just have to try it to believe it. And we all know you wont do that so... :) I am telling you that everything I play and have played works normally. Even Fall out 4 with tons of mods worked smooth.
I don't know about GTA V. Tried it, hated it, don't care for it.

quote:
yup, last time that 8GB was enough was when BF4 came out - 2013/2014. Major AAA titles clock in at >10GB with only win running in the background. Even a crappy game like ME Andromeda is listing 8GB as bare MINIMUM, so go figure ...

Played andromeda for hours, no issues. Finished latest wolfenstein, no problems. Played Destiny 2 trial, no problems.
I must be lying....

https://www.techspot.com/article/1043-8gb-vs-16gb-ram/page3.html

they must be lying too :)

I am NOT saying that you shouldn't get 16gb if you can. I am saying that I don't need it and 8GB is still fine for me. When I start to have problems due to it, I will just put 16gb. Like I said, I still don't even think about it unless I stumble upon some article or discussion. I am usually the first one to tell people that game or want to game that 4GB is not enough. Trust me, if i felt the same about 8GB, I would be the first one to preach it.

Tom

(07:54 PM CET - Dec,19 2017 )

gx-x> I guess you'll just have to try it to believe it. And we all know you wont do that so... :) I am telling you that everything I play and have played works normally. Even Fall out 4 with tons of mods worked smooth.
I don't know about GTA V. Tried it, hated it, don't care for it.

quote:
yup, last time that 8GB was enough was when BF4 came out - 2013/2014. Major AAA titles clock in at >10GB with only win running in the background. Even a crappy game like ME Andromeda is listing 8GB as bare MINIMUM, so go figure ...

Played andromeda for hours, no issues. Finished latest wolfenstein, no problems. Played Destiny 2 trial, no problems.
I must be lying....

https://www.techspot.com/article/1043-8gb-vs-16gb-ram/page3.html

they must be lying too :)

I am NOT saying that you shouldn't get 16gb if you can. I am saying that I don't need it and 8GB is still fine for me. When I start to have problems due to it, I will just put 16gb. Like I said, I still don't even think about it unless I stumble upon some article or discussion. I am usually the first one to tell people that game or want to game that 4GB is not enough. Trust me, if i felt the same about 8GB, I would be the first one to preach it.

If it works for ya great. 16 Gb today is norm for gaming.

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