Best RAM of 2021
RAM is potentially one of the most misunderstood parts of a computer build. Misconceptions stem from thinking it does everything to assuming RAM space is the same as additional hardware space. World’s best gaming has you covered with our 2020 RAM hardware round-up. We’ll demystify all the craziness behind what RAM actually does and offer our take on the best RAM deals of the year. Read on for our top-picks or skip to the tech-guide to learn a bit more!
How much RAM do I need?
Prepare to be disappointed! Our deep dive will go into the nitty gritty but the answer is sort of… not as much as you probably think. At least when gaming. This comparison here generally kicks the thought RAM equals better in the teeth. That being said, there is a lot more nuance than you might realize. Video Editing and other tasks might make that RAM a bit more appealing. Different channel configurations (I.E. how much of your RAM is used at once) and RAM speeds all affect RAM.
Listen, hundreds of guides out there are going to recommend “the best and highest quality RAM,” offering very expensive solutions that simply won’t make much of a difference. RAM doesn’t have to be pricey because most bells and whistles aren’t going to improve your performance tremendously. Let’s be clear, junky off brand RAM from leftover parts in a factory does exist. You want some level of quality, but $240 for 16GB? That’s unreal. That’s just taking money from you that Nvidia or AMD would gladly take, only they’ll actually offer an improvement in performance.
So what’s the sweet spot? You should try to get 16GB of RAM, anything more is too much for gaming and anything less than 8GB is ridiculous. Invest in your gaming rig, it’s there for you, so you should be there for it.
That makes picking products a little bit easier as we won’t recommend pricey “fast” RAM. All RAM is hecka fast, so we’ll recommend what you’ll actually want. We avoided single sticks of RAM due to Channel configurations which we cover in our tech guide for those who are curious! Always buy a well-paired kit instead of a single creepy loner RAM.
BEST 8GB RAM – CORSAIR VENGEANCE LPX
Corsair CMK8GX4M2A2400C16 Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 DRAM 2400MHz (PC4 19200) C16 Memory Kit - Black
- Each Vengeance LPX module is built with a pure aluminium heat spreader for faster heat dissipation and cooler operation
- Available in multiple colours to match your motherboard, your components or just your style
The biggest reason this 2 x 4GB form factor RAM won out over the large amount of similar RAM sticks in the same price range is that it looks pretty great. As I said earlier, we’re honest, most RAM you’ll find has options to scale from a low MHz to a high MHz, some has RGB lighting, other RAM has CAS Latency options that very few really will need to know about. This is a stellar company, it’s cheap and affordable, and it’s going to make your games run well. They might hit a ceiling in performance that 16GB would eliminate but this is a good choice for a beginner build. It comes in several different color choice as well.
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BEST 16GB RAM – G.SKILL RIPJAWS V SERIES
G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Intel Z170/X99 Desktop Memory F4-2400C15D-16GVR
- Brand: G.Skill, Series: RipJaws V, Model: F4-2400C15Q-16GVR
- 16GB kit containing 2 x 8GB modules, DDR4-2400, 288-Pin, CAS Latency CL15 (15-15-15-35) at 1.20V
- ECC: No, Dual Channel Kit, Recommended Use: High Performance or Gaming Memory
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G.SKILL makes great RAM solutions that feel solid and weighty. They’re also super affordable. We’d recommend this as the best 16GB solution (I.E. two 8GB options). It doesn’t have the RGB flair of other options but comes in a variety of good solid colors and is easy to install. We really like the raised feeling as pushing in the RAM feels natural. Always consider if you have a very tight build before picking up new RAM (No one wants to pull off the CPU cooler after all). This should have a pretty reduced profile when it is installed though. Great RAM, and you’ll be future-proofed for a bit of time.
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BEST OVERKILL RAM – CRUCIAL BALLISTIX 32GB
Crucial Ballistix 2666 MHz DDR4 DRAM Desktop Gaming Memory Kit 32GB (16GBx2) CL16 BL2K16G26C16U4B (Black)
- Ideal for gamers and performance enthusiasts
- Engineered for the latest AMD and Intel platforms
- XMP 2.0 support for automatic overclocking or run at JEDEC default profile
- Modern aluminum heat spreader available in multiple colors to match your system build or style
Crucial RAM feels almost like a military component with the sleek black paint job and the metal case outside. We selected the 3200MHz in a 2 x 16GB form factor because at this rate, buying 32GB means you are okay spending a little more for some performance boosts. If you are planning to stream or edit some sweet footage after a gameplay session, this is the amount of RAM and quality you’ll want. You can even penny pinch and drop the MHz a bit as RAM comes in many different forms. They also have Cherry Red and White options if the military look is too imposing for your little build.
Real overkill is perhaps putting 128GB into your build but at those prices, you’ll probably want to take more into account than a stellar PC Gaming article, such as, why are you playing god these days?
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BEST RGB RAM – G.SKILL TRIDENT Z RGB
G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) (PC4 25600) F4-3200C16D-16GTZR
- Trident Z RGB Series, compatible for AMD Ryzen Series; Intel Z170 and newer.
- 16GB kit containing 2 x 8GB modules, DDR4-3200, 288-Pin, CAS Latency CL16 (16-18-18-38) at 1.35V
- Brand: G.Skill, Series: Trident Z RGB, Model: F4-3200C16D-16GTZR
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Some PC Gaming enthusiasts want to get a really shiny rig that lights up the room. After-all LED lighting is pretty frickin’ sweet. So, rather than limit your options to specialized RAM that only glows one color. Trident Z is a good in-between that will allow you a ton of freedom when it comes to making a colorful desktop machine of the future. You can customize them to look bright and poppy and a 8GB x 2 set only costs you about $100. It just looks cool.
So, World’s Best Gaming, why don’t you breakdown features, color, speed, and show me all the other offerings the other RAM guides have?
Simply put, pick a RAM stick you like and it’ll probably be offered in a sliding scale of speed as the manufacturer chooses to overclock it. It’ll have other colors. It’ll have a similar price to competing options.
RAM could overwhelm you with options but they’re almost ALL superfluous, I.E. our four picks will do what you want and you’ll never find yourself thinking, “If only I had 2666MHz of RAM!” It just doesn’t happen. Our tech guide will do the honor of telling you why though so you can make an informed choice.
Everything you need to know about RAM
What is RAM and what does it do?
RAM or Random Access Memory is essentially comparable to short-term memory or perhaps consciousness. Suppose you need to remember details from way back, like that time someone teabagged you in CounterStrike 1.3 for rushing Italy when it was controlled by AWP.
While our brain searches long and hard to come up with old information, it pulls it into our consciousness and short-term memory. We know we’re existing and thinking right now. Now suppose you also are thinking of that same memory but need to be talking to someone in front of you. Additionally you are at work, it is your boss talking about his early days of gaming, and you are trying to focus on what he says while dwelling in the sweet nostalgia of early 2001 gaming. Your lightning quick mental state allows you to pull up this memory, make a joke, all while juggling visual and audio feedback at the same time.
This is similar to what Random Access Memory does. RAM is blazing fast and pulls up information for short-term use, such as the information needed to run a program. It works with the CPU, handing off necessary pieces of data as the CPU crunches more calculations than Albert Einstein on Adderall.
The long-term storage, such as your HDD or SSD is what feeds new information to the RAM. Meanwhile the RAM is just chugging it down, crushing the information. Now what happens when your short-term memory is full and you need to think of something new? You forget. Much like humans, RAM has limits on how much information it can hold at once and sometimes forgetting is harder than we think. Programs are designed to keep running in the background, sucking mental bandwidth from your computer.
RAM keeps things moving
If you load up a large program, it might take quite a while for it to open. Hopefully you don’t hear grinding and whirring in your PC Rig but that’s another issue. Yet after that program closes, if you attempt to open it again, it might open way faster. This is because the RAM already has that information primed and loaded up and nothing has replaced it.
For gaming and multimedia, RAM is essential
It is because of the immense speed and power of modern day RAM that gaming is possible. It is a huge bottleneck, and in times past the OS would add to this bottleneck. For instance, old games like Fallout: New Vegas used a limited amount of RAM (2GB) and have to be unlocked for more RAM (4GB) to be used in the program. What you normally get is more stability and faster load times. This also caps out (At around 4GB) meaning 32GB won’t be any different than 4GB in New Vegas.
When does RAM become a bottleneck?
Think of it like a pie, and every program you use takes a little sliver of your pie. If you use adobe products they may in fact take the whole pie and demand seconds. As these programs add up, the amount of RAM available to run the games you love, starts to lesson. If it gets too low, a game will start to chug along, framerates dip, and if there is too little, the game just won’t plain run.
What a RAM Upgrade won’t fix
You usually won’t see a huge spike in frame rates or even graphical powers jumping from 16GB to 32GB. RAM is just so immensely powerful, we don’t see the benefits immediately. But having too little RAM heavily affects performance and detail. The speed of RAM also hardly affects modern gaming as games just can’t jam enough information into RAM before the bottleneck is clear.
Single stick or double stick?
While it seems logical that you’ll want to buy a single stick of RAM and thus prep for the inevitable glorious future, the reality is that RAM works best when it is using a proper channel configuration. Think of it like bandwidth. I.E. two roads on a highway is better than one. Or like a human hand, it’s better to have two hands than one hand with 10 fingers.
Will a single stick perform worse? Yes, it’s just hard to tell how much because so much affects the speed but it is clear that some games have a dramatic difference when using a single channel RAM configuration. Dual Channel is the winner no matter what.
What speed should my RAM run at?
While a cursory glance at the market will show outrageous speeds available for purchase, most RAM running over 2400MHz is a sanctioned overclock and you may even require some additional BIOS (Mobo operating system) kung fu just to get it running. Does it make a difference? Not a huge one. We recommend 2400MHz but have included options for those worried they won’t pump up the FPS. Just know, it’s most likely not going to make a big difference.
Brands to look for
Your memory solution is cheap enough to go name brand so we recommend keeping choices to brands that stand out.
- Hyper Fury X
- G.Skill
- Corsair
- Crucial
- Ballistix (A Corsair model that looks fantastic)
There are loads of brands but you’ll find what you want within those, easy.
Features universal to RAM
DIMM
Dual in-line Memory module. Or basically the shape of your RAM. It’s going to be the same unless you have a bizarre build or use really old RAM that should exist anymore.
DDR
Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory. How is that for a wordy way to describe this? Basically DDR is a designation that you’ll want to be familiar with as it helps you know what RAM generation you are buying. The last generation was DDR3 and we recommend ditching that and going for DDR4. It’ll be faster, more efficient, and motherboards often limit what generation of memory can be inserted.
Speed (MHz)
Measured in MHz, this is basically how fast your RAM works. Think of it like the CPU is a hungry hungry hippo, the faster the MHz, the quicker you can jam food down the lust gullet of your CPU. Eventually though, this will cap out and your Hippo has to chew or choke. Modern RAM is pretty much far too fast for your CPU to use completely, which is why 2400MHz RAM isn’t going to lose a fight to 4333MHz RAM. It’s not longer RAM that’s the issue, it’s the CPU.
Size (GBs)
This is the important part of selecting RAM. You’ll notice a sizable difference between 4GB and 16GB. As we referred to the Hippos earlier, once the bottleneck is gone, most performance gains are not related to RAM but under 8GB is risky and even 8GB is starting to age out. For those doing video-editing or content-creation, consider 32GB as you’ll be able to feed the hungriest of Hippos. Adobe. Quite a bit.
Form (Size x Ram slots)
Sticks of memory are generally sold in pairs due to channel setups. You can’t mix and match memory. It’s just not smart. Even the best, most compatible looking RAM will probably have hiccups and errors. RAM should be optimized to work with the same stick from the same manufacturer. Additionally, make sure to buy 2 or 4 sticks instead of just one (This also affects speed).
Channels
We covered channels earlier but it’s basically how much of your RAM can be used concurrently. A single stick just has way less bandwidth. The mobo and CPU dictate whether or not you can use a single channel, dual channel, or quad channel. Additionally the RAM you purchase will come in single, dual, triple, or quad configurations.
F.A.Q.
What is virtual RAM and will it change my life?
Virtual RAM is where your long-term storage acts the same as RAM in order to simulate some more of that short-term memory. Before you get too excited about the prospect, realize it’s generally a terrible idea to boost up the VRAM.
If you have a traditional Hard Drive, it’ll already have a cache (Which is sort of like RAM for the HDD). This cache can be increased but since the HDD is slow, performance will start to tank.
So don’t do it. Just let Virtual solutions do what they normally do.
An SSD actually possesses the speed to somewhat compensate but is a worse cure than the disease. SSD are designed with a limited amount of reading and writing, so the SSD could have a fairly reduced lifespan this way.
My RAM is full and my computer is slow! What do!?!?
Overtime RAM fills up and is used as a resource by your machine. So how do you unfill it? Easy, close programs or restart your machine. The second electricity stops coursing through your memory. It’ll lose all data.
I just realized I have a single stick!
Don’t panic. This is a good thing because it means you probably have room to upgrade and have a super tangible example of a cheap upgrade that might make a big FPS difference. Getting that Dual Channel config can be pretty helpful in some cases. Others have said not so much. I’d recommend doing a little research and thinking through if that’s a bottleneck, if it is, you’re lucky because it’s an easy fix!
Why does my HDD have 500GB. Can’t I use that?
Ahem, oh memory, you’re so confusing. GPU’s have a form of RAM, storage devices have memory, it’s a common thing with components. Know that long-term storage differs dramatically in speed and also ability to do what RAM does. It also doesn’t erase everything when the power goes off though, so there’s that. These terms can be really confusing but just know, having a lot of long-term storage doesn’t make your PC faster.
Thanks for Joining Us!
Building a new rig or finally getting that extra dosh so that you can upgrade it is one our favorite feelings in life. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation and product glut that just doesn’t help you. We gave you our four best picks but honestly, RAM is usually RAM. Stay with the right manufacturers, stay away from unnecessary overclocking, think through dual channel setup, and you’ll do great! We hope you learned something today and if you have questions, comment and reach out to us. Let us know what you have questions about! World’s Best Gaming wants you to love the PC you build and we’re more than willing to help anyway we can.
