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1GB RAM + Games = ???

B

bobsaget

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Messages
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If I got a gig of RAM would the only game preformance increase be shorter load times? If there are others, please list them...

I am debating whether or not to blow $100 bucks on some memory. I am perfectly happy with my long load times (believe me, I have 56k :p)


Thank you very much! :D
 
Originally posted by bobsaget
If I got a gig of RAM would the only game preformance increase be shorter load times? If there are others, please list them...

I am debating whether or not to blow $100 bucks on some memory. I am perfectly happy with my long load times (believe me, I have 56k :p)


Thank you very much! :D
Click to expand...

lots of ppl say it makes a difference... i didnt really notice one.. but my clocks are not exactly wonderful.
 
It will vary from game to game, and also depending on how you fast your HDDs are. I have a gig, and I disable my pagefile, so everything is running from hardware RAM.
 
Helps a lot on UT2004 for level load times. Might help on Far Cry, not sure.

Erik
 
Oh yeah, I do have a 5400rpm hard drive... I gotta replace that for faster load times, before more RAM, right?
 
Originally posted by bobsaget
Oh yeah, I do have a 5400rpm hard drive... I gotta replace that for faster load times, before more RAM, right?
Click to expand...

I'd pick the RAM over the drive...but that's just me. A fast HDD has very little to do with a game besides loading of levels.
 
No actually it can improve performance on games. Certainly Windows XP itself feels much better on systems with over 512MB of ram. This I know as I work with alot of different machines at work that are the same in configuration, but some may have different amounts of memory depending on what they are used for.

I found an immediate improvement in Soldier of Fortune II, UT2003 and there were some games I noticed no difference at all in. Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast was one that I noticed no improvement in. Keep in mind I've had a GB of ram for awhile. :)

BTW I also did a task manager and checked out mem usage while playing SOFII one time. It was more than likely the way I configured the game options for quality and what not. Also theres a setting in the game options concerning how long stuff stays in memory and I had it turned up a ways. (There was some bennefit to it although I can't remember what.)

Anyway the mem usage showed that it was taking almost all 512MB of my ram at the time. Leaving very little for the OS. After closing SOFII it always took the system a couple minutes to clear the memory so that I could get back to other things.

I think that newer games such as Far Cry, and UT2004 will bennefit from more than 512MB of ram. Look at the size of the levels for Far Cry and I know Doom III will have large levels too. (More than likely anyway.) I don't know the exact size of the Far Cry levels but judjing by the load times and the size of the levels while moving through them, considering the freedom you get to enjoy moving through the game, I would say that more than likely there pretty damned big.

But even if your games themselves don't directly make use of the memory I know that Windows XP does.

How about more than 1GB of ram? Some of you may be wondering that as well.

At work we have several HP XW4100 workstations. They're spec'ed like so.

Pentium 4 2.8C HT processors W/800MHz FSB
HP i865PE Based motherboard
1024 MB of PC3200 Cas 2.5 memory. (Micron chips incase you were wondering.) (Dual channel mode)
40GB 7200rpm Maxtor HDD
Nvidia Quadro 980XGL 128MB Dual DVI cards

Anyway. We've got those machines with 1024MB of ram and some with 2048MB of ram.

There is no difference between the two performance wise. Except when running 3D Studio Max 6.1 or Combustion 3.0. Generally speaking though they are identical. Windows performance is the same. And yes I have played UT2004 on them. They're the same with 1024MB and 2048MB.

We have 104 of these machines total. 72 of them with 2048MB of ram. I maintain the units and make software images for them and support the end users doing a variety of tasks with them. So I use these things EVERYDAY. For hours on end.
 
Memory usage in current games doesn't go high enough to use anything past 1 GB. I haven't gone higher than 760 MBs in some BF:1942 levels. That still leaves quite a bit for the OS leftover.
 
Originally posted by djnes
Memory usage in current games doesn't go high enough to use anything past 1 GB. I haven't gone higher than 760 MBs in some BF:1942 levels. That still leaves quite a bit for the OS leftover.
Click to expand...

Newer games are starting to use more and more RAM. Far Cry and UT2004 need 1GB of RAM and Doom 3 and Lineage 2 is suppost to need 2GB of RAM for max settings and high resolutions in order to get good FPS. As soon as RAM prices drop again i'm going to order another gig.
 
Go for a faster hard disk, but also listen for some more opinions.

OldMX
 
Originally posted by bobsaget
Oh yeah, I do have a 5400rpm hard drive... I gotta replace that for faster load times, before more RAM, right?
Click to expand...
ugh.

I'd get a faster drive before more RAM. 512MB will hold you for now, but 5400RPM is unbearable.
 
Originally posted by jagec
ugh.

I'd get a faster drive before more RAM. 512MB will hold you for now, but 5400RPM is unbearable.
Click to expand...

And make sure the drive has an 8mb cache instead of 2mb. It will make a big difference and they dont cost hardly anything extra.
 
I don't know how much extra the cache gives, but for SURE the 7200RPM from 5400RPM jump is night and day. And the 7200RPM to 10,000RPM I hear is almost as big.

So, if you want an even bigger jump, go to a Raptor :D
 
Originally posted by djnes
It will vary from game to game, and also depending on how you fast your HDDs are. I have a gig, and I disable my pagefile, so everything is running from hardware RAM.
Click to expand...


What is the purpose for page file and is it recommended to be turned off? I got 512MB DDR400
 
Originally posted by Mikesta
What is the purpose for page file and is it recommended to be turned off? I got 512MB DDR400
Click to expand...
the page file is virtual memory the PC can use to store temporary data if it runs out of RAM. This memory is on the hard drive, and as such is much, much slower than RAM. If you have enough RAM, you can try to disable the page file, which can lead to a speed boost. There's a lot of discussion on this though.
 
Originally posted by Chelica
So with 1GB of Ram is it best to turn off pagefile?
Click to expand...

Some people say yes but i think its best to leave it and have it set at around 1.5x or 2x the amount of RAM you have installed. If you want to increase the performance of the page file then stick it on a seperate hard drive. Preferably the fastest one you have.
 
It will vary from game to game, and also depending on how you fast your HDDs are. I have a gig, and I disable my pagefile, so everything is running from hardware RAM.
Click to expand...

I had always wondered about if windows could work properly without Virtual Memory enabled because the VM system drives me up a wall with the way it pages stuff out to disk needlessly at times. I never had enough RAM to warrant trying it and Windows puts some scary disclaimers about doing it. I guess they are unwarranted. Have you ever had any problems because Virtual Memory was disabled? If you don't I'll be thinking about splurging and getting a bunch more RAM on the system I'm planning out so that I can do that as well.
 
Originally posted by burningrave101
Some people say yes but i think its best to leave it and have it set at around 1.5x or 2x the amount of RAM you have installed. If you want to increase the performance of the page file then stick it on a seperate hard drive. Preferably the fastest one you have.
Click to expand...

That 1.5 times rule is from WAY back....when systems didn't have much memory in them...like 128 MB etc. It does not apply anymore. You can safely disable the pagefile, assuming you don't have any apps that need it, such as Photoshop. I switched to Paint Shop Pro so i didn't have to use a pagefile. For a gaming system, you do not need a pagefile with 1 GB of RAM.
 
Originally posted by Geshtar
I had always wondered about if windows could work properly without Virtual Memory enabled because the VM system drives me up a wall with the way it pages stuff out to disk needlessly at times. I never had enough RAM to warrant trying it and Windows puts some scary disclaimers about doing it. I guess they are unwarranted. Have you ever had any problems because Virtual Memory was disabled? If you don't I'll be thinking about splurging and getting a bunch more RAM on the system I'm planning out so that I can do that as well.
Click to expand...

The only problem I've ever run into was that Photoshop wouldn't run. I switched apps, and now I am fine. I also don't use my gaming machine for much besides gaming...and no games require a pagefile.
 
desert combat loads very fast, el alamein especially. about a minute load time.
 
thanks for all the input guys... I really appreciate it... :D

So, if I get 512mb more RAM, would I see difference in fps in games like Halo, BF 1942/Vietnam, and UT2k4? Or is it just load times?

thanks
 
You will see a difference in the games themselves. Not FPS exactly or just load times. But you will notice less disk caching. That stutter that sometimes occurs while your kicking ass for no reason at all. Just for a split second. That's the crap that will go away.
 
Alright, here is my plan...

I'll get another stick of 256mb pc3200 RAM and a Raptor. Then I will upgrade on the RAM in the future when I really need again... sound good?
 
You will not see a difference in gaming by getting a new hard drive. I'm not quite sure how people are debating this. Your levels may load slightly faster, but your real in game performance isn't going to change. Upgrading your memory MOST DEFINITELY will. I also ran a single Raptor before, and to be honest I wasn't impressed the least bit. It doesn't do much for you in a single drive config.

Apply some logic here and get the memory.
 
Aww man, Photoshop uses Pagefile?? I use that proggie, so how much of a Pagefile should I use? Right now I am using the general rule of 1.5, but damn, that is a huge chunk of my HD which is about 1500+MB. Should I use a Pagefile of 512MB instead or something?
 
Originally posted by Chelica
Aww man, Photoshop uses Pagefile?? I use that proggie, so how much of a Pagefile should I use? Right now I am using the general rule of 1.5, but damn, that is a huge chunk of my HD which is about 1500+MB. Should I use a Pagefile of 512MB instead or something?
Click to expand...

Even on a system with 1 GB of memory, you don't need a huge pagefile. I personally never set them higher than 300-300 MB. On a system with 256 MB of memory, I would probably go up to 500-500 MB.

There is no need to have 1.5 times the system memory anymore. It's been years since that was true. Once people understand how a pagefile is used, and what virtual memory is about, it becomes clearly obvious you don't need that much.
 
Gaming will benefit aswell. Everything is loaded from the HDD, at the beginning, levels will start quicker.

512MB is fine for now. A 5400RPM isn't. Raptor's = goood.... you could prolly compromise by getting a 7200RPM and another stick of 512.

Thing is, EVERYTHING ELSE will benefit greatly, not just games, by moving from 54k to 72k+.
 
farcry on 512 made me want to cry. its so much nicer on 1 gig. the load times are enormous with 512
 
You should upgrade both. I'd probably pick the hard drive first, but new games are nice with a gig.

Hitachi has some sweet 7200 rpm drives out, but some people are a little leary of them because they're related to the IBM deathstars. If you're going to get a Raptor save up and get a 74gig. They're faster and quieter than the first generation Raptors. I recommend you do a bit of reading over at storagereview.com to help you pick a hard drive.

With newer games like Far Cry, the load times are just insane with one gig. There is also a different feel, it chugs as it swaps data. I'm sure that's even worse on a slower drive.

-dB
 
I think it will depend on the game. I upgraded to 1.5 gigs from 1 gig and noticed a huge difference in how Planetside plays. Thats only because this game is a memory leech.
 
Originally posted by Decibel
Hitachi has some sweet 7200 rpm drives out, but some people are a little leary of them because they're related to the IBM deathstars. If you're going to get a Raptor save up and get a 74gig. They're faster and quieter than the first generation Raptors. I recommend you do a bit of reading over at storagereview.com to help you pick a hard drive.
Click to expand...

I'm not so leary on their reputation as i am the price they want to charge for their hard drives and they never get included in any of the awesome AR sales from B&M's. I stick with Western Digital and Seagate. Both are more then fast and at good prices.

As far as the 36GB raptors go. Several people have been buying them lately and say they run really quiet and cool. I dont think your going to notice the noise from ither one of those drives because most people have several case fans and you just can't hear hard drives over them usually. A 74GB standalone would be faster then a 36GB but two 36's in RAID0 would be even faster. Seek times and burst speeds wont will be the same or just marginally faster with RAID0 but read and write speeds will increase ALOT which is a huge help in loading games, the OS, rendering files and so on.

I think it will depend on the game. I upgraded to 1.5 gigs from 1 gig and noticed a huge difference in how Planetside plays. Thats only because this game is a memory leech.
Click to expand...

Some of the new games coming up are going ot need around 2GB for good performance. 1GB -> 2GB will be a upgrade soon to come for my rig.
 
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