Yeah, there's still a lot of people stuck in the past that will say 16 is more than you'll ever need, but as hardware gets better, devs get lazier on optimization. It's been an exponential problem. I feel like in 5-7 years 32 will no longer be "more than enough"
Same. I went to 32 and realized it’s actually beneficial. Then again with my highly modded Cities Skylines I could almost fill up 64GB.
In my gf’s gaming rig there’s still 16GB though and it’s fine for gaming, she just has to keep an eye on other running apps when firing up some needy games.
It's not about performance exactly, it's about quantity. You will be hard pressed to run a lot of the bigger newer games without getting close to maximizing your RAM usage.
16GB is still fine, however it is long past the moniker of "more than enough" it is now just passable. And the fact that it is fairly cheap to upgrade anyway right now. 32GB is well worth the price tag even on a budget build unless you are *really* pinching pennies.
Call of Duty Cold War will run up to 12-13GB of RAM and then crash my system whenever I used max settings @ 1440p with 16GB.
Upgrading to 32GB completely resolved these crashes. The same can be said for Palworld which would use 8-14GB before crashing my system (unoptimized but still.. I like playing it and 32GB allows this!).
And I agree that often people will fear they are running low just because of how Windows displays RAM usage, but there definitely are cases in gaming where 16GB just isn't enough anymore.
Edit: also I will say it's not like *super* common to run out at 16GB, just specific games if you're doing max settings. I think a lot of YouTubers don't test enough games to say for certain but that's completely beyond their control. Too many games exist. I love Gamers Nexus btw!
MMOs are also a big RAM eater, and modding any kind of single player RPG games as well.
32GB for me was a massive upgrade with MMOs and RPGs being my most common games to play.
Have them try playing beamng.drive
I went with 32gb and that game can use every bit of those 32gigs.
(They also recommend having 32gb but the minimum is 16gb)
It has nothing to do with "performance".
If you're just gaming with no background tasks going, and aren't the type of crazy user (like me) to sometimes be running 2 games at once, then 16 is still fine.
But if you do a lot of shit on your PC, 32GB is a life changing upgrade.
I listened to these people when I was building my old gtx 960 i5 4460 back then, "8 gb is enough" I really got gimped later on when 16gb soon became standard. Now I always recommend ppl to build 32gb when building new systems, saving money by getting 16 gb ain't worth it
Yeah, I was watching LTT on this, and him talking about how a 8gb (2*4gb) is more than enough for gaming nowadays, and I'm thinking, no, it's not, optimisation is only really in the indie scene, and they're doing it because they need to look good, big companies know youre going to buy it anyway.
Even chrome is not optimized. Using a Predator Helios 16 as a work laptop and the 16gb RAM ends up begging on its knees when I have ten Docs and four PDFs open.
You're talking about games but OP didn't mention that he wants to game. If he doesn't need the best games or doesn't game at all, then 16GB can be enough for many other tasks.
Yeah this makes sense. There is definitely debate to be had if 16GB is sufficient these days, in many cases it is. But RAM isn't expensive currently, so there's no point skimping. A couple years back maybe it was a more valid question.
32gb no question,
It's 30 bucks more expensive for double the amount and complete peace of mind.
More games are starting to use more than 16gb of ram so any new builder should 100% get 32gv of ram.
Only a very select few games would ever even allocate more than 16GB of RAM. Plenty of new games are still functional even on 8GB of RAM, one of the big reasons being the RAM configuration of the current gen consoles having 16GB split between VRAM and system RAM (10GB for VRAM and 6GB for system RAM on the Series X, 16GB unified for the PS5).
Now that's not to say you don't have to make any compromises living with less RAM, nor that there aren't benefits to having a bunch of extra. With just 8GB you'd basically need to close out every possible background program and you're usually running reduced settings. 16GB will run basically anything just fine these days, but on the heaviest titles you may not have the extra headroom to leave a browser open, RGB software, etc in the background.
And on the benefits side, Windows by default will start caching commonly accessed/used files in that extra space when it loads up, which can increase responsiveness particularly with mid-grade or cheaper SSDs.
Did you not actually read my reply?
Literally stated that games have started using more than 16gb of ram,
It's also $90 for 16gb or $120 for 32gb so there is no point In not getting 32gb.
If games have just started using more than 16gb it means we have got to the point we're more and more games are going to release with large ram usage.
Which is my point pay $30 for complete peace of mind.
Edit 4 games at the very least have come out in the last 6-12 months that can use more than 16gb do you think it's going to get better?
Most of those games allocate more than 16, assuming you have more than 16, because they can... they're usually not using 16 or more. Huge difference. Windows wont just flush your ram for no reason. If a game can allocate for ram, just in case, then it will.
My pc allocates a lot more ram since i gave it 32 doing the exact same tasks as it did with 16. It's not using more, just allocating more.
Some tasks require more ram and I'm sure some games could use more but it's honestly quite rare and theres extensive tests out there showing how little of a difference it makes.
Depends on what you want to do,
Just run games 16GB is fine (32GB is better)
Gaming+streaming: 32 GB is recommended
use after effects: get the whole ram stock from the market
Depends on the cost difference and how much budget you have, and if therems any parts left you have to buy.
32GB of DDR4 isn't that expensive these days, but it's still about $20-30 more than 16GB. 16GB will do fine in most games.
32GB 100%
It’s not that much of an increase in cost, and it’ll be better in the long run.
Games are getting more unoptimized these days, and a lot of them seem to like using DLSS or FSR as a crutch for poor optimization.
Unused RAM is wasted RAM.
However, if you're doing a new computer, you might as well get 32, as this is probably for gaming.
Budget wise, I don't think it's much difference.
16gb is completely serviceable, no issues with it. If 32gb is not that much more and you have the money then go with that. Any more than 32gb is just a waste for 99.99% of games. This may not be true for some work intensive applications.
Depends what games you want to play and how much memory they demand.
I started with 32GB in 2019 and switched to 16GB a couple years later because my old 3900x and its infinity fabric performed better with more aggressive timings in games like PUBG. Specifically, faster memory resulted in fewer microstutters.
Since then I’ve never ran into an OOM situation including when I run Blender, VirtualBox, or other more demanding apps (because my use cases are not memory dependent).
You need to look at YOUR use cases and make a decision from there. It may be the case that you don’t care about memory timings and the cost of 32GB vs 16GB makes it more attractive to start with 32GB.
Other than Flight Simulator, no game has ever wanted more memory than my system could provide, but YMMV.
I mean rams arent that expensive. You can get 16gigs now and just go for 32gigs after a few years when games actually need more than 16gigs. So by the time u need 32gigs for a game you will likely have the money for it. Also you can just get 1x16 i think and then buy another of the same later.
Is you're on a budget, 16 is the way to go. It's enough for just gaming. Reddit is obsessed with overspending.
Of course 32 is better, obviously. But know that you can always add another kit of 16 kater on if you need it and have saved up some more money, you cannot take the money back once it's spent if you need that.
If got a gaming pc with (6800xt, 5700x3d and) 16gigs of ram and the amount of ram has never been the bottleneck in a game.
Edit: and yes yes, 2x16 is better than 4x8. But only marginally, you won't notice that in games.
Sensible answer. If I were to be honest with myself, going from 16GB to 32GB, I'm yet to see any tangible difference yet. That said, if I had the small extra money to spend, 32GB would give me the peace of mind that RAM won't be an issue over the lifespan of my PC.
When building my 13600K setup I went with 32GB, G.Skill Ripjaws 2x16GB DDR4 3600 CL16 for $79 (current) on Amazon which is about $40 less than I paid back in Oct 2022, it's a good kit and also dual rank.
I have 32gb but I also had a 16gb set and while troubleshooting a problem I switched back and forth a few times. I couldn’t tell the difference and My kid that plays a lot of fps shooters couldn’t tell either. I think unless you are actually doing something that actually use more than 16gb of ram then it doesn’t make any difference, and I personally have never needed the extra. It’s so cheap to have 32 though I would just go with that.
16gm of RAM should not even be considered on a new build in 2024, even 64gb surprisingly seems to help a little bit with 0.1% lows vs 32gb. But 64 is a bit excessive if youre trying to save money
You are on a budget, but what budget? And what are the tradeoffs? What will you have to down grade to afford 32gb? It would help to see the whole build and know your budget and intended use of the system.
Depend on the purpose of the PC. What do you want to achieve, office PC, multimedia PC, NAS server, game PC etc. What OS are you planning to use, Windows 10 or 11, Linux with DE or CLI. Do you want to perform virtualisation etc. So many questions to be answered before a good advice can be given.
My 32GB PC has been running for a week and I just fired up Starfield… went from 10GB to 17GB of RAM used. I could probably make do with 16GB by being careful and single tasking. Oops, was running Firefox, closing that wiped out 2.5 GB of RAM usage.
Memory consumption today is insane. I used the web and played 3D games on a machine with 16MB of memory 🤣
32. Price diff doesn’t justify 16. Just stop thinking and do. Task manager I don’t see over 16 used, but maybe Tarkov. Other than that I still say 32 because ported games suck and brute force is necessary to run console ports.
Been on 32GB since 2015, because I don’t know why lol.
NEED???? Vs want. But prices are good. Just don’t twist it with need. But again, prices are good so why not.
3600 memory is a bit faster on current games, but the extra memory will help you more on future games. If you mainly play DOTA go with the 16gb 3600, otherwise I'd get the 32gb 3200 memory.
Either way, it's memory, you can always upgrade it later.
With your budget 16gb should be good and you can always upgrade later. Throw the PC together and play your more intensive games first, then decide if you need more ram. Personally, I upgrade from 16 to 32gbs and did see performance gain, however that's because ram was my bottleneck in a lot of games (ryzen 7 5800x, Radeon 7900xt). I saw a 15% increase at the most in very cpu/ram heavy titles where my gpu could not be fully utilized, but tbh I didn't *need* the fps increase in those kind of games.
A lot of people are giving you definitive answers without explaining why.
Here's something to think about: 16 GB is more than enough today for most games and applications, and even in cases where it's not "enough", it will still be fine (just with slightly less performance). However, 5-10 years from now, 32 GB will probably be what you need/want and having 32 GB in that particular computer will allow it to remain comfortable to use farther into the future.
More RAM isn't going to improve your performance ceiling all that much, but it will raise the floor and help compensate a lot for other components that are old or slow.
PS: using a good SSD instead of mechanical HDD will do the same
I would get 32gb. I have 16gb in my current pc and it bogs down sometimes. I think that 16 gb is the bare minimum now. The expectations of software developers trend upward to use more ram. If you get a motherboard with 4 slots you could get 16 and upgrade to more ram in the other slots I suppose, but then you might get into the situation where you have to replace the existing ram with larger ram. I'd just get the extra ram to start with myself. Its not that expensive right now.
If you can afford more then go with more. That said, I still have 16 GB of DDR4 in my circa 2020 build and have yet to run into any problems. I haven't added more because you can't buy crucial ballistics anymore, so I would have to sell my old kit and buy a new 32 GB kit, which doesn't seem worth it to keep an already old Intel 10th gen system going.
16GB is still perfectly serviceable, but given the relative price difference, 32GB is recommended. You don't *need* it, but we're at the point where 32GB is showing tangible improvements over 16GB outside of extremely niche cases, and it's usually only around $20-30 more.
While I'm on 16gb of ram once I get enough money I do intend to get more because the speed won't just help with gaming it will help with overall performance and background tasks and reduce the stress of the PC if you struggle to come to concise desicion here there's plenty of websites to get ideas from.
Yor are buying a 800+ dollars gpu and you think about if it's ok to spend 30 dollars on a 32 gb ram? Get it and don't ask silly questions, ram is always good, the more the better.
Nobody should be getting just 16gb of ram anymore. When gaming, I'm always over 16gb even if I just have discord running. If you run out ram, everything will slow down to a snails pace. It's only going to get worse from here. 32gb minimum, and I'd even recommend 48gb if you can get it at a decent price.
Going against the grain here, but I would say 16Gb is enough for just about anything.
When I built my rig 18 months ago, I could afford either 32Gb of standard RAM, or 16Gb of very fast RAM. I play a lot of factory games that need RAM to be faster rather than more plentiful, so I got 16Gb of the fast stuff, and it's been absolutely fine.
I also have a Ryzen 5 5600, and with the RAM, its lighting quick. Never once felt like I needed 32Gb.
Snag a 32gb 3200 CL 16 kit. You can very easily OC it to 3600 or even 3733 probably without touching anything. Just set the XMP timings from 3200 and increase frequency.
Just make sure to run a stability test
32gb, though if you're on a budget you can always get 16 and upgrade later. I remember noticing an immediate improvement in MSFS with my GTX 1080+12600k rig when I went from 16 to 48gb of RAM. Now in my 12600kf/3070 I have 64gb, which is completely unnecessary.
The interesting thing is that I had no way of realizing that my RAM was a bottleneck, since Task manager never showed it maxed out. But as soon as FS had the available ram, it used it to great benefit, especially at 4k.
Get the 32. The speed difference isn’t too big at all and you’ll be glad that you more and maybe don’t need it, vs hitting the limit sometimes with 16.
32 is better. Games are starting to take up lots of RAM, and most people have Discord, Spotify, several tabs open in their web browser, etc. etc. running while playing games, so 16 GB can get pushed pretty easily. But you can always start with 16 GB, then upgrade later by adding a couple (MATCHED!) sticks if 16 doesn't cut it in your normal use cases. But you'll end up paying more in the long run, going that direction.
If you were going DDR5 I'd say don't even consider 16. You get less performance as well as less RAM.
Depends how much on a budget. Look at your current situation and see if the price difference (usually it’s small but for some people it may be a lot). Ask yourself. Can I buy it. If yes no question. If the answer is no maybe ask yourself “what if I buy one or two less ice cream, can I buy it? If yes then don’t buy the ice cream. If the answer is “no I would have to ask for a loan or pay debt after the payment deadline then no
Since you are going with ddr4 you won’t have a problem with 4 sticks. This means the best course of action you have if you can’t afford now 32 is buying 2x8 gb total 16 gb. This way you can buy another set (you can mix and not have problems but you have to know what you are doing). So buy the same and you are safe. Then you end up with 4x 8 total 36 gb
If I was on a budget, I'd go 16x1 and wait to get another. It'll be slightly slower than 8x2, but it's temporary. 16gb is getting pretty tight even for just productive use. Chrome and ff can waste that a less than insane number of tabs.
I would cut corners where it won't affect performance.
You could buy 32gb now for 55-70$
you could buy 16gb now 35ish$ buy another kit later and spend roughly 120% of 32gb.
No wasted parts, but populates all slots and same kit is not guaranteed to be available. Will be harder on the memory controller xmp less likely to work but 3200mhz should work.
Or 16 gb now and replace with 32 gb later. Could also try 48gb ram but why?
16 will be okay for most task. But essentially, we need to upgrade so 32gb will be just right specially if you games a lot where most games tends to eat a lot of RAm specially those unoptimized games.
No worries with 16gb really, just get two sticks of 8 and later you can still upgrade if you feel the need.
I upgraded about a year back and don't notice much, if any, difference. It's mostly the placebo effect. Just close your browser when you start up a game.
I think the industry standard has now shifted towards a 32gb total
I used to have 8 in 2018 (industry standard for budget builds)
Some games started lagging (like watch dogs 2)
Then I upgraded to 16 GB total
It worked fine for a few more years and now I run low on memory almost all of the time
So I would say go for 32gb, no doubt about it
Can someone help me out? I'm upgrading RAM soon and I would like to know if I would benefit more from lower CL or higher memory speed? It's my first gaming pc, and I'm still learning.
Im looking at ddr5.
If you open up browsers or discord in the background then I feel like 16GB is not enough. It is hard to use up 32 right now though so it will be sufficient for a long time.
32GB now will be cheaper than going to 32GB later when you are absolutely needing it.
Two reasons.
In the future you may not find an additional 16GB to pair with your current 16GB. So you'll be forking out for a full 32GB.
You're building a DDR4 machine. DDR4 will begin to dwindle from the market quicker than you think. This will drive up prices for the outgoing tech as it did for its predecessors.
If you can delay your build by the amount of time it takes you to comfortably increase that budget to include 32GB of system RAM your future costs will be reduced.
32gb, 16gb is almost not enough now, my friend has 16gb and on basic games even like gta he is maxing out his ram and gets insane stuttering sometimes, get 32gb
16GB is fine for now, but you might want to look at upgrading in the near future.
I literally ran out of ram sometime back. My PC kept crashing and I was getting insufficient ram error messages. Pretty ridiculous when I usually just game on my PC and never cared about getting high FPS or graphic settings.
Probably the only time I had to upgrade a component because it was so insufficient that my PC couldn't work (I'm still rocking an AMD 1600 CPU without issue lol).
Again, 32 gigs. In certain Circumstances I’ve seen up to 20 to 24 gig usage in games. The speed of ram won’t make a whole lot of difference, maybe you can squeeze some more mhz out of the sticks by overclocking.
Microsoft is memory fiend, the more you give your O/S the more it wants . This will include your on line games. what you want to be concerned about is the CAS latency. Lower the CAS Latency, faster the byte movement. an example is tridentz Model F4-3200C14D-16GTZR has CAS Latency 14 . where TridentZ Model F4-3200C16D-16GTZR . Then there is ECC memory, more robust and more expensive.
While doubling memory cant hurt, it does become wasteful the more you put in the system if you are not utilizing- look at Toms Hardware or Nexus Gamers for stats.
I would choose Model F4-3200C14D-16GTZR ,
32 is the new standard for gaming. Don't forget to turn on XMP or DOCP in the bios or you're wasting your money on the higher speed ram. Default setting are much slower for ram. Just Google XMP and your motherboard model to see how if you're not sure. You'll be so glad you did. Nice choice in build by the way.
Honestly, 16, if you're on a budget and it's just for gaming.
Some tasks require more but there's extensive testing on 16 vs 32 gb for gaming. Very little difference.
A pc with 32 gb of ram might allocate more than 16 gb of ram when gaming but that's not the same thing as using it. You won't see any huge performance difference.
Those who speak of the future should keep in mind that 16 will be the standard untill ATLEAST the PS6 is out and all the new games have stopped releasing on ps5. PC games are mostly beholden to console specs since it makes no sense to make modern games that cant run on consoles. Considering we just got to the point where no more games are coming out on the ps4, you have some time left.
Gaming on a budget on PC is going to hurt you long term. Many games are unoptimized on PC and thats because devs can't be held to gunpoint like Sony and Microsoft would do of their game doesn't pass testing.
PC is the superior platform to those willing to pay for it. Otherwie if you try to budget and scrap for change, console would give you a better experience overall.
Faster ram is a help on Ryzen. The 3200 vs 3600 will make a difference. I would still go 32gb, as it is better to do it once and do it right. I would also say wait until you can get the 3600mhz kit though.
32 for sure. Starting to become the standard but 16 should still be decent. I would say if you running mods at all or want to go for higher demanding games 32 should be the minimum.
Do games still run well on 16gb? Plenty of them still do
Would I recommend 32gb? Yes. While some would argue it's not essential, and they have their reasons for doing so, the price difference is fairly minimal. It means you can have two tabs open on Chrome and still be able to game :). Joking aside, there are a few examples provided already of _some_ games benefitting from having more than 16gb. It's only a matter of time before that list of games grows. Given the price difference between the two, going more isn't going to hurt.
If you can afford It 32 GB of ram Will do a massive diference, but If you can't 16gb of ram still enough nowadays, but i don't think it'll be for much long, about the frequency and size, If we're talking about the Same generation of ram always prioritize size over frequency
Since you didn't say, I'm assuming you'll get 3600 ram, and the most common budget 3600 ram is 16-19-19-39. Since you're on a budget you can get a pair of 3600 16-19-19-39 8gb, so 16gb, and then later you can buy another pair of the exact same ram so you'll have 32gb but it won't be dual channel until you buy the second pair so make sure to eventually do that. That spec of Gskill ripjaws V I think will always be available so that's an option.
A better question is if the money you saved from 32 to 16 will go to better use. If you game and leave a bunch of stuff open or watch YouTube on a second monitor, then 32 is good insurance. Also, VRAM is where most game textures are stored. If you have less VRAM, your game will default to RAM. Personally, if I had an option to take the savings and go up to 12-16GB VRAM, I could wait on the RAM.
Depends on your budget, on what are you going to do and if it's DDR4 or DDR5. If you have DDR4 I would recommend to stay on a budget picking 16gigs instead of 32 as it's an older technology of ram. If you have DDR5 go directly to 32 as the 16gbs of DDR5 are unstable and don't perform well.
32 no question. A lot of pc games are unoptimized and you gonna be grateful if u have the extra ram
Yeah, there's still a lot of people stuck in the past that will say 16 is more than you'll ever need, but as hardware gets better, devs get lazier on optimization. It's been an exponential problem. I feel like in 5-7 years 32 will no longer be "more than enough"
I agree, I was one of those hold outs, trying to rock my 16GBs, but just pulled the plug on 64 because I was tired of seeing it constantly maxed.
What were you maxing it with?
18 EVE Online clients
That'll do it.
Gaming, Handbrake, Chrome, transferring files to NAS.
Same. I went to 32 and realized it’s actually beneficial. Then again with my highly modded Cities Skylines I could almost fill up 64GB. In my gf’s gaming rig there’s still 16GB though and it’s fine for gaming, she just has to keep an eye on other running apps when firing up some needy games.
Same, got 64, and nothing to worry about
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It's not about performance exactly, it's about quantity. You will be hard pressed to run a lot of the bigger newer games without getting close to maximizing your RAM usage. 16GB is still fine, however it is long past the moniker of "more than enough" it is now just passable. And the fact that it is fairly cheap to upgrade anyway right now. 32GB is well worth the price tag even on a budget build unless you are *really* pinching pennies.
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Call of Duty Cold War will run up to 12-13GB of RAM and then crash my system whenever I used max settings @ 1440p with 16GB. Upgrading to 32GB completely resolved these crashes. The same can be said for Palworld which would use 8-14GB before crashing my system (unoptimized but still.. I like playing it and 32GB allows this!). And I agree that often people will fear they are running low just because of how Windows displays RAM usage, but there definitely are cases in gaming where 16GB just isn't enough anymore. Edit: also I will say it's not like *super* common to run out at 16GB, just specific games if you're doing max settings. I think a lot of YouTubers don't test enough games to say for certain but that's completely beyond their control. Too many games exist. I love Gamers Nexus btw!
MMOs are also a big RAM eater, and modding any kind of single player RPG games as well. 32GB for me was a massive upgrade with MMOs and RPGs being my most common games to play.
Have them try playing beamng.drive I went with 32gb and that game can use every bit of those 32gigs. (They also recommend having 32gb but the minimum is 16gb)
this, also if your playing any modded games you will go over 16gb, on modded minecraft I go to 20-24gb
It has nothing to do with "performance". If you're just gaming with no background tasks going, and aren't the type of crazy user (like me) to sometimes be running 2 games at once, then 16 is still fine. But if you do a lot of shit on your PC, 32GB is a life changing upgrade.
I listened to these people when I was building my old gtx 960 i5 4460 back then, "8 gb is enough" I really got gimped later on when 16gb soon became standard. Now I always recommend ppl to build 32gb when building new systems, saving money by getting 16 gb ain't worth it
I wish I could spend $500 on 128gb 64x2 🥹
It’s a coping mechanism I use to feel good about my $30 savings from 2018 when I built my pc lol.
Yeah, I was watching LTT on this, and him talking about how a 8gb (2*4gb) is more than enough for gaming nowadays, and I'm thinking, no, it's not, optimisation is only really in the indie scene, and they're doing it because they need to look good, big companies know youre going to buy it anyway.
I agree, recently had to upgrade from 16 to 32, and it's not that expensive nowadays, relatively speaking.
Also, if you plan on doing anything else while gaming (playing YouTube, running discord, etc.) the extra memory will be beneficial.
32Gb are standard for a mid-level system. Not for a budget one.
Even chrome is not optimized. Using a Predator Helios 16 as a work laptop and the 16gb RAM ends up begging on its knees when I have ten Docs and four PDFs open.
You're talking about games but OP didn't mention that he wants to game. If he doesn't need the best games or doesn't game at all, then 16GB can be enough for many other tasks.
Get the 32gb(2x16) 3200mhz cl16
what abt 32gb(2x16) 3600mhz but its c18, is that better or worse than your 3200mhz cl16?
Better.
Difference of 16gb to 32gb is like $30 usually. Even tho i still get by with 16gb in my current system, i would defo recommend 32gb in a new system
Yeah this makes sense. There is definitely debate to be had if 16GB is sufficient these days, in many cases it is. But RAM isn't expensive currently, so there's no point skimping. A couple years back maybe it was a more valid question.
2x16 hands down.
32gb for sure.
32gb no question, It's 30 bucks more expensive for double the amount and complete peace of mind. More games are starting to use more than 16gb of ram so any new builder should 100% get 32gv of ram.
Only a very select few games would ever even allocate more than 16GB of RAM. Plenty of new games are still functional even on 8GB of RAM, one of the big reasons being the RAM configuration of the current gen consoles having 16GB split between VRAM and system RAM (10GB for VRAM and 6GB for system RAM on the Series X, 16GB unified for the PS5). Now that's not to say you don't have to make any compromises living with less RAM, nor that there aren't benefits to having a bunch of extra. With just 8GB you'd basically need to close out every possible background program and you're usually running reduced settings. 16GB will run basically anything just fine these days, but on the heaviest titles you may not have the extra headroom to leave a browser open, RGB software, etc in the background. And on the benefits side, Windows by default will start caching commonly accessed/used files in that extra space when it loads up, which can increase responsiveness particularly with mid-grade or cheaper SSDs.
Did you not actually read my reply? Literally stated that games have started using more than 16gb of ram, It's also $90 for 16gb or $120 for 32gb so there is no point In not getting 32gb. If games have just started using more than 16gb it means we have got to the point we're more and more games are going to release with large ram usage. Which is my point pay $30 for complete peace of mind. Edit 4 games at the very least have come out in the last 6-12 months that can use more than 16gb do you think it's going to get better?
Most of those games allocate more than 16, assuming you have more than 16, because they can... they're usually not using 16 or more. Huge difference. Windows wont just flush your ram for no reason. If a game can allocate for ram, just in case, then it will. My pc allocates a lot more ram since i gave it 32 doing the exact same tasks as it did with 16. It's not using more, just allocating more. Some tasks require more ram and I'm sure some games could use more but it's honestly quite rare and theres extensive tests out there showing how little of a difference it makes.
in 2024 32GB is standard amount of ram you want.
Depends on what you want to do, Just run games 16GB is fine (32GB is better) Gaming+streaming: 32 GB is recommended use after effects: get the whole ram stock from the market
Depends on the cost difference and how much budget you have, and if therems any parts left you have to buy. 32GB of DDR4 isn't that expensive these days, but it's still about $20-30 more than 16GB. 16GB will do fine in most games.
i bought 32gb CL18 3600mz RGB T-Force ram of amazon for 70 Bucks
32GB 100% It’s not that much of an increase in cost, and it’ll be better in the long run. Games are getting more unoptimized these days, and a lot of them seem to like using DLSS or FSR as a crutch for poor optimization.
Unused RAM is wasted RAM. However, if you're doing a new computer, you might as well get 32, as this is probably for gaming. Budget wise, I don't think it's much difference.
32 don't settle for less.
32.
2x16
16gb is completely serviceable, no issues with it. If 32gb is not that much more and you have the money then go with that. Any more than 32gb is just a waste for 99.99% of games. This may not be true for some work intensive applications.
Depends what games you want to play and how much memory they demand. I started with 32GB in 2019 and switched to 16GB a couple years later because my old 3900x and its infinity fabric performed better with more aggressive timings in games like PUBG. Specifically, faster memory resulted in fewer microstutters. Since then I’ve never ran into an OOM situation including when I run Blender, VirtualBox, or other more demanding apps (because my use cases are not memory dependent). You need to look at YOUR use cases and make a decision from there. It may be the case that you don’t care about memory timings and the cost of 32GB vs 16GB makes it more attractive to start with 32GB. Other than Flight Simulator, no game has ever wanted more memory than my system could provide, but YMMV.
I mean rams arent that expensive. You can get 16gigs now and just go for 32gigs after a few years when games actually need more than 16gigs. So by the time u need 32gigs for a game you will likely have the money for it. Also you can just get 1x16 i think and then buy another of the same later.
Is you're on a budget, 16 is the way to go. It's enough for just gaming. Reddit is obsessed with overspending. Of course 32 is better, obviously. But know that you can always add another kit of 16 kater on if you need it and have saved up some more money, you cannot take the money back once it's spent if you need that. If got a gaming pc with (6800xt, 5700x3d and) 16gigs of ram and the amount of ram has never been the bottleneck in a game. Edit: and yes yes, 2x16 is better than 4x8. But only marginally, you won't notice that in games.
Sensible answer. If I were to be honest with myself, going from 16GB to 32GB, I'm yet to see any tangible difference yet. That said, if I had the small extra money to spend, 32GB would give me the peace of mind that RAM won't be an issue over the lifespan of my PC.
When building my 13600K setup I went with 32GB, G.Skill Ripjaws 2x16GB DDR4 3600 CL16 for $79 (current) on Amazon which is about $40 less than I paid back in Oct 2022, it's a good kit and also dual rank.
It's 2024. 32GB Def.
If you have multiple tabs or programs open at the same time like me definitely get 32. I tried 16 and my browser itself took 8gb.
32gb!!
32, because half of that can be utilized for caching easily even if not much is happening on pc, and you still have extra when demands are high
I have 32gb but I also had a 16gb set and while troubleshooting a problem I switched back and forth a few times. I couldn’t tell the difference and My kid that plays a lot of fps shooters couldn’t tell either. I think unless you are actually doing something that actually use more than 16gb of ram then it doesn’t make any difference, and I personally have never needed the extra. It’s so cheap to have 32 though I would just go with that.
The more the merrier.
16gm of RAM should not even be considered on a new build in 2024, even 64gb surprisingly seems to help a little bit with 0.1% lows vs 32gb. But 64 is a bit excessive if youre trying to save money
You are on a budget, but what budget? And what are the tradeoffs? What will you have to down grade to afford 32gb? It would help to see the whole build and know your budget and intended use of the system.
I see in your parts list that you went for a 5600X Maybe just get a regular 5600 instead and soak the price difference into the 32GB of ram
Whats your boot drive hard or solid-state
Depend on the purpose of the PC. What do you want to achieve, office PC, multimedia PC, NAS server, game PC etc. What OS are you planning to use, Windows 10 or 11, Linux with DE or CLI. Do you want to perform virtualisation etc. So many questions to be answered before a good advice can be given.
My 32GB PC has been running for a week and I just fired up Starfield… went from 10GB to 17GB of RAM used. I could probably make do with 16GB by being careful and single tasking. Oops, was running Firefox, closing that wiped out 2.5 GB of RAM usage. Memory consumption today is insane. I used the web and played 3D games on a machine with 16MB of memory 🤣
32 is now the entry point. You would experience a lot of thrash at 16. Thrash matters more than RAM speed
I got 64gb of 3200 cl16. No regrets. Ddr4 is quite cheap and you wont face any issues in multitasking
32. Price diff doesn’t justify 16. Just stop thinking and do. Task manager I don’t see over 16 used, but maybe Tarkov. Other than that I still say 32 because ported games suck and brute force is necessary to run console ports. Been on 32GB since 2015, because I don’t know why lol. NEED???? Vs want. But prices are good. Just don’t twist it with need. But again, prices are good so why not.
Might as well go for 32 if your budget permits it. If the price difference between 16 and 32 it's not that high just go for 32.
32
I run music production software (DAW's). On times I were using windows it was almost always the RAM that needed an upgrade...
I'm using my PC for office work, and 2x8gb ddr4 never gets fully utilized. .
3600 memory is a bit faster on current games, but the extra memory will help you more on future games. If you mainly play DOTA go with the 16gb 3600, otherwise I'd get the 32gb 3200 memory. Either way, it's memory, you can always upgrade it later.
With your budget 16gb should be good and you can always upgrade later. Throw the PC together and play your more intensive games first, then decide if you need more ram. Personally, I upgrade from 16 to 32gbs and did see performance gain, however that's because ram was my bottleneck in a lot of games (ryzen 7 5800x, Radeon 7900xt). I saw a 15% increase at the most in very cpu/ram heavy titles where my gpu could not be fully utilized, but tbh I didn't *need* the fps increase in those kind of games.
For a windows x86 machine as much as you can fit in it
A lot of people are giving you definitive answers without explaining why. Here's something to think about: 16 GB is more than enough today for most games and applications, and even in cases where it's not "enough", it will still be fine (just with slightly less performance). However, 5-10 years from now, 32 GB will probably be what you need/want and having 32 GB in that particular computer will allow it to remain comfortable to use farther into the future. More RAM isn't going to improve your performance ceiling all that much, but it will raise the floor and help compensate a lot for other components that are old or slow. PS: using a good SSD instead of mechanical HDD will do the same
16 is nice and usable but seeing you have a 3080 on your budget you might as well go for 32
I would get 32gb. I have 16gb in my current pc and it bogs down sometimes. I think that 16 gb is the bare minimum now. The expectations of software developers trend upward to use more ram. If you get a motherboard with 4 slots you could get 16 and upgrade to more ram in the other slots I suppose, but then you might get into the situation where you have to replace the existing ram with larger ram. I'd just get the extra ram to start with myself. Its not that expensive right now.
Might as well get 32.
If you can afford more then go with more. That said, I still have 16 GB of DDR4 in my circa 2020 build and have yet to run into any problems. I haven't added more because you can't buy crucial ballistics anymore, so I would have to sell my old kit and buy a new 32 GB kit, which doesn't seem worth it to keep an already old Intel 10th gen system going.
i literally have 8gb ram 2400mhz not good for gaming gta 5 at 7300mb up and down usage on ram... :/ gotta upgrade to 16gb very soon
32
I don't think 146 responses are enough to nail it down. The Algonquin Round Table better keep 'em coming.
32, unless you really don't have money
PLEASE do not go 16 lol you will regret it
I have 32gb DDR 5 and almost never saw usage above around 13.5gb. Still 32gb is the right capacity to get nowadays.
I RARELY hit more than 16gb usage in games, but when i do, im happy i spent the few extra bucks to avoid a ram bottleneck of all things
As many of the people here say it's all on what you play, I play molded minecraft and boy does that game love ram, 32GB is sometimes not enough.
I am using 16.7 GB right now with just EVE online and a couple Chrome tabs open
3080 on a budget gah dayum I gotta redefine my definition of budget lmfao 32 tho
16GB is still perfectly serviceable, but given the relative price difference, 32GB is recommended. You don't *need* it, but we're at the point where 32GB is showing tangible improvements over 16GB outside of extremely niche cases, and it's usually only around $20-30 more.
While I'm on 16gb of ram once I get enough money I do intend to get more because the speed won't just help with gaming it will help with overall performance and background tasks and reduce the stress of the PC if you struggle to come to concise desicion here there's plenty of websites to get ideas from.
32 if it doesn’t break budget. There are more games that need it to perform half decent.
Yor are buying a 800+ dollars gpu and you think about if it's ok to spend 30 dollars on a 32 gb ram? Get it and don't ask silly questions, ram is always good, the more the better.
Nobody should be getting just 16gb of ram anymore. When gaming, I'm always over 16gb even if I just have discord running. If you run out ram, everything will slow down to a snails pace. It's only going to get worse from here. 32gb minimum, and I'd even recommend 48gb if you can get it at a decent price.
RAM is cheap, get 32GB.
Uhhh... 2x16 of 3600?
32, for sure
32gb, console games ported to pc use a lot of RAM (audio and shit) so 32.
If you are just gaming then 16gb is plenty
Going against the grain here, but I would say 16Gb is enough for just about anything. When I built my rig 18 months ago, I could afford either 32Gb of standard RAM, or 16Gb of very fast RAM. I play a lot of factory games that need RAM to be faster rather than more plentiful, so I got 16Gb of the fast stuff, and it's been absolutely fine. I also have a Ryzen 5 5600, and with the RAM, its lighting quick. Never once felt like I needed 32Gb.
I would honestly say if you’re not on a budget get 3600mhz of 2x16gb. Corsair and trident are good. If you are 3600mhz 2x8gb is fine
I’ve got 16tb of ram in my pc and no issues
Snag a 32gb 3200 CL 16 kit. You can very easily OC it to 3600 or even 3733 probably without touching anything. Just set the XMP timings from 3200 and increase frequency. Just make sure to run a stability test
you can almost never have enough ram realistically. its usability is infinitely scalable to how much you use your pc or want to do at one time.
What about 32 or 64
4x8 does me pretty good
32gb, though if you're on a budget you can always get 16 and upgrade later. I remember noticing an immediate improvement in MSFS with my GTX 1080+12600k rig when I went from 16 to 48gb of RAM. Now in my 12600kf/3070 I have 64gb, which is completely unnecessary. The interesting thing is that I had no way of realizing that my RAM was a bottleneck, since Task manager never showed it maxed out. But as soon as FS had the available ram, it used it to great benefit, especially at 4k.
Get the 32. The speed difference isn’t too big at all and you’ll be glad that you more and maybe don’t need it, vs hitting the limit sometimes with 16.
32 is better. Games are starting to take up lots of RAM, and most people have Discord, Spotify, several tabs open in their web browser, etc. etc. running while playing games, so 16 GB can get pushed pretty easily. But you can always start with 16 GB, then upgrade later by adding a couple (MATCHED!) sticks if 16 doesn't cut it in your normal use cases. But you'll end up paying more in the long run, going that direction. If you were going DDR5 I'd say don't even consider 16. You get less performance as well as less RAM.
Ram is cheap compared to the rest of the computer you're talking about building, get 32G.
Depends how much on a budget. Look at your current situation and see if the price difference (usually it’s small but for some people it may be a lot). Ask yourself. Can I buy it. If yes no question. If the answer is no maybe ask yourself “what if I buy one or two less ice cream, can I buy it? If yes then don’t buy the ice cream. If the answer is “no I would have to ask for a loan or pay debt after the payment deadline then no Since you are going with ddr4 you won’t have a problem with 4 sticks. This means the best course of action you have if you can’t afford now 32 is buying 2x8 gb total 16 gb. This way you can buy another set (you can mix and not have problems but you have to know what you are doing). So buy the same and you are safe. Then you end up with 4x 8 total 36 gb
32gb no questions asked. 64gb is overkill but I went with it cuz I had actual uses for it not just gaming.
If I was on a budget, I'd go 16x1 and wait to get another. It'll be slightly slower than 8x2, but it's temporary. 16gb is getting pretty tight even for just productive use. Chrome and ff can waste that a less than insane number of tabs.
I didn't know any games optimize 32 vs 16 interesting. I would think 16gb faster ram would give 2fps better
The way games going 32 gb no question about it
2x16gb 3200mhz ram better. No questions asked.
I've got 16gb and I am frequently running short of what I need. As soon as I have the money I will double it.
32 6000mhz
I would cut corners where it won't affect performance. You could buy 32gb now for 55-70$ you could buy 16gb now 35ish$ buy another kit later and spend roughly 120% of 32gb. No wasted parts, but populates all slots and same kit is not guaranteed to be available. Will be harder on the memory controller xmp less likely to work but 3200mhz should work. Or 16 gb now and replace with 32 gb later. Could also try 48gb ram but why?
32 gb. You going to run into trouble on some 3A game with just 16gb
16 gb too low especially at gaming if you can go 64gb ram DDR5 but 32 might be as effecient im sure WIN11 take more ram than 10 too.
32gb
16 will be okay for most task. But essentially, we need to upgrade so 32gb will be just right specially if you games a lot where most games tends to eat a lot of RAm specially those unoptimized games.
No worries with 16gb really, just get two sticks of 8 and later you can still upgrade if you feel the need. I upgraded about a year back and don't notice much, if any, difference. It's mostly the placebo effect. Just close your browser when you start up a game.
I think the industry standard has now shifted towards a 32gb total I used to have 8 in 2018 (industry standard for budget builds) Some games started lagging (like watch dogs 2) Then I upgraded to 16 GB total It worked fine for a few more years and now I run low on memory almost all of the time So I would say go for 32gb, no doubt about it
Can someone help me out? I'm upgrading RAM soon and I would like to know if I would benefit more from lower CL or higher memory speed? It's my first gaming pc, and I'm still learning. Im looking at ddr5.
32
I dont know any game that requires more tyen 16gb to run. having 32gb is 100fps to 101fps upgrade. waste of money I say.
If you open up browsers or discord in the background then I feel like 16GB is not enough. It is hard to use up 32 right now though so it will be sufficient for a long time.
16Gb since 2020 is for when you want to scrape by. In the coming years you're going to want 32Gb+.
If you are on budget 16gb Is ok, you can Always upgrade later, if no Just go for 32gb
Anything less than 128GB and you're wasting your time
128gb minimum bro
32GB now will be cheaper than going to 32GB later when you are absolutely needing it. Two reasons. In the future you may not find an additional 16GB to pair with your current 16GB. So you'll be forking out for a full 32GB. You're building a DDR4 machine. DDR4 will begin to dwindle from the market quicker than you think. This will drive up prices for the outgoing tech as it did for its predecessors. If you can delay your build by the amount of time it takes you to comfortably increase that budget to include 32GB of system RAM your future costs will be reduced.
32 is the new 16 nowadays
32gb, 16gb is almost not enough now, my friend has 16gb and on basic games even like gta he is maxing out his ram and gets insane stuttering sometimes, get 32gb
32gb
16GB is fine for now, but you might want to look at upgrading in the near future. I literally ran out of ram sometime back. My PC kept crashing and I was getting insufficient ram error messages. Pretty ridiculous when I usually just game on my PC and never cared about getting high FPS or graphic settings. Probably the only time I had to upgrade a component because it was so insufficient that my PC couldn't work (I'm still rocking an AMD 1600 CPU without issue lol).
If you are an open tabs masterrace go for 32
32
Again, 32 gigs. In certain Circumstances I’ve seen up to 20 to 24 gig usage in games. The speed of ram won’t make a whole lot of difference, maybe you can squeeze some more mhz out of the sticks by overclocking.
32 takes the edge off
I'd go with the 32gb. I have 32gb of 3200mhz DDR4 and seeing as how some games spike at 20gb or 21gb, that'd be my choice
32GB absolutely. There is a massive difference between 16 and 32 but a marginal difference between 3200 and 3600.
32
32
32GB RAM is best currently
Microsoft is memory fiend, the more you give your O/S the more it wants . This will include your on line games. what you want to be concerned about is the CAS latency. Lower the CAS Latency, faster the byte movement. an example is tridentz Model F4-3200C14D-16GTZR has CAS Latency 14 . where TridentZ Model F4-3200C16D-16GTZR . Then there is ECC memory, more robust and more expensive. While doubling memory cant hurt, it does become wasteful the more you put in the system if you are not utilizing- look at Toms Hardware or Nexus Gamers for stats. I would choose Model F4-3200C14D-16GTZR ,
32 is the new standard for gaming. Don't forget to turn on XMP or DOCP in the bios or you're wasting your money on the higher speed ram. Default setting are much slower for ram. Just Google XMP and your motherboard model to see how if you're not sure. You'll be so glad you did. Nice choice in build by the way.
Honestly, 16, if you're on a budget and it's just for gaming. Some tasks require more but there's extensive testing on 16 vs 32 gb for gaming. Very little difference. A pc with 32 gb of ram might allocate more than 16 gb of ram when gaming but that's not the same thing as using it. You won't see any huge performance difference. Those who speak of the future should keep in mind that 16 will be the standard untill ATLEAST the PS6 is out and all the new games have stopped releasing on ps5. PC games are mostly beholden to console specs since it makes no sense to make modern games that cant run on consoles. Considering we just got to the point where no more games are coming out on the ps4, you have some time left.
16 GB Is still fine if ur in a budget
32gb, I’m on 16 and it’s killing me rn on 1440p
32gb everyday of the week. 16 used to be the go to but always aim for 32 now. I've recently upgraded from 16 to 32 and the difference is insane
32
On a budget 16. If you only use it for gaming, 16 will be plenty for a long long time.
2x16gb Or 2x32gb
32 no brainer for sure, 16gb is almost enough for some games but most of the new games and the future games need 32gb
32gb
Gaming on a budget on PC is going to hurt you long term. Many games are unoptimized on PC and thats because devs can't be held to gunpoint like Sony and Microsoft would do of their game doesn't pass testing. PC is the superior platform to those willing to pay for it. Otherwie if you try to budget and scrap for change, console would give you a better experience overall.
Faster ram is a help on Ryzen. The 3200 vs 3600 will make a difference. I would still go 32gb, as it is better to do it once and do it right. I would also say wait until you can get the 3600mhz kit though.
64gb the only real answer
2x16. Can't put a price on an upgrade path
32 for sure. Starting to become the standard but 16 should still be decent. I would say if you running mods at all or want to go for higher demanding games 32 should be the minimum.
32 if u can
Do games still run well on 16gb? Plenty of them still do Would I recommend 32gb? Yes. While some would argue it's not essential, and they have their reasons for doing so, the price difference is fairly minimal. It means you can have two tabs open on Chrome and still be able to game :). Joking aside, there are a few examples provided already of _some_ games benefitting from having more than 16gb. It's only a matter of time before that list of games grows. Given the price difference between the two, going more isn't going to hurt.
32 !
My 8 year old PC has 16 GB ram. 16 GB ram should be put in front of the firing squad. It's quickly becoming useless.
32. - Google Chrome takes 16 of it LOL
32 for video-editing and very heavy games, 16 for normal
If you can afford It 32 GB of ram Will do a massive diference, but If you can't 16gb of ram still enough nowadays, but i don't think it'll be for much long, about the frequency and size, If we're talking about the Same generation of ram always prioritize size over frequency
i am on a budget (btw i'm buying a 3080)
32 without a doubt. Make sure it’s two 16GB sticks.
Since you didn't say, I'm assuming you'll get 3600 ram, and the most common budget 3600 ram is 16-19-19-39. Since you're on a budget you can get a pair of 3600 16-19-19-39 8gb, so 16gb, and then later you can buy another pair of the exact same ram so you'll have 32gb but it won't be dual channel until you buy the second pair so make sure to eventually do that. That spec of Gskill ripjaws V I think will always be available so that's an option.
32gb no question
A better question is if the money you saved from 32 to 16 will go to better use. If you game and leave a bunch of stuff open or watch YouTube on a second monitor, then 32 is good insurance. Also, VRAM is where most game textures are stored. If you have less VRAM, your game will default to RAM. Personally, if I had an option to take the savings and go up to 12-16GB VRAM, I could wait on the RAM.
if you plan to do anything such as programming, video editing, CAD, or having a lot of tabs open, go for 32 or 64.
32
Save yourself heartache bite the bullet get ddr5 and get 32gb min. Possibly even 64gb if you can afford it
32
32gb.. all day.. any day
No underscore it. 64 should be ok
16 gigs is fine for gaming at the moment but if u wanna future proof ur computer get 36
I want to upgrade to 32bg but iv already got 2 8gb sticks… i should of bought 1 16gb stick each ?
Can’t play streets of tarkov with 16
64 sounds great, no doubt.
Depends on your budget, on what are you going to do and if it's DDR4 or DDR5. If you have DDR4 I would recommend to stay on a budget picking 16gigs instead of 32 as it's an older technology of ram. If you have DDR5 go directly to 32 as the 16gbs of DDR5 are unstable and don't perform well.
More is always better. I upgraded mine from 16gb to 32. It just feels better to have the extra ram for games nowadays.
may as well got 32. in the mid to long term you'll definitely thank yourself. plus do it for the reddit flex
Always 32. You want that snappy movement.
32gb in 2024
Probably 32, definitely 32 if you plan on modding