RAM Matters: How Much Do You Need for Gaming? 4GB, 8GB, 16GB or 32GB > The Benchmarks & Putting It All Together

The Benchmarks & Putting It All Together

Nosotros've looked at how much organisation retentiveness is required by some of the more popular games released this year using with 3 different graphics cards. What we desire to compare at present is the 3GB and 6GB versions of the GTX 1060 to see how they differ with 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB of RAM. Again, we're using the Core i7-8700K and the retention speed and timings are the same for each capacity: DDR4-3000.

The only major deviation being that we were forced to examination the 4GB capacity with a single 4GB stick and this meant using unmarried channel memory. Nosotros don't have 2GB of DDR4 memory and since we already know 4GB isn't plenty we didn't waste product any fourth dimension or money to acquire a dual-channel kit. Just still be aware of this.

First up we have Assassin's Creed Origins and these results were recorded using the very high quality preset at 1080p. Starting with the GTX 1060 6GB, we see the 16GB and 32GB retention configurations let for maximum performance to be extracted in this championship.

Interestingly, while the same average frame charge per unit is achieved with 8GB nosotros see a noteworthy drop in the frame fourth dimension performance -- upwardly to a 10% drop can be seen. With 4GB the organisation completely tanks and although the average frame rate looks good the game is at present very stuttery as indicated by the 0.one% upshot.

Similar performance trends are seen in this title with the 3GB 1060. Surprisingly though, the affect the 8GB configuration has on performance is less severe -- I was expecting to find the contrary. Anyway, we are seeing that for maximum performance you want 16GB while 8GB is the bare minimum.

Jumping to 1440p we find that the 1060 6GB is now more limited by its own capabilities than the 8GB organisation memory capacity when looking at the 1% low consequence. That said, with just 4GB, the performance is at present disastrous. At the higher resolution the 3GB 1060 takes a large hit with 8GB of RAM and things of grade get even worse with 4GB.

Next up we take Battlefield 1 and for these results I'm using the single player portion of the game as multiplayer can't be benchmarked accurately and is therefore useless for this kind of fps comparison. Here the GTX 1060 6GB was able to deliver the same performance with 8GB, 16GB and 32GB of retention. We only see a small-scale decline in operation with 4GB which is surprising, though nosotros are only at 1080p.

Using the 3GB 1060 does produce a major reject in operation with 8GB of RAM when looking at the frame time results. This is amplified further with 4GB, though again not as severely as I would have expected.

Increasing the resolution to 1440p resulted in the 4GB system memory capacity causing all kinds of problems with the 6GB 1060 -- stuttering was quite noticeable. The same was constitute with the 3GB 1060 and nosotros also saw a driblet in performance with 8GB of retentiveness.

Finally, I decided to test with the ultimate memory grunter, Call of Duty WWII. Using the GTX 1060 6GB we see that the 16GB and 32GB memory capacities allow for maximum performance. Dropping down to 8GB does tax performance, especially the 0.1% frame time event, which is now thirteen% lower. Using but 4GB was over again a disaster and the game became completely unplayable.

The 1060 3GB on the other hand just doesn't have enough VRAM to play Call of Duty WWII at 1080p using the extra quality settings. That's non the stop of the world and while some will brand a big deal out of this, lowering a few select quality settings will ameliorate things without taking much away from the game. Anyhow, I'm not trying to defend the poor little 3GB 1060, I'1000 only noting it's a graphics menu that comes with compromises in some titles.

Moving to 1440p and nosotros now find an extreme scenario where the 6GB 1060 really struggles to maintain playable frame rates with but 8GB of system memory. Upgrading to 16GB makes a massive difference hither while increasing memory capacity further has no bear on. Obviously the 3GB 1060 is all the same a write off with the extra quality settings in play.

Putting It All Together

That's pretty conclusive testify. For casual gamers, the blank minimum is nevertheless 8GB but at that place is enough of prove to advise that the upgrade to 16GB will ensure smoother gameplay.

For serious gamers with mid-range to high-terminate hardware, we're almost at the point where nosotros'd say 16GB the the minimal acceptable amount of organisation memory. Of course, as we said before, if you've invested over $ane,000 in your GPU and SSD philharmonic then chances are spending just shy of $200 to secure a decent 16GB DDR4 memory kit probably isn't something yous're going to think twice about.

For GTX 1060 or RX 580 owners who've spent $200-$250 on their graphics card, dumping some other $200 on DDR4 memory is something they're probably umming and ahhing about. If yous're playing games such as Battleground 1 or in detail Call of Duty WWII and you care nearly being competitive, then 16GB really is a must.

Alternatively, if you have a relatively high-end GPU such as the GTX 1070 or Vega 56 but play older, less memory-intensive games, then 8GB will no doubt be fine. But over again, for these newer titles you'll ideally want 16GB.

We constitute it somewhat ironic that owners of the 3GB GTX 1060, a graphics bill of fare nosotros've recommended for budget shoppers, volition require 16GB of system retention to get the most out of today's games. And so by saving effectually $50 on the GPU, y'all demand to spend $ninety more on organization retention. That changes my perspective on things a footling.

That said, nosotros're probably being a bit unrealistic as 3GB GTX 1060 owners will be playing at 1080p with lower quality settings which are likely going to play nicely with an 8GB buffer.

In a nutshell, if yous program to play the latest PC games on proficient quality settings, 4GB of RAM is out, 8GB is the blank minimum, 16GB is the sweet spot and 32GB is overkill.

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