16GB is the new minimum for gaming. Productivity? Depends on your tabs.

Yes, for gaming. For basic productivity, maybe not.

Modern games will absolutely choke on 8GB. You’ll see stuttering, long load times, and texture pop-in because Windows and background apps already eat 3-4GB. With 16GB, those problems disappear. It’s the biggest single upgrade you can make for gaming, short of a better GPU.

Productivity is trickier. If you’re just in Word, a browser with a few tabs, and email, 8GB is still fine. But if you’re like me, with 30 browser tabs open, Slack, Spotify, a code editor, and a VM, then 16GB is the difference between smooth sailing and constant beach balls. For heavy multitasking, it’s a massive improvement.

Your future self will thank you when you don’t have to close Discord to play Elden Ring.