I only have 8gb ram and I never had problems in any software

but it seems like msfs is only chosing people with 32+gb ram for tech alpha, why ? it is quite worrying, if they're not confident at this stage that below 32gb ram, we may have OOM errors with specs like mine

The simulator is still in alpha stage, which means that it's still far from being fully optimised. They're probably selecting testers that have 32GB RAM or above because they are more concerned about the most outstanding bugs rather than feedback about performance issues, or the first build could be plagued by a nasty memory leak that's taking long to fix. We don't know the exact reason, but it is very unlikely that it will require 32GB RAM when it's released. It should run fine on 16GB since that's the most popular amount for recent builds, and maybe even 8GB if the graphics settings allow you to be more conservative.

I have to say that 8GB is too little for most new games nowadays though, especially those with larger worlds and maps. I would definitely recommend upgrading when we have a better idea of how much the simulator will require and can use.

There is a thread here somewhere indicating that while the majority of people accepted into the Tech Alpha had 32 GB RAM, there were some with 16 GB RAM. I don't recall any with 8 GB RAM, but it wouldn't be unusual for the devs to want plenty of overhead for a sim that's still not in the final optimized state.

That said, modern flight sims and games are pushing into higher RAM requirements, and 8 GB is pretty low at this point.

XP11 will run on 8 GB as the minimum requirement, but the recommended requirement is 16-24 GB RAM or more. P3D v4 has a minimum requirement of 4 GB, with the recommended amount being 16 GB. I wouldn't be surprised if P3D raises the minimum as future versions are released, since they have only recently made the jump to 64-bit memory addressing. 

We don't know the minimum requirement for the new MSFS yet. Maybe the minimum will be 8 GB, but I'm sure the "recommended" spec will be higher. Note that the new Xbox Series X being released next year will have 16 GB RAM, and MSFS will be ported to the Xbox at some point.

If 32GB of ram is a requirement then MS and MSFS has a problem it`s not the norm in gaming PC`s and the new XBOX, which backs up the adage see before you buy, don't pre-order. 

2 minutes ago, rjfry said:

If 32GB of ram is a requirement then MS and MSFS has a problem it`s not the norm in gaming PC`s and the new XBOX, which backs up the adage see before you buy, don't pre-order. 

ram is cheap. that's our most beautiful problem, actually. Could be worse. And I don't want MS to screw down the graphics because of cheap RAM

Just now, Deleted said:

ram is cheap. that's our most beautiful problem, actually. Could be worse. And I don't want MS to screw down the graphics because of cheap RAM

I'm moving a lot in real life and for that reason I have a laptop, and no ram is not cheap when you have to buy a new laptop just to add some ram...

4 minutes ago, rjfry said:

If 32GB of ram is a requirement then MS and MSFS has a problem it`s not the norm in gaming PC`s and the new XBOX, which backs up the adage see before you buy, don't pre-order. 

XBOX doesn't have the issue of needing to run a bloated OS.

I'd be amazed if 32GB RAM was a system requirement for the release. However I'd also be a bit miffed if more than 8GB didn't make a difference. 8GB is kind of middle of the road for a system that could probably already do with updating, especially when it comes to games which have always tended to need better specs than your "average" PC.

1 minute ago, Deleted said:

ram is cheap. that's our most beautiful problem, actually. Could be worse. And I don't want MS to screw down the graphics because of cheap RAM

RAM was more than double today's prices two years ago, and they are expected to rise up to 40% in 2020 again. This statement won't hold true for much longer sadly...

3 minutes ago, cepact said:

I'm moving a lot in real life and for that reason I have a laptop, and no ram is not cheap when you have to buy a new laptop just to add some ram...

A laptop is always a compromise when it comes to performance. I bought a DELL Precision M4800 about 5 years ago (16GB RAM, almost 4k screen, best GEFORCE mobile card available). It worked wonders for my development stuff but was always beaten by a middle of the range gaming PC. It set me back around $5K all in. Could have bought one hell of a PC for that.

Edited January 15, 20206 yr by b737800

1 minute ago, Deleted said:

ram is cheap. that's our most beautiful problem, actually. Could be worse. And I don't want MS to screw down the graphics because of cheap RAM

So upgrading to use MSFS is not a problem simmers will spend whatever it takes start checking your MB if it can run more memory, do it now prices are predicted to rise again this year due to demand 

22 minutes ago, cepact said:

I only have 8gb ram and I never had problems in any software

but it seems like msfs is only chosing people with 32+gb ram for tech alpha, why ? it is quite worrying, if they're not confident at this stage that below 32gb ram, we may have OOM errors with specs like mine

Even if it uses more than your 8GB of ram you wouldn't have  a OOM. There are other sources of memmory the game will use to keep running (the problem is those other sources will be slower than your ram and you will probably face performance issues).

What do you mean by "at this stage"? The simulator is in Alpha Stage, like others said, performance optimizations aren't being done at this stage. When they start the Beta stage, I'm sure they will start optimizing every aspect of the sim, including the memmory usage (VRAM, RAM etc).

I’ll eat my computer if this ends up needing 32gb ram as a minimum. 

24 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

RAM was more than double today's prices two years ago, and they are expected to rise up to 40% in 2020 again. This statement won't hold true for much longer sadly...

Still cheaper than processors or graphics cards. I have no problem with that.

You all wanted better graphics, and now you're whining about computer performance

I can not understand. I am happy, even if it costs something

There is not a chance this is going to need 32gb ram to play. You can quote me on that. 

8gb ram is still low by today's standards. I also think that at this stage they might not be specifically looking to work on memory related issues so they are taking a safe bet by inviting only 32gb users. I know how you feel and honestly it majorly sucks for those who have registered for Alpha since october and still dont have access.