Windows 10: Your next Windows PC may need at least 16GB of RAM

How much RAM do you need to work without any drawbacks on Windows PCs? The answer depends on what the PC is used for. Several tasks, including gaming and video editing, benefit from as much RAM as you can squeeze onto the motherboard.

Each Windows version comes with a set of minimum and recommended system requirements. Right now, Microsoft suggests 4GB of RAM as the minimum system requirement for Windows 11. While you may be able to install the operating system on systems with less memory, you may experience slowdowns and performance issues as data may need to be cached on a hard drive.

Microsoft's next version of Windows, which may be called Windows 12, focuses on AI. A new rumor suggests that the minimum RAM requirement of these AI PCs may be set to 16GB. In other words, a quadrupling of the requirement from one generation to the next.

The information comes from research firm Trendforce. The company has the following to say about the RAM requirement in a press release on its website: "Microsoft has set the baseline for DRAM in AI PCs at 16 GB. In the long term, TrendForce projects that AI PCs will catalyze an increase in annual demand for PC DRAM bits, with consumer upgrade trends further boosting this demand."

According to Trendforce, AI PCs will require at least 16 gigabytes of RAM.- While the company does not mention Windows specifically, Microsoft is said to launch Windows AI PCs as early as this year. In fact, the upcoming Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro 10 devices could be the first AI PCs.

Trendforce reveals another interesting hardware requirement. NPUs, Neural Processing Units, need to meet the 40 TOPS requirement. TOPS, which stands for Trillions of Operations Per Second, is a performance metric. The latest and greatest silicon, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite, AMD’s Strix Point, and Intel’s Lunar Lake platforms, support these according to the article.

Closing Words

With 16 GB of RAM as the requirement and a fast NPU, Windows AI systems will once again limit upgrade capabilities, if supported at all. When Microsoft released Windows 11, it changed system requirements and locked hundreds of million of Windows devices from upgrading to the new version of Windows.

With Windows AI PCs rumored to make additional changes to the system requirements, it is clear that even fewer PCs could be upgraded. System RAM may not be the major issue, as most modern PCs support 16 GB of RAM or more.

It is possible to Windows AI PCs will be special PCs that one can't upgrade to but purchase only. Microsoft will continue support of Windows 11 and may maintain AI PCs, with stricter requirements and additional AI capabilities, next to it.

Microsoft is still tight lipped about its plans. It is expected to announce the next version of Windows later this year.

Now You: how much RAM does your PC have? (via Neowin)

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16GB RAM only 8GB usable on Windows 10 x64

have 16GB of RAM installed on my computer, but only 8GB is usable. I am running Windows 10 x64. I have tried the following steps to fix this issue, but they have not worked:

1. I have updated the BIOS to the latest version.
   
2. I have tried reseating the RAM modules.
   
3. I have tried using different RAM modules.
   
4. I have tried run-MSConfig
   

I am still not able to use all 16GB of RAM. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

[Ahmed Hashem]

 

Upgrading RAM to 12GB or 16GB?

Hi everyone:

I have this machine:

Intel DB75EN...........it has 8GB of DDR3 RAM..... it's an older i5-2400 at 3ghz.

I acidentally (nice) discovered there's still a chance to improve RAM...I can't buy or afford a newer PC.

Amazon has Crucial DDR3 and they fit my machine in the specs checker they have.

I recently added an Crucial SSD and have Windows 10 installed there. It boots better and folders open faster than the HDD.

However, apps aren't faster at all. Just Windows.

The machine has 2 sticks of 4GB installed which make the 8GB. Going from 8GB to 12GB........will it make a difference?

Or it's better to go to 16GB?.

If I could I would to go to 32GB.......the machine specs says it supports up to 32GB RAM (however I can't afford it), since they're DDR3, they are older and are NOT cheap. I can only afford up to 16GB.

Should I make the effort to get 16GB or will 12GB be good?

Thanks so much for your suggestions.

 

16gb ram vs 32gb ram Upgrade

8 GB's is what I would tell everybody to have as a minimum. For gamer or power user, I suggest going to 16GB of RAM. 32GB or more RAM I usually only see for people who are running lots of VM's, databases, or high end rendering type applications.