If you’re trying to level up your gaming, you need the right amount of random access memory (RAM). Without enough RAM, your gaming experience can suffer, with poor frame rates, choppy textures, and slow load times often linked to low RAM. Before you upgrade your RAM, learn more about what it is and how it can help video games run smoother on your computer.
What Is RAM?
RAM is one of the most essential components of any computer, as it’s a type of short-term storage for your CPU. While a computer is on, RAM temporarily stores data that your PC needs to use and access. Unlike long-term storage devices, such as hard drives or solid state drives (SSDs), RAM clears data as soon as you turn off your computer or exit an application. Since RAM is responsible for processing data while your computer is actually working, it’s crucial for the performance of your computer.
While RAM doesn’t store data in the long term, it doesn’t need to do so to accomplish its purpose. Essentially, the amount of RAM your computer has determines how quickly you can switch applications and perform processing tasks. You’ll often feel the effects of RAM while browsing the internet, editing videos, using various applications, and playing video games. If you have multiple applications open, more RAM helps your computer maintain its performance, while less RAM reduces computer performance.
What Does Ram Do for Gaming?
Due to RAM’s effects on computer speed and performance, it plays a key role in how a game performs. When you open a game, your PC’s RAM starts receiving data from it. The RAM then stores the data and variables so that your CPU can receive data quickly from your storage device. Without enough RAM, data transfer is slower, as your CPU struggles to receive data from your hard drive or SSD.
In practical terms, this slow data transfer can negatively affect your game’s performance. For example, you might experience longer loading times, reduced frame rates, and choppier textures. As a result, any gamer needs to know how much RAM their PC has and how much RAM a game they want to play requires. If they try to play a game that needs more RAM than their PC has, they’ll likely have a disappointing gaming experience.
Typically, 8 to 16 gigabytes (GB) of RAM works for most games, making it a good standard for anyone looking to build a PC or upgrade their existing one. While some games require less RAM, many major titles recommend 8GB to 16GB of RAM. If you want to play the latest games from major developers, you’ll likely want to upgrade to at least 16GB of RAM.
3 Ways RAM Helps Video Games Run Smoother
Since RAM plays such an important role in the performance of games, you may want to know more about how upgrading your RAM could potentially help your games run smoother. Learn more about the top three ways RAM can potentially improve your gaming experience:
- Potentially increase in frames per second (FPS): A higher FPS is incredibly important to gaming, as FPS measures how many full-screen images the PC can show in a second. One way you can improve your FPS while playing games is with higher RAM, especially if your current setup doesn’t have enough RAM to handle your games’ RAM requirements. By upgrading to more RAM than your most demanding games need, you’ll likely experience higher FPS, resulting in smoother and more realistic images.
- Greater performance with multiple applications open: If you like to stream your games or talk with your friends on apps like Discord while you play, increasing your RAM can help your computer handle having multiple applications open. When you only have the minimal amount of RAM required to play a game, having other applications open while you play can lead to performance drops. With more RAM installed, you can keep more apps open without worrying about your performance suffering, making higher RAM a must-have for multi-tasking gamers.
- Faster loading times: If you don’t have the recommended amount of RAM for a game, you’ll likely experience slower load times. As a game loads, it sends lots of data to your CPU. Since RAM is responsible for facilitating that transfer, a PC with less RAM than is required often causes games to load slower. In contrast, higher RAM can increase data communication speed with your CPU, leading to faster load times and less time waiting around to play your favorite game.
One caveat to these benefits is that upgrading your RAM won’t always increase gaming performance. If you already have more RAM than your typical games require, upgrading your RAM probably won’t give you noticeably positive results. However, if you don’t have the required RAM currently, increasing your PC’s RAM will almost certainly deliver the above benefits while gaming.
Choose Lexar® for Gaming Solutions
If you’re interested in upgrading your RAM and receiving smoother performance while gaming, Lexar can help. Our award-winning memory and storage solutions can take your gaming experience to the next level. Our lineup includes multiple RAM products and SSDs, meaning you can always find the short-term and long-term memory solutions you need to play even the most demanding games. All of our solutions are also extensively tested at Lexar Quality Labs to ensure quality, reliability, compatibility, and performance.
Learn more about our gaming solutions today. If you’re interested in purchasing one of our solutions, use our store locator to find one of our distributors near you. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
