Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Another high-profile PC game calls for 32GB of RAM

By

You probably need to upgrade your gaming PC’s RAM soon. Developer WB Games Avalanche released the PC system requirements for the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy on Friday, and it’s the second game we’ve seen releasing in 2023 that calls for 32GB of RAM.

The PC port of Returnal was the first high-profile release we saw calling for 32GB of RAM, and Hogwarts Legacy is a sign that this could become the norm for PC releases. The traditional wisdom has been that 16GB is the only RAM you need for gaming, but that’s changing.

A student holding a wand in Hogwarts Legacy.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

You don’t need that much to run the game, however. Like Returnal, the minimum specs for Hogwarts Legacy call for 16GB of RAM. That’s still a hefty requirement in light of the other specs, though. The minimum requirements list an Intel Core i5-6600 and NVidia GTX 960, and that’s for playing the game at 720 with a 30 frames per second (fps) limit, as well as the Low Quality graphics present.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!
Privacy Policy

The specs call for 32GB of RAM if you want to play at 1440p or 4K. In order to play at the Ultra Quality preset at 4K, the developer says you need an Intel Core i7-10700K paired with either an Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti or AMD RX 7900 XT. That’s means you’ll need one of the most powerful PCs money can buy to see the game in its full glory.

Similar releases aren’t nearly as demanding. The Callisto Protocol, which released in December, only calls for 16GB of RAM and can run with 8GB. Similarly, the upcoming Atomic Heart calls for 8GB of RAM at minimum with the same recommended amount.

The requirements are surprising in light of Hogwart Legacy‘s scheduled console releases. It’s slated to release on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but the developer promises ports to the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch later in 2023. Publisher WB Games had similar plans for 2022’s Gotham Knights, which has been plagued with horrific stuttering on PC. The publisher scrapped the last-gen releases shortly before launch.

Does your gaming PC need 32GB of RAM now?

Hogwarts Legacy - Official Reveal Trailer | PS5

Between Returnal and Hogwarts Legacy, it might be time to upgrade your RAM. In PC games, your RAM stores short-term data for your CPU, and the demand for more space goes up in games that involve large open worlds and player choice. That’s why we’ve seen increased performance with processors like AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which include extra memory on the processor to improve performance in games like Far Cry 6. 

The developer confirmed that Hogwarts Legacy will be verified for the Steam Deck at launch, and that handheld only includes 16GB of memory. That suggests the game will run fine without 32GB, and it confirms that you don’t need to upgrade to expensive DDR5 memory in order to play.

In addition to Steam Deck verification, the developer has confirmed that Hogwarts Legacy will support AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 2, as well as Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) 3. If you have an RTX 40-series GPU, you’ll be able to use DLSS Frame Generation.

It’s hard to say what 32GB of RAM will do in games like Hogwarts Legacy and Returnal. For now, all we can do is wait until the games are here to see how more RAM performs. If you want to make an upgrade sooner, make sure to read our guide on how to install RAM.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Jacob Roach
Jacob Roach
Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
Warner Bros Games chief isn’t worried about the Discovery merger
Harley hugging Taz.

Warner Bros. Games head David Haddad says that he is feeling optimistic about Warner Bros. Discovery's gaming division despite all of the chaos surrounding the merger between WB and Discovery.

"I do believe, especially moving forward, that we have a critically important role to play inside the company," Haddad says in an interview with Axios. In fact, he mentions that the gaming division is profitable and that there are no planned layoffs or cut projects from new higher-ups. "Warner Bros. Discovery leadership has expressed a strong belief in the growth of the games business and being part of that overall company strategy," he says.

Read more
Hogwarts Legacy set for a holiday 2022 release window
A wizard wearing the sorting hat.

After over a year of silence surrounding a new RPG set in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Avalanche Software and WB Games finally revealed more about Hogwarts Legacy in a State of Play presentation. Most importantly, we learned that the game would finally be released this holiday season, though the game doesn't have an exact date yet.
Hogwarts Legacy | State of Play | March 17, 2022 [ENGLISH]
Players control a fully customizable character who's coming to Hogwarts for the first time as a fifth-year student in the late 1800s. After getting assigned to a house, players will have to attend various classes and explore the giant campus that is Hogwarts. They will then have to use the skills they learned to explore the wider Wizarding World and work with Professor Figg to deal with a Goblin rebellion and uncover the mysteries of ancient magic.
Obviously, the game features a robust spellcasting system for combat. The player will be able to upgrade their talents and other skills with experience gained while completing games and augment their abilities with potions. There's also magical gear that can be bought, crafted, and upgraded, as well as companions that can accompany the player on their journey.
While the idea of a big-budget Harry Potter game seems like a slam dunk on paper, enthusiasm for the title is mixed. That's due to the series' controversial creator J.K. Rowling, who has repeatedly been called out in recent years for transphobic comments. That's putting a damper on the game's pending release, as the controversy has closely followed the game's hype cycle.
For those still planning to pick the game up, it's clear that Avalanche went all out in making the most thorough and detailed Harry Potter game ever. And while Hogwarts Legacy got its own Sony State of Play stream, it isn't a PlayStation exclusive. Harry Potter fans can expect the game to launch on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S sometime during the holiday 2022 season.

Read more
Age of Empires IV performance, tested: Integrated GPU to high-end gaming PC
XPS 13 running Age of Empires IV.

Age of Empires IV is here, and it has some interesting tech under the hood. As a real-time strategy (RTS) game, it doesn't call for a super-high framerate. Still, it's more demanding than most RTS titles, so you'll need to find the best settings to optimize your performance.

The game is good at automatically configuring the settings in the best way for your system, and it includes a minimum spec renderer to help low-end machines and integrated GPUs maintain a playable framerate. I took the game out for a spin on a few machines to measure the minimum spec renderer and what kind of performance you can expect with different rigs.
Age of Empires IV system requirements
Age of Empires IV is a highly scalable game, partly because it includes a dynamic minimum spec mode that will kick in when your hardware isn't up to snuff. The developers have four different tiers for the hardware requirements, scaling up to recent CPUs and GPUs and down to integrated graphics from a few years back.

Read more