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{"meta":{"keywords":"ram, shop, component, devices, surprisingly, gaming, pc, critical, motherboard","description":"RAM can be a surprisingly tricky component to choose when designing and building a gaming PC. These critical devices are practically in disguise as small seemingly insignificant sticks sometimes with RGB lights on them that go into the Motherboard whichever way works."},"active":true,"show_in_home":true,"show_as_recent":false,"show_as_popular":false,"_id":"62ed4dd3e16c68665a312f4f","aid":"how-to-shop-for-ram","big_image_path":"how-to-shop-for-ram-big.jpg","date":"08/05/2022","elements":[{"content":"<p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>These critical devices are practically in disguise as small seemingly insignificant sticks sometimes with RGB lights on them that go into the Motherboard whichever way works. While you don’t need a PhD in electrical engineering to understand RAM and its purpose, there are a few key things to take note of.</p><p><br></p><p><strong><br data-mce-bogus='1'></strong></p><p><strong>What is RAM?</strong></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>RAM stands for Random Access Memory; at times you’ll see or hear it simply referred to as “Memory”. Its purpose is straight forward; it acts as a temporary storage location for data your CPU needs to operate currently running applications or programs. Pulling data from a hard drive is actually quite slow, even when looking at very fast M.2 SSDs when compared to RAM. Modern sticks of RAM come in a somewhat standardized set of storage sizes and speeds, but we’ll focus on these numbers shortly.</p><p><br></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p><strong>How much RAM do I need?</strong></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>To understand how much RAM you need we first need to understand those numbers we just mentioned. There are 2 numbers to focus on when choosing how much RAM you need; its capacity measured in GB (Gigabytes), and its speed measured in MHz (Megahertz). Capacity is by large the major relevant aspect of these two numbers as a large capacity means more data can be stored. This means your PC will waste less processing power on tossing old data out of the RAM’s storage and loading new relevant data in. RAM speed is the smaller piece of this two-part puzzle. By itself RAM doesn’t actually handle any command processing, it’s basically the table that your CPU uses to put its paperwork on. A simple way to look at RAM speed is that it just needs to be fast enough to keep the CPU running full speed, as speeds beyond what the CPU can handle will give little to no performance increase.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>With that explained let’s talk about how much RAM you need. The answer is going to be different for everyone, but we can still get a solid idea here. Your typical gaming PC is going to have a motherboard that supports 2 channels of memory, with 2 or 4 slots for RAM to be plugged in. RAM can operate in dual-channel mode where you use 2 sticks of the same capacity and speed, or single-channel with a single stick. Single stick is generally ill advised as it causes a penalty in your memory’s bandwidth capabilities. With 2 or 4 sticks in opposing slots your RAM will run in dual-channel mode, fully utilizing all available bandwidth. Quick note 3 sticks are rarely advantageous as it can cause memory to de-sync and will raise capacity but also drastically decrease speeds.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>This means you’re looking at getting 2-4 sticks (They usually come in packs of 2), with enough capacity to comfortably run the most demanding games you play, and enough speed to not throttle your CPU. Be sure your Motherboard has at least 4 Memory slots if you’re looking to push a higher capacity setup. We generally recommend at least 16GB of Memory for Gaming.</p><p><br></p><p><strong><br data-mce-bogus='1'></strong></p><p><strong>Are there different types of RAM?</strong></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>By itself RAM doesn’t have too much relevant variation in it’s typing, but when we look at the sockets and motherboards they plug into a few important things appear. RAM types can be differentiated by physical sizes know as DIMM and SO-DIMM for Desktop and Laptop usage respectively. These differences are primarily due to needing to keep laptops smaller and easier to cool.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>The other differentiation and a very important one at that is the DDR generation of the RAM. DDR stands for Double Data Rate, however what’s relevant here is the number associated with it. Motherboards are configured to work with a specific generation of RAM whether it’s DDR3, DDR4, or even the fairly new DDR5. Consider planning ahead with a motherboard and RAM configuration of the most recent generation of DDR which currently is DDR5. This will allow you to have a much longer relevant lifespan for your components as they’ll be receiving regular updates and can be upgraded without much hassle down the road.</p><p><br></p><p><strong><br data-mce-bogus='1'></strong></p><p><strong>Can you overclock RAM?</strong></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>To put it simply; yes, but the methodology varies between setups and is not as simple as overclocking a CPU or GPU. RAM doesn’t always inherently run at its max settings, and this can be for a multitude of reasons. Overclocking RAM can be as simple as changing a setting in the BIOS and as complex as manually adjusting voltage levels and DRAM timings which can cause irreparable damage to your PC. We don’t recommend manually overclocking your RAM unless you are very well versed in doing so already.</p><p><br></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p><strong>I’m a streamer do I need more RAM?</strong></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>Streaming takes the average capacity threshold of around 16GB (for gaming) and basically doubles it to 32GB. Nearly all forms of content creation use a large amount of RAM as video and audio recordings consume big quantities of storage. Some people get around this by using a 2 PC streaming setup and offloading all that heavy encoding and recording work to one PC while the other handles the games, discord, etc. Two PC setups can be expensive when compared to simply upgrading your RAM but either way you will likely notice a bottleneck in performance at lower capacities while streaming and playing high performance requirement PC games.</p><p><br></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p><strong>This seems like a lot of information for a small stick with RGB on it.</strong></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>PC components as a whole can range from wildly difficult to fully understand - to if it fits in the slot, you’re good to go. RAM falls under the first category and we’ve only really scratched the surface of it’s designs in this article.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>However, you can always refer to a motherboard manufacturer’s website to get a better understanding of what RAM to use with it if you’re unsure. Of course, we make it even easier than that by handling this madness ourselves on your behalf. All CLX systems come with a free lifetime labor and technical support warranty. This means that you can always contact us for help with upgrading your RAM, or any component in your CLX PC.</p><p><br></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p><p>If you don’t already have a custom CLX gaming PC, or are looking to get something entirely new head over to our selection of <a href='https://www.clxgaming.com/gaming-pc/clx-set-budget-gaming-pc' data-mce-href='https://www.clxgaming.com/gaming-pc/clx-set-budget-gaming-pc'>gaming PCs</a> and try out our unique custom configurator! You’ll have zero issues selecting RAM as the configurator will point out any conflicts and give you options to fix them!</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br data-mce-bogus='1'></p>","id":"p0","sort_index":0,"type":"paragraph"}],"mid_image_path":"how-to-shop-for-ram-mid.jpg","sid":"pc-parts-benchmark","small_image_path":"how-to-shop-for-ram-small.jpg","sub_title":"RAM can be a surprisingly tricky component to choose when designing and building a gaming PC.","title":"Do You Know How To Shop For RAM?"}
