You don’t usually expect a game like Minecraft to squeeze your computer’s hardware too tight. Because neither you see advanced graphics and nor intensive gameplay. So, before you ask how to allocate more ram for Minecraft, you need to know “Why” exactly you need to do so.
The real difference is made by the pack of mods or builds that you add to your game. Since the likes of Redstone-heavy builds are what you cannot miss out on, you need to start looking the other way. So, you need to allocate more RAM to Minecraft to avoid the stuttering, lagging, and crashing of the game. And not necessarily to improve the graphics.
Before You Allocate More RAM
There a few checks you need to make before allocating more memory to Minecraft.
- ONE: The memory you allocate depends on the hardware capacity of your computer. You cannot dedicate more RAM to Minecraft than you have installed.
- TWO: Never allocate all of your RAM to Minecraft. Your computer needs ample memory to perform routine tasks, and it may overclock your CPU and GPU. As a rule of thumb, keep at least half of the installed memory (2GB if you 4GB installed) for PC functions.
- THREE: You need to have an x64-bit system type. Otherwise, you cannot allocate more than 1GB of RAM to Minecraft.
- FOUR: The latest version of Minecraft is a must!
- FIVE: Delete the temporary files and set your computer “High-Performance” mode for an enhanced gaming experience.
- SIX: Make sure you are running the latest version of JAVA for your default launcher.
Check How Much RAM You Have Installed
Also, you need to be sure how much RAM you have installed on your PC. If you know already, you’re Golden! But if you don’t, here’s how to do that:
- 1: Hold ALT+CTRL+DEL and launch the Task Manager.
- 2: Click on the Performance tab in the second line of the window opened.
- 3: Select “Memory” from the list at the left of the screen.
You can now see the total installed memory, and next to that in brackets, the available memory.
How To Dedicate More RAM To Minecraft
Allocating RAM specifically to Minecraft results in much smoother gameplay absent of lag. Although several Minecraft launchers have seen significant changes over the years, you can still allocate more RAM.
Here is how you increase Minecraft RAM using some popular launchers.
Default Launcher For Minecraft
The default launcher for Minecraft is unsurprisingly the most used launcher for the game. It dedicates 1GB-2GB RAM to Minecraft by default. But, if you want to scale that up and allocate more memory, here’s how to do it:
- Boot the Minecraft launcher, select the latest version of Minecraft (Recommended) or any other version you want to play.
- From the opened tabs at the top of the launcher, click on “Installations.” You will see all the game releases or just the most recent ones if you haven’t set up specific versions.
- Bring your cursor to the latest version (Or the one you want to play), and you shall see three dots appear. Click on the three-dots icon and click “Edit” again.
- In the “Edit Installations” menu, click on “More Options” below the resolution settings, and you will see two new boxes appear, “Java Executable” and “JVM Arguments.”
- In the “JVM Arguments” box, you will see a code “-Xmx1G…” / “-Xmx2G…” written. The number written after the -Xmx code is the amount of memory you want to dedicate to Minecraft.
- Change the number before “G” to the amount of memory you want to allocate to Minecraft.
- Click “Save” at the bottom right of the window, and you’re good to go!
AT Launcher For Minecraft
You’re probably familiar with the AT launcher if you’ve decided to go heavy on mods in Minecraft. However, allocating more RAM is even easier with this launcher than with the default launcher. You don’t have to play with codes. Here’s how it goes:
- Start the AT Launcher and from the right side of the screen, click on “Settings.”
- You will see a new screen with different tabs open. Open the tab that says “Java/Minecraft.”
- There should be multiple options available to you on the screen. Select “Maximum Memory/RAM,” which is the second option visible.
- You can either type the amount of memory you want to dedicate to Minecraft or choose to use the Up and Down arrows for the movement.
- Once you’ve selected the amount of memory you want to dedicate to the game, click the “Save” icon at the bottom.
Allocate More RAM To Minecraft Server
Your gaming experience while playing multiplayer on Minecraft is highly dependant on the resources available to the server. Here is how you dedicate RAM to Minecraft Server.
Before you begin, you need to make sure you’re running the latest Java version. If not, you can download it from here.
- Type Minecraft_Server.exe in the windows search option, right-click on the file, and open folder location.
- Create a new text document and open it to type the following code.
java -Xmx####M -Xms####M -exe Minecraft_Server.exe -o true
PAUSE
- Change “####” to the amount of RAM you want to dedicate to the Minecraft Server. E.g., 1024, 2048, 3072, 4096, etc.
- Now save the document as “Minecraft_Server.bat.“ It is important to save the document as .bat as this will be your new launcher for the game with allocated RAM.
- Run the file.
Other Ways To Enhance FPS For Minecraft
The book’s oldest trick to enhance FPS for a game is by leveling down its graphics. If you’re playing at the highest graphics settings for the game and observe lagging and stuttering, reducing it will probably solve your problem.
However, if that’s not the case, there’s one other trick you might have missed out on. Optifine released a killer-mod for Minecraft last year, and it works wonders by increasing the FPS for your game. If you have missed out on this mod so far, read all about downloading and installing it over here.
But if nothing works, you might want to upgrade your computer’s hardware for improved gameplay. The more advanced and higher specifications you have for your computer, the smoother experience you will have with Minecraft.
Disclaimer!
Allocating all of your RAM or more than 70% (if you have a total of 4GB) will more likely cause your PC to freeze or crash instead of speeding up the game. It may be possible if you’re not running any task at all in the background, but it doesn’t work in most cases.
Allocating 2GB of 4GB RAM should give you a smooth gaming experience if you’re not running any additional MODS. However, if you have enough RAM to spare, it never hurts!
