For 4k gaming, do I need over 16GBs of RAM? And if not, would 4 4GB sticks be better than 2 8GB sticks?

[EricSartor]

I've always heard you don't need more than 16GBs of RAM for gaming, and I imagine that wouldn't change with a higher resolution, but maybe I'm dead wrong.  And either way, is using all four RAM slots a big improvement over using two?  Is there any scenario where having four 4GB sticks might bottleneck me in some way, in a scenario where a 4GB file needs to exist in memory (which sounds ridiculous, but who knows...)?

[kelvinhall05]

Not really. I'd personally get 2x4GB sticks of DDR4 since RAM is so fucking expensive right now. If you really need 16GB, I'd get 2x8GB sticks.

[newcbomb]

4k is mostly about gpu and cpu performance. However, i had 8gb ram in my PC at 1080p and i saw bad performance when playing games like PUBG and Minecraft. You might just wanna go with 16, or get 8 and wait for prices to drop. I would stay away from 4gb

[Thermosman]

2 minutes ago, EricSartor said:

I've always heard you don't need more than 16GBs of RAM for gaming, and I imagine that wouldn't change with a higher resolution, but maybe I'm dead wrong.  And either way, is using all four RAM slots a big improvement over using two?  Is there any scenario where having four 4GB sticks might bottleneck me in some way, in a scenario where a 4GB file needs to exist in memory (which sounds ridiculous, but who knows...)?

2x8 is preferable, since your cpu likely is dual channel. 16gb is ideal, you will run out, sometimes not in games with just 8gb

[ItsTheDuckAgain]

In general 16GB are enough for gaming even at 4K.

More important is the ammount of VRAM, once that runs out the files get dumped to the system RAM and things start to go bananas.

4x4GB might be superior to 2x8 if you are running a quad channel board. On Dual channel it will not matter. I would go with 2x8GB on dual channel for sure. When upgrading  the 2x8GB setup make sure to get the same model of RAM for less pain in a*** troubleshooting when things go south.

[porina]

On dual channel 4x4GB could be better than 2x8GB, depending on the module types. There are advantages to having 2 rank per channel if all else is equal. 4x4GB would give that for sure. 8GB modules may be single or dual rank, with a trend that faster/lower latency modules are more likely single rank. Running dual rank per channel gives an increase in bandwidth over single, although it also increases measured latency. Overall it seems to work out a net positive.

 

If quad channel system, 4 modules for sure.

[BloodyWaters]

Gaming doesn’t really need more than 16 Gb of RAM. I run either 8 or 12 Gb and I have great performance. 

[Thonorin]

2x8 is better than 4x4 because they generally run faster(there are test on youtube) unless the 4x4 has a higher speed and less CAS then it is a different story, and you are able to upgrade to 32GB soon if you need though i do agree with BloodyWaters 16 is overkill ATM and 32 is so overkill for gaming unless you plan on playing with yourself i guess.

[xg32]

3 hours ago, EricSartor said:

I've always heard you don't need more than 16GBs of RAM for gaming, and I imagine that wouldn't change with a higher resolution, but maybe I'm dead wrong.  And either way, is using all four RAM slots a big improvement over using two?  Is there any scenario where having four 4GB sticks might bottleneck me in some way, in a scenario where a 4GB file needs to exist in memory (which sounds ridiculous, but who knows...)?

nobody knows for sure, but getting 8gb of ram instead of 16gb held my old system back for a long time, maybe it'll happen for 16 and 32, that said, 32gb pricing right now is just ridiculous. I couldnt even pull the trigger on 2x16gb ram for my overkill build.

[pyrojoe34]

Unless it's a budget build, I would go with 16GB over 8 at this point but you don't need more than 16GB. In some games I see my RAM usage go up to ~12GB of RAM and many games go above 8GB. Especially if you run things in the background while gaming. As for 2x8 vs 4x4: If you have a CPU/mobo that can only use dual channel then get 2x8. If you have one that can take advantage of quad channel and has 8 slots (so you can upgrade if needed in the future) then go with 4x4.