Most answers to how much RAM you need are a number with no reason attached. The reason is usually sitting on a store page: every game and most creative apps publish the memory they recommend, and that figure already counts Windows. This RAM calculator starts from it.
Put in the largest figure a game or an app you run publishes, and what you keep open beside it from Task Manager. It works out the total, rounds it up to the next size memory is sold in, and says how far short the PC you have now falls. Every figure it supplies names its source, and the list of what it cannot tell you is below the answer.
In this guide
The RAM calculator
The Memory line under Recommended on the game's store page. Put 0 if you do not play games.
The figure the app's maker publishes, such as Adobe's for Premiere Pro. Put 0 if nothing you use asks for more than the game.
A browser, chat, a streaming app. In Task Manager's Processes tab, add up the Memory column for what you keep open while you play or work.
Settings, System, About shows it as Installed RAM. Put 0 for a new build.
How that is worked out, line by line
- The largest published requirement16 GB
- Plus what stays open alongside it20.0 GB
- Left spare at that size12.0 GB
- Short of that, against what is installed16 GB
On those numbers you are in the 32 GB band, which is the section below.
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Where every number here comes from
No part of this was measured on a bench here. This site works from published specifications and from what owners report, and every number below is either one you typed in or a published figure with its source named next to it.
The figures this page supplies
- Windows 11's minimum memory: 4 GB. Microsoft's published Windows 11 specifications: 4 GB of RAM is the minimum. It is the floor under the answer when nothing you run publishes more.
- Adobe's recommended memory for Premiere Pro, HD: 16 GB. Adobe's published Premiere Pro technical requirements: 16 GB recommended for HD video. Not used in the arithmetic; it is an example of an app's own figure for the app box.
- Adobe's recommended memory for Premiere Pro, 4K and higher: 32 GB. The same Adobe page: 32 GB or more recommended for 4K and higher. Not used in the arithmetic.
Why each step is the step it is
- The largest published requirement:
Math.max(game_gb, app_gb, win_min). A game's or an app's requirement is a figure for the whole PC it runs on, Windows included, so requirements are not added together. The largest one sets the base, and Windows 11's own minimum is the floor under it. - Plus what stays open alongside it:
base_gb + side_gb. What you keep running beside the game or the app is on top of what its publisher planned for, so it is added, from your own Task Manager figure. - Buy at least this much memory:
atLeast(total_gb, [8, 16, 32, 48, 64, 96, 128]). Memory is sold as matched pairs of modules, so the answer is rounded up to the next total a pair makes: two modules of 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, 48 or 64 GB each. The 24 and 48 GB modules come from the 24 Gb chips the DDR5 standard added, which is why 48 and 96 GB are on the ladder. - Left spare at that size:
recommend_gb - total_gb. The size you would buy less what the sum came to. It is the room left for a heavier game or another tab. - Short of that, against what is installed:
Math.max(recommend_gb - have_gb, 0). The answer less what the PC has now, or 0 when it already has enough.
What this cannot tell you
Every calculator has an edge, and a page that hides its edge is worse than no page at all. Here is this one's.
- It adds up published requirements and your own Task Manager figure. No PC was run for it, and this site has never had any of these parts in its hands.
- A recommended figure is the publisher's own, for its own settings. Mods, high-resolution texture packs and very large projects can need more, and publishers differ in how generous they are.
- Windows uses spare memory as a cache, so Task Manager showing memory nearly full is not on its own proof that a PC is short of it.
- It cannot see what fits: how many slots the board has, the most it supports, DDR4 or DDR5, or whether a laptop's memory is soldered in and cannot be added later. The board's or the laptop's manual says.
- Adding modules to the ones already fitted may run every module at the slower one's speed. Buying the whole answer as one matched kit avoids the question.
- A PC with no graphics card of its own lends part of its memory to the built-in graphics, which comes off the top of what is left for programs.
What that much memory means for you
These follow from the answer above and nothing else. Each heading below covers one span of results, so read the one the calculator pointed you at and ignore the rest.
8 GB
Enough for Windows 11's published floor and light use, by this arithmetic. On a laptop, check the memory line before buying: in many the memory is soldered in, so the size you buy is the size you keep.
Best Budget Laptop for Students Under $500 in 2026 covers this range in full.
16 GB
A game or an app recommending 16 GB with little open beside it. A laptop or a prebuilt PC lists its memory on the spec line, and this is the figure to look for there.
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32 GB
Where a game recommending 16 GB lands once a browser and chat stay open, and where HD editing in Premiere Pro lands on Adobe's own figure with other programs open. For a desktop the usual way to buy it is one kit of two 16 GB modules; the two below are among the kits this site's DDR5 memory guide covers.
Best DDR5-6000 CL30 RAM for Ryzen 9000 in 2026, 4 Picks covers this range in full.
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48 or 64 GB
A game recommending 32 GB with other programs open, or 4K editing in Premiere Pro on Adobe's own figure with other programs open. This site has not covered a kit this size, so it is not going to name one; the DDR5 guide notes that the kit lines it covers are also sold as 64 GB.
Best DDR5-6000 CL30 RAM for Ryzen 9000 in 2026, 4 Picks covers this range in full.
96 or 128 GB
Very large projects and workloads that publish figures this high. Nothing on this site covers a kit this size, so it is not going to name one. Check the board's manual for the most memory it supports before buying.
Past what this calculator covers
More than 128 GB, the largest kit of two modules sold for an ordinary PC. A machine that needs this much is a workstation with more memory slots, and its maker's configurator is the place to size it.
If you are planning a whole build, the storage calculator works out the drive the same way, from your own files, and the PSU calculator adds up the power. A RAM calculator can only be as right as the figures you give it, so take the game's or the app's recommended line from its own page rather than a forum's memory of it.
Questions about the RAM calculator
How much RAM do I need?
Start from the largest memory figure a publisher recommends for what you run, then add what stays open alongside it. The example this RAM calculator opens with is a game whose store page recommends 16 GB, with 4 GB of browser and chat open beside it. That comes to 20 GB, and the first size sold at or above it is 32 GB, which leaves 12 GB spare. Close everything else before playing and the same game needs 16 GB.
How much RAM do I need for gaming?
The recommended memory on your heaviest game's store page, plus whatever you keep running while you play. A game's requirement is a figure for the whole PC, Windows included, so it is not added to Windows 11's own 4 GB minimum; the larger of the two is the base. A game recommending 16 GB on its own fits in 16 GB. With 4 GB of other programs open it needs 32 GB, and a game recommending 32 GB with the same programs open needs 48 GB.
How much RAM do I need for video editing?
Go by the editor's own published figure. Adobe publishes 16 GB recommended for Premiere Pro in HD and 32 GB or more for 4K and higher; put the one for your footage in the app box. For HD with 4 GB of other programs open, this RAM calculator gives 32 GB. For 4K with the same programs open, it gives 48 GB. Other editors publish their own figures, and the box takes any of them.
Is 16 GB of RAM enough?
It depends on the largest requirement you run, not on the number itself. For the example on this page, a game recommending 16 GB with 4 GB open beside it, it is not: the answer is 32 GB, which is 16 GB more than a PC with 16 GB has. For the same game with nothing else open the answer is 16 GB, so it is enough. For web browsing alone, with 2 GB of tabs open, Windows 11's 4 GB minimum is the base and the answer is 8 GB.
Can a RAM calculator tell me which memory to buy?
Only how much. It does not know which memory your board takes, how many slots are free, the most it supports, or whether a laptop's memory is soldered in and cannot be added later; the board's or the laptop's manual says. It cannot see speed either. Memory is sold as matched pairs of modules, so a 32 GB answer is usually bought as one kit of two rather than added to what is fitted, since mixed modules may all run at the slower one's speed.
Sources
- Microsoft: Windows 11 specifications and system requirements: Sets 4 GB of RAM as the minimum for Windows 11, which is the floor under every answer here.
- Adobe: Premiere Pro technical requirements: Publishes 8 GB as the minimum, 16 GB recommended for HD and 32 GB or more for 4K and higher: an example of the app figure this page's second box takes.
- Steam store: each game's System Requirements section: Every game's store page lists the minimum and recommended memory for the whole system, which is the figure this page's first box takes.
- JEDEC JESD79-5: the DDR5 SDRAM standard: Defines DDR5's chip densities, including the 24 Gb chips that make 24 and 48 GB modules, which is why 48 and 96 GB totals are sold.
- Crucial Pro 96GB kit (2x48GB) DDR5-5600: A memory maker's own listing of a kit sold as two matched 48 GB modules, the shape every rung of this page's ladder is sold in.
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