If you are searching whether Is 8gb RAM Enough for Computer? Most likely your needs are not too demanding related but mostly to have everyday light tasks. You may also be curious, do 8GB can be enough to play some casual games.
The short answer is YES, but at the same time there are some other conditions that you must aware for running a PC with 8GB RAM that I explaining next.
Is 8gb RAM Enough for Computer? Is it True?
The commonly used 64-bit version of Windows 10 as well as the recently released Windows 11 recommends 4GB or more of memory. In fact, 4GB of memory is fine if you just want to browse websites, watch videos, or work on documents.
However, when using multiple applications at the same time, such as opening a website and doing research, creating graphs in Excel, and writing while incorporating the graphs into Word, photo editing, the operation feels heavy with 4GB of memory.
Due to this fact, It is recommended to have at least 8GB of RAM for comfortable computer usage of RAM, which is twice the minimum requirement. Many PCs released in the last couple of years equipped with 8GB of memory, and 8GB of memory is generally not a problem for even office use.
In case of playing latest games, edit videos and images, or perform heavy processing tasks, even 8GB of memory may feel heavy. In particular, 8GB of memory will not be able to handle all of the burdensome tasks such as live streaming while launching the game or editing the images used in the video while video editing.
When is 16GB RAM becomes Necessary and Better than 8GB RAM?
1. Multitasking
As mentioned above, 8GB of memory may be difficult when working with multitasking, such as using Creating documents and Excel at the same time while opening a website and doing research. 16GB of RAM is much better than 8GB because it can handle multiple tasks at once, allowing you to quickly switch between different applications without experiencing slow loading times and lags.
Nowadays, more and more people want to listen to music or play videos while opening 15 browser tabs, simultaneously working with documents too, so multitasking is becoming commonplace, if this is the similar case with yours, install 16GB of memory.
And yes a browser like Chrome are memory intensive, the more tabs you open, the more memory capacity is required, so if you open more and more 15 to 20 tabs including a video distribution sites such as YouTube at the same time, your PC will often run slow due to lack of memory.
2. Gaming Applications
For the avid gamers, 8GB RAM is not enough for a smooth gaming experience. It is recommended to install 16GB of RAM if you are running high-end games like Forza Horizon 5, Grand Theft Auto V, and Forza Horizon 5 on your PC. These games require more than 8GB of memory as they need to process more data and therefore require more RAM power.
Yes, there are games that run smoothly with 8GB RAM PC for playing casually like Minecraft, also some high games run 8GB RAM too but think about the GPU that cost the most for playing those titles.
Many popular games released in the last year or two recommend 16GB or more of memory along with a high-performance graphics board, so 16GB or more of memory is essential for full-scale game play on a PC.
3. Serious Video Editing
Video editing is one of the most RAM intensive activities you can do with a PC. You need to have plenty of RAM to make sure that your video files and heavy applications don’t slow down or crash when you are in the middle of an important project.
8GB of RAM is not enough for serious video editing, as it will not be able to keep up with the demand of rendering and transcoding tasks. The standard video editing software “Adobe Premiere Pro” recommends 16GB or more memory when editing full HD, and 32GB or more memory when editing 4K videos.
In video editing, no matter how much memory you have installed, it will not be enough, and the more you install it, the faster the processing speed will be, you will want to opt for 16GB or more of RAM.
Increase the data transfer speed of the memory by inserting two 8GB
Although 8GB capacity is sufficient, it is possible to enhance speed by using two sticks of 8GB memory and increasing to 16GB for a specific task using dual channel technology. Dual channel is a mechanism for efficiently exchanging data by doubling the width of the transmission path (bandwidth) between the memory and the CPU theoretically (actually about 1.5 times).
This speeds up processes such as file decompression, video encoding, and complex 3D simulations that frequently involve large amounts of data being exchanged between the CPU and memory.
Note that dual channel memory does not increase the bandwidth between storage and memory, so it does not speed up file copying, game data loading, etc. Two memory sticks of the same size are the conditions for dual channeling, so there is no problem with two 4GB flash drives as well as two 8GB flash drives.
However, it may be difficult to find a personal computer with two 4GB memory sticks, so 8GBx2 is the mainstream.
RAM memory frequency
Here you should first of all look at the format or generation of the memory. DDR2 RAM is already completely obsolete, although there are still those who keep computers with this type of module.
DDR3 RAM is also common, clocking up to 2133 MHz. It’s not completely obsolete, but it does underperform DDR4 cards, which are the current standard.
If you have a more or less recent computer, your RAM memory is probably DDR4. Here you will find models with frequencies ranging from 2133 MHz to more than 4000 MHz, although this requires overclocking.
The frequency of RAM is what indicates how fast it can work and transport data. The more speed there is, the more fluidity there will be in video games.
For example, An 8 GB DDR4 3200 MHz RAM is noticeably better than 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz.
- Related: RAM Memory Life: How Long Does RAM Last?
Summary
It has long been said that 8GB is enough for memory, but the situation has changed dramatically with the times. If you’re playing the latest games, editing videos, or doing live streaming, 16GB of memory is a must.
As memory can be expanded simply by opening the case and inserting it into the slot, even beginners can easily increase it. If you feel that the memory is not enough, try to increase the memory.
