More Ram= Alot better?

[B.Calhoun]

Well with my curret specs (in sig) i was wondering if upgradeding to 1 gig of ram with be MUCH better for future and demanding games? I would like to see more fps and stuff like that for games such as STALKER and Battlefield 2 (yeah i know there not out yet, but obvisouly they will be demanding spec wise).

If you guys think its a good idea could ya tell me why or why not?

(if i decide to get another stick of 512mb than ill be getting it tommorw most likely, or i might wait if im unsure of spending 100 bucks that aint worth it)

 

[DarkStar]

It would certainly help but don't expect VAST increases in performance.

 

[Roland Deschain]

I have almost identical stats as yours, and I upgraded just a couple of weeks ago from 512 to 1024 so here goes.

Doom 3: Went up from 38 in the time demo (high 1024) to 42-43. The game doesn't stutter when I opened to large areas anymore.

FarCry: I can enable medium AA and AF now and get decent performance throughout the entire game, whereas before there were spaces where the game became unplayabe (1024 everything on Very High).

Call of Duty: Didn't see any big changes, so don't know.

In all the three games above, the loading times got a lot shorter, which is especially true of FarCry, where before hand a level took 1-2 minutes to load, now I can get them done in 30-60 seconds.

Therefore, don't expect radical increase that you would get with a X800 pro upgrade (expensive), but you will get slightly smoother gameplay.

 

[B.Calhoun]

Hmm, what about for future games? think it will be alot better or 512 will do the trick just fine?

 

[ailevation]

It would certainly help but don't expect VAST increases in performance.

:thumbs: Actually if you were to upgrade from PC-2700(512Mb) to PC-3200(1Gb) like I did, whoo. Everything ran smoother in my games, Doom III I was able to gain probably about 10-15 FPS on an average.

 

[Roland Deschain]

:thumbs: Actually if you were to upgrade from PC-2700(512Mb) to PC-3200(1Gb) like I did, whoo. Everything ran smoother in my games, Doom III I was able to gain probably about 10-15 FPS on an average.

I really really really really doubt that. Are you talking about the timedemo, or just your personal experience as you play the game?

Hmm, what about for future games? think it will be alot better or 512 will do the trick just fine?

My friend told me (and he said he wasn't sure), that STALKER, at least for the initial oriantion requirements, had 512RAM as a minimum requirement, and doom 3 already has a minimum requirement above 256, so don't be suprised if 512 becomes a minimum requirement. As to how well the improvement will be for future games, we'll have to wait for the benchmarks.

 

[B.Calhoun]

Yeah maybe ill just wait for newer games and such.

And how would a radeon X800 work with my system? would it get bottlenecked or anything? cause maybe i should just save up for that, no?

 

[Roland Deschain]

Yeah maybe ill just wait for newer games and such.

And how would a radeon X800 work with my system? would it get bottlenecked or anything? cause maybe i should just save up for that, no?

Well for a X800, you gotta get at least 1 Gig of RAM, 512 wouldn't cut it. But you have a 9800. I mean, sure if you have the money and want it. But the 9800 will serve fine for at least another year, but naturally if you want to push AA/AF in upcoming games, you gotta go for the X800.

I got a 9800Pro (flashed to an XT), and I plan to make my next graphic card purchase the 512MB generation of cards.

 

[B.Calhoun]

Ive heard little about these 512mb cards...waht are they and how do they work?

EDIT: im only 15 but i make a lil over 200 a month so getting 1 gig of ram and then buying the X800 might only take me about 3 months max, cause + christmas money instead of presents etc.

Also, does the 6800 GT also need 1 gig of ram? and which do ya think would work better with my system.

 

[DarkStar]

Ive heard little about these 512mb cards...waht are they and how do they work?

EDIT: im only 15 but i make a lil over 200 a month so getting 1 gig of ram and then buying the X800 might only take me about 3 months max, cause + christmas money instead of presents etc.

Also, does the 6800 GT also need 1 gig of ram? and which do ya think would work better with my system.

Both would work fine with your system but you really don't need to upgrade your videocard quite yet. The 9800 will run upcoming games just fine. If you must I'd go for the 6800GT just because it currently has the most bang for your buck IMO.

 

[JFry]

I agree, the card you have now will prolly run any game at or close to max settings just fine. Save your money and when you notice your fps going down in newer games/mods you can buy an even better card for cheaper.

RAM on the other hand is almost always a good thing to get. 512 isn't bad right now but you should notice somewhat better performance with another 512 or gig. Any more than that prolly won't make a difference at the moment.

 

[westie]

Yeah if you look at things like Far cry they recommend 1gig

 

[Dead-Inside]

Currently 512 mb is enough. Anything above doesn't increase performance that much unless you have dual channel 512x512, then it's a great difference. Which reminds me, I gotta get another stick of ram :/

 

[B.Calhoun]

Does the 6800 GT need one gig of ram also?

 

[Maxi]

Currently 512 mb is enough. Anything above doesn't increase performance that much unless you have dual channel 512x512, then it's a great difference. Which reminds me, I gotta get another stick of ram :/

1 gig of ram does help however with multitasking (having and using alot of programs at the same time) and when you close a game you almost always notice that your hdd blinks alot, that's cause windows is emptying the page file. When I got anohter 512mb bar it stopped doing that. I like 1 gig alot better then 512mb, and if you can afford it i'd get 1 gig.

 

[Champ]

It doesn't NEED a gig of ram, but I'm sure it'll get better with a gig instead of 512...

 

[B.Calhoun]

It doesn't NEED a gig of ram, but I'm sure it'll get better with a gig instead of 512...

Yeah thats what most people are saying so i figure ill save my money for later. BTW anyone know if the 6800 GT needs a gig of ram to work?

 

[Maxi]

Why would it need a gig of ram to work?

 

[B.Calhoun]

Because it was stated in this thread that the X800 needs a gig.....

 

[Champ]

I think he meant that with 512 mb you wouldn't have used the card to it's true potential. I haven't heard from anywhere that it actually needs to have a gig of ram.

 

[Roland Deschain]

Because it was stated in this thread that the X800 needs a gig.....

Lol, you can get an X800 with 512MB, and you will see a big inprovement, but i believe it would also bottleneck the card to some degree.

 

[B.Calhoun]

Lol, you can get an X800 with 512MB, and you will see a big inprovement, but i believe it would also bottleneck the card to some degree.

Oh i see, i thought it was a MUST. But i wouldnt want to bottle neck it so i would get another stick of 512mb.

Oh and what are the prices for the X800 and the 6800 GT?

 

[wartime]

400 dollars

 

[Champ]

Yeh 400$. I'm buying a 6800 GT, but the Danish tax makes the crap a 100$ more expensive..

 

[B.Calhoun]

Both of em are 400? then the 6800 GT would be a better buy right?

 

[Roland Deschain]

Wait for ASUS to put his post in, he's got the most succint tech summeries ever.

 

[Quixoticism]

Only 15 and you have a killer rig like that eh? (My b-day is in a week...I hope I get something good)
Anyways, I would definately recommend getting another 512 of Ram. I recently upped my Ram to a gig and everything performs better(albeit only slightly in some programs) Doom 3 played MUCH better. Games load faster and you can alt-tab without having to reload windows, and then resume your game without having to wait.

 

[B.Calhoun]

Only 15 and you have a killer rig like that eh?

Yup, working two jobs all summer long. And when i do the math for it acually im bringing in about 300 a month.

But maybe ill just wait for the next best thing and blow all my money on it.

 

[Asus]

Most people reach that point where they want 1gb of memory earlier than that.
As you go up the hardware ladder for better and better parts there comes a point where you don't just want a faster CPU or GFX card but actually want to keep the heavy games from lagging and increase load speeds.

Most people get up to around a A64 2800+/9800Pro (or even 2500+/9600 for some) level of a system and almost everyone is looking at a Gig of memory by this point. You just have priorities in a different spot. Not saying it's bad, might be for someone's opinion though, but just different.