Battlefield 3 and DDR2 RAM

MightyMatt

Gawd
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
532
Hey all, I went from 4GB of DDR2 PC 6400 RAM to 8GB of DDR2 PC 6400 RAM and my system, when running BF3, was utilizing close to 5GB of RAM. Just wanted to share that with all of you old school peeps still rocking a 775 mobo, 4x1GB sticks, and wondering if more memory will help your BF3 experience.

I noticed more smoothness during explosions, less lag, , fast load times, and no crashing like before, when my 4GB's was being totally utilized. Just a BIG FYI to all my Socket T bros :cool:

Edit:
Granted I keep Mozilla open (lots of tabs) and don't close all programs to play BF3, here's a screenshot that others may relate to:


(Click for larger Pic)
 
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Yeah Im not aware of any other game that utilizes so much memory, but BF3 4GB versus 8GB is night and day for me
 
all@ultra, metro 64 conquest (pic)
before I open the game OS was using 1.5GB
before I turn all settings to ultra total memory usage was 3.1GB

game disconnects and crashed alot with me, not sure if it's related to memory
 
all@ultra, metro 64 conquest (pic)
before I open the game OS was using 1.5GB
before I turn all settings to ultra total memory usage was 3.1GB

game disconnects and crashed alot with me, not sure if it's related to memory

Looks like BF3 is looking for more memory to use, so I'd either tone down the video settings, or grab 8GB off someone on these forums. RAM is also used for video rendering (am I right?), so unless your VGA card has a lot of memory, your RAM is also going to be used for this purpose. I had similar crashing issues, like you, so I decided to get more RAM and it's totally worth it. I hope this info helps you improve your gameplay.
 
Its a shame DDR2 is so expensive. I was looking to go from 4 to 8 and its looking to cost me $110.
 
Its a shame DDR2 is so expensive. I was looking to go from 4 to 8 and its looking to cost me $110.

I recently bought 8GB of some of the best DDR2 PC 6400 (G.Skill PI) modules, in "like new" condition, from a dude on these forums. He made me pay $85 for all 8GB, shipped, and he even included the original boxes :cool:

14m5p1w.jpg


Do something like that and you can always sell your old RAM, if that helps. I had to turn down a lot of good offers from peeps in the For Sale/ Trade Section, because I only need 4 sticks, not the 20+ I was offered ;)
 
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It's crazy how much RAM it uses. I remember not to long ago 4 gigs was more than enough for games.
 
As soon as I can get some more money to build a new system (going to get a new i5 2500/new motherboard/DDR3 ram), I will be selling 4 gigs of my 8 gigs of DDR2 (going to keep the old mobo/cpu/4 gigs ddr2 to build a second system to plug into my living room hdtv to stream/use for browsing for family and whatnot). Good to know that there is a market for older ddr2 ram :)
 
After looking at that image, I see nothing that indicates BF3 is using more than 1.5GB of ram. It says BF3 is commit charge of 1.5GB, which is a combination of RAM and page file usage. It does look like you have a lot of things running in the background which is likely the reason you need more than 4GB to allow BF 3 to properly run.

I say this because I have 8 GB of ram, and with BF3 running @ 1080p, my system is barely using over 3GB of ram. I also don't have a lot of junk running in the background though.
 
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I say this because I have 8 GB of ram, and with BF3 running @ 1080p, my system is barely using over 3GB of ram. I also don't have a lot of junk running in the background though.

Well, like I said, not everyone, but a lot of people, can relate to the pic I posted, because not everyone is going to close a bunch of programs just to play BF3. Already you've heard guys say that they are hitting their 4GB max while playing, so they can either get more memory or close a bunch of programs. BF3 has more programs running than just the BF3 executable. Punkbuster, your internet browser, Origin, etc. are all part of running the game, so consider those as part of the consumers of memory required to play. Regardless of how you look at it, BF3 utilizes a lot of RAM, so it's something to consider if you want to make sure you're limiting factor in your gaming experience is not your memory.
 
After looking at that image, I see nothing that indicates BF3 is using more than 1.5GB of ram. It says BF3 is commit charge of 1.5GB, which is a combination of RAM and page file usage. It does look like you have a lot of things running in the background which is likely the reason you need more than 4GB to allow BF 3 to properly run.

600M from Firefox is a big part of that. Maybe close Firefox once in a while.
 
I also noticed a difference when adding more ram, but I run a lot of additional programs while I am playing.
 
Unless Battlefield 3 includes a 64-bit executable, it's not possible for the game to utilize more than 4GBs. It can certainly make a difference if you plan on keeping memory-intensive applications open in the background, but otherwise going above 4GB is going to make a negligible difference.
 
Unless Battlefield 3 includes a 64-bit executable, it's not possible for the game to utilize more than 4GBs. It can certainly make a difference if you plan on keeping memory-intensive applications open in the background, but otherwise going above 4GB is going to make a negligible difference.

This. For the quality of the graphics and sound, bf3 is one of the most efficient games ever.
 
YMMV I suppose. For me, going from a Raptor X to a Samsung 830 did wonders for BF3 loading and gameplay. Going from 2 GB to 6 GB on a Core 2 Duo (E6600) did very little.
 
I also only have 33 processes running when my Windows 7 is at idle, so I guess I don't need a lot of ram.
 
BF3 doesn't need 4GB, but Windows plus BF3 does. Windows will page like crazy when alt tabbing with only 4GB.
 
Was running BF3 just fine with DDR2 ram on my last setup. Was 8 GB of 1066 though.
I will say the game is a massive hog, never seen a game use up so much RAM, I remember it peaking at around 90% total RAM used on maps like Caspian.
 
Funny enough, BF2 was the same way with old DDR RAM. I upgraded from 512 mb to 1gb on my old athlon 3400+ and it was a different game...
 
My laptop has 8GB of ram and it runs Bf3 like a dream for a laptop. (in sig)

My desktop has 24GB right now, I had to transplant 8GB to another temp server running in a business I manage offsite for the time being and even at 24GB ram BF3 burns maybe 5-6GB so it runs like a a dream.

Plus DDR2 ain't no weaksauce. Its awesome sauce even by todays standards.
 
Thats the thing, memory speeds has never been that important, its the size that matters.

So DDR2 vs DDR3 no big deal. Why do you think DDR2 is more expensive now? The trend continues, this happened with DDR memory before when DDR2 was the standard.
First thing most ppl tend to upgrade on an againg machine is RAM hence the older memory designed for it goes up in price.

It pretty much is the only PC component that goes up in price over time and then goes back down when its totally obsolete.
 
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