1 gig of RAM?

[jellydoughnut217]

i hear people talkin about 1 gig of ram all the time ive got 512 how big of a difference would upgrading to 1 gig bring?

 

[RaBiD WeAzEL]

It would speed up loading, basically... Supposively, HL2 is pretty ram intensive, but I'm not 100% sure...

RAM is Random Access Memory, it serves as another supply of temporary memory... 512 won't kill you, it just won't be quite as nice as 1 gig

 

[WhyteWolfe]

I had 512MB and was able to run at this, with long-ass load times, slow-down, and sound skipping:

Game: 800x600 // Medium Texture // No AA // Tri-Linear // All other settings at full

After going to 1GIG, I don't have long load times and the slow-down/sound skipping is completely gone. I can run the game, at this, silky smooth:

Game: 1024x768 // Highest Settings // 2x AA // 2x Anistrophic

I also used this for my hl2 launch settings:

-heapsize 512000 +cl_smooth 0 +sv_forcepreload 1 +cl_forcepreload 1 +snd_mixahead 0.4 -snd_async_fullyasync 1 -console

I also changed out a 9500 Pro for a 9600 XT. I don't notice the difference, between the two cards, in performance, in other games, but it might attribute for higher performance in HL2...don't know. Benchmarking bores the hell out of me.

Hope that helps.

 

[jacen]

with 512 i only can play on medium/medium (tex/geometry) and still i got loading choppiness
with 1024 i play on high/high and with no loading chops at all.
its such a relief, i even can surf with opera and 10 open tabs without getting loading freezes

 

[Methias]

It would speed up loading, basically... Supposively, HL2 is pretty ram intensive, but I'm not 100% sure...

RAM is Random Access Memory, it serves as another supply of temporary memory... 512 won't kill you, it just won't be quite as nice as 1 gig

I think it would only decrease the frequency of loading, not necessarily speed it up (unless you happened to be upgrading to a motherboard that could handle DDR or DDR2 at the same time).

 

[wbcninjaofmist]

i had 512 and upped to 1 gig (before hl2) far cry and battlefield vietnam ran way smoother and load much faster + hl2 runs like cheap stockings , 1 gig = no problems , yes youll see a huge improvement

 

[X-FacToR]

You can see a pretty big difference from 512 to 1 gig

 

[Gotter]

I've never played HL2 with less then 1GB, but I recently upgraded from 512 and I noticed a huge difference in CS:S. Much, much much smoother. So yeah, for the source engine, 1GB = good.

 

[westie]

Ah better get 1GB then im only on 256MB and it's painfully slow.

 

[MGSRevolver]

Keep in mind that if you're having long load times or clipping, dedicated video memory is what you need. If you have 1GB of RAM and a 32mb GPU, then you're not in great shape. Alternatively, if you have a 256mb GPU and 256mb of RAM, you're also going to have performance problems. Find a decent balance.

I'm running HL2 on a 128mb Radeon 9700 and 512mb of RAM (although I would like an upgrade for both) and it's very smooth. Load times are not so bad, either. I'm at 1280x800 resolution (16:9) and all effects are on high with 2x AA.

 

[bilbov]

bah I must be weird then...Im on 860mb ram (or there abouts) and i get no lag in game just ever so slight loading times on the start.

 

[Victor2]

I had 512MB and was able to run at this, with long-ass load times, slow-down, and sound skipping:

Game: 800x600 // Medium Texture // No AA // Tri-Linear // All other settings at full

After going to 1GIG, I don't have long load times and the slow-down/sound skipping is completely gone. I can run the game, at this, silky smooth:

Game: 1024x768 // Highest Settings // 2x AA // 2x Anistrophic

I also used this for my hl2 launch settings:

-heapsize 512000 +cl_smooth 0 +sv_forcepreload 1 +cl_forcepreload 1 +snd_mixahead 0.4 -snd_async_fullyasync 1 -console

I also changed out a 9500 Pro for a 9600 XT. I don't notice the difference, between the two cards, in performance, in other games, but it might attribute for higher performance in HL2...don't know. Benchmarking bores the hell out of me.

Hope that helps.

oh.....crap, I´m gonna have to sell a kidney to get me another set of 512mB RAM DDR :frown:

 

[Vito Dintino]

well right now i have a ati 9000 pro 128 mb, and 512 ram, and right noq my biggest problem with games is the refresh rate of the screens or w/e i think its FPS not sure, but anyways, what would drasticlly improve my FPS? getting a 1g? or a new video card?

 

[What the Hell?]

i honestly found a huge benefit of having 2 Gig of ram in load times.

 

[What the Hell?]

to continue my last post:

no stutter issues, FPS based @ 80 max, 50 min with the following specs:

3.2 P4
2 gig ddr 400
6800 asus GE


playing hl2 @:
1024 X 768
AA: 4X
Anisotropic: 8X
Model detail: High
Texture detail: High
Water detail: Reflect World
Shader detail: High
Shadow detail: High
Vert sinc: disabled

Directx : 9.0 ( using 9.0b)
Using nvidia 6.14.10.6576 drivers


what i love about HL2 is even at 50 FPS its all smooth as hell. Definately a HUGE difference then Doom 3. ( AA and antri definately kills the framerates in Doom 3)

a HUG props to Valve in making this game work as sweet as it does, Lombardi mentioned that the best amount of Ram was 2 Gig, and he was right. You can play well with 1, but 2 is better.

 

[Kommie]

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-220-027&DEPA=1

They may have cheaper ram somewhere
newegg=awesome

 

[samfox]

ok, i got a new rig: Gigabyte i915G, Intel 530 (3ghz), 512 Ram DDr400, 6600GT (PCIe) - do I get another stick of 512 DDR400 or cheaper 512 MB DDR or DDR2. I think my motherboard supports multiple ram types (not sure). Is there a performance difference if I use multiple types of RAM? or should i go for the DDR400.

 

[Rhalle]

I don't understand why more memory would decrease load time..? It's gonna load the same amount anyway?

The stutter problem is caused because many of the textures load on-on-the-fly already. More memory would lead to longer load times, wouldn't it?

Valve's display machine had 2g on it...

I have 1g. Load times the same as 512, but 512 stutters more.

 

[redrain85]

The load time decreases with more memory, because Windows doesn't have to keep loading and dumping stuff in and out of the swap file as much.

 

[Amorphous]

2gigs here, loads insanely fast, and runs AWESOME!

 

[Rhalle]

Hmn. Maybe I'll bump myself to 2g.

 

[druidvideo]

I would have thought 1GB was considered absolute minimum if your serious about gaming

 

[rose 1138]

oohh 2gig ddr, you sir ar a cad and a bounder, and yes im jelous, going to sulk in corner!

On topic thopugh, playing doom 3 with 256 ddr = long long load times, i.e cup of tea, well not that long but, with the 1GB though loasding should be shorter though my GPU is only 64 gforce 4200Ti so that doesn't help but i am saving for upgrades, mainly in memory

P.S. What the hell? i am a jelous man now sir, and i blamy you for the need i now have to go out and spend far too much money on upgrades, grr and as if xmas wasn't expensive enough!

 

[Burn]

1gig of ram will make alot of difference. Not just in games but in general comp use. I had 1gig for a long time, but then one of the chips died on me, having to remove it. My comp is ALOT slower now. Cant wait till I buy some new ram.

 

[A Skinny Puppy]

In Doom3 the 512>1024 didn't do much for me (due to openGL?),but in Far Cry I seen the game run a lot smoother (prolly due to lesser use of virtual memory).

In HL2 i can't tell the difference since i got 1024 in by the time i bought it.

HL2 runs pretty smooth in 1024x768 everything maximum,aa no af tri.

Specs:

XP3000+
2x512mb
9800pro128 cat4.11

 

[Rarhok]

1gb of RAM is definitely the way to go... absolutely. Same as you, I thought 512mb was enough, and for a long time I played Far Cry with stutters here and there. Only finished it half way 'cause I got too annoyed. Few weeks ago I finally bought the next 512mb stick and loaded up Far Cry. OMG I was so delighted... no stutters AT ALL!. The shortening of load times too was also nice. So in the end, it's really worth the upgrade.

 

[-h2o-]

I just upgraded from 512 to 1gig and i noticed a massive improvent in loading time, i mean massive well 2x as fast. it was faster than expected. my hl2 specs also went up to all textures recommended high etc etc.

depends largely on the game. but tbh (to be honest) i think if your at all serious about gaming its time to upgrade to 1gig. i had a x800 PRO so i didn't want my other hardware slowing me down.

I am considering in getting another 1gig to upgrade me to 2gig at xmas, any one know if that will make a big differnce, 2x again?

 

[TEDR]

i got 1.25gb of ram and half life 2 will not use all the memory so 512mb be ok . i got cacheman on to check to see how much ram it uses up

 

[TEDR]

considering it loads from hard drive i dont see how it can load much quiker

 

[rumblefish]

my hl2 experiance is great, and 1 gig is deff worth it, my old pc was bas in all respects, and only had 786mb, so i cant comment on upgrading

rf

 

[-h2o-]

yes, i would upgrade if u have the cash, money well spent for gaming

 

[TEDR]

if u press alt-ctrl-del and go into processes u can see how much half life 2 uses in terms of memory. if u got a little more it will use a little more. generally more memory is better but weigh up costs do u need it

 

[TEDR]

RAM halflife2 uses have:-

Less than 24 Mb 6 0.00 %
>=24 Mb to <32 Mb 76 0.01 %
32 Mb to 64 Mb 1,725 0.14 %
64 Mb to 96 Mb 1,208 0.10 %
96 Mb to 128 Mb 22,295 1.86 %
128 Mb to 256 Mb 219,255 18.32 %
256 Mb to 512 Mb 572,091 47.80 %
512 Mb to 1 Gb 355,863 29.73 %
1 Gb to 1.5 Gb 13,347 1.12 %
1.5 Gb to 2.0 Gb 10,946 0.91 %

CPU
Below 200 Mhz 99 0.01 %
>=200 Mhz to <300 Mhz 456 0.04 %
300 Mhz to 400 Mhz 2,475 0.21 %
400 Mhz to 500 Mhz 6,203 0.52 %
500 Mhz to 600 Mhz 7,916 0.66 %
600 Mhz to 700 Mhz 7,565 0.63 %
700 Mhz to 800 Mhz 15,163 1.27 %
800 Mhz to 900 Mhz 17,316 1.45 %
900 Mhz to 1 Ghz 18,487 1.54 %
1 Ghz to 1.1 Ghz 20,668 1.73 %
1.1 Ghz to 1.2 Ghz 16,868 1.41 %
1.2 Ghz to 1.3 Ghz 23,887 2.00 %
1.3 Ghz to 1.4 Ghz 25,632 2.14 %
1.4 Ghz to 1.5 Ghz 43,722 3.65 %
1.5 Ghz to 1.7 Ghz 124,147 10.37 %
1.7 Ghz to 2.0 Ghz 208,603 17.43 %
2.0 Ghz to 2.3 Ghz 241,516 20.18 %
2.3 Ghz to 2.7 Ghz 199,347 16.66 %
2.7 Ghz to 3.0 Ghz 125,122 10.45 %
3.0 Ghz to 3.3 Ghz 77,434 6.47 %
3.3 Ghz to 3.7 Ghz 13,584 1.14 %
Above 3.7 Ghz 602 0.05 %

Video Card Description
ATI Radeon 9800 Series 142,608 11.92 %
NVidia GeForce4 MX Series 125,853 10.52 %
ATI Radeon 9600 Series 121,010 10.11 %
NVidia GeForce4 Series 109,455 9.15 %
NVidia GeForce FX 5200 Series 93,288 7.79 %
NVidia GeForce2 MX Series 73,054 6.10 %
ATI Radeon 9500/9700 Series 49,164 4.11 %
ATI Radeon 9200 Series 47,003 3.93 %
NVidia GeForce FX 5600 Series 44,748 3.74 %
NVidia GeForce3 Series 26,703 2.23 %
Unknown 24,234 2.02 %
NVidia GeForce FX 5700 Series 23,850 1.99 %
NVidia GeForce FX 5900 Series 22,543 1.88 %
Intel 845 19,722 1.65 %
NVidia GeForce 6800 GT 17,844 1.49 %
NVidia TNT2 Series 16,756 1.40 %
ATI Radeon 9000 Series 15,320 1.28 %
NVidia GeForce2 Series 15,227 1.27 %
ATI Radeon X800 PRO 12,421 1.04 %
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600/9650/9700 Series 11,950 1.00 %
NVidia GeForce FX 5700LE 11,132 0.93 %
NVidia GeForce FX 5900 10,601 0.89 %
SiS 650/651/M650/740 7,893 0.66 %
ATI Radeon 8500 Series 7,812 0.65 %
ATI Radeon 7000 Series 7,117 0.59 %
NVidia GeForce 6800 6,732 0.56 %
ATI Mobility Radeon 8500/9000/9200 6,242 0.52 %
S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR 6,209 0.52 %
NVidia GeForce FX 5950 Series 5,983 0.50 %
NVidia GeForce FX 5500 5,952 0.50 %
Intel 810 5,740 0.48 %
ATI Radeon 7500 Series 4,962 0.41 %
Intel 852/855 4,065 0.34 %
ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition 3,959 0.33 %
NVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra 3,873 0.32 %
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 3,712 0.31 %
ATI Radeon X800 XT 3,613 0.30 %
ATI Radeon 9550 (RV350LX) 3,216 0.27 %
ATI Radeon 9100 3,129 0.26 %
ATI Radeon X300 Series 2,942 0.25 %
NVidia GeForce FX Go5200 2,892 0.24 %
ATI Radeon IGP 340M 2,867 0.24 %
ATI Radeon 7200 Series 2,787 0.23 %
SiS 300/305/630/540/730 2,572 0.21 %
NVidia GeForce2 Integrated GPU 2,513 0.21 %
NVidia TNT Series 2,448 0.20 %
NVidia GeForce4 420 Go 1,957 0.16 %
NVidia GeForce Series 1,894 0.16 %
NVidia GeForce FX Go5600 1,882 0.16 %
ATI Radeon IGP 320M 1,771 0.15 %
ATI Rage 128 Pro 1,758 0.15 %
ATI Radeon X600 Series 1,751 0.15 %
Intel 815 1,740 0.15 %
ATI Mobility Radeon 1,631 0.14 %
SiS 661FX_760_741_M661FX_M760_M741 1,607 0.13 %
3Dfx Voodoo 3 1,589 0.13 %
PowerVR KYRO/KYRO II 32MB/64MB 1,414 0.12 %
ATI Rage Fury MAXX 1,404 0.12 %
NVidia GeForce FX 5800 Series 1,291 0.11 %
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000/9100 IGP 1,208 0.10 %
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 1,203 0.10 %
ATI Rage 128 1,191 0.10 %
ATI Rage Pro AGP 2X 1,132 0.09 %
NVidia GeForce4 440 Go 1,083 0.09 %
NVidia GeForce4 4200 Go 1,044 0.09 %
NVidia GeForce FX Go5700 1,011 0.08 %
Other 23,535 1.97 %

 

[SonicTitan]

my computer specs are:
AMD Athlon 3200+ 400fsb
1Gb Corsair xms series pc3200 RAM
ATI Radeon x800 pro 256mb

Hl2 runs ultra smooth. I have tried downgrading my RAM to just a single stick of 512mb pc2700 and there is only the most microscopic of differences. Upgrading your graphics card will give you the biggest performance boost for the money. If you have a mid\low end system then getting a radeon 9800 pro for £150 would make a far bigger difference than forking out up to £200 for a gig of duel channel memory.

 

[[46] pushit [2]]

if you ran a 512 mb PC2100 stick and 512mb PC2700 stick (266mhz) would that mess anyhting up? cuz that's what i have on my comp right now, and although dxdiag bring sup 1024 mb of RAM, when i try to do a heapsize bigger than 512 HL2 won't load up. come sup with an error message that says something along the lines that it can't "read" memory(i think).anyone have any ideas here?

 

[Tytarian]

Try setting your ram timings in your BIOS to that of your slowest ram module.

eg:I have 1 512mb stick of ram which is DDR400 and of a generic brand ,and just recently I added another 512mb stick,but this was DDR333(which I got for free from my bro)I looked on the DDR333 ram stick for the latency timings and noted them as:2.5-3.0-3.0. so all I did was go into the bios and change the mem latencies to that of the DDR333 sticks timings,and I have not had any problems.It may have worked perfectly fine without doing this but its allways good to make sure everything is set up correctly.

 

[TEDR]

if you put lower mhz memory i think all the memory will run at the speed of the lowest memory speed

 

[ScRaTcH-A-HoLiC]

1 gig is a must, and yes it speeds up loading time alot..

before I had 1 gig the game would be choppy here and there on med settings..

And now with a gig it runs sweet on high... I thing buying the extra ram is a good idea..

 

[What the Hell?]

I do Remember an article in PCGamer pre- HL2 release, (December 2003 - January 2004) where the question was asked: " if one was supposed to upgrade a comp for HL2, what would be the best thing?"

the answer was this:

HL2 pushes the envelope in all directions, but if you were to upgrade, it would best to upgrade in this order:

1) GPU - a dx9 vid card
2) CPU - minimum 2.4 proccesor
3) RAM - 1 gig minimum, but MOSTLY recomended to go for 2 gigs

those recomendations were from tech guys at Valve, as claimed by PCGamer magazine. This is the list i used in my upgrades, and it proved most benificial to me. Granted, i started LAST december, but it was worth the patience.

P.S. What the hell? i am a jelous man now sir, and i blamy you for the need i now have to go out and spend far too much money on upgrades, grr and as if xmas wasn't expensive enough!

/me chuckles .. sorry man, i use this system mostly for 3d rendering, and other graphic work, so i always need a higher end system. (Reduced rendering times are always my goal.)
Hell i even use a Dual Monitor system. Great for gaming and tracking irc vent/teamspeak.
I would rather have a 6800 Ultra instead of my plain jane 6800, but Ultras here in Toronto are as hard to find as any word from Valve pertaining to TFC:S