Does RAM affect FPS & How Much Do You Need For Gaming? | Laptopsgeek

Most of the habitual gaming freaks know the struggles when their games get stuck during playing or the game loses its fast pace and gets slow. 

Ultimately you have to delete some games or even erase the data to get rid of these issues; but do you know what are the reasons behind this and how you should tackle these issues? 

Here are the detailed discussion and solutions. You will get the answer to this question that does RAM affect FPS and how much do you need for gaming?

Let’s understand the RAM first

Just remember the school days, when we studied the bookish definition of RAM that it stands for Random Access Memory. 

Today we need to know how it is important for our gaming laptops. Let’s put it simply. RAM is a type of memory in your personal computers, laptops, and devices even in your smartphones.

It is fast and temporary memory of your system unlike a hard drive or solid-state drive which is shortly called SSD. It stores all the new information quickly which your system needs now and then. 

Many people compare it with short term memory of our brain which is fair enough, because it is quick in learning, storing and processing new information, but unlike a hard drive, it is volatile means once the power is lost, it will automatically vanish from the system.

Does RAM affect FPS?

Before we jump into the relation of RAM and FPS we need to know about FPS. 

People usually get confused between the FPS frame per second and FPS first-hand shooter. The first one is the measure of the number of images displayed at a particular time in the motion video. 

It is usually written in lower case, to make it more simple just imagine when you are watching a movie it is basically a bunch of still images that run on high speed on a screen that it seems like a moving object.

While FPS first-hand shooter is a type of games in which a player would see the thing with the perception of first-person, for example, the game in which a player sees a hand of the shooter holding the gun or hand of a driver on steering showing the first person is driving a car. 

Now being clear about the differences between both terms would help you to focus on the core of the discussion. Here our discussion will surround the game genre that is fist hand shooter. Though both terms are closely related to technology and gaming.

How does Ram affect the FPS?

The frequently raised question among gamers is does RAM affect the FPS? Or Does RAM help FPS? Whenever we decide to buy the laptops or other gadgets we consider more about CPU and graphics card, but as RAM is the fast and temporary memory of the devices, therefore it has an equal share in the smooth processing of our devices.

The answers to the above questions are definitely, yes, Ram does help FPS and it can also affect the performance of other tools of our devices. Now another query is how does RAM affect gaming? What is more important RAM size or RAM speed? 

Let’s discuss one by one. The game needs memory and it’s processing, keeping this in mind both RAM size and RAM speed is equally significant. RAM size determines how many temporary files it can hold. 

Let’s be more precise, RAM size determines for which purpose you want to buy the laptop or pc, etc. Likewise, RAM speed would determine how fast it will process those files, this concept will solve your query like what is better choice 8GB RAM with 2133MHz or 8GB RAM with 2666 MHz.RAM speed sometimes replaced with term RAM frequency. 

If the RAM frequency is higher the speed of processing will increase because it will take less time to recover files. This is a general idea regarding how much does RAM speed matter?

If you have a gaming laptop it is needless to upgrade the RAM speed because your video RAM on a graphics card would do the task for you more than your laptop RAM. 

Furthermore, the contribution of the CPU cannot be denied here. The CPU speed would enhance the gaming performance twofold if it is fast enough to undergo the files rapidly. 

In short the RAM plus CPU speed, both counts in case of gaming systems. RAM speed along with speed of your CPU would determine the smooth gaming performance. 

However, the type of game you are playing also has shared in your gaming performance. Some games depend on the speed of CPU like GTA while others are independent on the power of processing of CPU.

How much GB RAM is required for Gaming?

The other confusion among gaming newbies are do they need 16GB RAM for gaming? Or good performance is required while gaming. 

My answer would be, it is not necessary; 16GB is not a hard and fast rule. It depends upon all factors that we discussed previously in this article plus the game type or a setting of the game, for example, Arkham Knight requires 12GB for smooth performance. 

The proper approach towards this issue is just not upgrading RAM every time, if you have a normal capacity of RAM like 8GB adding more will not increase your performance because generally most of the games don’t need more than 8GB. 

Contrary to this scenario, if you have a lower capacity of RAM, for example, 2GB or 4GB then you need to upgrade for better FPS. If your interest is not restricted to playing the game only, rather you are looking forward to graphic design then 16 GB is the best option for you. While if you are planning to become a video content creator then 32GB would do a good job for you.

What is Memory bandwidth?

Memory bandwidth is a term used for the speed of RAM, but this is not the only measure of RAM speed. Some other factors also define the speed of RAM, for example, RAM clock speed. 

This topic cannot be done in just one article. It needs a whole new article to fully understand the dynamics of RAM, but here we are going to understand the outline of RAM speed for newbies. 

The RAM bandwidth can be compared with the highway with multiple lanes which allows the vehicles to pass through it at different rates. Assuming that the cars are the metaphors for the information that is stored in the RAM and the speed at which this information is transferred. The unit for counting memory Bandwidth is normally Gigabytes GB.

RAM compatibility

Knowing the RAM compatibility is as important as knowing the size, speed and memory bandwidth of your RAM. It is important to learn whether the RAM or SSD is compatible with your laptop would save you from the big dent in your pocket money. 

It is very easy to check the compatibility of RAM or SSD with the help of tools like Kingston system RAM finder. You can easily find the compatibility of your RAM with your laptop on their website. Many other tools are also available like crucial system scanner.

Are there any types of RAM?

Yes, there are many versions of RAM like DDR means Double Data Rate RAM and found in first-generation laptops. 

DDR2 are present in the second generation laptops and DDR3 these versions are mainly found in laptops of third-generation made in 2007. While DDR4 is the RAM version used in the laptops made in 2014.

Is it costly to upgrade the RAM?

It depends upon whether it is a laptop or desktop RAM, which version DDR2, DDR3 or DDR4 and the size of RAM. Usually upgrading RAM is affordable and it costs about $30 to $90 which is a rough idea. The cost depends upon the above specifications.

Final Words

It is time to conclude this article. I have tried to cover the most commonly asked question about RAM and FPS like does RAM affect FPS and how much do you need for gaming? Do I need 16GB RAM, how can RAM help the FPS, how many versions of RAM are there and how much budget-friendly they are. 

The simplest answers for the above question are RAM is important but RAM alone can’t help the FPS. For better outcome CPU and GPU also matters.

The 8GB is decent for many games but if someone is going to burden the RAM with the graphic design then upgrading the RAM is the better choice, mostly upgrading RAM is cost-friendly.

I have briefly answered the questions that have been confusing for gamers and tech lovers. Taking decisions is definitely a subjective choice. One should consider their preferences and should focus on the specifications of the products.