16 vs 32gb ram for gamers, what benefits having 32?

3080guy · 22 Oct 2020 at 13:36

Aa a 1440p gamer for the Forseable future, when would I see improvements having 32 instead of 16gb ram? As I understand it there would be no improvements for gaming, am I right? (2080 Super graphics card, 8gb MSI OC)

I only browse the Web and send email, but do have dozens of tabs open.

mickyflinn · 22 Oct 2020 at 13:44

Games like ms flight sim 2020 can use more than 16gb of ram while you won't see any performance increase you won't see any slow downs.

It's beneficial if you want yo run other programmes while gaming.

3080guy · 22 Oct 2020 at 14:48

mickyflinn said:
Games like ms flight sim 2020 can use more than 16gb of ram while you won't see any performance increase you won't see any slow downs.

It's beneficial if you want yo run other programmes while gaming.

Gotcha.
What about programs that are open on the desktop when a computer loads a game. Will the game run in any scaled down way in attempts to preserve in memory what is open on the desktop, like mail and Web browsers?

Kirkyl85 · 22 Oct 2020 at 14:49

32gb seems to be the new sweet spot and with next gen systems almost here, I can see that being more evident as time goes on.

EsaT · 22 Oct 2020 at 18:00

3080guy said:
I only browse the Web and send email, but do have dozens of tabs open.

That can start fast hogging some gigabytes.
And instead of 16GB you'll have fast someting like 10GB fee.

Something like 24GB would be likely optimum, but only 16GB and 32GB are easy combinations.

BUDFORCE · 22 Oct 2020 at 19:17

Cities skylines will easily go over 16gb with a few mods, I've got that hitting 25GB.

That whole games won't use more than 16gb thing actually is complete ********, many games will, particularly if you start using mods.

But of course it depends what games you play.

Arsonist · 22 Oct 2020 at 19:33

32GB shows you have a larger e-peen than someone with a puny 16GB. Make it DDR4 too for extra girth. And obviously put it in your sig, duh!

adrichardson81 · 22 Oct 2020 at 20:13

For photo editing, it's definitely helped. Gaming, can't say I've noticed a scrap of difference.

Adam123 · 22 Oct 2020 at 22:56

Hey, 1440p gamer here.

Since getting my new system after playing Warzone (only game I have installed as of yet) my average RAM usage is about 15.5GB, on today's session it maxed out at 17.5GB - I have minimal apps open in the background (no discord, spotify etc).

I think that as 32GB can be had for about £110 you may as well if you can. I expect RAM usage will go up as games come out over the next few years as the PS5/Xbox consoles have 16GB vs 8GB found on the PS4/Xbox one.

I plan to keep my current build for the next 4-5 Years with maybe an upgrade to a 4000XT CPU and a 3070/3080 Super (or whatever name system Nvidia use) in 18-24 months (depending on if its actually needed).

3080guy · 23 Oct 2020 at 20:50

Adam123 said:
Hey, 1440p gamer here.

Since getting my new system after playing Warzone (only game I have installed as of yet) my average RAM usage is about 15.5GB, on today's session it maxed out at 17.5GB - I have minimal apps open in the background (no discord, spotify etc).

I think that as 32GB can be had for about £110 you may as well if you can. I expect RAM usage will go up as games come out over the next few years as the PS5/Xbox consoles have 16GB vs 8GB found on the PS4/Xbox one.

I plan to keep my current build for the next 4-5 Years with maybe an upgrade to a 4000XT CPU and a 3070/3080 Super (or whatever name system Nvidia use) in 18-24 months (depending on if its actually needed).

Thats very interesting. I dont understand my RAM usage (Committed, compressed, cached... those figures are big. The paged pool, non pool figures are smaller, but nearly all of it I dont understand) ... and I noticed in Task Manager there was what seemed to be RAM made available which was added towards my visible GPU RAM. Ive got a better overview, thanks for the posts guys.

Hopefully you'll be able to get a dead cheap 2080 super once the 3080s are in stock and available everywhere.

malachi · 24 Oct 2020 at 14:27

All my 3 gaming machines have 32gb RAM because ram is cheap enough. If you can, might aswell upgrade.

SonicSW20 · 24 Oct 2020 at 14:30

Windows will try to use what is available so purely looking at utilisation without reference to performance doesn't tell you anything useful other than Windows memory management is doing its thing.

You'll find that for the vast majority of games it makes no difference, with MS Flight Sim 2020 being on the of the few exceptions.

I have 32GB, mainly so I can have relive constantly recording to system memory rather than submitting an Sad to continual write operations whole gaming.

CuriousTomCat · 24 Oct 2020 at 19:18

3080guy said:
Aa a 1440p gamer for the Forseable future, when would I see improvements having 32 instead of 16gb ram? As I understand it there would be no improvements for gaming, am I right? (2080 Super graphics card, 8gb MSI OC)

I only browse the Web and send email, but do have dozens of tabs open.

I think you asked the wrong question. There's no correct answer. Some people need 32Gb, others dont. You should have asked "How can I find out if I have enough memory?".

The answer would be to play some games and check your memory utilisation for that game. Forget task manager because Windows will use extra memory for caching etc without actually benefiting the active game. If you're using close to 16Gb then you need to upgrade to 32Gb. If however, you're only using about 10Gb, then you dont need to upgrade.

Chaos666 · 24 Oct 2020 at 20:49

3080guy said:
I only browse the Web and send email, but do have dozens of tabs open.

chrome loves ram.. so yes .. get 32gb... you don't really need it but ram is so cheap these days it want hurt you.

i went from ATX system with 4x8gb (32gb) to just 2x8 (16gb) and with everyday tasks and gaming i do not see the difference