5 Reasons 16GB of RAM Matters More for 1% Lows Than Average FPS

8GB is the bare minimum for Windows 10/11 and a modern open-world game like Cyberpunk 2077. Once you start playing, the game alone can use 10-12GB of RAM.

When your system runs out of physical RAM, Windows starts swapping data to your SSD. That swap is orders of magnitude slower than RAM, which hits your 1% low FPS hard.

1% lows measure the worst frame drops during gameplay, not the average. With 8GB, you get micro-stutters where the game freezes for a split second while loading assets from storage.

Upgrading to 16GB gives your system headroom so it doesn’t need to page constantly. Your 1% lows will be higher and more stable, smoothing out the experience.

Adding another 8GB stick is the single cheapest upgrade you can make to fix stuttering. It won’t wildly change your max frame rate, but it will clean up the dips that make games feel bad.