Warning: Cliche question: How much RAM do I really need for gaming?

[arthurjoshua]

Okay, I know a lot of people ask this question, and based on my research, there's just no telling just how much ram is really sufficient for gaming. I've narrowed the choices down to 2 at least. That's 4gb and 8gb. The problem is, when I searched youtube for results, most of the games they used to show the difference between 4gb of ram and 8gb weren't exactly the newest games around (I think) best example for me is bf 3, which seems to be their favorite game to benchmark. I don't have any plans to play bf 3, so I don't think those videos help me as much as I'd like them to (don't get me wrong, though, they still help me a bit) The games I plan to play are games like Gta V, the witcher 3, mgs V, and most of the other AAA games, so I was wondering, how much RAM do I really need? 4gb or 8gb? Btw, my system specs are as follows: CPU: AMD a8 6600k GPU: Zotac gtx 970 RAM: 4gb I know my CPU isn't good enough for my GPU, but that's something I plan to change later on, when I have more money. As of now, I just need some solid answers to whether or not investing money in a RAM upgrade would give me immediate and noticeable results. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

 

[ThatVietGuy]

8GB

 

[Geekwad]

Right now 8Gb is the accepted minimum. However, there have been limited cases already where more than 8Gb has been recommended. In the not-too-distant future, it is reasonable to assume that more games will start recommended more. And because adding RAM later is always a crap-shoot.....if it's in your budget to get 16Gb, it isn't a bad idea.

I wouldn't say you have to take cuts elsewhere to do it though, but if you're planning a new build, it's a good thing to consider.

 

[unksol]

8GB.

P.S. paragraphs >>>>>>>wall of text

 

[Tradesman1]

If getting DRAM, give a little thought to looking ahead, 8GB is the minimum accepted now, but there are already games calling for 16GB, . Another oft repeated maxim is that fast DRAM isn't any better than entry level 1600 which is now also appearing to be proved false with the newer games. For an AMD- I'd look to 16GB in 2x8GB with the price to performance winners being between 1866 and 2400

 

[arthurjoshua]

Right now 8Gb is the accepted minimum. However, there have been limited cases already where more than 8Gb has been recommended. In the not-too-distant future, it is reasonable to assume that more games will start recommended more. And because adding RAM later is always a crap-shoot.....if it's in your budget to get 16Gb, it isn't a bad idea.

I wouldn't say you have to take cuts elsewhere to do it though, but if you're planning a new build, it's a good thing to consider.

would my increase in fps be noticeable when i get 8gb ram? right now im running gta v on all high settings at a lowly 30-40 fps with some dips into the 10s sometimes. i guess the processor has a lot to do with it, but do you have any idea how much more fps i'd be getting for 8gb of ram?

 

[solaire88]

8gb

 

[Geekwad]

Right now 8Gb is the accepted minimum. However, there have been limited cases already where more than 8Gb has been recommended. In the not-too-distant future, it is reasonable to assume that more games will start recommended more. And because adding RAM later is always a crap-shoot.....if it's in your budget to get 16Gb, it isn't a bad idea.

I wouldn't say you have to take cuts elsewhere to do it though, but if you're planning a new build, it's a good thing to consider.

would my increase in fps be noticeable when i get 8gb ram? right now im running gta v on all high settings at a lowly 30-40 fps with some dips into the 10s sometimes. i guess the processor has a lot to do with it, but do you have any idea how much more fps i'd be getting for 8gb of ram?

My hunch is that your average or top FPS would not change very much at all, but your dips may not be quite as low. By how much is a little difficult to say, but I would expect some improvement.

 

[CAP33]

4GB is the bare minimum, 8GB works GREAT but in my personal opinion 16GB is IDEAL!!