Best RAM for gaming in 2024: I've tested the best DDR4 and DDR5 RAM to find the right kits for you (2024)

The best RAM for gaming is getting tougher to pick out, as we've seen a serious uptick in the number of kits available for the modern memory standard. Nevertheless, we're determined to find you the best around. We've put a bunch of DDR4 and DDR5 memory kits through their paces in the PC Gamer labs and handpicked the ones we think you should spend your hard-earned money on.

Our top pick for the best DDR5 RAM for gaming is the G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB, which delivers excellent performance and is surprisingly affordable. It's worth noting, however, that for many AMD AM5 systems, anything above 6000 MT/s is not going to make much difference, and can even introduce higher latency. So aim for kits around the 6000MT/s sweet spot with EXPO support (AMD's version of XMP) for the best results. If you're trying to save some cash for your next build, then our suggestion for the best budget DDR5 for gaming is the Team Group T-Force Vulcan.

If you have an older system or just one that still uses DDR4, then the best overall DDR4 memory is Team Group's Xtreem ARGB 16GB DDR4-3600 kit. But if you need more RAM than that, then the best DDR4 for high capacity has to be a set of Corsair's Dominator Platinum RGB. There really is a perfect RAM kit for every gaming PC out there.

Curated by

Curated by

Chris Szewczyk

Chris has tested more memory sticks than he'd like to admit. In fact, I think he secretly does it in his spare time, too. He's our resident memory expert, and has gone through the RAM gamut, testing speeds against latency, and capacity, and DDR4 vs. DDR5. The lot. That makes him perfectly placed to advise us all on what the best RAM is for our gaming rigs.

Quick List

Best overall DDR5

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This is a kit for those primarily with high-end Intel systems, and not every system will be able to run it at its full speed. Trusting Intel XMP settings for speeds above 7000 MT/s can be tricksy. Some motherboards will struggle to deal with automated settings and can add in rather ludicrous voltage settings which you'll need to wrestle back into normal realms manually.

And for those of you with an AMD AM5 gaming PC, you'll be far better off picking one of G.Skill's 6000 MT/s Trident Z5 Neo kits, as Zen 4 CPUs are more picky about what RAM they're paired with. 6000 MT/s is considered the sweet spot for most AMD builds, and it's worth looking out for EXPO enabled kits for AMD systems too, as it's AMD's equivalent of XMP.

But the hell with it—we love fast memory kits. It's available to buy and delivers performance gains in more than a few gaming situations. It's also a great kit for tweakers and offers good looks, all without an exorbitant premium. If you buy this kit, you'll get several years of use out of it too.

Read our full G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 2x 16 GB DDR5-7200 CL34 review.

Best budget DDR5

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The Teamgroup T-Force Vulcan 2x 16 GB kit certainly isn't the fastest you'll come across, but at $100 or less it's the best budget DDR5 for gaming right now. These days, there's little reason to fall back to a DDR5-4800 kit unless you absolutely must save every single dollar. For the sake of an extra 10 bucks or so (if that), it's well worth jumping up a speed tier to DDR5-5200.

It's the kind of kit that will match well with entry-level or mid-range systems, such as a B-series Intel or AMD motherboard, though any DDR5 supporting platform will run this kit with ease. Enabling XMP for Intel systems won't result in any issues, as 1.25 V is on the low voltage side compared to faster kits which can require 1.4 V or more.

It's worth noting that the DIMMs are a little taller than the most basic of kits at 32.7 mm but it shouldn't present you with any issues unless you are using the largest dual-tower air coolers.

Performance-wise, you'll hardly notice a difference compared to faster kits at twice the price, and even less so in gaming unless you're running a very fast card, in which case you probably wouldn't be using this kit anyway.

These days, with DDR5 prices dropping so much compared to a couple of years ago, it can be worth jumping up to DDR5-6000 if your budget allows. But, at the affordable end of the market, allocating a few extra dollars to a better CPU or GPU will deliver more tangible benefits than you'll see by moving up to faster RAM.

Best high-capacity DDR5

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This G.Skill 2x 32 GB DDR5-6400 kit is the best high-capacity DDR5 RAM kit—fast with good timings, stylish looks, and mountains of gigabytes.

When it comes to gaming, there won't be a need for a 2x 32 GB DDR5 kit anytime soon, but if you use apps that thrive with capacious amounts of fast RAM, this G.Skill kit offers great value for money, good looks and high performance to go with its high capacity. The white Trident Z RGB version just begs to be shown off as part of a clean white-themed build!

Other than its usefulness in memory-gobbling creative and professional apps, lots of memory is beneficial for heavy multitasking. If you're the kind of user who runs a browser with 100 tabs open, streams, edits photos or videos and likes to game, then you can do all at the same time, and alt-tab between apps with little lag.

It's the kind of kit that will certainly last you for many years. With DDR6 a long way off, you'll be able to use it in lots of different PC builds in the future, so think of it as an investment. It's not like 16 GB is hitting the wall right now, and 32 GB won't be a problem anytime soon. But 64 GB? You'll be set for a while, at least.

All things considered, weighing up whether to buy such a kit isn't so much a case of asking yourself if you need it, it's more a case of why not. Many years from now, you'll surely appreciate that extra capacity for a relatively small outlay over a lesser kit. As long as the rest of your system is up to par, that is. It remains the case that gamers will almost always benefit more from a GPU upgrade over a memory capacity upgrade.

Still, if you're looking for high-capacity RAM right now, the G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-6400 CL32 kit will do you proud.

Read our full G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-6400 CL32 review.

Best overall DDR4

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This Team Xtreem ARGB kit is the best overall DDR4 for gaming, as it's not your standard DDR4 RAM—it’s one of the very few DDR4-3600 kits that come with a CAS latency of just 14. That puts it at the forefront of low-latency RAM favoured by gaming PCs, especially those that use AMD's AM4 socket.

DDR4 memory has matured nicely into old age. This speed is now the baseline for a decent gaming system. You could even argue that DDR4-3600 is the baseline for AMD Ryzen 5000 and Intel 12/13/14th Gen systems, for decent performance without any significant price premium.

That's great news for anyone with an AMD Zen 3 CPU, which favours a memory clock around the 3,600 MT/s mark—thus ensuring the Infinity Fabric clock is kept at a 1:1 ratio with your memory and your chip ticking over happily with minimal latency penalties. A kit such as the Team Xtreem is pretty much optimal.

So, how does it perform? Well, when compared to a regular DDR4-3200 kit you do see a slight performance increase in certain tasks, which makes it a great recommendation if you're looking to get the absolute most out your system.

If you want to eke out all your CPU has to offer and ensure your system looks fresh in the process, the Team Xtreem ARGB kit is a great option. Its DDR4-3600 speed and 14-15-15 timings offer a great blend of decent speed and low latency, without the steep price often associated with top-tier memory kits.

Throw in the modules' appealing visual design and Team has a winner of a kit that deserves your consideration, particularly for older-gen AMD users. It's the best DDR4 we recommend right now, and a great upgrade.

Read our full Team Xtreem ARGB DDR4-3600 C14 review.

Best budget DDR4

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The G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3600 is a more mundane set of sticks for your PC, compared to some of our other recommendations, but that's why it's the best budget DDR4 for gaming. Sometimes you simply want to stuff your PC with some great value RAM and close it back up, never to be seen again. These Ripjaws are great for a capacity upgrade, or if you don't care much for flashing lights inside of your build.

This is a second-generation DDR4 kit from G.Skill and it's clear the company listened to the feedback and criticisms from the customers. The series is more affordable, faster, and has a less tacky heatsink than its predecessor.

You can expect superb performance out of this Ripjaws V kit and it will pair nicely with all of AMD's and Intel's DDR4 platforms—many of AMD's Ryzen 5000-series chips really benefit from higher-clocked RAM and depending on your system, you might be able to push it to more than 3600 MHz, with the right timings.

With a reasonable price, whether running stock or overclocked, G.Skill's Ripjaws V is simply the best budget DDR4 RAM available right now. Providing you don't care about RGB LEDs, of which there are none. Chalk up a mark for being subtle, ey?

Best high-capacity DDR4

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Corsair has been producing great RAM for quite some time now and this Dominator Platinum RGB dual channel 32 GB kit is the best high-capacity DDR4 you can buy. Its sleek exterior, patented DHX cooling technology, and unrivalled performance make it a formidable upgrade for anyone.

Few games really benefit from having 32 GB in a gaming PC at the moment but this will change over time, so if you plan on keeping your DDR4 system for many years, then it makes sense to give it a decent amount now.

The Dominator Platinum's RGB is controlled by Corsair's iCUE software suite, which means any of your other Corsair products will be able to sync with the lighting profiles to create and overall lighting effect you can be proud of. For those without, there's still 15 predefined lighting effects that can be customised to your hearts content, making this RAM a bit of a looker, too.

In terms of performance, there's very little to complain about here. We found in our testing that, at stock XMP settings, our kit stood tall next to the original Dominator Platinum and the G.Skill Trident series at the same speed, meaning it's plenty fast compared to the DDR4 competition.

If you don't want flash or the overclocking headroom, you're probably better off buying something else, and the price may be a bit off-putting, too. But taking everything into account, we think it's worth every penny, especially if you like classy fast RAM. That makes the Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32 GB kit the best high-capacity DDR4 RAM you can buy.

Read our full Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB review.

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DDR4 and DDR5-RAM FAQ

Where to buy

Jargon buster - RAM terminology

DDR - Double Data Rate. All modern RAM sends and receives data at double the rate that the memory chips' clocks are running at. In the case of DDR5, it's four times the rate.

DIMMs - Dual In-Line Memory Module, the physical circuit board that holds the RAM chips that plug into the slots on your motherboard.

ECC Memory - Error-correcting Code Memory, RAM capable of automatically detecting and correcting errors on the fly, generally used in data-sensitive applications, like scientific work or banking. Typically only used and supported on servers and workstations, most desktop boards can run it as non-ECC.

EXPO - AMD's equivalent to Intel's XMP system (see below)

Frequency - The number of memory transfers that take place, per second. Measured in MHz or sometimes in MT/s (millions of transfers per second).

CL/CAS Latency - Column Access Strobe Latency is the delay between the memory controller requesting data from the RAM and the available data; the first number listed in a kit's timings. Smaller values equate to a snappier performance.

RDIMM - Registered DIMM. These are used in workstations and servers. They have extra circuitry to lower the electrical load on the CPU's memory controller and motherboard, allowing lots of DIMMs to be installed. They're seldom used in a desktop PC.

SO-DIMM - More compact DIMM slots are typically deployed in laptops, although these can also turn up on tiny machines.

Timings - How long, measured in memory clock cycles, it takes for the RAM to respond to an operation requested by the memory controller. Lower is generally better for performance but not all CPUs and motherboards support every timing possible.

UDIMM - Unregistered DIMM. Another name for the standard DIMMs that desktop PCs use.

XMP - eXtreme Memory Profile, instructions for the BIOS that tell it what frequency, timings, and voltage to access RAM at, a shortcut for overclocking without tinkering with each set individually. Officially for Intel platforms, many AMD boards readily support reading XMP data (though it may go by another name like A-XMP, EXPO, or DOHC).

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