Microsoft recently published a new support document for gaming on Windows, serving as a guide for what hardware people should choose in 2026. Just a day later, that post has already been deleted because it recommended 16GB of RAM as the "practical starting point," while suggesting users go for 32GB if they want to future-proof their system. That means 32GB is no longer overkill according to the Windows maker.
Despite the grim outlook of the market, if you follow recent hardware trends, the data actually backs up this argument. Last year, before the RAMpocalypse ushered in, we covered September 2025's Steam Survey that showed 16GB configs falling behind in popularity while 32 GB systems were gaining notoriety. The lines still haven't overlapped, though, and 16 GB remains more common than 32GB, especially with the current situation in mind.
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The company does lay out its reasoning for this — it says that more RAM will help in running apps like Discord alongside your game, while AAA blockbuster titles also benefit from the extra breathing room. That's true in essence because, of course, having more RAM will always be nice; it'll allow the system to rely less on the page file, which is much slower, while keeping more things in memory.
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