16GB over 8GB is a no-brainer for productivity.

Yes, noticeably better for almost any real workload.

8GB is the bare minimum for Windows 10/11 these days. Once you open a browser, Slack, and a document editor, you’re already swapping to disk. A Ryzen 5 3600 is a capable chip, but it’s held back by memory pressure. With 16GB, you get headroom for multiple apps, virtual desktops, or compiling code without stutter.

The speed matters less than the capacity here. 3200MHz is fast enough for Zen 2, but 8GB at 3200MHz still bottlenecks you faster than 16GB at 2666MHz. If you’re doing anything beyond casual web browsing, you’ll feel the difference daily.

Future You won’t regret the extra $30-40.