Random access memory (RAM) is one of the most important components in a gaming PC, besides the graphical card (GPU) and processor (CPU). Computers require fast access to the temporary data stored in RAM to execute tasks and run programs. PC games must retrieve assets rapidly and, therefore, read from and write data to your system’s primary memory, which is orders of magnitude faster than secondary storage (SSD or HDD).
For this reason, your PC’s RAM configuration can significantly impact your gaming experience. Having more and faster RAM helps boost your system’s responsiveness as well as in-game frame rates and frame pacing.
How Much RAM Do You Need for Gaming?
The amount of RAM you need for a positive gaming experience depends on several factors. The most important of these factors is your use case. Do you plan to focus only on gaming sessions, or do you also live-stream or multitask? Your budget is also an important consideration, especially if you’re exploringย prebuilt gaming PCs, which come with a range of RAM options to suit different needs
4 GB
A few years back, 4GB RAM would have been sufficient for gaming. With many developments and updates throughout the years, 4GB is simply not enough for gaming in 2023. Modern PC games, especially AAA games, are becoming more and more demanding.
Granted, there are some older or less demanding titles you can run with 4GB of RAM, including Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Apex Legends, and For Honor. However, you will not have a stellar experience as you will be forced to lower graphics settings. It is very easy to start running up against memory limits in modern gaming rigs.
For instance, Windows 11 has a minimum memory requirement of 4GB- and that is just a minimum. It would not take much of a load for your system to start crashing and freezing or experience significant dips in frame rates. With RAM kits being more affordable, it makes more sense to get more than 4GB of RAM.
8 GB
8GB is considered the new minimum memory recommendation for a modern gaming PC. Investing in at least this capacity of adequately fast RAM will allow you to play most modern games without any issues. However, this amount is still just a minimum.
Depending on the types of games you play and whether you will be using your system for other tasks, 8GB RAM may not be sufficient. Other applications and background processes running in the background also require your PC’s memory resources. As mentioned earlier, modern operating systems can take up to 3GB of memory. Accounting for other apps, you may have about half of your system’s memory available for gaming.
For older and less demanding games, 8GB should be more than enough to achieve playable frame rates. However, you may not be able to manage heavy multitasking. If you play modern AAA games, there are some compromises you will have to make to have a smooth gaming experience.
Modern AAA titles have demanding features like ray tracing that require more than 8GB of memory, especially if you have all graphics settings maxed out. With only 8GB of RAM, you will have to lower the graphical settings in games to achieve decent frame rates. You may also have to close other applications and minimize background processes while gaming.
16 GB
Today, 16GB RAM is the recommended memory target if you want to have a great PC gaming experience. This memory capacity, especially if it’s fast RAM and there aren’t other performance bottlenecks, offers you plenty of headroom for most modern AAA games. It also allows you to multitask without affecting your gameplay or slowing down your system.
Note that there are some select scenarios where even 16GB of memory may be insufficient. This mostly applies if you want to have the ultimate experience with newer AAA games.
Currently, some popular titles such as Spiderman Remastered require up to 16GB if you are playing at higher resolutions (above 1440p) and have features such as ray tracing turned on. If you plan on enjoying such titles at high or max settings while running multiple apps or streaming, you may need to upgrade your memory.
32 GB
32GB is the ideal RAM capacity for high-end gamers seeking the best possible gaming experience. RAM kits are now affordable enough that if you are building a new gaming rig, it is advisable to aim for this amount. 32GB of RAM is more than enough to handle even the most demanding AAA titles on the highest settings.
Some games even recommend this capacity if you’ll be turning all the available settings to the maximum. This is partly due to a memory spillover when the game exhausts video RAM (VRAM) in the GPU. VRAM is dedicated memory used by GPUs and is different from system RAM. Modern high-end games use VRAM to store image data temporarily.
If you are playing games with complex 3D objects at very high resolutions (4K and above), your GPU’s VRAM can get overloaded, with the overflow going to your system RAM. In such instances, you will realize performance benefits if you have 32GB of RAM. While these games are currently the exception rather than the rule, they are becoming more common.
With memory prices reducing, investing in 32GB of RAM allows you to future-proof your gaming system and experience performance benefits in next-gen games at not much of a cost. This amount of RAM also leaves sufficient room for streaming, video recording, heavy multitasking, and background applications.
How Much Does RAM Affect FPS in Gaming?
Nearly all gamers consider frames per second (FPS) to be one of the main factors that influence their gaming experience. FPS determines how smooth and fluid your gameplay feels. As such, it affects how quickly you are able to respond to in-game events and facilitates more immersive visuals. Aside from the GPU and CPU, your system’s RAM plays a major part in enhancing in-game frame rates.
RAM enhances gaming frame rates since it allows your system to access data faster compared to accessing data from secondary storage. Having more RAM helps improve load times and ensures games run with fewer hiccups – Both of which are pivotal to positive gaming experiences.
However, the extent to which RAM affects FPS in gaming depends on various factors. These factors include your current RAM configuration, your system’s hardware capabilities, the types of games, and the graphics settings you play the games at.
If your gaming rig has a low amount of memory (4GB-8GB), you will experience a significant boost in FPS by increasing your memory. If your system has an adequate amount of memory (16GB or more), increasing the capacity results in negligible improvements in FPS. In addition, if your PC is suffering from performance bottlenecks due to a slow GPU or CPU, increasing your RAM capacity will not net you much frame rate gains.
However, if you have an older GPU with a low amount of VRAM, you will realize a boost in frame rate consistency by having more RAM. This is the case for the games where memory overflow from VRAM goes to the system memory rather than secondary drive storage. As such, adding more RAM can be a cost-effective way to squeeze more performance out of your gaming system in certain scenarios.
Does Faster RAM Equal More FPS?
RAM speed is another important aspect of system memory that determines the performance of your gaming PC. Memory clock speed refers to how fast the module responds to commands from the GPU or CPU, measured in MHz. Faster speeds mean more data can be read from and written to your RAM.
Depending on your overall PC configuration, you can experience a significant increase in maximum FPS if you install faster RAM kits. Although faster RAM does not have as large an impact as upgrading your GPU or CPU, you can realize gains of up to 20-30% in some games.
The FPS improvements will vary between games since different applications react differently to faster RAM speeds. You will have a noticeable FPS boost in some games, while improvements in other games will be negligible. In addition to improving frame rates, you can also benefit from better frame times (FPS steadiness), which translates to more fluid and consistent gameplay.
Certain configurations benefit more from faster RAM speeds than others. For example, systems with AMD Ryzen CPUs can offer better FPS performance with faster RAM. This is also the case for systems with Intel 12th Gen CPUs paired with DDR5 RAM.
Modern gaming rigs with DDR4 ram modules running at speeds of at least 3600MHz offer excellent FPS performance. While the faster the memory, the better, going into the extremes offers a poor cost-to-performance benefit. It’s better to consider other important RAM aspects, such as CAS latency.
RAM is one of the cheapest and easiest components to upgrade in your gaming PC. Considering the dropping costs of RAM kits and the impact memory has on gaming performance, upgrading is a great value proposition.
RAM Terminology
- Memory – The electronic holding place for data and sets of instructions necessary for the function of computers. It is utilized by computer hardware, operating systems, and software.
- RAM (random access memory) – One of the two types of computer memory known as primary memory. RAM is hardware in a computer where data in current use is held temporarily for quick access by the CPU. RAM is volatile, meaning the data is retained as long as your computer stays on and lost when you turn it off.
- SSD (solid-state drive) – A type of secondary computer storage that utilizes flash memory and integrated circuits to store data permanently. SSDs offer superior transfer speeds, shock resistance, and latency compared to other types of secondary storage.
- GB (Gigabyte) – A unit of measuring digital information in computer architecture. Regarding the sizes of RAM, one GB of memory denotes 10243 bytes.
Caroline is doing her graduation in IT from the University of South California but keens to work as a freelance blogger. She loves to write on the latest information about IoT, technology, and business. She has innovative ideas and shares her experience with her readers.
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