When it comes to gaming laptops and the hardware that powers them, the GPU and CPU are often the focal point for overall performance. Although the GPU and CPU are no doubt important, there’s one vital component that you should consider: the system memory (AKA RAM).
RAM, when paired with VRAM (aka graphics card memory), can bottleneck your system. RAM often comes in the following capacities: 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB. However, it’s not always clear which amounts are optimal for gaming, so we’ll provide a number of practical examples below. Read on to learn more.
Further reading: Best gaming laptops 2024: What to look for and highest-rated models
IDG / Thiago Trevisan
IDG / Thiago Trevisan
<div class="scrim" style="background-color: #fff" aria-hidden="true"></div>
</div></figure><p class="imageCredit">IDG / Thiago Trevisan</p></div>RAM: 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB?
Most reasonable gaming laptops of the existing generation will come with a modest 16GB of RAM. We can eliminate 8GB of RAM for any serious gaming on current laptops, as that will quickly bottleneck in all but the lightest of games. Apple infamously still includes an 8GB MacBook Pro base model, but that won’t cut it in a gaming laptop.
When I turned on the Alienware M16 to play Hogwarts Legacy, I figured the Intel Core i9-13900HX with 16GB of RAM was ideal. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU with 12GB of VRAM also would make easy work of its 2560×1600 display.
When turning settings to Ultra, including ray tracing, I quickly realized I had a bottleneck in the pipeline. No, it wasn’t the CPU or GPU as you would normally expect.
IDG / Thiago Trevisan
<div class="lightbox-image-container foundry-lightbox"><div class="extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage undefined"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large enlarged-image"><img decoding="async" data-wp-bind--src="selectors.core.image.enlargedImgSrc" data-wp-style--object-fit="selectors.core.image.lightboxObjectFit" src="" alt="Alienware internals" class="wp-image-2360207" width="1200" height="720" loading="lazy" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> </figcaption></figure><p class="imageCredit">IDG / Thiago Trevisan</p></div> </div></figure><p class="imageCredit">IDG / Thiago Trevisan</p></div>Laptop memory is the most upgradable component along with NVME drives.
The 16GB of RAM was just not cutting it, constantly hitting its limits. A few screws later, an upgraded 32GB kit of memory improved the performance drastically. I would consistently see usage of RAM well above 20GB, making 16GB suboptimal.
IDG / Thiago Trevisan
<div class="lightbox-image-container foundry-lightbox"><div class="extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage undefined"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large enlarged-image"><img decoding="async" data-wp-bind--src="selectors.core.image.enlargedImgSrc" data-wp-style--object-fit="selectors.core.image.lightboxObjectFit" src="" alt="Hogwarts Legacy specs" class="wp-image-2360210" width="1200" height="801" loading="lazy" /></figure><p class="imageCredit">IDG / Thiago Trevisan</p></div> </div></figure><p class="imageCredit">IDG / Thiago Trevisan</p></div>Hogwarts Legacy Minimum Requirements are 16GB of RAM and 32GB for Ultra.
Reading the Hogwarts Legacy PC requirements confirmed my findings. Minimum or low specs recommend 16GB while Ultra settings will require the 32GB of RAM to function properly.
Later tests with 64GB of RAM were diminishing returns. The 32GB proved to be more than sufficient. 64GB of RAM therefore can be eliminated for gaming and relegated to productivity and professional users who may require it.
Does that mean that 16GB of RAM is too low? In this case, it was. This amount bottlenecked a high-performance laptop in a memory-hungry game. It’s the minimum amount you should consider, period.
Gaming laptops with a 4K screen should likely have 32GB of system RAM at a minimum for gaming. Likewise, 2560×1600 resolution high-end laptops packing an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU or RTX 4090 should similarly carry the same 32GB of RAM to avoid bottlenecks.
Autentifică-te pentru a adăuga comentarii
Alte posturi din acest grup
Interest in Sonos’s smallest portable speaker is heating up—literally
Free alternatives may exist for Microsoft Office components, but some
E-commerce giant Amazon is now expanding its automotive business to i
As expected, by 2028 your PC will be internally passing a terabyte’s
Want ad-free streaming without paying through the nose for Netflix or
Microsoft is reportedly testing a new feature in the taskbar called “
