I'm putting together my first desktop because my six-year-old Dell G5 5590 laptop is struggling with both gaming and 3D work. It currently has 16GB of DDR4-2666 memory, but Unreal Engine already warns that the system is low on memory, games stutter, and Maya, Substance Painter, and Unreal become slower as projects get larger. Ideally, I'd like to keep several 3D applications open alongside Chrome while working.
Memory prices are high, so I'm considering starting with 16GB of DDR5 instead of 32GB and relying on the higher memory speed to save money. However, 32GB costs roughly $200 or more extra in my current parts list. Would 16GB of DDR5 be enough for this workload, or would I still run into the same problems? Should I choose a less expensive DDR4 platform with 32GB or more, and how much memory would be sensible for larger scenes and Unreal projects?
4 Answers
Some heavy 3D scenes can use 24GB of RAM by themselves, before you even add the operating system, Unreal, a browser, or other tools. For basic modeling and smaller projects, 32GB should be workable, but 16GB is likely to keep causing slowdowns and memory warnings. If your budget allows it, leave room to upgrade to 64GB later.
Don’t choose the platform based only on DDR5 speed. A more affordable DDR4 build with 32GB or 64GB may give you better performance for the money than an expensive DDR5 build limited to 16GB. The important things are total capacity, a motherboard with open memory slots, and a sensible upgrade path. Newer hardware can offer longer-term upgrades, but it isn’t worth sacrificing the RAM your current workload already needs.
Since your current 16GB system is already running out of memory, faster 16GB DDR5 probably won’t solve the underlying problem. Capacity matters much more here than the difference between DDR4 and DDR5. I’d treat 32GB as the practical starting point, with 64GB being a better target if you work with large scenes, world building, simulations, or several applications at once.
For professional 3D work, 64GB is a comfortable target, and 128GB can make sense for particularly large environments or simulations. If you’re mainly doing smaller models, texturing, and lower-poly game assets, 32GB should be enough for now. Since you’re already seeing memory warnings, I would prioritize 32GB immediately rather than hoping faster memory will compensate for having less of it.
I already bought an AM5 motherboard because I was thinking about future upgrades. Would switching to AM4 and getting 32GB of DDR4 be a better choice than keeping AM5 with only 16GB of DDR5?