1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,360 There's a quote often attributed to Bill Gates that goes something like, 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:08,080 no one would ever need more than 640 kilobytes of memory in their computer. 3 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:11,680 Well, turns out he never actually said that, but it got us wondering, 4 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:15,360 how much RAM do you actually need in modern times? 5 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:18,960 Well, let's start with the kind of RAM that most of us are familiar with, 6 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:23,440 the main system memory living inside your desktop or laptop PC. 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,720 It's quickly becoming common for budget computers to come with 8 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:30,800 4 gigabytes of RAM, while mid-range machines often have 8. 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:36,320 On the higher end, 16 gigs or even 32 gigs of memory is easy to find, 10 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,520 but is it worth paying a premium for that? Here's the deal. 11 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,920 Unless you're seriously cash-strapped, it's worth getting at least 8 gigabytes, 12 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,160 even if you're not planning to do anything with your computer beyond basic productivity, 13 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:51,520 web browsing, and watching fine YouTube videos like this one. 14 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:55,120 Many common tasks are quickly becoming memory hogs. 15 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,480 Even Google Chrome can eat into your memory very quickly 16 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,840 and take up a few gigs if you've got a lot of tabs open. 17 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,440 And while the browser does use a technique called tab discarding, 18 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:10,000 which removes unused tabs from memory and then reloads them when you access them, 19 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,840 you'll still get a noticeably smoother experience for everyday tasks 20 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,760 if you don't skimp too hard on your RAM. But what if you're gaming? 21 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:25,840 Well, the answer becomes a little more complicated. You see, many big-budget titles these days recommend 16 gigs of memory. 22 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,280 But the thing to keep in mind is that system requirements for games 23 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:33,840 often are not validated well, which you can learn more about right up here. 24 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:38,400 It turns out that many games that ask you to use a system with 16 gigs of RAM 25 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:43,760 can actually get by just fine on 8 with only a very marginal performance drop, if any. 26 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:49,200 However, as games get more complex, this may not be the case in the near future, 27 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:54,160 especially as some games actively do make use of more than 8 gigs of system memory 28 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,840 and only having 8 gigs can also hinder your ability to do anything else 29 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:05,200 while you're playing a game, such as streaming. So we'd recommend 16 gigs as a sweet spot for gamers and especially streamers, 30 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:10,240 unless you're playing less resource-heavy titles. Of course, many other boards have 4 RAM slots, 31 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:14,320 which makes upgrading to 32 gigs a cinch if you've got the money. 32 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,440 But investing in this much is probably only worth it 33 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:22,160 if you're working with lots of data at once, such as large photo sets 34 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:27,760 or editing high-resolution video, and especially if you're multitasking, creating high-resolution video 35 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:33,120 with edited photos in it. Furthermore, with how long it takes certain kinds of media files to render, 36 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:37,520 you'll probably want to use your rig for other things while your content renders in the background. 37 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,880 And this is where having 32 gigs of memory or more, 38 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,240 if you're into that whole 8K thing, can really come in handy. 39 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:48,080 As for 3D modelers, animators or scientists, 40 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,280 well, their memory requirements are basically limited 41 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:55,200 only by the size of the scenes or the data sets that they're working with. 42 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,920 Sounds expensive. But what if you're trying to figure out how much graphics memory 43 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:07,040 or VRAM you need on your graphics card? Even if two cards have the same graphics processing unit or GPU, 44 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:13,200 they can actually have different amounts of VRAM, and benchmarks often focus more on the GPU itself 45 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,560 than on how it performs across its various memory configurations. 46 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:23,680 So remember that the primary purpose of VRAM is to hold the graphics information that the GPU acts upon, 47 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:27,680 meaning that higher-resolution gaming and higher-resolution textures 48 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:33,200 will require more VRAM. This is also the case if you're using certain types of anti-aliasing 49 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,320 that involve rendering at effectively higher resolutions, 50 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:41,680 such as supersampling anti-aliasing. Many mid-range cards come with 4GB of VRAM, 51 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:46,960 which as a general rule should do you fine for 1080p gaming as of filming this video. 52 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:52,800 But you'll want at least 6 for 1440p and about 8 or more for 4K. 53 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:57,760 Just be sure to read reviews for the titles you want to play because some particularly demanding games, 54 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,760 or especially third-party mods like high-resolution texture packs, 55 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:06,880 might mean that a card with slightly more VRAM would be a great investment if you want to play at high quality. 56 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,480 Running out of VRAM can render no pun intended. 57 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:15,280 Certain games completely unplayable if you try to bump the resolution up too much, 58 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,480 meaning that 4K monitor you just shelled out a bunch of money for 59 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:24,080 won't be living up to its full potential. Kind of like that gym membership that you only use twice per year. 60 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:26,080 Or not at all right now. 61 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,360 Hand sanitizer, quick. Thank you. 62 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,840 We didn't even stage that. He just had hand sanitizer on hand. 63 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,400 You can like or dislike this video depending how you felt. Check out our other videos, 64 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,160 leave a suggestion if you have a future fastest possible topic that you'd like to see, 65 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:47,520 and you can subscribe. You don't have to, but you can.