Game development is an awesome career for creating unique games to earn money and also to fulfill your dream of playing games, the profession is emerging rapidly demand for game developers in the market is immense.
The number of Indie game developers increasing in the last few years if you are a beginner or starting off with game design then you might be thinking of a high-end PC or laptop and must be confused about the specifications, especially ram memory.
The game design is all about animations, special effects, graphics, character build, and stories with proper motion overall it brings a lot to the table.
The profession requires a properly optimized setup to do all the tasks and memory is one of the crucial factors it’s quite obvious to ask yourself How much ram do I need for game development let’s find out the answer.
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How much ram do I need for game development?
The 16GB ram memory is recommended whether you are doing 2D or 3D designs as 2D designers and students widely prefer to start working on unity which is the most diverse game engine.
You can anytime switch between 2D to 3D makes it popular for game developers you must have 16GB with an upgradeable option for the future.
Game development is not only about writing codes it’s more than coding, but Developers also have to work on game engines like unity and unreal engine however the most popular one for 3D design unreal which requires a lot of memory resources.
Moreover, if you have reached to advance level and you want to create 3D games or specifically PC games then unreal engine is very resourceful software, to run the application smoothly though 16GB is decent yet 32GB is recommended.
Like any other productive work, this profession involves designing specifically if you are a freelancer, then must be handling all the tasks alone so at some point have to work on the designs of characters, programming, and do not forget the rendering which is the memory hog.
For all this, you need to keep a lot of memory space idle so it can reduce the system lagging, more memory means a smooth operation additionally windows operating system also takes about 2-4GB of memory so taking decisions wisely is a must.
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How much ram is enough for android game development
Game development on mobile platforms like android and ios games is not as heavy work as pc game design.
The suggestion is to test out the pc with 8GB ram as other applications in your system also utilize resources where you need to keep a good balance to get decent output.
However, here CPU selection becomes critical you must have a minimum of 4 cores and 8 threads with 2.5ghz frequency for smoothening performance.
While designing games 8GB most likely will work fine but higher than this specification makes things much easier.
Is mac good for game development?
The MacBook with the newly launched processor chip stormed into the market and in a short span it became a favorite for professionals but unfortunately, macs are not optimized for developing high-end games like VR or AAA titles.
I would recommend only if you planning to make video games for iOS or mac users, however, you also need to install XCode to do programming on MacBook.
Instead, you can operate a mac OS on a windows pc by implementing the Hackintosh method basically in this process windows users are able to operate a mac OS which is handy to launch games on various platforms.
Yet it’s one of the trickiest strategies so doing it carefully is a must read the complete guide here or watch the detailed video below.
Moreover, mac at this point is not equipped with a dedicated GPU which is essential for 3d games, and screen refresh rate is another obstacle while testing game specifically fast-paced or esports games as these types of video play requires a higher screen frame rate for analyzing performance issues.
Do I need a powerful computer for game development?
Yes, a strong PC makes game development smooth and efficient as the game involves many steps from drafting your plan, and programming to the final stage of designing the character.
Besides at regular intervals, developers have to examine the progress for all this you need a lot of support from computing hardware depending on your work pattern.
The laptop or PC should meet the system requirements for game development for a more precise answer always better to check the specification recommendation on the website of the game engine, that you are going to use for designing your games.
However, we have also done in-depth research on PC requirements for game development as discussed below, and segregated the part into 2D and 3D for better understanding.
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2D Game Development PC requirement
The 2D designer and entry-level developer can get away with older PC, but 3D games use processing power a lot additionally dedicated graphics card also becomes essential.
Moreover, what kind of software you run also determines the selection of hardware while building a PC for game development.
For entry-level game development, an Intel i5 or Ryzen 5 CPU with quad-core and a minimum of up to 2.5Ghz speed makes a great deal as there are many great choices at lower pricing.
The 8GB ram keeps a good combination with the CPU for performing your task however 16GB can enhance the capability of the computer, additionally, the SSD drive is a must for keeping your system fast.
The HDD is slower which makes no sense for tasks such as programming and development however SSD drive is a little expensive but worth each penny.
The challenge you can face is lower storage capacity whereas for this profession you have to keep a lot of data backup, in this case, you can manage with an external hard drive.
The other factor is either to have an integrated or dedicated graphics card, well there are few game engines that suggest integrated GPU as the minimum requirement yet d-GPU makes a lot of sense even for 2D developers.
As while rendering complex scenes, GPU won’t put much pressure on the CPU as a result rendering will take less time than usual, at least a minimum 4GB chip size can bring a lot of value to your work.
Graphics cards such as GTX 1060, 1070, GTX 1650, and 1660ti are recommended for low budget, these are all capable enough to provide that X factor in your game-designing journey.
The display quality is another factor that you must pay attention Full HD is pretty much decent but make sure your laptop has a better screen refresh rate to test games.
As a higher frame rate ensures running the game at max settings with smooth run time, anything up to 120hz refresh rate is decent for 2D games anything higher than this provides much better output.
Recommended Hardware requirement
- CPU: Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 5, 4 cores minimum 2.5Ghz frequency.
- GPU: GTX 1060 or higher.
- Graphics driver: Minimum DirectX 11 compatible
- Ram: 8GB with upgradable slot minimum up to 16GB
- Hard drive: SSD is a must.
- Free space: Minimum 70-80GB (Depending on application)
- Storage capacity: 500GB SSD.
- Display size: 15.6” or above.
- Refresh rate: 120hz or higher.
- Operating system: Windows 7 or above (64-bit version is a must)
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3D Game Development PC requirement
The 3D designers need a powerful machine to tackle all their daily tasks the processor and GPU become top-level components and try to build computers furnished with modern specifications.
The processor should boast intel i7 or higher with 6 cores and 12 threads support device should have a frequency of anything above 2.5Ghz and 16GB memory which is recommended.
As you are not going to use only a game engine on PC there are many other applications you might have to run in order to get your job done.
Though the unreal engine official site suggests 8GB yet while running heavy 3D modeling or rendering work your machine becomes slow.
As a result, the developer faces common issues such as bottleneck which is quite irritating as it takes a lot of time.
The computer CPU cannot do all the work alone while designing 3D games you must have a dedicated GPU that is compatible with DirectX 11 or 12 graphics driver.
To tackle gaming requirements the Nvidia GTX 1660ti or AMD RX 5600 does decently on 3D designs yet Nvidia RTX 2060 and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT or higher is a stronger contenders, as these are much more capable to steer heavy workloads, deigning to render videos.
The screen monitor is another very tricky topic while building a PC for game development as a 3D designer you may have to test out on higher resolution.
Overall Full HD is still functioning yet to check everything correctly higher resolution and more than 144hz refresh rate ensure much better viewing angles, here multiple screens set up are also not out of the equation for you.
Recommended Hardware requirement
- CPU: Intel i7, Ryzen 7 or its equivalent, 6 cores minimum 2.5Ghz
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 1660ti & AMD RX 5600 or its equivalent.
- Graphics driver: Minimum DirectX 11 and 12.
- Ram: 16GB with an upgradable slot for the future.
- Hard drive: SSD is a must.
- Free space: Minimum 80-90GB (Depending on application)
- Storage capacity: 500GB SSD.
- Display size: 15” to 17”
- Refresh rate: 144hz or above
- Operating system: Windows 10 (64-bit version is a must)
Frequently asked questions
Is Ram important for game development?
Yes, memory is very crucial for smooth workflow on game development software especially game engines like Unreal engine, unity, and blender require a lot of memory during working on gaming.
Is desktop for game development worth it?
Yes, desktops its completely worth each penny you spend on them as they are much more affordable than their counterparts however you have to compromise on portability otherwise from a performance point of view there won’t be any issue if the system is built properly.
How much ram do I need for unreal engine 5?
It’s controvertible whether to go with 8GB or 16GB as your work also determines the memory usage however 16GB ram is always the safest option for running gaming applications on your system.
Does game development require a graphics card?
Yes, game development requires graphics cards not only for rendering but also for other tasks while designing it can provide you a much better angle while creating responsive characters even if you have a low budget and suggest you have a minimum of 4GB dedicated GPU in your system.
Is 16GB ram enough for unreal engine 5?
Yes, 16GB memory is sufficient for working on unreal engine 5.
Final words:
Here I am concluding How much ram do I need for game development, the 16GB is sufficient for working on any type of game engine almost all the engines suggest 8GB.
But this barely tackles the heavy work as a developer you may work on other applications like Photoshop, blender, etc this is where 8GB memory might use complete resources.
This profession is not only required memory your PC must have a good CPU, GPU, SSD, and display quality as it’s a multi-dimensional field where you have to do everything, especially indie developers, at the beginning you have to handle all alone so you rely entirely on a PC or laptop.
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