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Is 32GB RAM the New Standard for Gaming and Multitasking in 2025?

By / Tech / June 6, 2025

Is 32GB of RAM the new norm in 2025? With games, browsers, and Windows 11 churning away at memory, find out how much you need.

Is 32GB RAM the New Standard for Gaming and Multitasking in 2025?
Image showing Lexar 32GB (2x16GB) THOR OC DDR5 RAM

A decade ago, 4GB was considered the standard for casual to moderate usage, and 8GB was considered high-end. 16GB was enterprise-grade, and 32GB had limited support in desktop motherboards (only in super high-end X79 with triple-channel, etc.). Fast forward to 2025, and 4GB and 8GB are no longer relevant, but are still usable with severe compromises. 16GB is quite easily maxed out, but Office works fine, and 32GB is the new sweet spot. With a 32GB configuration, a gamer or a power user has plenty of RAM to run Discord, a few other overlays, and more. Internet pages are becoming increasingly heavy to render; they are often full of ads, which consume a significant amount of processing power and RAM in the process. 32GB of RAM is the standard for gaming and multitasking in 2025. This article explains exactly why this is so.

Image showing RGB RAM kits (Image via Luan Gjokaj/Unsplash)
Image showing RGB RAM kits (Image via Luan Gjokaj/Unsplash)

This is the first problem, and it is the most important one to address. As the days pass, optimizations become increasingly irrelevant; games are now built with upscaling in mind, meaning all the hard work required to reduce resource usage and run efficiently is passed on to AI-based technology at runtime.

This has resulted in many budget gamers being left stranded and unable to enjoy games at all. In 2000, specifically during the period before DirectX Shader Model 2.0, any game, regardless of the title, ran on the IGP, meaning you didn’t even need a dedicated GPU to run a game. Yes, you can make it look even better with cards like 3DFX Voodoo, but you get the idea.  That said, below are a few real-life observations currently underway.

  • Modern AAA titles regularly exceed 16GB in usage, with some requiring 20GB or more.
  • Specific games like Monster Hunter: Wilds currently utilize 20GB of RAM
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and Escape From Tarkov show noticeable performance improvements when upgrading from 32GB to 64GB
  • Even non-AAA games increasingly require more than 16GB of RAM, especially when background applications are running.

That said, the Steam hardware survey reveals quite a lot of things that the industry is currently adapting to. It is noticeable that 32GB has become the most popular RAM configuration. And now it represents around 47% of Steam users. 16GB is slowly starting to phase out. Thanks to RAM pricing, 32GB sticks are becoming affordable.

Why 32GB Has Become Essential?

Webpages, ads, or even optimization are not the only things that are causing 16GB to run out. Windows 11 and its extremely bloated user interface barely have enough usable memory for anything else. Windows says that it requires 4GB, etc. However, in reality, it translates quite differently. Unless you go ahead and de-bloat it, then it’s a different story.  That said, there are other factors too. If you’re a gamer, chances are you have friends on Discord, and you likely run a browser with 4-5 tabs open in the background. If you are streaming to your audience with a complete setup, including capture cards, a camera, and the game running in the background. You can expect approximately 18-20 GB of RAM usage. Even with compression, a 16GB setup cannot deal with this kind of use case.  In short, even 32GB of RAM might fall short in some cases for use cases like this. 64GB should appeal to you if you have use cases like this.

When 16GB Still Works

16GB still works in casual use cases, as well as in light gaming use cases. It is suitable for older titles or less demanding games, such as Dota 2, CS2, Valorant, and Minecraft. 16GB makes sense if you’re buying a single stick, mostly to save up for another in the future.

The Bottom Line

32GB RAM has finally become affordable for mainstream users who want a well-rounded system for work and gaming. For streaming and hefty use cases, 32GB is sufficient, but 64GB of RAM is a better option. You can opt for a dual 24GB configuration to increase the total to 48GB, to better suit your needs.

We provide the latest news and “How To’s” for Tech content. Meanwhile, you can check out the following articles related to PC GPUs, CPU and GPU comparisons, mobile phones, and more:

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