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The Complete Guide to Choosing the Best RAM for Gaming

In this day and age, RAM is one of the most important factors in determining a gaming rig’s performance. 


If you’ve played even a few video games in the last couple decades, you’ve almost certainly come across the term RAM. In simple terms, RAM is the memory in your gaming rig that handles the virtual calculations and data of each different program and game. 


The more RAM you have, the more programs and games you can run simultaneously. However, the process of determining the right amount of RAM for your gaming rig can be confusing, especially if you’re just getting into the world of PC gaming. So read on to learn everything you need to know about choosing the best RAM for your gaming rig.


The Complete Guide to Choosing the Best RAM for Gaming


What is RAM, and how does it work in your gaming rig?


RAM, short for Random Access Memory, is the memory in your gaming rig that handles the virtual calculations and data of each different program and game. It’s sort of like a calculator that can work with multiple numbers at once. 


The more RAM you have, the more programs and games you can run simultaneously. To put it simply: the more RAM you have, the better your performance will be in any given computing task. 


The key to choosing the best RAM for your gaming rig is understanding how much you need to support your PC’s hardware. 


If you have a high-end graphics card but only 2GB of RAM, then your gameplay will suffer because of all the loading screens as it tries to keep up with your graphics card’s demands. 


On the other hand, if you have a low-end integrated graphics card but 16GB of RAM, then there will be plenty of room for other tasks while gaming – like browsing the web or watching youtube videos – without impacting gameplay.


How much RAM do you need?


Let’s start by addressing the most basic question: how much RAM do you need? RAM is measured in gigabytes (GB). 


The more GBs of RAM your gaming rig has, the better. However, there is one downside to higher-end models of RAM: as RAM count increases, so does cost. 


So you want to find the sweet spot between price and performance.  Gaming rigs with 4-6GB of RAM are great for people who want to run a few games at once without having to close out programs or restart them if they freeze up. 


But if that’s not enough for you, try a model with 8 or 16GB of RAM. The only downside is that it won’t be cheap. Here are some quick guidelines on how many GBs of RAM are right for various types of gamers: Casual gamers: 4-6GB Moderate gamers: 8-16GB Heavy gamers: 16+ GB.


Types of RAM for Gaming


When you’re looking for the best RAM for gaming, you have to know what types are available. There are three types of memory (DDR3, DDR4 and LPDDR3), and each type has different advantages and disadvantages. 


You will want to choose the right type according to your needs: 


-DDR3 is less expensive than DDR4 but also slower.


-DDR4 is faster than DDR3 but also more expensive. 


-LPDDR3 is a newer technology that was released in 2012. It's much faster than both DDR3 and DDR4 but it's also more expensive.


How to choose the best RAM for your gaming rig


First, you need to understand just how RAM affects your gaming rig. Since the RAM in your gaming rig is what handles all of the virtual calculations and data for each program and game you’re running, more RAM means that more programs and games can be run simultaneously. But it’s not as simple as just choosing the most amount of RAM possible. 


You need to consider other factors, like processor speed and graphics card size. For example, let’s say you have a gaming rig with a 3.8 GHz quad-core processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a graphics card that’s 2 GB. 


That configuration would work well for playing older games or less demanding new games on lower settings - but if you wanted to play newer games on high settings or stream at high frame rates without lag or buffering issues, then you would need an upgrade.  


This is because while the CPU can do its job with 8GB of RAM by processing fewer instructions simultaneously (a process called multitasking), the GPU cannot - it needs all 8GB of RAM to process all of its instructions at once (a process called single-tasking). 


So when choosing your best gaming rig setup, it's important to consider how many programs and games you want to run simultaneously so that your machine can handle them properly - especially if you're playing newer video games on higher settings. The key thing is to invest in components that are future-proofed so that they'll.


Conclusion


RAM is a crucial component in any gaming system. If you are planning to build a new gaming rig, or upgrade the RAM in your current rig, this guide will help you choose the right type of RAM for your specific needs.  


We recommend buying an 8GB kit for most gamers, and if you are a power gamer, you may want to get 16GB or more. Let’s get started!

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