32 GB requirement is overrated. It most likely needs just a bit more than 16 GB, around 17-18 GB WITH A bloated system, which DEVS assume most people would have (and yes, most people would INDEED have bloated systems, full of background apps and an always open browser for some reason. Because as my BOI rofif points out every time, most folks on PC are unable to focus on the game and simply want to multitask all the time, which of course, has its own ramifications for gameplay enjoyment, and of course, needs beefier CPUs and higher RAM requirements as you move up with settings).
It would, most likely, use around 12 GB of RAW RAM with ultra settings at 4K. So if you're able to keep your 16 Gigs clean to a point where you have 12 GB free memory, you're good to go. windows on a clean boot will use around 3-3.5 GB RAM, which will give you room to run the game. that's the problem however, if you run discord+chrome+spotify+steam alltogether, you will most likely have 5.5-6.5 GB of idle ram usage, which will push things to their limits.
its not like there's e middleground option between 16 and 32. 32 seems like a harsh and "craze" amount, but there really is no option. majority of lastgen games RUN fine on 8 Gb, as stated above, if you limited your background apps. in realit,y a mere 1-2 GB RAM bump would do wonders for most of those tasks too, since most of the 16 GB went unused, capping around 10-11 GB. that's a huge design limitation with RAMs on PCs. most likely, you would do super fine on 20 GB RAM, but it simply does not exist, you would need to use flex hybrid single + dual channel mode on a 2x8+1x8 RAM config that amounts to 24 GB, which will create its own subset of performance problems. so it is either 16 GB or 32 GB, with no in between, sadly.
spiderman and miles morales with ultimate ray tracing (very high geometry, very high reflections) at 4K requires 32 GB RAM per Imsomniac. However I played the game just fine on my system, with said settings.
there are even more parameters. most important being texture quality. if your GPU has 8-10 GB VRAM, you will never have any meaningful full use out of 32 GB RAM. Why? RAM usage scales with textures. a lot of textures are need to be copied first to RAM, and then to VRAM.
and chances are, if your GPU has 12-16 GB VRAM, your rig will have 32 GB RAM too.
and quite likely, you will not be able to MAX out textures on a 8-10 GB budget, and as a result, your game will not magically use TONS of ram. even then, when you're at limits, all you gotta is limit your background stuff. that's about it.
Here's spiderman with maxed out ray tracing at 4K with very high and high textures. I can EVEN run the very high textures. but as you can see, i'm at 13.8 GB usage with full empty desktop. a mere discord session + spotify would bring the system to its knees under these conditions, forcing the game to swap out valuable RAM data and cause performance issues, and at that point, you would simply stop and say "damn I need 32 GB" when in reality all you need is a couple more GBs. but of course, as I said before, that's a PC design limitation, one that I hate truly
in this case... assume spiderman had even HIGHER quality textures called super ultra omega that would require 12-16 GB VRAM. in that case, you would run out of VRAM before running out RAM. that's the gist of it.
so... no need for fear mongering. they will of course play safe and claim they need 32 gigs, just like this;
but as you can see from examples above... 4k/ray tracing very high runs quite smoothly with 2 GB empty RAM even on a 16 gb budget.
IT IS clear that some devs do not except people with 16 GB RAM to have an interrupted 8-12 GB of RAM budget. but those who can have nothing to worry about.
RAM is super cheap, but once again, I don't like LEAVING tons of stuff at background. AS A MATTER of fact, I turn off discord, and other distractions when I'm playing a game, especially if it is a STORY DRIVEN game such as returnal or spiderman. that's about it. i hope this was useful to some fellow 16 GB member: have no fear, just enjoy the game, maybe don't use chrome while gaming. that alone would be enough
Midn1ght
this will be useful for you):
