WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.360 There's a quote often attributed to Bill Gates that goes something like, 00:00:03.360 --> 00:00:08.080 no one would ever need more than 640 kilobytes of memory in their computer. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:11.680 Well, turns out he never actually said that, but it got us wondering, 00:00:11.680 --> 00:00:15.360 how much RAM do you actually need in modern times? 00:00:15.360 --> 00:00:18.960 Well, let's start with the kind of RAM that most of us are familiar with, 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:23.440 the main system memory living inside your desktop or laptop PC. 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:26.720 It's quickly becoming common for budget computers to come with 00:00:26.720 --> 00:00:30.800 4 gigabytes of RAM, while mid-range machines often have 8. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:36.320 On the higher end, 16 gigs or even 32 gigs of memory is easy to find, 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:39.520 but is it worth paying a premium for that? Here's the deal. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:43.920 Unless you're seriously cash-strapped, it's worth getting at least 8 gigabytes, 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:48.160 even if you're not planning to do anything with your computer beyond basic productivity, 00:00:48.160 --> 00:00:51.520 web browsing, and watching fine YouTube videos like this one. 00:00:52.080 --> 00:00:55.120 Many common tasks are quickly becoming memory hogs. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:58.480 Even Google Chrome can eat into your memory very quickly 00:00:58.480 --> 00:01:01.840 and take up a few gigs if you've got a lot of tabs open. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:05.440 And while the browser does use a technique called tab discarding, 00:01:05.440 --> 00:01:10.000 which removes unused tabs from memory and then reloads them when you access them, 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.840 you'll still get a noticeably smoother experience for everyday tasks 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:17.760 if you don't skimp too hard on your RAM. But what if you're gaming? 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. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:29.280 But the thing to keep in mind is that system requirements for games 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:33.840 often are not validated well, which you can learn more about right up here. 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 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. 00:01:44.320 --> 00:01:49.200 However, as games get more complex, this may not be the case in the near future, 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:54.160 especially as some games actively do make use of more than 8 gigs of system memory 00:01:54.160 --> 00:01:57.840 and only having 8 gigs can also hinder your ability to do anything else 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, 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, 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:14.320 which makes upgrading to 32 gigs a cinch if you've got the money. 00:02:14.320 --> 00:02:17.440 But investing in this much is probably only worth it 00:02:17.440 --> 00:02:22.160 if you're working with lots of data at once, such as large photo sets 00:02:22.160 --> 00:02:27.760 or editing high-resolution video, and especially if you're multitasking, creating high-resolution video 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, 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. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:40.880 And this is where having 32 gigs of memory or more, 00:02:40.880 --> 00:02:44.240 if you're into that whole 8K thing, can really come in handy. 00:02:44.880 --> 00:02:48.080 As for 3D modelers, animators or scientists, 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:51.280 well, their memory requirements are basically limited 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:55.200 only by the size of the scenes or the data sets that they're working with. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:59.920 Sounds expensive. But what if you're trying to figure out how much graphics memory 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, 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 00:03:13.200 --> 00:03:16.560 than on how it performs across its various memory configurations. 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, 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:27.680 meaning that higher-resolution gaming and higher-resolution textures 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 00:03:33.200 --> 00:03:36.320 that involve rendering at effectively higher resolutions, 00:03:36.320 --> 00:03:41.680 such as supersampling anti-aliasing. Many mid-range cards come with 4GB of VRAM, 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. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:52.800 But you'll want at least 6 for 1440p and about 8 or more for 4K. 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, 00:03:57.760 --> 00:04:01.760 or especially third-party mods like high-resolution texture packs, 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. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:10.480 Running out of VRAM can render no pun intended. 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:15.280 Certain games completely unplayable if you try to bump the resolution up too much, 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:18.480 meaning that 4K monitor you just shelled out a bunch of money for 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. 00:04:24.080 --> 00:04:26.080 Or not at all right now. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:31.360 Hand sanitizer, quick. Thank you. 00:04:32.640 --> 00:04:35.840 We didn't even stage that. He just had hand sanitizer on hand. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:40.400 You can like or dislike this video depending how you felt. Check out our other videos, 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, 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:47.520 and you can subscribe. You don't have to, but you can.