Article How much RAM do I really need for gaming

[Naylor]

Naylor submitted a new article:

How much RAM do I really need for gaming - How much RAM do I really need for gaming

What is RAM?

RAM, or ‘Memory’ is simply the amount of ‘room’ a computer system has to function with. Think of a computer system like a small office, with a desk, filing cabinet and a person sitting at the desk. The filing cabinet would be the hard drive, where all the files are stored, the person sitting at the desk would be the CPU, removing and replacing files from the filing cabinet and working on the files on the desk’s surface, which would be the RAM. The more RAM a system has,...

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[Ian]

Good work Naylor!

That's an interesting place for a gaming sweetspot, as most PCs ship with 4GB+ RAM nowadays. With new consoles shipping with 8GB RAM, I wonder if we'll start to see this baseline increase to match over the next couple of years.

 

[Naylor]

Good work Naylor!

That's an interesting place for a gaming sweetspot, as most PCs ship with 4GB+ RAM nowadays. With new consoles shipping with 8GB RAM, I wonder if we'll start to see this baseline increase to match over the next couple of years.

Cheers Ian!
That is an interesting thought - It seems that consoles rely much more heavily on RAM than desktop PCs at the moment, and developers working with closed platforms like the Xbox or Playstation are able to utilise every aspect of the system. I think that with consoles the RAM and Video Ram are shared in many instances, whereas on PC desktops they are kept seperate (VRam on graphics cards and RAM on the motherboard).
It will be interesting to see what happens when new instances of DirectX and other hardware API's give developers more control and optimisation options over desktop PC parts.
It's certainly an interesting time to be a gamer!

 

[TriplexDread]

Interesting read

I have 16gb in mine. Nope will never need it. It was on offer when I bought it though

2x4GB sticks for £38 Corsair vengeance I would have been an idiot not to buy it

I could if I wanted sell one set of 8 now and still get my cash back over 12months later as the price has almost doubled, although starting to come down again

 

[Naylor]

Interesting read

I have 16gb in mine. Nope will never need it. It was on offer when I bought it though

2x4GB sticks for £38 Corsair vengeance I would have been an idiot not to buy it

I could if I wanted sell one set of 8 now and still get my cash back over 12months later as the price has almost doubled, although starting to come down again

Yeah that's an absolute bargain for that RAM! With 16GB you could probably edit an 8K image on Photoshop whilst encoding a Pixar movie and playing Crysis at 60fps

 

[V_R]

Interesting read, I'm curious now, I wonder how much RAM BF4 uses? I know on my old system it could easily hit 90+% of the 6Gb that was installed on it...

Will keep an eye on it tonight....

 

[Naylor]

Interesting read, I'm curious now, I wonder how much RAM BF4 uses? I know on my old system it could easily hit 90+% of the 6Gb that was installed on it...

Will keep an eye on it tonight....

Yeah - I should have maybe incorporated some results to show how the RAM is actually used - for example you might get the same gameplay experience with using 100% of 4GB as using 100% of 8GB, depending on how the system is actually using the RAM. The game might use it if is there to be used, but it doesn't impact gameplay if it isn't - if that makes sense?!

 

[Anon_F]

I dont play games, but do use some high end software for work.
And have always tried to run the max amount of RAM i can in the relevant computer.
Adding the extra RAM is so easy these days and can be done so quickly & easy.

Nice article Naylor by the way!

 

[Naylor]

I dont play games, but do use some high end software for work.
And have always tried to run the max amount of RAM i can in the relevant computer.
Adding the extra RAM is so easy these days and can be done so quickly & easy.

Nice article Naylor by the way!

Thanks, Feckit!
Also - if anybody has any ideas or wants me to test anything specific, software or hardware-wise, I am totally open to ideas and suggestions!

 

[Abarbarian]

Cheers Ian!

It will be interesting to see what happens when new instances of DirectX and other hardware API's give developers more control and optimisation options over desktop PC parts.
It's certainly an interesting time to be a gamer!

That is if newer games will even need Direct X. Does the Steam os use them ?

 

[Abarbarian]

Neat article. Surprising that the games tested seemed happy with 4 GB which is what I have. Big question is will my cpu allow me to play Skyrim maxed out ?

 

[V_R]

Off the top of my head, no. But it might be ok on medium. But if you wanted to mod it you will be in trouble.

 

[TriplexDread]

Oooo good point. Gonna try Skyrim Maxed now on my system

 

[V_R]

I remember when i was playing Skyrim, heavily modded (tex packs etc) it was using everything I could throw at it, CPU, RAM and VRAM. Didn't bother with it on my new system though as I'd have to start a fresh and I've played the crap out of it already!

Edit: Bugger, forgot to see what BF4 uses on max settings.

 

[Abarbarian]

Off the top of my head, no. But it might be ok on medium. But if you wanted to mod it you will be in trouble.

Thanks. So I guess that even with me new ssd with my present set up I'll be struggling to play at high quality even without the mods.

Would it be worth getting a better cpu, one of the Phenoms perhaps, or would I still be missing the sweet spot ?

 

[Naylor]

Thanks. So I guess that even with me new ssd with my present set up I'll be struggling to play at high quality even without the mods.

Would it be worth getting a better cpu, one of the Phenoms perhaps, or would I still be missing the sweet spot ?

You could put a Phenom X4 9950 in that motherboard and it would perform well - along the same lines as a low-mid tier Core2Quad 6600 from Intel. It would last a while, depending on what settings you use! With that and the GTX460 you could play Skyrim on Medium-High settings, maybe even Ultra on some settings.

 

[Naylor]

You could also put a Phenom II X4 range CPU in there and EASILY max out Skyrim - especially if you use GTX460's in SLI!

 

[floppybootstomp]

I haven't played Skyrim for a few months, finished the main game and official add-ons but was last playing the Helger Reborn freebie add-on.

I'll have to try it maxed out, I have some texture packs installed as well. Wonder if my system will handle it?

<<< system details over there

 

[Abarbarian]

You could also put a Phenom II X4 range CPU in there and EASILY max out Skyrim - especially if you use GTX460's in SLI!

Thanks for the info.

Hmm a cpu upgrade, I have thought about it in the past but the price has put me of.However a quick look at flea bay prices gives me pause for thought.

The Phenom II X4's seem to not give me a good enough game boost so I'll discount them.

The Phenom II X4 955BE does not appear on the Asus cpu compatibility list for my mobo. That I think is the cpu to go for, I'll have to have a search and see if folks are using this.

The Phenom II X4 945 would be a sound second choice.

Or possibly the AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE or the AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE
as they both seem to oc very well.

I am only really interested in an upgrade for gaming as me Arch flys along fast enough for me on my present set up. What to do,

I suppose if I did upgrade I could at least have a chance of playing with great graphics Metro as well as Skyrim and the Crysis''s.

 

[Naylor]

Thanks for the info.

Hmm a cpu upgrade, I have thought about it in the past but the price has put me of.However a quick look at flea bay prices gives me pause for thought.

The Phenom II X4's seem to not give me a good enough game boost so I'll discount them.

The Phenom II X4 955BE does not appear on the Asus cpu compatibility list for my mobo. That I think is the cpu to go for, I'll have to have a search and see if folks are using this.

The Phenom II X4 945 would be a sound second choice.

Or possibly the AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE or the AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE
as they both seem to oc very well.

I am only really interested in an upgrade for gaming as me Arch flys along fast enough for me on my present set up. What to do,

I suppose if I did upgrade I could at least have a chance of playing with great graphics Metro as well as Skyrim and the Crysis''s.

Yeah the X4 945 would be a great choice - you'll have to update your motherboard's bios I think to accept the chip though. You can find it on this heirarchy chart http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html - it is equal to the best of the Core 2 Quad chips so you should be good to game on that! I would stick to quad cores really for modern and future games.