How Much RAM Is Enough for Gaming — Transcript

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1. 0:00By the end of this video, you will know
2. 0:02exactly whether upgrading your RAM is
3. 0:04worth it or if your money is better
4. 0:06spent on something else. I'm running
5. 0:09three popular games, Hollow Knight,
6. 0:11Sleeping Dogs, and FIFA 19 updated squad
7. 0:14version to see if upgrading your RAM
8. 0:17makes any difference in gameplay or is
9. 0:20just a hype. Everyone says upgrading
10. 0:22your RAM makes your laptop faster, but
11. 0:25does it make any difference in gaming?
12. 0:27Today, I'm putting that to test. Three
13. 0:29laptops same spec except one thing, the
14. 0:33RAM. 8 gig, 16 gig, and 32 gig. All
15. 0:37right, in this video, I'm comparing
16. 0:39three laptops all with the same specs
17. 0:42except the RAM. I've got three HP
18. 0:44EliteBook 840 G5 here. Each one is
19. 0:48running an Intel Core i7 8th gen
20. 0:50processor, the same SSD, the same
21. 0:53integrated Intel UHD 620 graphics, same
22. 0:57everything. The only difference is one
23. 1:00has 8 gig RAM, one has 16 gig RAM, and
24. 1:04this one has 32 gigs of RAM. Now, I know
25. 1:07UHD 620 isn't a gaming GPU, but a lot of
26. 1:12people still play light and medium games
27. 1:15on this laptop. So, let's find out does
28. 1:18upgrading your RAM make any difference
29. 1:20in gaming performance on these laptops?
30. 1:23To test this, I picked three games,
31. 1:25Hollow Knight, Sleeping Dogs Definitive
32. 1:28Edition, FIFA 19 updated squad. Let's
33. 1:30get into it. Test one, Hollow Knight.
34. 1:33Starting with the 8 gig version. Before
35. 1:35even launching the game, the RAM usage
36. 1:37sits around 4.8 to 5 GB. Once the game
37. 1:40loads, everything runs smoothly. No lag,
38. 1:43no frame drops. So far, Hollow Knight
39. 1:46seems to play perfectly fine even on the
40. 1:498 gigs of RAM laptop. Switching to the
41. 1:5116 gig version. Interestingly, RAM usage
42. 1:53goes up to around 6.4 GB. The game feels
43. 1:58a bit smoother, but no huge difference.
44. 2:00The more RAM the system has, the more it
45. 2:03tends to use, but overall, experience is
46. 2:06just slightly more fluid. Now, the 32
47. 2:08gig version.
48. 2:10Here, the RAM sits around 6.3 GB max,
49. 2:14about the same as the 16 GB. Gameplay
50. 2:17feels identical to the 16 gig model. So,
51. 2:20for Hollow Knight, anything above 8 GB
52. 2:24doesn't really improve the gaming
53. 2:26performance. Though the 16 gig and the
54. 2:2832 gig version feels much smoother. Test
55. 2:31two, Sleeping Dogs. Next up is launching
56. 2:33Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition. I
57. 2:35launched all laptops side by side.
58. 2:37During the loading phase, the 8 gig
59. 2:39model used about 5 GB of RAM, and the 16
60. 2:43gig used around 6.4 GB, and the 32 gig
61. 2:47version about 6.1 GB.
62. 2:50But, once the game started, I noticed
63. 2:52all three system began to struggle a
64. 2:54bit.
65. 2:55The GPU maxed out at 100% across the
66. 2:58board. This is a GPU heavy game, and
67. 3:02integrated Intel graphics are really the
68. 3:04bottleneck here, not the RAM. In terms
69. 3:06of gameplay here, all three laptops
70. 3:08perform really similar, a little laggy
71. 3:11at times. Even though the 16 gig and the
72. 3:1332 gig used more RAM, it didn't
73. 3:16translate into smoother performance. So,
74. 3:18the conclusion for this one is adding
75. 3:20more RAM didn't really make much
76. 3:22difference in the gameplay. That's
77. 3:24because Sleeping Dogs rely on GPU power
78. 3:27instead of RAM capacity. Test three,
79. 3:30FIFA 19. On the 8 gig version, RAM usage
80. 3:34peaked at around 7.3 GB, almost maxed
81. 3:38out. On the 16 gig version, it climbed
82. 3:41to 9.6 GB. On the 32 gig version, around
83. 3:4511.5 GB. The GPU again hit 100% on all
84. 3:51three systems,
85. 3:52but I could feel the gameplay on the 32
86. 3:55gig version was the smoothest overall.
87. 3:58The 8 gig lacked the most and the 16 gig
88. 4:01was somewhere in between, playable but
89. 4:04not perfect. For the FIFA, more RAM does
90. 4:06help slightly with the smoother
91. 4:07gameplay, but the GPU is still the main
92. 4:10limitation. After testing all these
93. 4:12three,
94. 4:13here's my honest takeaway. For light and
95. 4:16medium games like the Hollow Knight, 8
96. 4:19gig is totally fine. For heavier games
97. 4:21like Sleeping Dogs or FIFA, adding more
98. 4:24RAM helped a little, but not
99. 4:27dramatically. The real bottleneck isn't
100. 4:29the RAM, it's the GPU. If you're using
101. 4:32an Intel Iris or UHD 620 graphics or any
102. 4:37of these graphics, don't expect high-end
103. 4:39gaming performance no matter the amount
104. 4:41of RAM you add to your laptop. But, if
105. 4:44you're currently on an 8 gig laptop and
106. 4:46you can afford to upgrade to a 16 gig or
107. 4:48a 32 gig, you will get smoother,
108. 4:50multitasking, and slightly better
109. 4:52performance in some games. Thanks to
110. 4:54UTech System for giving me this laptop.
111. 4:57If you're looking for clean, tested,
112. 4:59affordable used laptop, contact them and
113. 5:02mention Albert Unboxed for up to 20%
114. 5:05discount. That's it for this video. Let
115. 5:07me know in the comments what you think.
116. 5:08Thanks so much for watching. If you're
117. 5:10not subscribed already, please do that
118. 5:12and like this video.
119. 5:13I'll see you in the next one. Bye for
120. 5:15now.