In Minecraft, the RAM usage will usually default to 2GB, which is enough to run the game at fast speeds, but too little to completely prevent lag. As you expand your world or load new chunks, it’s likely that you’ll start to suffer with frame stuttering and lag.
It’s possible, and quite easy to change your RAM in Mojang’s newer Minecraft Launcher. You can configure each version to use a different amount of RAM if you wanted to. Increasing RAM will help with load times, chunk loading and general frames per second in Minecraft.
You can check our quick guide below for adjusting the RAM in Minecraft and allocating more. If you want to check out some more Minecraft guides, feel free to check out our Minecraft Guides area.
How to Allocate More RAM to Minecraft
To allocate more RAM, open up the Minecraft Launcher on PC, then press the ‘Installations’ tab at the top of the screen. You will be shown all of your currently installed Minecraft Versions, whether they be Vanilla Minecraft, Snapshots or Modded Minecraft.
Hover over the version you normally play (judge it by the version number). On the right hand side, press the 3 dots to bring up a drop-down menu, then select the ‘Edit’ button. Then you will need to press the ‘More Options’ button to expand on this window.
In the bottom right corner of the Edit Installation window, you will see a field labelled ‘Java Arguments’. You will see the text ‘-Xmx2G’, or perhaps there will be a different number.
This is the amount of RAM currently dedicated to that Minecraft Version, with 2G meaning 2GB. You can change this argument to increase the ram, for example, setting it to -Xmx4G or -Xmx8G respectively. Save your changes and run Minecraft to now have more RAM usage and hopefully run faster.
Quick Guide for Allocating More Minecraft RAM
To allocate more RAM to Minecraft, follow these steps:
- Open up the Minecraft Launcher
- Select the ‘Installations’ tab at the top of the screen
- Look for your Minecraft Version, select the options menu to the right and edit the settings.
- Click ‘More Options’ in the next window, look for ‘Java Arguments’ towards the bottom.
- Look for the code ‘Xmx2G’ or some other number, change this to 4G for 4GB of RAM, 8G for 8GB of ram etc.
- Save your changes! You will now have assigned more RAM to Minecraft. Launch the game.
What Happens If I Don’t Have Enough Ram?
Not having enough RAM for Minecraft can be a big problem. The biggest issue you’ll notice is frame drops, with it likely often dipping below 30 FPS (frames per second). Anything below 30 frames per second and you will likely notice stuttering.
Laptops are usually a common problem, as they are often shipped with integrated RAM which can not be upgraded, nor is it fast enough to run most games. You’ll have slower loading times, constant stuttering and the entire game will feel unplayable until the point it might even crash.
It doesn’t matter what GPU you’re running, whether it be a GTX 980 to GTX 2070. The GPU won’t perform as well as it should without even RAM, you’ll be suffering with some bottle-necking.
How Much RAM Do I Need to Allocate to Minecraft?
Now that’s an open-ended question. You should really only allocate whatever you need to run the game at optimal settings and performance. Some people can do this on as low as 2GB, others need 8GB. Whilst you’re playing Minecraft, you can actually press F3 to view your current performance including RAM usage in a percentage. You don’t want this to get close to 100%.
If you are running a Multiplayer server, then you will definitely need higher amounts of RAM. 2-4GB is easily enough for maybe up-to 4 players, but any higher than that, and you’ll need to allocate more.
