How Much RAM Do I need For Warzone 2? (16GB RAM for Laptops)

Call of Duty Warzone 2 is one of the hottest video games and one of the most demanding games you can play on a gaming PC or gaming laptop. You must ensure your computer has at least 175 GB HD space available. A speedy processor and a dedicated graphics card.

You also need a substantial amount of random access memory (RAM) for Warzone to run smoothly. But how much RAM do you need for Warzone? Well, I’ve played COD Warzone with 8GB of RAM and there is a substantial difference between 8GB and having 16GB RAM.

If you want to enjoy the best COD Warzone gameplay. Keep reading as I explain how much RAM you need. Also, share tips to help improve your gaming laptop with 8GB of RAM.

How Much RAM Do I Need for Warzone?

To ensure smooth gameplay and optimal performance in Call of Duty Warzone, it is recommended to have a minimum of 8GB of RAM. However, for the best experience, it is advisable to have 16GB or more. If you engage in activities like recording and streaming gameplay, 32GB of RAM would be the most effective amount.

Playing Call of Duty Warzone on a gaming laptop with 8GB of RAM is generally not advised. This is because gaming laptops typically lack the necessary horsepower compared to dedicated gaming PCs. I have personally played Warzone with only 8GB of RAM, and the experience was satisfactory.

However, since I upgraded to a new laptop with 16GB of DDR5 memory, I can confidently say that the gameplay experience in Warzone has improved significantly.

More RAM Equals:

• Improves Overall Performance
• Faster Games Load Times
• Boost System Responsiveness
• Improves Warzone Frame Rates

Warzone Recommended System Requirements

As per Activision’s ‘ COD Warzone System Requirements, you’ll need a CPU equivalent to an Intel Core i3-4340 or an AMD Ryzen R5 1600X to play this action packed game on your laptop. For your GPU, they recommend something on par with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB/GTX 1660 6GB or an AMD Radeon RX 470. As for RAM, they recommend at least 8GB, but as we’ve said, 12GB or more is ideal, and 16GB would be best.

However, these system requirements can be misleading to those new to playing Warzone. They state you need at least 8GB RAM, but that doesn’t take into account the RAM required for running your operating system and/or your system vitals software.

Minimum COD Warzone System Requirements

Minimum Specifications needed to play Call of Duty: Vanguard:

• OS: Windows 10 64-Bit
• CPU: Intel i5 8th Gen 4 core – AMD Ryzen 5 4000 series
• RAM: 8 GB RAM
• STORAGE SPAGE: 175GB HD Space: All Game Modes
• GRAPHICS CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX 470
• GRAPHICS MEMORY: 2 GB
• GRAPHICS DRIVER: NVIDIA 472.12 or AMC 21.9.1

Recommended COD Warzone System Requirements

Recommended COD Warzone System Requirements to run at 60FPS with all options set to high:

• OS: Windows 10 64-Bit or Windows 11 64-Bit 
• CPU: Intel i5 9/10/11th Gen – AMD Ryzen 7 4000 series or above
• RAM: 12 GB RAM
• STORAGE SPAGE: 175GB HD Space
• GRAPHICS CARD: GTX10 series (Not GTX1050M), or GTX16 series – Radeon RX5000M series
• VIDEO MEMORY: 4 GB
• GRAPHICS DRIVER: NVIDIA 472.12 or AMC 21.9.1

Competitive Call of Duty Warzone System Requirements

The competitive system requirements to run at a high 120+ FPS for use with a high refresh monitor:

• OS: Windows 10 64-Bit or Windows 11 64-Bit 
• CPU: Intel i7 9/10/11/12th Gen – AMD Ryzen 7 4000 series or above
• RAM: 16 GB RAM
• STORAGE SPAGE: 175GB HD Space
• GRAPHICS CARD: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060/RTX 2070+ or AMD Radeon RX 5700XT+
• VIDEO MEMORY: 8 GB
• GRAPHICS DRIVER: NVIDIA 472.12 or AMC 21.9.1

Is 8GB RAM Good For Warzone?

To compete with the best players in Warzone, 8GB of RAM alone will not suffice for smooth gameplay. With limited memory, you will struggle to achieve the necessary frame rates (60-80 fps) required to excel in this highly addictive first person shooter.

While 8GB of RAM is ample for running most other games smoothly, such as Overwatch, CS GO, and GTA 5, Call of Duty Warzone demands a minimum of 12GB RAM. This game is incredibly demanding, and attempting to run it with less may result in performance issues.

Even if you close all other programs and applications, the situation won’t improve by too much. You would also need to reduce the graphics settings to the minimum to maintain a relatively stable 50 to 60 FPS, and you would likely still experience lag.

Fortunately, there is a silver lining. Most gaming laptops can be upgraded with additional RAM, allowing you to replace the existing 8GB (2x4GB) configuration with 2 x 8GB RAM modules. This approach is more cost-effective than purchasing a new gaming laptop with 16+ gigs of RAM already installed, and it will deliver a noticeable boost in performance.

Is 16GB RAM Good For Warzone?

16GB of RAM is considered more than sufficient for running Warzone smoothly. Also, 16 gigs of random access memory is known as the sweet spot for gaming on laptops and PC computers. As it offers a nice balance between power and price.

Moreover, 16GB would also be enough RAM to future-proof your gaming laptop against any potential RAM-hogging games that might come out in the future. Also 16GB RAM is enough to run multiple programs while playing Warzone.

So, if you like to have a lot of tabs open in your web browser or music playing in the background while running Warzone, 16GB RAM will be able to handle that without any problems. In terms of raw power, 16GB is a good amount of RAM even for the most demanding games.

Why You Need 16GB RAM for Warzone?

The gaming laptop that I use to run Call of Duty Warzone used to have 8 gigs of RAM. With this, I often suffered while playing Warzone and experienced issues. However, I have since upgraded to 16GB RAM (2×8 gigs), and most of the time enjoy 120+ fps. 

While playing Call of Duty Warzone, you also need to think about other programmes and apps that you need. A gaming laptop such as the HP Omen 15 uses the Omen gaming hub software to monitor system vitals and it also helps control the fan speeds.

Running the HP Omen software, GeForce Experience, and Call of Duty Warzone together uses about 15.6GB of RAM. This means if you only had 8GB for Warzone, you would not be able to do any of this with experiencing issues. For this reason, I always recommend buying a gaming laptop with at least 16GB for playing Warzone. Or upgrading your own gaming laptop.

16GB Vs 32GB RAM For Call of Duty Warzone?

For gaming, especially running an intensive game like Call of Duty Warzone, the difference in performance between 16GB and 32GB RAM is not that much. You will only see a slight difference in gaming performance.

The benefits of 32GB RAM are not that significant unless you plan on using your gaming laptop for other things like video editing, streaming, graphic design or other memory-intensive task. 32GB of RAM will ensure you complete these tasks much quicker.

Additionally, this amount of RAM (32GB) will ensure you future proof your gaming laptop for many years to come. What I mean by that is maybe in three, four, or even five years. 32GB RAM could overtake 16 gigs of RAM, just like 16GB took over 8 GB of RAM for being the sweet spot required for gaming.

All that said, 32GB RAM is not absolutely necessary for running Call of Duty Warzone, as this game will run perfectly fine with 16GBs of RAM. However, I wouldn’t kick 32 GB of RAM out of bed if it was given to me.

Do I Need 32GB For Warzone?

You do not need 32GB RAM for running Warzone smoothly. 16GB will be more than enough to run Call of Duty Warzone 2. 32GB of RAM is only necessary if you are using your gaming laptop for other memory-intensive tasks like streaming.

Additionally, the price difference between 16GB and 32GB RAM can be significant. This is because you would need to purchase two 16GB sticks of RAM if you only had two sticks of 8GB of RAM. So it’s not worth opting for 32GB RAM unless you really need it.

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How to Run Warzone Smoothly on 8GB RAM?

If you’re looking to get the most out of your 8GB RAM, there are a few things you can do to try and improve performance. However, even with these tweaks you may still experience issues. I mean, lagging and page filing issues etc. Don’t forget, Call of Duty Warzone isn’t optimized the best for gaming laptops, so you need also to consider that.

Close Programmes and Apps

To free up system resources, including the available RAM, for Call of Duty Warzone to use. You must close any unnecessary programmes and apps you are not using.

Click: CTRL + ALT + DELETE – Select Task Manager – Click the Memory Tab to see what uses most RAM – Right Click a programme and select End Task.

Lowering the Graphics Settings

You must also consider lowering the graphics settings in Call of Duty Warzone. Doing this will help improve performance. But may make the game look visually worse. So, it’s a trade-off.

Change In-game Settings

You can change the in-game settings, including things like capping the frame rate to 60fps or lower, and changing the render resolution scale. These changes will help improve performance. But again, they will also have a negative impact on the game’s visuals.

Allocate More RAM to Warzone

You can also allocate more RAM to Call of Duty Warzone by going into Windows settings and changing the amount of RAM already allocated to the game. By increasing the amount of RAM already allocated you may see a slight improvement in performance. 

Click: CTRL + ALT + DELETE – Select Task Manager – Click on the Details tab and the click on the Memory Tab and look for Call of Duty Warzone – Right Cl ick – Set Priority and Change to High. Note: this will only work if Warzone is already running in the background.

Upgrading your RAM

If you are still struggling to get good performance out of Warzone with only 8GB RAM. You could consider upgrading your laptop with more RAM. Upgrading the RAM can make a big difference to performance. But, ensure you have dual channel as the benefits are huge.

So, those are a few things you can do to try and improve performance if you’re looking to run Call of Duty Warzone on a laptop with only 8GB RAM at your disposal.

Why Dual-Channel RAM is Best?

Dual channel RAM is when you have two sticks of RAM working together in pairs. Adding a second RAM stick is an easy way to upgrade your laptop’s performance. It can provides a nice performance boost over single channel RAM.

Overall, it may work out to be slightly more expensive to get two 8GB sticks or two 16GB sticks of RAM, but it would be worth it for the performance boost it will give you.

Conclusion

To run Call of Duty Warzone smoothly on lower settings 8GB RAM would suffice. However, from my experience over the last few years, 16GB of RAM (random access memory) will allow you to play with higher graphics settings and allow you to have other programmes running in the background, like video recording software without any issues like lag.

If you only have 8GB RAM, there are a few things you can do. First learn how to improve performance on your laptop with this guide. Upgrading your laptop with more RAM is always an option. But ensure to go for dual channel RAM, and both sticks are the same speed.

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Thanks for Reading, Until Next Time, Cya!

Sources: Call of Duty Website: Call of Duty: Warzone | Best Free Battle Royale Game