gig of RAM

grimloch

i see alot of people here with a gig of RAM, however games only recommend 512 mb of the stuff, so what is it you need a gig for? if you need it for overclocking will 512 mb not do?

Lump

Well I do video editing and it's needed for the rendering. And the faster the processor the more ram you need. IE I have a 3Ghz processor, 512megs would be a bottle neck when processing.


John

tman

512 is the bare minimum for games these days.
prepare for insanely long loading times in games like far cry and doom3, and crappy fairly crappy performance for the first couple of minutes of gameplay.
768mb or 1024mb should be a starting point for any new gaming pc.
you can overclock any ammount of ram, that has nothing to do with the capacity.

innocent_crew

grimloch wrote:

so what is it you need a gig for?

For even better gaming..:) what else?

Games such as FarCry, Doom 3.. really need 1GB RAM.. to run at a decent 45+ framerates.

grimloch

righto, may have to get a gig of RAM, i heard someone saying that the CPU can bottleneck the RAM so what im asking is an xp3000 or something like that enough to run a gig of RAM?

Shiny

I have a gig of ram but I mainly have that as to
use the Dual Channel Memory on my A7N8X Deluxe.

Dual Channel Memory + SATA Raid = Fast Loading times.

++
I have an XP2600 @ 2333 BTW.

tman

Shiny wrote:

I have a gig of ram but I mainly have that as to
use the Dual Channel Memory on my A7N8X Deluxe.

isn't that a socket A mainboard?
only bothering to run mine in dual channel because i can't find the option to turn it off in my NF7 :rolleyes:

grimloch

i see thank you all

Shiny

tman wrote:

isn't that a socket A mainboard?
only bothering to run mine in dual channel because i can't find the option to turn it off in my NF7 :rolleyes:

Yep its socket A hence "I have an XP2600 @ 2333 BTW."

tman

that was more of a rhetorical question.
there's very little point in running ram as dual channel on an athlon board, the performance increase is marginal (+/- 3% i think)

CivilServant

innocent_crew wrote:

For even better gaming..:) what else?

Games such as FarCry, Doom 3.. really need 1GB RAM.. to run at a decent 45+ framerates.

Memory doesn't affect framerates, only loading times.

Illkillya

It does affect frame rates, because with more memory you can raise the com_hunkmegs/heapsize for better all-round performance and a more consistent frame rate.

BKtje

CivilServant wrote:

Memory doesn't affect framerates, only loading times.

indeed, only load times are affected.

Azza

Do not think memory affects frame rates but it does give you annoying stutters if you have too little. I know of several games that recommend at least over 768mb ram now so its becoming more common. But 512mb will still get you buy most old games but not the upcoming ones like doom III.

I remember reading total annihilation manual a few years back. I believe the game was originally released in 1997. It said most people could play its small to medium maps provided they had 32mb of memory. It then went on to state people with insanely large amounts of memory i.e. 64mb could play its big maps. Boy things have longed since changed.

blobert

Other than for gaming and video editing I can't think of too many other reasons you'd need it..

po0k

B-K-DzR wrote:

indeed, only load times are affected.

Not really, if you don't ahve enough ram to hold all of the data needed during play, the pagefile on the hard drive will have to be used instead and that will cause choppy play.

As for low amount of ram (say 512 Vs 1024meg) bottle-necking the cpu, it's not really "bottlenecking" as it's more the speed of the ram that could limit how fast the cpu can access the memory.
It's really more than if you have a fast cpu then it's a good idea to balance that with plenty of ram because although your cpu might be capable of playing a game in "high detail", if the amount of ram you have to hold the data to be processed isn't sufficient for "high detail" then paging will occur and the extra speed of the cpu will be wasted as it's awaiting the proper new data to be loaded into the physical ram from the pagefile.

BKtje

Not really, if you don't ahve enough ram to hold all of the data needed during play, the pagefile on the hard drive will have to be used instead and that will cause choppy play.

Yer well true, but 512mb is enough for any game currently available (apart from maybe doom3 but thats only at the higher levels which you wouldnt be playing anyway unless u had an uber pc) . In general anything over 512mb will only help decrease load times in games apart from as i said the games only starting to emerge.

Jammer

Azza wrote:

Boy things have longed since changed.

indeed, i opened up my old P1 MMX Gateway Computer yesterday, the processor (166mhz) didnt even have a fan, it just had a heatsink. The cache wasnt on the processor, it was slotted into a slot beisde it, kind of like a ram slot. There was no AGP, just two funny looking slot, kind of like PCI but longer. Weird how things have changed...

It had a Voodoo 2 which had 3 mini processors on it, and 16mb of ram (considering the whole system had 32mb, that was pretty good)...each ram module was 512kb in size.

Captain Trips

blobert wrote:

Other than for gaming and video editing I can't think of too many other reasons you'd need it..

Well you *could* set up a RAMdisk and have the OS booting and running then from RAM. Used to work in WIn9X OSs and you can doa fair amount with LInux and rd. ot too sure about XP but it would be nice to throw a few gigs in and have all apps in RAM. Sort of pointless with ultra fast HDs but does have added coolness ....sort of.

tribble

CivilServant wrote:

Memory doesn't affect framerates, only loading times.

Surely if a game has to load textures and they aren't available in V memory or Ram and it's forced to load off the HD it's going to affect framerate - either that or you'll get some serious pop-up.

tribble

BKtje

Most of the main textures should be put transfered to your ram on loading (this is one of the reasons why loading can take such a long time). It then access's these textures when needed. Anything else would be small compared to these large textures and with todays fast hard drives it won't make an impact really.

BlackWizard

Ive an amd barton 2800 and 512 ddr and a decent graphics card and yet doom3 is quite jumpy but takes little away from the game but if i had 1GIG oh how that would make the difference!! 1gig = comfortable gaming

grimloch

BlackWizard wrote:

Ive an amd barton 2800 and 512 ddr and a decent graphics card

may i ask what graphics card that is?

OfflerCrocGod

BlackWizard wrote:

but if i had 1GIG oh how that would make the difference!! 1gig = comfortable gaming

May I also ask how you know that with 1Gb of RAM the game will all of a sudden stop stuttering and play well? 512Mb is fine for Doom III a better Gfx Card would do more then more RAM.

BloodBath

Yer well true, but 512mb is enough for any game currently available (apart from maybe doom3 but thats only at the higher levels which you wouldnt be playing anyway unless u had an uber pc) . In general anything over 512mb will only help decrease load times in games apart from as i said the games only starting to emerge.

Not true, far cry, battlefield vietnam and any new mmorpg like star wars galaxies or dark age of camelot run a lot better with 1gb of ram.

Most of the next gen titles like hl2 and doom 3 will as well. 512mb should really be a gamers minimum with 1 gb recomended.

BloodBath

unkel

tman wrote:

that was more of a rhetorical question.
there's very little point in running ram as dual channel on an athlon board, the performance increase is marginal (+/- 3% i think)

That's right, unless you manage to go significantly over 200FSB, which is not easy and would require better than air cooling...

Presuming Shiny's chip is a multi-locked Barton 2600, he is running it at 12.5 * 187FSB

seanos

1 gig + means can disable windows page file [safely, and without slowdown ... i.e. if have 512 and do it ... windows will use 256 at least, and then any new game will easy use 256, and well, then slowdown, so if have gig+ ... usually can safely disable, and get decent performance + stability increase].

Venom

BloodBath wrote:

Not true, far cry, battlefield vietnam and any new mmorpg like star wars galaxies or dark age of camelot run a lot better with 1gb of ram.

Most of the next gen titles like hl2 and doom 3 will as well. 512mb should really be a gamers minimum with 1 gb recomended.

BloodBath

Bang on the money. 1gb is a must for a serious gamer.

Matt Simis

Yep, Id agree. Load times and overall smoothness is vastly improved even when moving to just 768MB ram. 1GB is what I would consider "comfortable" for the next year or so.



Matt

BKtje

Thing is those games dont need 1gb of memory. They run perfectly well on 512mb but its mainly the loading time thats affected. Of course 1gb helps but the overall improvement (bar load times) is minimal (unless your running a load of apps in the background which u shouldnt do anyway). Thats what i've found at least.

I played farcry without a problem with 512mb. Doom3 i aint tried without 1gb so i cant argue a point there but i still beloeve that 512mb is enough for the moment (i still wouldnt use less than a gig tho ).

grimloch

that settles it, a gig of RAM if i can afford it, thank you to all who cleared this up for me

MrVestek

You expect to play *edit - recent* games ok with a p3, pc100 sd ram and a 10 gig hdd? not to mention onboard 32mb graphics... (shudder). You'd have a better time trying to bake a cake with your xbox.

grimloch

Achilles wrote:

You expect to play *edit - recent* games ok with a p3, pc100 sd ram and a 10 gig hdd? not to mention onboard 32mb graphics... (shudder). You'd have a better time trying to bake a cake with your xbox.

ashamed to say, but that onboard graphics is NOT 32mb but an 8mb device lol
it can run deus ex 1 on medium to low graphics!!

my ram isnt quite as fancy as sd ram either, no no, its SO-DIMM

as you may guess im going to get a new pc some time soon as this one is desperate

MrVestek

As soon as it's desperate? dude... that pc configuration was top of the range in about '99. Actually i bet you upgraded the processor and ram... if so then the stock pc was top of the range early '98. This is 5 years later, your pc was desperate a long loooooong time ago...

elivsvonchiaing

I've a horrible feeling this question be repeated in ten years - only then it will be: Why do I need 32Gb of RAM? :eek:

Jammer

elivsvonchiaing wrote:

Why do I need 32Gb of RAM? :eek:

loading times? what loading times?

unkel

SeanOS wrote:

1 gig + means can disable windows page file

That was one of the main reasons I upgraded to a gig

elivsvonchiaing wrote:

I've a horrible feeling this question be repeated in ten years - only then it will be: Why do I need 32Gb of RAM? :eek:

more like about a quarter of a Terabyte in 10 years time...

typical memory in decent (but not top of range) pc:

1995 8MB
1998 64MB
2001 256MB
2004 1GB

So 125 times in 9 years - pretty much doubling every year :eek:

CPU speed will be about 150Ghz...

seanos

Or they'll just finally start to start coding in a way that programs don't need 1GB memory to run.
The idea of a game in 92 [96?]KB ... I wouldn't mind seeing same idea, except instead of going easy on HD Space, go easy on processor/ram usage, and still look/run well
I'd say in 10 years Ghz & GB will loose some meaning they'll have to start redeveloping systems, as current arch won't be sustainable.
Anyway, that's enough of my off-topic ranting

Venom

SeanOS wrote:

Or they'll just finally start to start coding in a way that programs don't need 1GB memory to run.
The idea of a game in 92 [96?]KB ... I wouldn't mind seeing same idea, except instead of going easy on HD Space, go easy on processor/ram usage, and still look/run well
I'd say in 10 years Ghz & GB will loose some meaning they'll have to start redeveloping systems, as current arch won't be sustainable.
Anyway, that's enough of my off-topic ranting

Wont ever happen. Bigger and better and faster is the way the PC industry has always been run and I see no reasion why it will ever change.

BloodBath

Wont ever happen. Bigger and better and faster is the way the PC industry has always been run and I see no reasion why it will ever change.

Nah it's going to have to change soon venom. Moore's law has already been broken. They are not advancing in speed at the rate they should be. For over a year intel chips speed only went up 200mhz, from 3.2-3.4. They are struggling to go much higher with the current architechture. Look at the Prescott's. Heat is really killing them. I'd say they will probably hit about 4.5ghz with the current tech until they switch to dual core processors but thats only a short term solution as well. Computing as we know it will drastically change in the next ten years.


BloodBath

dubhthach

Well i have a 1.5GB in my Unix box (SGI Octane) as to why i have so much well when i bought it 2nd hand there was 1GB in it, and i got an extra 512mb free when i bought a new system module/ dual MIPS64 CPU for it. I could technically could go up to 8GB's of memory but propiertry SGI memory costs about 700Euro for 2GB upgrade (2x 1GB modules) so i'll leave it for awhile. Still IRIX works like a charm with such memory that's for sure.

Stephen

Irix? Weirdo!

dubhthach

Stephen wrote:

Irix? Weirdo!

Awh well least it's a real OS

MrVestek

Irix? There's a new one. Heard of windows (beh, who hasn't? damn corporate sons of... linux (all distros) freebsd, erm, a sun java OS (can't remember the name). What's Irix like then?

Villain

BloodBath wrote:

Nah it's going to have to change soon venom. Moore's law has already been broken. They are not advancing in speed at the rate they should be. For over a year intel chips speed only went up 200mhz, from 3.2-3.4. They are struggling to go much higher with the current architechture. Look at the Prescott's. Heat is really killing them. I'd say they will probably hit about 4.5ghz with the current tech until they switch to dual core processors but thats only a short term solution as well. Computing as we know it will drastically change in the next ten years.


BloodBath

EUV lithography will give great speeds in the future.

BKtje

Wont ever happen. Bigger and better and faster is the way the PC industry has always been run and I see no reasion why it will ever change.

They are already looking at other ways of doing what computers do today. Including an organic storage device(slow but theoretically masive storage, how much can a human brain hold?), computers without a central clock governing it (ie tick per execution etc) al;so something called quantum computing.Dont ask me how it all works as it was only a short article. In ten years the computer industry will be changing(main stream will prob be as is) and in 20years it will be unrecognizable from todays designs. Thats what they are guessing anyway.

Read all of it in Scientific American last year. Twas an interesting read.

dubhthach

IRIX is commerical UNIX (System VR4 with bsd "extensions") that runs on Silicon Graphics hardware (64bit MIPS processors) as a result it has OPENGL highly integrated into it (after all they invented it) i have to say XSGI is one of the best xservers i've used it's highly stable and doesn't eat lots of memory like xfree on linux/bsd that and the fact that Opengl is highly integrated into it. Still if your a fan of eyecandy ye mighten like the look of IRIX as it uses Motif

My first experience with IRIX was on a Origin3800 with 40 processors and 40GB of RAM and about a TB of Hardisk in a Fibre Channel RAID5 array

stevenmu

oops, ended up in the wrong thread, sorry

MrVestek

I remember reading something about a quantum computer too, using a micro erm... no what was it? some kinda fusion or, some chemical reaction anyways made to produce masses of power and processing ability. Erm, something along the lines of that. Only trouble there is, once it's turned off, ya can't turn it back on as the reaction is destroyed for the processor.

Smellyirishman

Ye organic means information will be sent through slug juice.

Seriously, slugs communicate through information left in their goop they leave behind, so this stuff could be the base of our new CDs or HDDs

MrVestek

Hard Dick Drive... nice.