16GB is the smart choice for a budget i3-12100 build.

No, 16GB is not overkill — it’s the new baseline.

8GB is still technically enough for light browsing and old games, but we’re past the point where that’s a comfortable minimum. Windows alone uses 4GB before you open a browser. Add a few tabs, Discord, and a modern game, and you’re already swapping to disk. The i3-12100 is a solid little CPU — don’t bottleneck it with skimpy RAM.

Future-proofing a budget build often feels like a contradiction, but RAM is the one thing you should stretch on. It’s cheap relative to everything else (around $30–40 for 16GB DDR4), and you won’t have to think about it for years. Plus, DDR4 is so mature that the price difference between 8GB and 16GB is almost nothing.

Future you will thank you.