Question Should I upgrade my RAM

[jaakkov]

I built my first computer 8 years ago and while I have upgrades almost every component since I still have my original RAM which is Kingston HyperX Fury Black 2 x 8 GB (DDR4, 2133 MHz). My main components now are RTX 3070 and i5-12600K so i was wondering if my 8-year old ram is bottlenecking my pc in anyway. Since RAM is not by all means expensive if there is any reason to upgrade, I’ll do it.

 

[logainofhades]

That speed is definitely holding you back. Get you a kit of 2x16gb ddr4 3200.

 

[geofelt]

The key requirement for ram is to have enough.
16gb used to be plenty, but some games now want more, and heavy multitasking may want more.
As a matter of interest, so a bit of checking.
Task manager can be misleading if it is used to assess ram use.
Windows stores unused code in ram in anticipation of quick reuse.
If an app tries to access code that is not currently resident in ram, it needs to fetch it from the page file and perhaps write some older data to the page file to make room. That is called a hard page fault and while the fault is not resolved, the app stops dead.
Resolution can be painful if the page file is on a HDD.

When actively running, open task manager, open the resource monitor/memory tab.
Look at the hard fault rate column.
If you see anything much more than zero, you can use more ram.

Intel processors do not much depend on fast ram for performance.
But, since DDR4 ram is cheap, these days(about $50 for 2 x 16gb DDR4 3600 speed) why not upgrade.
Check your motherboard for what ram is supported, and update your bios if it is not current.

 

[logainofhades]

Intel processors do not much depend on fast ram for performance.

This has been false for quite some time. Back when the 10400f launched GN found that the 10400f paired with 2666mhz ram in a B460 series board that limited you to such speeds, was slower in games versus a lowly Ryzen 3 3300x in a B450 board with 3200mhz ram. Even highly tuned, the 2666 ram was still inferior. This made the 10400 a terrible buy, until Intel finally caved and allowed faster ram speeds, for B560.

Beyond 3200mhz ram quickly becomes diminishing returns territory, but going slower than that can affect performance. With 2133 ram, their 12600k is bored.