The trick to picking the right type and quantity of memory for your custom PC build is figuring out the sweet spot you need to hit in order to fulfill your purpose. PCs intended for basic tasks like internet browsing have quite different memory needs than high-performance gaming machinesphoto and video editing requires even more gigabytes of RAM (random-access memory).

Computer RAM

 

If you supply a very basic PC build with mega gigabytes, you may be wasting money, because your tasks probably don’t require the extra memory. On the other hand, if you undershoot and install too little memory into a gaming or video-editing build, you will quickly find that you are asking more of the machine that it can deliver.

While too few gigabytes of RAM can slow down operations for sure, the memory’s speed correlates more directly to its DDR (double data rate) and MT/s (mega transfers per second). You will see DDR3 and DDR4 memory kits available with a hyphen and a number indicating MT/s (example: DDR3-1600). So should you just buy the maximum DDR/MT/s combo you can afford to ensure the fastest performance regardless of your PC purpose? Alas, it’s more complicated than that. The fastest memory kits available usually require some manual configuration, so you’ll need to doctor your motherboard’s firmware to get them working. And if you don’t do so correctly, the “faster” memory kit could actually wind up slowing your PC’s performance. MT/s over 3466 have even been shown to hurt performance regardless of configuration due to the motherboard’s struggling to stabilize. Another drawback of super high MT/s is that memory kits featuring them tend to be expensive, and the payoff may be questionable.

Computer RAM

Intel’s XMP (eXtreme Memory Profiles) features automated configuration called SPD. Previously, these XMP motherboards gave users the option to overclock the voltage and data rates. However, today’s XMP capable modules default to standard voltage and frequency -- usually DDR4-2133 or -2400. If you want to go higher, you will need to set up an XMP profile manually.

Building a PC is a holistic process; you will have to take other components into account when choosing memory -- CPU is one. Intel Skylake, Kaby lake, and Coffee lake and AMD’s Ryzen/Threadripper CPUs support DDR4, Any chipset lower than these supports DDR3.

Any less than 4GB is seen as unsuitable even for the most modest builds nowadays. For gaming PCs, 8GB was the previously recommended minimum, but now we are approaching 16GB as the bare minimum; 16GB won’t hurt if you can afford it. If your purpose is the photo or video editing, you will need at least 16GB for the build to be worth your while.

Shop our massive selection of memory on our product pages. If you still have questions about finding the right memory for your PC build, get in touch with our awesome experts @ support@gear-up.me.