Is 8GB of RAM enough for gaming?

Yes for many games, no for a growing number of new releases, and it depends heavily on what else you have open.

What 8GB comfortably covers

8 GB clears the published minimum for a large share of our catalogue — you can see the generated list on games for 8GB of RAM. That includes most esports titles, most indie games, and a good number of AAA games released before about 2020.

Where it stops working

Several recent releases list 16 GB at the minimum tier, not the recommended one. Hogwarts Legacy, Marvel Rivals and Black Myth: Wukong all do. On an 8 GB machine those are not "run with lower settings" situations — they are below the floor the publisher tested against.

The part that is easy to miss

Windows uses 2–3 GB before you open anything. Add a browser, a chat client and a game launcher and you can be at 6 GB before the game starts. That is why 8 GB systems often stutter rather than crash: the game is running, but it is constantly paging to disk.

If you are on 8 GB and want to know whether that is your problem, open Task Manager while playing and watch the Memory tab. If you are consistently near capacity, it is.

Is it worth upgrading?

Usually yes, because RAM is the cheapest meaningful upgrade available. Two things to check first:

1. What type does your motherboard take? DDR4 and DDR5 are not interchangeable.
2. How many slots do you have, and how many are used? Going from one 8 GB stick to two is a double win — more capacity and dual-channel operation.

Match the new kit to the existing one where you can. Mixed kits usually work but sometimes will not run at their rated speed.

The honest summary

If you are building new, 16 GB. If you have 8 GB and it is working for what you play, it is not urgent. If you are seeing stutter in recent releases, this is very likely the cause and it is the cheapest thing to fix.