Upgrade RAM? (Or too much already...?)

[Ashton]

I was looking at prices on ram and saw I could get 16gb sticks for my rig @ ~$40 each, so I was thinking about upgrading...

However, I am already running 6x4gb sticks, totaling 24gb of ram.

At this point, is there really any need to go higher except for making RAMDisks for quick-access to files I'm working with?

(I do play some modern(ish) games, like Fallout4, and play with 3D modeling some, but I think I'm at the point that they're going to be affected by the graphics card far more now)

 

[KazeoHin]

So, when 3D modelling, especially for game engines, when I have Zbrush, Unreal engine, Maya, Photoshop and other tools open for general workflow, I use up 16GB of RAM. never do I peak close to my 32GB limit, so you're probably pretty good, but more is => less so, why not?

 

[dasa]

Having a odd number of sticks can hurt your memory performance a little so best to keep to the correct number of sticks per channel whether that's 3x16g or whatever you decide.
Fallout 4 overflows the CPU cache heavily and as such loves memory speed so if you were running 12GB of faster ram the CPU would actually perform better than with 60GB of slow RAM.

 

[AlphaAtlas]

Having a odd number of sticks can hurt your memory performance a little so best to keep to the correct number of sticks per channel whether that's 3x16g or whatever you decide.
Fallout 4 overflows the CPU cache heavily and as such loves memory speed so if you were running 12GB of faster ram the CPU would actually perform better than with 60GB of slow RAM.

Yeah. Memory speed/latency has a bigger impact in Fallout 4 and Skyrim than most games, even if you appear to be GPU bound.


That being said, saving that $120 for a platform upgrade is a good option.

 

[Ashton]

Yeah. Memory speed/latency has a bigger impact in Fallout 4 and Skyrim than most games, even if you appear to be GPU bound.
That being said, saving that $120 for a platform upgrade is a good option.

I should have known skyrim would have had that same "feature" ...

heh $120... I have SIX sticks, so it would be $240. I'm actually trying to decide wheather to spend money on RAM or a new Graphics Card (currently running a 660)

Having a odd number of sticks can hurt your memory performance a little so best to keep to the correct number of sticks per channel whether that's 3x16g or whatever you decide.
Fallout 4 overflows the CPU cache heavily and as such loves memory speed so if you were running 12GB of faster ram the CPU would actually perform better than with 60GB of slow RAM.

Its not an odd number, its 3 sets of 2 for a total of six sticks, currently each being a 4gb stick.

I'm going to have to check that actually, Most of it is 12800 but I did throw some "high performance" sticks in that might have a different clocks speed... on that note would haveing 2x16 and 4x4 (at the same speed but, obviously, different capacities) made a difference?

So, when 3D modelling, especially for game engines, when I have Zbrush, Unreal engine, Maya, Photoshop and other tools open for general workflow, I use up 16GB of RAM. never do I peak close to my 32GB limit, so you're probably pretty good, but more is => less so, why not?

I may be doing a little worse since msot of what I use is open-source (Unity, Gimp, Blender...) but yeah, It hink the only time I've actually come close to maxing out my ram was with, of all things, Minecraft (which is thanks to JAVA's piss-poor garbage collection)

Well more > less, but as I said above, it's a choice between RAM or a new graphics card....

 

[AlphaAtlas]

I should have known skyrim would have had that same "feature" ...

Oh yeah, Skyrim LE was extra jank back in the day. It does shadows on the CPU, so it could peg most cores on a 5960X or FX 8350 while still being bound by a single core. Not to mention all the microstuttering. Oh, the microstuttering...

I think Bethesda fixed the shadows in Skyrim SE. It runs more like Fallout 4.

the only time I've actually come close to maxing out my ram was with, of all things, Minecraft (which is thanks to JAVA's piss-poor garbage collection)

Sufficiently modded Minecraft can eat RAM like no tommorrow. Doubley so if you're hosting a server for others. You can tweak Java's GC to help a little though.

Well more > less, but as I said above, it's a choice between RAM or a new graphics card....

Definitely GPU. $200-$300 would get you a massive boost over a 660, especially if you can buy used.

 

[Ashton]

Sufficiently modded Minecraft can eat RAM like no tommorrow. Doubley so if you're hosting a server for others. You can tweak Java's GC to help a little though.


Definitely GPU. $200-$300 would get you a massive boost over a 660, especially if you can buy used.

I stopped even trying to run my own server years ago, but most of the packs I play with are big (like 100+ mods - Revelations, Horizons, DW20, etc)

yes, but I've also been reading some stuff saying a ramdisk can improve performance from 5x to 20x, which is making me wonder if the ram would be a better idea...?