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Memory used to be the cheap part of a PC. Since late 2025 it isn’t: memory makers have moved production toward chips for AI data centers, and desktop DDR5 prices have climbed sharply. That makes buying the right amount — not the most — the whole game.
Quick answer
Most people: 32 GB, as two 16 GB sticks.
Heavy work (big video projects, virtual machines, running AI models partly in system memory): 64 GB, as two 32 GB sticks.
Speed: a DDR5-6000 CL30 kit is the common, well-supported choice for current AMD chips.
Two sticks, not four
This is the part most people get wrong. AMD’s own spec for its Ryzen 9000 processors lists memory speed by configuration: DDR5-5600 with two sticks, but only DDR5-3600 with four. Filling all four slots can cost you a lot of speed. Buy the capacity you need as a two-stick kit.
What “6000 CL30” means
6000 is the data rate (MT/s). Higher is faster.
CL30 is the delay in clock cycles before data arrives. Lower is quicker.
Note that DDR5-6000 is above AMD’s official DDR5-5600 rating. The kit reaches its speed through a one-click profile in the motherboard settings — AMD EXPO or Intel XMP. AMD itself called DDR5-6000 the “sweet spot” for its Ryzen 7000 chips, and reports put Ryzen 9000’s at DDR5-6000 to 6400.
The picks
At a glance — maker specs; tap a name for the full pick
