Adding RAM | Forums

[LoBridge]

Hello all,

I am thinking about adding another 512 Meg of RAM to my system for Far Cry and other games. Before I spent the bucks I wanted to get some opinions on how it would effect my performance. My system specs are in my sig.

Thanks in advance...

MSI K7N2 Delta L Mainboard
AMD XP 3000+
512 Meg Ram
MSI Radeon 9800 Pro
80 GB HD

[LoBridge]

Hello all,

I am thinking about adding another 512 Meg of RAM to my system for Far Cry and other games. Before I spent the bucks I wanted to get some opinions on how it would effect my performance. My system specs are in my sig.

Thanks in advance...

MSI K7N2 Delta L Mainboard
AMD XP 3000+
512 Meg Ram
MSI Radeon 9800 Pro
80 GB HD

[dCide]

Do it. You'll notice a huge difference especially in Far Cry. And 1 GB is the right amount for most games nowadays, they may recommend 512MB usually, but 1 GB is the way. Now and in near future.

[Per Hansson]

I upgraded from 512mb to 1gb and it made a big difference for me. I run everything on the highest settings, 1024x768x32 except for FSAA and AF which I do not use.

The level loading are much quicker (more than a minute quicker, before they took like 3 minutes, now it's less than one)

The game is fluid right away, before I had to walk around the level then it would be fluid, now it's fluid right away...

I could probaly have gotten better performance by turning off some programs in the background and defragging but I felt buying another stick of RAM was easier ;-)

My system is:

Epox 8RDA3+
AMD Barton 2500 @ 190 x 10,5
ATI Radeon 9800 128MB
1GB RAM (one TwinMOS and one no-name/cheap brand)
SB Audigy2
2x Maxtor 20GB HDD's in RAID-0
Nexus NX-3000 PSU

[22500miles]

This is the stuff:

http://www.mushkin.com/epages/Mushki...ct/View/991357

P4 3.0 HT
Zalman CNPS 7000A-Cu
1024 PC3200
120G SATA
Foxconn 865A01-PE
eVGA 6800 Ultra (61.77)
Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
Antec Tru550
Thermaltake Xaser V7000A
3DMark03 11,837
Logitech Z-680 (These speakers rock!)
Nuts, Bolts, Aluminum Stuff

[fabulouscoops]

Another yes from me. More RAM is better.

P4-HT 3.0 GHz, Win XP Home SP1, Intel D865PERL Chipset
Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB, 256 bit (385/344), Directx 9.0C, Cat 4.9 beta
2048 MB (4x512) PC3200 DDR 400 RAM [2.5-3-2-5]
Plextor 52x32x52 CD-RW, Audigy 2ZS, SATA WD 37 GB Raptor, 120 GB Caviar
19" flat screen CRT @90 Hz, 400 Watt Antec PS
3DMark03 5860; aquamark3 44,330

[FliegerAas]

I have a very similar system. After upgrading to 1 Gig of ram I noticed a HUGE difference in gameplay.
So Do it!

[LoBridge]

Thanks for your responses - I ordered the RAM today from newegg.com. I will post the results here after I install it.

MSI K7N2 Delta L Mainboard
AMD XP 3000+
512 Meg PC3200 Ram
MSI Radeon 9800 Pro
80 GB HD

[x.TheCounter.x]

Hey, here are some Benchmarks i made, with 512MB and 1024MB Ram:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">
|--------------------------------- Farcry Benchmark --------------------------------------|
| Level: Research |
| Timedemo: research.tmd |
| Details: 1024x768 / 0xAA / 0xAF |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Renderpath | Playtime | Avg. FPS | Min. FPS | Max. FPS | Avg. Tri | Tri. Frame | Diff |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 512 MB | 30.86 | 48.99 | 28.99 | 63.18 | 2246937 | 45866 | ----- |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1024 MB | 25.61 | 59.03 | 48.45 | 70.21 | 2726473 | 46187 | +20% |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|--------------------------------- Farcry Benchmark --------------------------------------|
| Level: Regulator |
| Timedemo: regulator.tmd |
| Details: 1024x768 / 0xAA / 0xAF |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Renderpath | Playtime | Avg. FPS | Min. FPS | Max. FPS | Avg. Tri | Tri. Frame | Diff |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 512 MB | 153.88 | 19.78 | 0.00 | 76.23 | 1915982 | 96855 | ----- |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1024 MB | 92.11 | 33.05 | 17.62 | 83.75 | 3199141 | 96809 | +67% |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|--------------------------------- Farcry Benchmark --------------------------------------|
| Level: Training |
| Timedemo: training.tmd |
| Details: 1024x768 / 0xAA / 0xAF |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Renderpath | Playtime | Avg. FPS | Min. FPS | Max. FPS | Avg. Tri | Tri. Frame | Diff |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 512 MB | 69.86 | 40.75 | 14.97 | 84.26 | 2794666 | 68575 | ----- |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1024 MB | 62.94 | 45.23 | 20.25 | 100.49 | 3139232 | 69404 | +11% |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|--------------------------------- Farcry Benchmark --------------------------------------|
| Level: Volcano |
| Timedemo: volcano.tmd |
| Details: 1024x768 / 0xAA / 0xAF |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Renderpath | Playtime | Avg. FPS | Min. FPS | Max. FPS | Avg. Tri | Tri. Frame | Diff |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 512 MB | 136.06 | 40.21 | 16.98 | 114.93 | 1748737 | 43488 | ----- |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1024 MB | 106.57 | 51.34 | 26.56 | 130.64 | 2233620 | 43510 | +27% |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

So, dont wait, upgrade now

[Vorzer]

Yes, the RAM and the video card are probably the two most important aspects in rating your system's gaming capability (other than raw processor speed). My old 2.4 ghz system had 512 mg/ram and a GF4Ti4200 in it. When I upgraded it to 1 gig/ram and a 9800 pro 256, what a difference it made! It was like a whole new system entirely (Besides running in a rather unstable manner because Gateway cheaped out and only gave me a 160-watt PSU, which couldn't handle the 9800.)

Be aware that most motherboards have memory speed limits, and you're dragged down by the speed of your slowest DIMM. Since you have pc3200, don't waste money on something like a pc4000 module because it won't run 100% (if it runs at all, I'm not familar with that particular motherboard. I'd assume it would just slow itself down to match the other DIMM.)

The quality of RAM makes a big difference too. Don't buy some house-brand junk unless it's all you can afford. Buy highly regarded brands such as Kingston or Corsair, and matched memory pairs are best for speed. The 2x512 set I bought for my new system (1 Gbyte Corsair XMS Xtra-Low Latency (2-2-2-5 timings) PC3200) is really great stuff.

__________________________________________________ ________
-Thermaltake XaserV WinGo7000 Full ATX Tower w/ 5 case fans and 420-watt power supply
-Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939 Limited Edition nforce3 Ultra motherboard
-AMD Athalon 64 FX-53 processor
-1 Gbyte Corsair TwinX XMS Xtra-Low-Latency (2-2-2-5) PC3200/DDR400 RAM
-Hitachi Deskstar 160-Gbyte 7200-rpm Serial ATA Hard Drive w/ 8 mb buffer
-Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro Atlantis 256 (re-used from my "old" system for financial reasons)
-VX930 Monitor (Got it for $79 at the Gateway store-closing sale!)
-SB Audigy 2 ZS --&gt; Logitech Z-680 5.1 system (505 watts RMS, 1000 watt peak)
-LG 12X Super Multi DVD ReWriter
-Logitech MX-510 Optical mouse and Logitech Elite Keyboard
-Windows XP Home Edition (SP2)
-Norton Internet Security 2004
-Optimum Online Broadband (Cable)