The difference between memory and storage in gaming

With news of the next generation of consoles flooding our tech radar lately, we’ve been more inundated with numbers and specs than ever before. Seasoned PC gamers have been conditioned to expect the relentless march of technology that constantly launches new lines of every component at the expense of our wallets. But these days, with the confusion between naming, numbering and the adding of specs, it’s harder than ever to figure out what to want and what to buy. To help keep things straight as you consider your next purchases, let’s talk about one of the basics: memory.

As suggested by its name, memory is a measure of how much data a computer can remember or store. Just like the human brain, this is split into two separate functions: short-term and long-term memory. Short-term memory is basically wiped clean as soon as your computer’s finished with the data or when you power down the system. Long-term memory is used for any files intended to be kept after the system is powered off and is known as storage.

When someone talks about how much memory a PS5, Xbox Series X or PC has, they’re likely talking about short-term memory. In technical terms, this is RAM, or Random Access Memory. When you think of RAM, what probably springs to mind are sticks like DDR4. You can visualise this as a sort of notepad that sits on your CPU’s desk, allowing it to keep things (pictures, files, calculations, programs, etc.) close at hand because it’s going to immediately do work with them. (For example, deploying maps or models quickly when they’re needed by applications.)

Having a lot of RAM is important for your system because it allows your CPU to keep more of these resources ready to use at a moment’s notice. This can be for anything from the number of tabs you have open in your internet browser, to the high-resolution textures that a game needs to load for a new level. (This second example is sometimes handled by a specialised form of RAM that is part of a graphics card, called VRAM.) In general, when next-gen console manufacturers talk about how much memory their new systems are packing, this is what they’re referring to.

RAM is measured in GB (gigabytes), with capacities anywhere from 2GB to 64GB per stick. However, so is the long-term memory of a computer, which is more commonly called storage. While RAM usually has a maximum capacity of 256GB on a system, storage tops out more often in the TB (terabytes, ~1000GB) of data.

While you can store more data in storage devices – such as internal or external hard drives, and solid-state drives (SSDs) – that data isn’t accessed as quickly as RAM. This means they’re more suited to keeping programs that aren’t currently in use, or pictures, songs and videos that you aren’t playing in that moment. Essentially, storage is where you keep things that you want to run later or multiple times.