If you’re regularly playing Minecraft on PC, you’ve probably amassed a pretty huge base with a lot going on, you might be using Minecraft mods, or perhaps you’re on a server with lots of others. All of these things can contribute to slowdown issues, especially when you’re traversing the world and new chunks are being loaded. To fix that, you’ll want to know how to allocate more RAM to Minecraft.
It’s important to note initially that, thanks to the many Minecraft Java vs Bedrock differences, this only applies to the Java edition of the game. You can’t allocate more RAM in Bedrock.
Why allocate more RAM
Allocating more RAM to Minecraft will improve your game’s performance, especially when using mods or playing on a large server. The bigger the world, the more memory your PC needs to run it smoothly. If you don’t do it properly, allocating more RAM can slow down your PC overall, as it needs to maintain enough to run your other programs at the same time.
How much RAM?
The amount of memory your PC needs to smoothly run Minecraft depends on the way you play, and how much RAM your PC has overall. If you’re playing vanilla, the sweet spot is usually 3-5GB. If you’re playing with mods, it’s more like 5-7GB, depending on how many mods you’re using. The more mods you have, the more memory your PC uses.
Your game could run smoother with more RAM allocated.
How to check how much RAM is allocated to Minecraft
When in-game, press F3 to open the overlay, which shows all of your details, including your Minecraft coordinates. In the top corner on the right, you’ll see the “Mem:” section. Ideally, you want the percentage that follows this to fluctuate from 20% to 40%. The number that follows it shows how much RAM is currently allocated to Minecraft.
How to allocate more RAM to Minecraft
You will need to know the total amount of RAM in your PC. When you’ve got that, open the Minecraft Launcher and select Java edition. Then select the Installations tab on the top menu bar. Find the release you’re playing in the list and click the “…” button, and then choose “Edit.”
On the Edit Installation page, press “More Options” and then locate the JVM arguments text box. Click the area that begins “-Xm2G-” and change the “2” to the amount of RAM you want to allocate in GB. Take into account how much RAM your PC has and don’t allocate too much here.
If you’re playing with mods, you’ll need to use the appropriate mod launcher to adjust this value. In Curseforge, this can be found in the Minecraft menu under Java Settings, where you can change the allocated memory using a slider.
Now that you know how to allocate more RAM to Minecraft, check out our Minecraft guides hub for more helpful tips.
