- Valve’s new steam hardware and software study shows a slow slump in 16 GB RAM use and an increase in 32 GB RAM use
- This comes as more recommended system requirements for games include 32 GB RAM
- 32 GB of RAM can help improve frame and reduce Steamers in poorly optimized games
With new games that are launched on PC every year every year, players often meet with poorly optimized titles, even on the best games -PCs or higher hardware ultimately requires weaker spec -hardware -which is why users are upgrading a crucial component of their systems.
As reported by Toms Hardware, Valve’s latest steam hardware and software survey results show a gradual decrease in 16GB of RAM use from 43.12% to 41.67% and a stable increase in 32 GB RAM use from 32.85% to 35.42%, between March 2025 to August 2025.
While not a large fall to 16GB of RAM use, the 2.57% increase in 32 GB RAM side should not come as a surprise. A significant number of new Triple-A games recommend 32 GB of RAM for good performance. This does not mean that 16GB of RAM is not viable in game scenarios, but players will more than likely run into Stutters or Hiccups in games that depend on more RAM.
This is remarkable in games like Star Wars Jedi: SurvivorAt Monster Hunter Wildsand Dragon’s Dogma 2. All of these titles are poorly optimized and do not yet receive thorough performance patches to dampen steming and make FPS problems, but 32 GB of RAM instead of 16GB facilitates things with better frameworks.
It is also worth noting that several handheld games -PC manufacturers release 32 GB of RAM configurations, and although handheld players may not constitute a significant part of PC players in general, it is a market that is growing fast.
It is also no secret that Microsoft’s Windows 11 has background processes that are constantly happening, some of which are unnecessary for games – so systems need more RAM to compensate for this. Fortunately, RAM upgrades are affordable, at least compared to other components such as CPU or GPU.
Analysis: Although 16GB of RAM is fine for you is future proof of 32 GB RAM ideal
After upgrading from 16 GB RAM to 32 GB on both my main game -PC and my handheld (Asus Rog Ally to Lenovo Legion Go S Z1 Extreme), I can say that the difference is certainly noticeable. While performance results are insignificant in well -optimized games with less image speed gains, it is definitely a larger deal in play that runs poorly on PC.
I’ve noticed that most of the latest games I play on my NVIDIA RTX 4080 Super Rig pushes well beyond 16 GB of RAM -and yes, it’s, while I have other applications, like Mozilla Firefox, open in the background and games in a 3440×1440 solution on Max Graphics settings, but it just shows my point.
If you already have a powerful GPU and CPU, or you are planning to upgrade in the near future, you are likely to play on higher graphics settings and a higher resolution than 1080p. You may also have other content that plays at the same time as I do, and this is where 32 GB of RAM comes into play.
Sooner or later, the majority of Triple-A games have 32 GB of RAM as recommended for system requirements, so I advise to act on it now before the current price increases get worse.
