How Much RAM Do I Need for Gaming? A Simple Guide for You!

If you prefer playing games, you may choose to purchase a new gaming PC to have a good user experience. You may have noticed that modern games need much memory. Then, a question you may always ask: how much RAM do I need for gaming, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB?

This is the question that we will focus on in this post and we will show you how much RAM you really need for gaming.

What Does RAM Do to Gaming?

Before introducing how much memory for gaming PC, let’s simply know what the role RAM plays in games.

RAM, also called random access memory, is used to temporarily store information your PC needs to access. After powering off the machine, anything in RAM is cleared out. If the RAM is insufficient, the PC will run slowly when opening too many programs.

RAM is very important since the PC can quickly access data from it rather than directly from a hard drive. You may store the game data on the hard drive, but constantly retrieving data from the drive is inefficient and slow. So, the PC moves the crucial game data it needs to RAM to quickly load it.

But if the RAM is not enough, the PC cannot store all the game data it needs to run. As a result, laggy frames and a poor experience appear.

Thus it can be seen that sufficient RAM is very important for gaming. Now let’s see how much memory for gaming PC.

How Much RAM for Gaming Is?

In general, today’s home PCs have 4, 8, or 16GB RAM while some high-end computers have 32, 64, or even 128GB RAM. And now let’s some.

1. 4GB: Nowadays 4GB RAM for your average game isn’t enough anymore. In some PCs that are still running a 32-bit system or regular desktops and office computers, you can find 4GB RAM.
2. 8GB: Today many popular games list 8GB as the minimum RAM requirement. That is, with 8GB RAM, you can play many games without any problem. But the recommended RAM size by experts is usually higher than 8GB.
3. 16GB: It is the optimal choice. You may never run out of the RAM no matter which game you play, provided that there is not any program that takes up much memory in the background.
4. 32GB: If you are seeking to future-proof their build, having a 32GB RAM is a good idea.

As mentioned above, you know 16GB is enough for a gaming PC since most games can run well on the machine with 16GB RAM. Besides, if you have a limited budget, 8GB RAM can still do the job but the performance is not the same as the 16GB RAM. This largely depends on what you are playing. Finally, 32GB RAM is overkill for 2020 games.

Related article: Is 8GB RAM Enough for PC in 2020?

Final Words

How much RAM do I need for gaming? Now you know the answer from this post. Just choose a proper RAM size based on your need.