Today we’re going to be taking a deep dive through Sony’s RAM history. Starting with the PS5 all the way to the PS1, let’s take a look at how PlayStation’s RAM has evolved over the years.
How Much RAM Does The PS5 Have?
The PS5 has 16 GB of RAM. The PS5’s RAM is unified, which means it is used as system RAM and VRAM at the same time. This improves performance because data doesn’t need to be copied between multiple pools of memory. The PS5’s RAM is also GDDR6, which is very fast when working with the PS5’s SSD.
16 GB of RAM may not sound like a lot, but new gen consoles do not need a lot of RAM to be powerful.
SSDs make it so assets only need to be loaded a second before they’re used, as opposed to the 30 seconds HDDs need. This means 16 GB of GDDR6 RAM is plenty.
How Much RAM Does The PS5 Digital Have?
The PS5 Digital has 16 GB of GDDR6 RAM. The PS5 Digital’s RAM is exactly the same as the PS5’s RAM. It is unified RAM, which means that it is used as traditional RAM as well as VRAM. This means the GPU and CPU both use the RAM, which improves performance and makes loading assets very efficient.
Some were surprised that the new gen consoles didn’t come out with 32 GB of RAM. However, 16 GB is plenty, especially when you consider how fast the SSDs in these consoles are. Consoles just don’t need to store much RAM data nowadays in order to perform fast and efficiently.
Can You Add RAM To The PS5?
You cannot add RAM to the PS5 or the PS5 Digital. There is no way to increase the 16 GB of RAM that the PS5 and PS5 Digital have. Thanks to SSDs, there is no need to expand the amount of RAM that the consoles have, because the consoles will not have to preload data nearly as much as they had to with HDDs.
When it comes to RAM, more is typically better. However, 16 GB is plenty for the PS5 and PS5 Digital. Sony did not add any way to upgrade the RAM, and they probably never will. Most games shouldn’t come close to using up the 16 GB anyways.
How Much VRAM Does PS5 Have?
The PS5 has 16 GB of VRAM. However, the VRAM isn’t traditional VRAM like you may find in a PC. The PS5’s GPU is built into the CPU and uses the PS5’s regular RAM as VRAM. So the CPU and GPU share the same 16 GB unified RAM pool. So while it has 16 GB of RAM, not all of it will be used as VRAM or regular RAM.
The PS5 has what is known as unified RAM. This is very common in consoles. Since the PS5 doesn’t have a dedicated GPU, it doesn’t have dedicated VRAM.
Instead, the GPU built into the CPU will pull from the 16 GB of unified RAM that the PS5 includes. This RAM is GDDR6, though, so it is extremely fast. This speed makes up for the lack of regular VRAM.
How Much VRAM Does The PS5 Digital Have?
The PS5 Digital has 16 GB of VRAM. However, that VRAM is not technically VRAM. Instead, it is regular RAM that the PS5 Digital’s integrated GPU can use as VRAM. This is unified RAM. The PS5 Digital’s GPU is built into the CPU, which means it does not have a dedicated GPU and therefore no dedicated VRAM.
If you want to be extremely technical, then the PS5 Digital has no VRAM because it has no GPU. However, it has unified RAM, which means the system uses its 16 GB of RAM as VRAM when necessary.
This is common in consoles that have a GPU integrated into their CPU and performs just as well as most dedicated VRAM.
How Much RAM Does The PS4 Have?
The PS4 has 8 GB of RAM. All versions of the PS4 have 8 GB of GDDR5 RAM. The PS4 Pro’s RAM is still 24% faster than the regular PS4’s RAM though. There’s no way to add RAM to the PS4 or PS4 Pro, but it isn’t necessary. The PS4 also has no VRAM and instead uses system RAM as VRAM.
The PS4 is pretty similar to the PS5 in architecture. Neither console has VRAM, but use unified RAM instead.
The PS4 has only 8 GB of RAM, though, which is half of what the PS5 had. It’s still a substantial upgrade from the PS3, though.
How Much RAM Does The PS3 Have?
The PS3 has 256 MB of RAM. This may seem extremely low, but the PS3 was able to use this RAM extremely efficiently thanks to its highly efficient and fast CPU. The PS3 also has 256 MB of GDDR3 VRAM which also helps with its efficiency. The low RAM does cause performance issues in some PS3 games, though.
Consoles are very efficient with how they load and run games. Instead of moving an ocean with a few large buckets, the PS3 opts for many small buckets that it can load quickly.
This does have limits, though, which is why many people experience stuttering on their PS3. The PS4 and onward have moved onto unified RAM, instead of separate RAM and VRAM like the PS3.
How Much RAM Does The PS2 Have?
The PS2 has 32 MB of RAM. On top of the 32 MB RAM, the PS2 also has 4 MB of VRAM. This is very low compared to modern computers and consoles, but the PS2’s CPU and other components were built to efficiently handle the RAM and VRAM. Consoles also have much lighter operating systems than computers.
How Much RAM Does The PS1 Have?
The PS1 has 2 MB of RAM. On top of its RAM, the PS1 also has 1 MB of VRAM. This is a very miniscule amount of RAM and VRAM compared to modern consoles, but PS1 games are also a lot less demanding than modern games. On top of the less demanding games, the PS1’s Operating System was also extremely lightweight.
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Eric streams 3 days a week on Twitch and uploads weekly to Youtube under the moniker, StreamersPlaybook. He loves gaming, PCs, and anything else related to tech. He’s the founder of the website StreamersPlaybook and loves helping people answer their streaming, gaming, and PC questions.
