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How much RAM do I need to play: We are in the era of 16 GB

With the arrival of the new generation of consoles, and the rise of intergenerational developments, many PC users have once again asked themselves how much RAM they need to play. With Xbox One and PS4 the answer was very clear, in its first stage it was possible to play almost everything with 6GB RAM on PC, but after the release of resources on both consoles, and the arrival of Xbox One X and PS4 Pro, it became essential to have 8GB RAM to play safely.

Now that we are at the gates of completing the generational transition, the doubt arises around the 8 GB of RAM, and also moves to other configurations. doare really enough To continue playing current triple A titles with guarantees or is it necessary to have 16 GB of RAM? Would it be worth building a PC with 32 GB of RAM if I’m just going to play? There are three important questions that we are going to answer in this article.

The first thing to consider before delving into these questions is how RAM works and what role it plays in a gaming PC. This component has as its main task store data, instructions, and operations already done by the CPU so that it can access it again when neededso you don’t have to perform redundant work cycles.

resident evil 2 ram consumption

It is very simple, imagine that you are solving a mathematical operation that chains many sums and that you are saving the solutions of these in a notebook so that you can consult them later. The notebook would be the equivalent of RAM, and if you did not have it, you would have to do those sums again, doing double work.

Therefore, having more RAM can improve the FPS rate, ensures greater stability and prevents stuttering or stutteringwhich are typical when a system has less RAM than recommended and needs to suddenly empty and refill parts of it with new data and instructions.

How much RAM does a current game consume?

The answer will surprise you, as much as you may need, as long as it is available. Let me explain, a game like Dying Light works without problems on a computer with 8 GB of RAM, and keeps the consumption below that figure, but if we run it on a computer with 16 GB of RAM we see that it tends to occupy more than 12 GB of RAM memory. This happens because games preemptively consume resources, whenever they are available, in case they are ever needed. What I have just explained to you also occurs with graphic memory.

Obviously, that does not mean that we are going to need 16 GB of RAM to run a current game in acceptable conditions. Today 8 GB of RAM is still enough to play, but the ideal is to have 16 GB of RAMand it’s only a matter of time until the transition to the new generation is complete and that figure becomes the new standard.

RAM consumption in games

As you can see from the performance tests we’ve run, current Dying Light 2 games consume more than 17 GB of RAM, and all the tests we have found with a consumption of more than 12 GB of RAM. All the games we’ve tested run on just 8GB of RAM, but the experience significantly improved when using 16 GB of RAM, as the CPU usage is reduced, the minimum FPS rate is increased and we have a feeling, in general, of greater fluidity and stability, without micro-jerks. Here is a list of the test equipment for you to have a reference:

  • Windows 10 Pro 64-bit operating system.
  • Ryzen 7 5800X (Zen 3) processor with eight cores and sixteen threads at 3.8 GHz-4.7 GHz.
  • Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra motherboard.
  • 32 GB of Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro SL RAM at 3,200 MHz CL16 (four modules).
  • Corsair iCUE H150i Elite Capellix White cooling system with three 120mm Corsair ML RGB fans.
  • RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition graphics card with 12 GB of GDDR6X.
  • Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus sound card.
  • Samsung Evo 850 500GB SSD (Operating System).
  • Corsair MP400 4TB PCIE NVMe SSD.
  • 2TB Corsair MP600 Core NVMe PCIE SSD.
  • 2TB Seagate SHDD with 8GB SSD as cache.
  • Corsair AX1000 80 Plus Titanium Power Supply with 80 Plus Titanium certification.
  • Six Corsair iCUE QL120 RGB fans.
  • Lightning Node Core and Commander CORE to control fans and lighting.
  • Corsair 5000D Airflow chassis.

Dying light 2 RAM consumption

Final notes: It is not necessary to have 32 GB, but it is recommended to have 16 GB of RAM

It is the conclusion to which our tests have led us. PCs with 8 GB of RAM are still alive, but the ideal right now is to have 16 GB of RAM to play. In a year, when the transition to PS5 and Xbox Series X-Series S is complete, this amount of memory will be essential to enjoy a good experience, and it will remain as standard for quite some time, as it happened at the time with the 8GB of RAM.

Yes, by this I mean that the 16 GB of RAM they are called to become “the new 8 GB of RAM”. Taking into account the cost of a kit of 16 GB of DDR4-type RAM in two 8 GB modules, between 60 and 100 euros depending on the speed you need, it is clear that it is not an expensive upgrade, and that it is well worth the grief.

As we have already told you in the title of this section, no, it is not necessary to have 32 GB of RAM to play. This amount will be the next standard for the gaming sector, but still many years to go, and a new generation of consoles, so that it is essential to have so much memory. Indeed, I am referring to the successors of PS5 and Xbox Series X.

How much RAM do I need to play: We are in the era of 16 GB 31

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