Question Do I need 32gb of RAM?

[iSteven_6s]

I play many games that recommend 16gb of ram or more. On any regular day, I also have 60-100 tabs open, as well as some other programs, which eats up about 8-12gb of ram. I’m just wondering if I need to buy 32gb of ram to play my games smoothly, or if 16 is enough.

 

[SkyNetRising]

16GB most likely is enough.
Monitor Commited Memory value in Task Manager - that will tell you max amount of memory (ram+virtual), that ever is being used.

 

[iSteven_6s]

Thx, I was just wondering if the 16gb recommended system requirement meant that the game took up 16gb of ram, or if your system should have 16gb including all other background programs.

 

[iSteven_6s]

A second opinion from someone else would be greatly appreciated...

 

[USAFRet]

Do you need 32GB?
Depends.

Are you actually running out at 16GB?
If not, then the extra RAM is just sitting there, doing nothing.


I have 32GB, but actually use it. Frequently over 20GB in use, from having multiple VM's running.

 

[iSteven_6s]

Do you need 32GB?
Depends.

Are you actually running out at 16GB?
If not, then the extra RAM is just sitting there, doing nothing.


I have 32GB, but actually use it. Frequently over 20GB in use, from having multiple VM's running.

I won’t run out at 16gb if I close my browsers before gaming, but I kinda don’t want to do that (reopening all the tabs I need can be a but of a pain).

 

[dudeman509]

Are you currently approaching or at your 16 GB's capacity? If so, or if you see the system hitting the paging file often, you need more.

I've hit the point where I have started using >16 GB pretty frequently. Games, Python development, and lots of Chrome tabs/apps in the background chew it up pretty quickly.

RAM is cheap these days fortunately. 2 years ago, it was super expensive.

 

[USAFRet]

I won’t run out at 16gb if I close my browsers before gaming, but I kinda don’t want to do that (reopening all the tabs I need can be a but of a pain).

Well, in your normal workload...if you're running past 16GB, then you need to upgrade.

 

[iSteven_6s]

Yes, unfortunately I am. Do you people think 32gb is worth the money, or should I just deal with the pain of closing and reopening tabs before and after gaming...?

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, unfortunately I am. Do you people think 32gb is worth the money, or should I just deal with the pain of closing and reopening tabs before and after gaming...?

Worth is something only you can determine.

However, having all those tabs open while gaming is not just the RAM.
CPU resources are also consumed.

 

[iSteven_6s]

Worth is something only you can determine.

However, having all those tabs open while gaming is not just the RAM.
CPU resources are also consumed.

CPU consumption isn’t rlly the problem. My Ryzen 7 3700x is only hitting about 15% usage during non-gaming at most.