Cheapest 16GB desktop RAM ranked by price per GB

16GB desktop RAM: the floor for a modern PC

16GB is the minimum for a new Windows desktop in 2026 and still enough for office work, browsing, streaming and most games at 1080p. The 464 16GB desktop kits above are ranked by real price per gigabyte, from £1.81/GB to £60.67/GB with a median of £7.90/GB; the cheapest right now is PC3L 10600U DDR3L 1333MHz 16GB Kit (2x8GB) UDIMM RAM CL9 1.35V 240-Pin… at £28.99.

2x8GB versus 1x16GB on a desktop

Desktop boards have either two memory slots (mini-ITX and many budget micro-ATX boards) or four (most ATX and micro-ATX), and every mainstream platform has two memory channels. A 2x8GB kit fills both channels, which is worth roughly 10 to 20 percent in games and memory-heavy work compared with one stick, and more on Ryzen APUs that use system memory for graphics. A single 16GB DIMM makes sense when you plan to add an identical second stick to reach 32GB, or when one 16GB stick is already fitted.

On a four-slot board, a 2x8GB kit leaves two slots for a second kit later. That works well on DDR4. On DDR5, running four sticks usually means lower speeds, so if a DDR5 build is likely to need 32GB, buy 2x16GB now rather than 2x8GB twice.

Generation by platform

• DDR4: AMD AM4 (Ryzen 1000 to 5000), Intel 6th to 11th generation, and 12th to 14th generation on DDR4 boards. 2x8GB DDR4-3200 CL16 is the value standard; 3600 CL16 or CL18 suits Ryzen 3000 and 5000.
• DDR5: AMD AM5, and Intel 12th generation onward and Core Ultra on DDR5 boards. 2x8GB DDR5 kits exist at 4800 to 6000MT/s, but 8GB DDR5 sticks use a different chip arrangement from 16GB ones and can be slower in some workloads; at a similar £/GB, 2x16GB is the better buy.
• DDR3: Intel 2nd to 4th generation and AMD FX towers, where 2x8GB DDR3-1600 is the common sweet spot and a large step up from 4GB or 8GB.

Fitting and setting up

Use the two slots the manual marks for a pair, usually labelled A2 and B2 and normally the second and fourth from the CPU. After fitting, enable the XMP (Intel) or EXPO or DOCP (AMD) profile in the BIOS, or the kit runs at its base speed, 2133 or 2400MHz for DDR4 and 4800MT/s for DDR5, whatever the box says. Two separately bought 8GB sticks usually work together on DDR4 but are not guaranteed to hold the rated speed; a kit has been tested as a pair. The DDR4 vs DDR5 guide covers which platform to build on if you are starting from scratch.

Reading the table

The Capacity column shows whether a listing is a 2x8GB kit or a single 16GB stick, and the price per GB is calculated on the full 16GB either way. Filter by generation before comparing, since DDR4 and DDR5 sit at different price levels and the green best £/GB pill is awarded within each one. Speeds on this page run from 666 to 6,400MHz (DDR5 makers quote the same figure as MT/s); for gaming, the sweet spots above matter more than the top number. Compare with the 8GB desktop page if you only need to add one stick, see the gaming RAM guide for kit picks, and browse all desktop RAM or every 16GB kit, laptop modules included.