How Much RAM Do I Need for Star Citizen?
How Much RAM Do I Need for Star Citizen?
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Star Citizen, with its vast and detailed universe, demands significant system resources. One key factor in a smooth gameplay experience is the amount of RAM your computer has. This article dives into the RAM requirements for Star Citizen, answering critical questions to help you decide on the optimal RAM configuration.
Source: com.au
Determining RAM Needs
How much RAM do I need for Star Citizen is dependent on several factors, most notably:
- Desired Gameplay Quality: Are you content with standard graphics or striving for the highest level of detail?
- Number of Players in Your Flight: Large-scale, collaborative missions can tax your system more.
- Installation/Save Sizes: Larger files demand more storage, sometimes requiring extra RAM to load content rapidly.
Factors Affecting RAM Usage in Star Citizen
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Graphics Settings: High detail settings usually demand more RAM than low or medium ones.
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Modding: Some mods may further increase the demands on system resources, including RAM usage. How much RAM do I need for Star Citizen if you intend to run multiple and large mods is harder to estimate precisely.
Source: space4games.com
How Much RAM Do I Need for Star Citizen – A Realistic Answer
Unfortunately, there's no single definitive answer to "how much RAM do I need for Star Citizen."
General Guidance:
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8GB RAM: A minimum to start in Star Citizen; expected performance issues, especially during loading, complex systems or intense battles. This should generally not be considered sufficient in the modern day or long-term use for a graphically rich game.
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16GB RAM: More typical. Allows you to increase the graphical and scene settings comfortably to improve visual fidelity. This should suffice for single or two-person scenarios in Star Citizen.
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32GB RAM: Preferred option for smooth, visually rich gaming and to mitigate system limitations for more complex experiences. Most, if not all players aiming for optimized performance, maximum graphical and content, in larger scenarios with heavy detail loading, etc., should opt for 32GB or above in the latest Star Citizen versions.
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64GB RAM: Essential for a massive experience with ultra settings and several complex interactions in flight/space (with a high player density in various game areas/types). If using heavy mods or very extensive, high resolution screenshots, and or content output and usage then this would give additional benefits, but may only be a luxury in the near term future of Star Citizen. While unlikely to need to go higher in general in the coming 12 months for individual users/non-commercial use cases (and will certainly decrease cost wise), but not recommended by this author at the present moment.
Key Questions to Ask Yourself:
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How much RAM do I currently have, and how much will be reserved from running operating system components (especially true when playing a larger or heavier graphic game)?
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Do I prioritize absolute highest quality graphics, content depth/quantity loading speed/capacity, and complex missions/fights in Star Citizen?
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Will I frequently host a considerable amount of people (in-game) simultaneously with more intensive operations in my space, fight, or craft?
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Are mods/large save sizes part of my Star Citizen experience expectations?
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How many different and complex locations (different system configurations) do I frequently need to transit?
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Will my setup or needs change significantly over the next 24 – 36 months? Consider potential upgrades
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What kind of screen resolutions and video output requirements do I intend to play with?
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Do I anticipate large, and large numbers of files needed from downloads or file sizes?
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What do my existing system configurations require? Be sure to calculate other existing performance bottlenecks.
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If your graphics settings are low quality, or you do not intend on interacting and loading various locations or game content (a smaller area and not involving a lot of people in the space), are there potentially smaller requirements than 16 or 32GB for Star Citizen?
Source: redd.it
Conclusion
Choosing the right amount of RAM for Star Citizen depends on your preferences, desired performance, and the expected complexity of your gameplay. While 16GB may suffice for casual or low graphical/scene settings scenarios, 32GB or more RAM are more favorable for a high-quality immersive experience. Ultimately, the better you understand how Star Citizen is going to operate and run on your hardware; and the greater understanding you have about the current system performance requirements, the better informed your decisions are on hardware. This is important since RAM is an often undervalued aspect in computing, when determining overall performance.