16GB to 32BG 4K Gaming

Ghuraba

Ghuraba

Ghuraba

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Hi there.

Currently have 16GB of ram with a 5900x3D and 3080. Would moving to 32GB bring any real world benefits for gaming at 4K? A few games now like Spider-Man have 32GB recommended for 4K settings. I run a light PC with very little running in background.
 
No great diffrence but 32gb will allow background apps or streaming nor to affect gameplay.

Games are using more than 16gb if allowed so makes sense to move to 32gb in a High end pc.
 
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In this testing, the main advantage seems to be slightly higher consistency in FPS *. From what I've seen of Spider-man, the same applies (especially if high details & RTX are enabled).

But as said above, if your PC is doing more than just gaming while gaming, then it may have a more noticeable impact. At current RAM prices I'd say it is worthwhile, but if you'll be dumping your CPU in a few years (or less) for a DDR5 system (e.g. an AM5 X3D) then you might as well just make-do.

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYgPfsiprUI
 
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Just upgraded from 3700x purchased in 2019 to the 5800x3d so I plan on keeping this system a few years. Maybe get a 4080-90 before a full system upgrade.
 
Only running at 1440p and I often see games go over 16GB. The highest I have seen so far is Division 2 hitting just a tiny bit over 20GB. If games as old as that are using more then 16GB I am sure there will be plenty of new games coming that will also use over 16GB.
 
I have 16GB of Team Group 8pack Edition 3200mhz, running 3600mhz. Might have to sell and upgrade to same ram but 32GB. Currently £169. Not cheap. I hear the 5800x3d is not too fussy with 3200 or 3600. I could just get the cheapest 3200 kit for about £100.
 
Ghuraba said:
I have 16GB of Team Group 8pack Edition 3200mhz, running 3600mhz. Might have to sell and upgrade to same ram but 32GB. Currently £169. Not cheap. I hear the 5800x3d is not too fussy with 3200 or 3600. I could just get the cheapest 3200 kit for about £100.
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Or corsair 3600mhz for £110 but not much diffrence in reality.
 
Pottsey said:
Only running at 1440p and I often see games go over 16GB. The highest I have seen so far is Division 2 hitting just a tiny bit over 20GB. If games as old as that are using more then 16GB I am sure there will be plenty of new games coming that will also use over 16GB.
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never seen a game use more than 13gb at 3440x1440

playing cyberpunk maxed out psycho RT only shows 12gb total system usage. you guys are looking at task manager and taking into account the unneeded windows cache or what?


I get 14gb usage in dying light 2 with everything maxed, no dlss, MS edge , task manager and paint open
bz2LrMY.jpg

The odds of seeing any improvement over 16gb ram is likely 0 unless your still using a HDD as your main drive.

but if op wants to waste over £100 then why not do it
 
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arknor said:
never seen a game use more than 13gb at 3440x1440

playing cyberpunk maxed out psycho RT only shows 12gb total system usage. you guys are looking at task manager and taking into account the unneeded windows cache or what?


I get 14gb usage in dying light 2 with everything maxed, no dlss, MS edge , task manager and paint open
bz2LrMY.jpg

The odds of seeing any improvement over 16gb ram is likely 0 unless your still using a HDD as your main drive.

but if op wants to waste over £100 then why not do it
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My Task manager has hit 20.1gb while gaming without windows cache. Games are only increasing in RAM usage given how many are just about hitting 16gb now and the games that already go over 16gb it seems crazy to me to buy a new PC that is going to be used for years that only has 16gb. At the very minimum leave ram slots spare for an easy upgrade later. Filling up all the ram slots for 16gb now would not be ideal. RAM usage is only going to increase leading to more and more games breaking past 16gb usage with and without background apps like Discord.

For older PC's it depends what games and background apps are in use. If you play something like Division 2 with Discord and perhaps a few background apps then going over 16gb could be a worthwhile upgrade.
 
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Ghuraba said:
Hi there.

Currently have 16GB of ram with a 5900x3D and 3080. Would moving to 32GB bring any real world benefits for gaming at 4K? A few games now like Spider-Man have 32GB recommended for 4K settings. I run a light PC with very little running in background.
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Fire up your game and load a save point. start playing. Minimize the game and open task manager. If your RAM usage is 90% or so, an upgrade might be a good idea (especially if you load a new level and the game drops frames/lags etc.)

Otherwise, it's not really going to make much difference. More RAM is not more better all the time, especially for gaming. You would see a small improvement with a dual rank kit but at 4K, the bottleneck is your GPU. 4 DIMMS does emulate a dual RANK kit but it doesn't make a world of difference.
 
arknor said:
Division 2 sounds like a horribly optimised game
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It's not, it's pretty well optimised. The game world is far bigger, more alive and detailed then cyberpunk. Even your screenshot it is getting close to the limits of 16gb for 2-year old game. It only a matter of time before more games break past 16g usage with typical background apps running.
 
Pottsey said:
Even your screenshot it is getting close to the limits of 16gb for 2-year old game.
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it might be 2 years old but it's probably one of the most demanding games

People have been saying we will need more than 16gb soon for about 5 years already, unless your building a new pc it's a waste of time to go from 16gb to 32gb, and then it's only because ram is fairly cheap anyway so you might as well just in case one day it's needed
 
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arknor said:
it might be 2 years old but it's probably one of the most demanding games

People have been saying we will need more than 16gb soon for about 5 years already, unless your building a new pc it's a waste of time to go from 16gb to 32gb, and then it's only because ram is fairly cheap anyway so you might as well just in case one day it's needed
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Cyberpunk is one of the most demanding games from a GPU point of view but it's not the most demanding from a ram point of view due Cyberpunk having a more basic world setting compared to other games like Division 2. Anyway I am not saying we need more then 16gb, I am saying there is a benefit in having more than 16gb. Even in your Cyberpunk example it would only take a small handful of background apps to push the system beyond 16gb. We have gone past the point of 16g being enough for everything. So it's not a waste of time going from 16gb to 32gb.

I can agree we are not near the stage of needing 32gb but we are at the stage of benefiting from 32gb. I think the sweat spot right now is 25gb but due to how ram upgrades work its often easier and cheaper to go right up to 32gb.
 
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