Is 16GB Enough RAM for Gaming in 2024?

Testing 16GB, 32GB and 64GB of RAM using various combinations of DDR5 sticks to see if 16GB is enough for the average gamer in 2024, and whether there's anything to be gained by upgrading.

Thanks to Scan Computers for providing the test platform. Check out their AMD CPU, GPU & Motherboard bundles here (offers end 7th of July 2024):

The test rig:

Upgrading RAM is easy to do, and doesn't cost much these days, either. People who need lots of RAM for their work, running a server or playing heavily modded games and memory-hungry simulators know they need 32GB of RAM or more for their special purposes, but how about the rest of us? Is there a benefit to upgrading from 16GB, or should you save your money for a CPU or GPU instead?

00:00 Is 16GB enough for gaming?
00:31 Sometimes, you just need more RAM
01:13 More RAM = more performance?
01:39 Scan Computers AMD Bundles
02:52 Test platform
03:55 16GB vs 32GB
12:02 "Real World" testing with background apps open
15:20 How about 64GB?
18:20 A Tale of Cities Two

A D S
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G E A R
Audio:

Video:

C O N T A C T
Twitter/Insta @IcebergTop10s

#RAM #DDR5 #scalperpandemic

[Hi_Im_o]

Me with 8gb 2666mhz random Chinese ram mmm yes very interesting

[sipofweter]

I’ve been using 16gbs for a while, I only started to have problems with gaming within the last year

[Melsharpe]

"Is an RTX 4090 and 128gb ram enough for our garbage unoptimized game?"

[jay-]

By the way

Ddr5 8gb sticks have half rhe bandwidth of 16gb because manufacturers disable half the die to make them.

This will significantly impact their performance in games, video editing, modelling etc as a consequence more so than simply being less ram

[thomaswest]

I think 16 gb is the minimum. It gets the job done, but more is better.

[WyvernDotRed]

One important note of RAM consumption, which you thankfully tested properly, is that idle RAM consumption of systems with different total amounts is incompatible.
This as unused RAM is wasted RAM, so as the system gets used it should cache more if more space is available.
If this extra memory gets freed again as another memory intensive app needs it, this is not only more than fine but the best and only sensible approach to memory management.
Which is inarguable, unless considering excessive pre-caching or inefficient actual use of RAM, in which case the offending program is at fault, unless it has good reason for the usage.

[denisruskin]

Yes, if you don't have a zillion apps open at the same time.

[olnnn]

If you have a gpu with less vram the vram can spill over into system ram in some cases which may also have an impact in some cases.

[mattymoyouknow]

I noticed a big difference in stuttering going from 16gb to 32gb, especially in Callisto Protocol. With 16gb it was using 10gb with occasional stutters. With 32gb it was using 13gb and zero stutters at all.

[SideQuestShenanigansLTJ]

That One Million resident city is renowned for barely running on anything.

[zbigniew]

16gb sticks can have memory on both sides of sticks, so they are a bit better... Probably it made a difference.

OHHH, you used DDR5. DDR5 is weaker when using less than 16GB sticks....

[Harriz]

Just upgraded to 32gb ram. i can finally run 2 tabs in chrome

[WyvernDotRed]

One danger of buying the second stick separately is that it might contain different memory chips, which might not reach a high clock when put together.
With quantity of RAM, as long as you have enough the performance will be near perfect.
But once you run out the performance completely tanks, if the system continues to function at all that is.
Frequency and especially latency (actual number to compare by is latency divided by latency) is what matters most otherwise.

[arnietech]

It would be awesome to see the impact of ram capacity between DDR3, 4 and 5 because of the nature of latency and frequency

[snakeplissken]

19:40 In my experience if a game takes up more then 16gig as a whole it usually runs bad as the engine chokes on itself, you can add more ram but the underlying issue isn´t solved so the fps won´t really improve.
At a certain point in these builder/sandbox games do you run the engine against a wall, nothing you can really do about that.

[bluemarble]

Love this kind of benchmarks. thanks for high quality content!

[Ryhon]

I'd like to see a comparison on VRAM heavy games. I've heard that in some extreme cases like Tarkov on the Streets of Tarkov map having 64GB of RAM is basically required if you wish to play with high textures

[RBboy]

Love the content, I hope you're not getting burnt out and overworked doing all these videos! 6:18 shows Last of Us instead of Allen Wake 2.

[galmud]

Weird how long 16 GB of RAM have been enough for gaming. It's been like 10-ish years or so of 2x8 GB being the minimum standard for any gaming PC. I guess Windows memory management has gotten really optimized.

[mttrashcan-bgro]

I recently upgraded my 5900X to a 7800X3D and ended up putting 2x48gb of 6400MHz CL32 with it. I'm surprised by how little some games actually use still, but shocked as to how much Windows will use if you have more, on average I have 16-22gb total system usage with any modern game open, some games are so light on Ram that it doesn't get that high, without anything open I have 9gb for all the background processes Windows has going. I would have been fine on 32gb still, but I had 64gb for a while until my motherboard/CPU started rejecting the extra two sticks. I just feel better with more, knowing games with mods or memory leaks won't affect me, and Windows and any apps can use as much as they want without it ever affecting how I use my PC. Tech Deals once said, "do you want your PC to work for you, or do you want to work for your PC?"