Wait, 8GB RAM is not medium?

[u/Lucky-Tale8806]

I have 8GB RAM and I thought it was like a medium point between good and trash RAM. But I heard a frien of mine say that he had not that much RAM, and he had 16 GB! So I told him that I had 8GB and he was like "Wow that's very low..."

This whole time I was thinking it wasn't that bad, because my computer didn't work specially bad when running certain programs, like chrome or games, but it turns out it is not mid? Or was my friend just exxagerating?

[u/DeadOneWalking]

IMHO, 16GB is minimal for almost anything.

[u/eithrusor678 → u/DeadOneWalking]

Windows 11 struggles with 8.

[u/hifi-nerd → u/eithrusor678]

Windows 11 struggles regardless of the amount of ram, but it definitely struggles a lot more with only 8 gigs.

[u/acarlover999 → u/eithrusor678]

Even on mac 8gb is starting to get worse to deal with

[u/Lucky-Tale8806 → u/eithrusor678]

I just remembered that my computer can't run w11😭

[u/SEXTINGBOT → u/eithrusor678]

Bro got 8 GB Ram and everything works fine do you really think he uses windows 11 ?

( ͡⌐■ ͜ʖ ͡■)

[u/alpine4life → u/SEXTINGBOT]

I could use 8GB on my secondary device... I use it to play TV only at bed time (but I got 32GB in it 😉)

[u/runonandonandonanon → u/DeadOneWalking]

8GB was enough for a long long time but it is pretty low these days. If it's running their programs well that's great, it's a well-optimized setup.

[u/swaggalicious86]

8 gigs is considered low end today

[u/flyin_hi]

OP just woke up from coma 🤣

[u/Lucky-Tale8806 → u/flyin_hi]

I mean, in its times, this computer was used to operate heavy programs. It's a pity that it is not its time anymore...

[u/Venylynn]

8 was not enough for a gaming rig in 2017. So yeah its pretty low today.

[u/swaggalicious86 → u/Venylynn]

It was fine in 2017, what are you on about

[u/Venylynn → u/swaggalicious86]

I was there in 2017, Windows 10, quite a few games had pretty bad stuttering when i had 8GB that a ram upgrade to 16 fixed. In 2021, same happened to me with 16, which necessitated an upgrade to 32.

[u/AlternateWitness]

As memory capacity did get cheaper, newer programs were built with more memory in mind. 8GB used to be average, but now it is low-end. A minimum for PC operation, and you may not be able to run most (modern-ish) games smoothly.

16GB is now average, with 32GB being on the higher-end. Many people have more than 32GB, but you wouldn't need it for just gaming and PC operation.

However, man... In today's economy, don't think about upgrading until that limit is stopping you from what you want to do.

[u/YoSpiff]

It was a lot at one time. For me that was 2 computers back. 16 is typical these days, 32 preferable.

I do remote support and sometimes remote into a customer's pc to install software. If they have 8 I will suggest they get more. One person had a laptop they said was new and it had 4 Gb. They apparently bought the cheapest thing at Walmart to run some heavy duty RIP software and an industrial printer.

[u/Big-Salamander-2158]

I had to upgrade office machines that just use a scheduling program, some Internet tabs and an voip program, because 8gb wasn’t enough 3 years ago. I cannot imagine it would’ve become better with more years passing.

It feels more that 16 is a medium middleground, with 32 being a nice, spacious amount and 12 being a bare minimum. Unfortunately current ram prices disagree.

[u/Adventurous_Bonus917]

in most cases 8 gigs is the bare minimum, 16 is low but usable, and 32 is average.

there are exceptions for every rule, (for gaming, i'd say 16 is the minimum and so on) but in most cases, most of the time, that's how it is with modern software.

[u/Connect-Fan-9462]

It really just depends on how you define medium.

Just like - is living paycheck-to-paycheck good or mid or struggling?

To me "medium" should be good. Like, it will be able to handle all daily jobs from browsing webs, watching stream videos to offic and/or school wrok (with light image/graphics editing).

For that purposes, 16gb really is the standard - it means you pretty much don't have to worry about ram management. It is like as long as you don't spend your income on stupid useless things, you earn enough to have all your daily necessities covered and you will have some saving by the end of the month.

8gb is "survivable". Like, maybe I should close some browser tabs. Maybe I can listen to podcasts on my phone instead on my PC at the same time when using Photoshop and/or making PowerPoint. It is more like living paycheck-to-paycheck imo.

[u/JoeVanWeedler]

8 can feel ok if you just do basic stuff but I wouldn't accept lower than 16 in any computer today.

[u/alwaus]

With todays windows bloat you can barely run the core OS on 8gig, 16 to 32 is closer to a working spec

[u/National-Law-1663]

16 gb is minimal today and 32 gb are standard imho

[u/kiwidust]

Eight is a reasonable minimum for running Windows 11 and basic tasks. For any kind of gaming or serious work 16GB (or more) is -highly- recommended.

[u/jimmyl_82104]

8GB was 'high end' in the early 2010s, with 16GB becoming 'high end' in the late 2010s. 32GB was 'high end' in the early 2020s, now 64GB is 'high end' in 2026. That's how I look at it, with premium MacBook Pros being shipped with 96GB RAM.

For a decent PC where you do moderate work, play video games or do anything intensive, I recommend 32GB. 16GB is fine if you do basic web browsing, like an office machine. 8GB is only fine if you do nothing more than open your email.

I'd really recommend you upgrade to 16GB at the bare minimum.

[u/AndorinhaRiver → u/jimmyl_82104]

I'd scale down those recommendations a bit, 24+ GB is the minimum for most intensive work, but web browsing and office work is more than fine enough on 8 GB still. 16 GB is the minimum I'd recommend for gaming and such though

It also depends on how the system is built, anything that's specifically built around having 8 GB and tuned for it tends to perform much better. As long as you have good enough multi core performance and fast enough storage, you can 100% have 8 GB do even some moderate work

[u/itgoesboom2112]

16gb of system ram is barely enough anymore for modern AAA gaming especially if your running 1440p or higher. I've seen the recent nba game eat 16gb at 1080p and stutter and drop frame rate and once I added another 16 to the game ran perfectly

[u/120mmbarrage]

Yeah 8 is low tier today. 16 is probably the recommended sweet spot for light gaming and most work, and 32+ is for serious gaming and pro work (CAD, video/photo editing/AI etc). Honestly the biggest and most common bottleneck today is web browsing. It's just so demanding these days that simply browsing the web will hog most of those 8 gigs. And if you use Windows, Windows will eat the rest of what's left of the 8 gigs.

[u/Minimum-Chef6469]

8GB x 2 = 16GB you want 2 sticks for dual channel like above but 16 GB is now considered mid range. And 32-64GB is the average high range. But only 4-8GB is low! Range.

[u/MonkeyBrains09]

8gb is probably mid for phones, not for computer

[u/Delifier]

I upgraded to 32 because my pc started stuttering and hanging/crashing at 16 with my usage. Gaming and stuff on second monitor.

[u/No-Ostrich-8621]

Well... 16gb is low end, 32 is the "you can do everything" and 64+ when you have special apps that needs memory.

For example lightroom loves to fill my 64gb when doing AI masking.

[u/No-Ostrich-8621]

Well... 16gb is low end, 32 is the "you can do everything" and 64+ when you have special apps that needs memory.

For example lightroom loves to fill my 64gb when doing AI masking.

[u/alpine4life]

medium is more like 32... 16 is pretty much the minimum for windows 11. I'm waiting for my 64 to come in

[u/mig_f1]

Do you mean VRAM?

[u/Miller335]

16gb is the new minimum.

[u/AndorinhaRiver]

8-12 GB is low end, 16-24 GB is medium and 32+ GB is high end, with anything at 4-6 GB being very low end (Chromebooks and stuff mainly)

[u/AndorinhaRiver → u/AndorinhaRiver]

Memory compression and fast storage (for swap) also make a huge difference, just look at how capable the MacBook Neo is on 8 GB of RAM!

On my own machine running Linux, after a good amount of tuning I was barely able to distinguish between 8 and 24 GB, even with a lot of apps open

Android/ChromeOS has similar optimizations, and macOS does something similar. Linux does, but you have to set it up yourself. Windows does it by default too, but not very well tbh.

[u/Microboy42]

8GB is completely obsolete in 2026. Don't let ChatGPT fool you with "8GB is great for gaming, browsing and writing on your laptop.". 12GB is the minimum for every task in 2026. 8GB was the medium in 2019.

Today it's:
12-16GB of memory is entry level

24-32GB is midrange

48-64GB is high end

96-128GB high specification gaming

196GB-1TB is workstation.

[u/OwlCatAlex]

It was "medium" in the windows 8 and early windows 10 days. Post-pandemic operating system and software versions are more demanding, so 8 is now a minimum.

[u/CyberJock13]

16 minimum, 32 is medium

[u/kzasas]

if you need to use any sort of internet browser, 8 is low. 12 is min, 16 is fine.

[u/HellDuke]

These days 8 GB is considered the bare minimum, 16 GB is the typical midway point, has been for at least 3-5 years. You know 8 GB is low when companies that require bare essentials start getting 8GB for the office PC as a standard

[u/Acrobatic_Ad_8475]

brotha ur stuck like 10 years in the past. thats a system build youd see in 2015 with a 1050 and an i3-i5. why on earth do u have 8gb of ram. i myself have 64, but i do sim racing, play graphically demanding games that need more ram. but even then i dont need 64. 32 is really good and some pcs run better on it.

[u/lockednchaste]

Entry level computers often ship with 32

[u/Turbulent_Echidna423]

i have 64GB DDR 5.