512 or a GIG that is the question

[BlindBartimaeus]

I have never had a problem and I don't always subscribe to the idea that bigger is always better...so...If I used 1 gig of memory versus my 512 that is in dual channel, what real world performance difference would I see if any? Furthermore is there a real need for one gig of ram, if so what applications would they be?

I am really interested in those who have used the same system with 512 and 1 gig.

I know games like SWG in the early days and Planetside in the early days had a lot of memory issues and required a gig to run well, but I think those situations are better. But I want to hear all the stories...thanks

 

[nick1985]

gig. i recently upgraded to a gig and BF1942 load times are MUCH faster.

 

[BlindBartimaeus]

would you say most games load times are faster?

 

[jdogg707]

I have used my system, started with 512, went to a Gig, then back to 512...All game loaded slower at 512, video editing was slower, the machine itself seemed slower....go with a Gig!

 

[Hanzou]

I am always one of the first into when the maps change in any online game I play.

 

[nick1985]

you wont notice the upgrade to a gig so much, but when i use my brothers comp that has 512, i can tell.

 

[JohnPaul]

Well, I noticed a good deal of difference in some of the games I play going from 512mb to 1 gig, and you will notice you will be able to have a lot more windows open at any given time, along with apps loading a bit faster. It was definitely worth it for me to upgrade.

 

[DaveSimmons]

search "512" is the answer. Current and archived threads.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
search "512" is the answer. Current and archived threads.

Blindsided ownage...

 

[RichieZ]

1gig, even my laptop had 1gig

 

[TheBoyBlunder]

Can you think of a reason why you should NOT get 1gb? I can't.

 

[THUGSROOK]

1gig

 

[optimistic]

Originally posted by: TheBoyBlunder
Can you think of a reason why you should NOT get 1gb? I can't.

I would not get 1gb if you're still using WIN98.

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: optimistic

Originally posted by: TheBoyBlunder
Can you think of a reason why you should NOT get 1gb? I can't.

I would not get 1gb if you're still using WIN98.

LOL ~ actually 1gig works perfectly in Win98.
(but it does need a vcache tweek in order to run)

:beer:

 

[Sunner]

Depends on your budget IMO.

If you can afford it, sure, go for it.
But if it's either that or going from a 9600->9800 or something, I'd say go with the video card/whatever and stick with 512 for now.

 

[compudog]

Through all of this you never mentioned what OS or other hardware you are running. I can draw that you are running a dual-channel board, so it's fairly recent hardware. Win2K/XP does perform marginally better with more RAM and games do load and run faster with more mem. Win 98 will run with 1 gig of RAM as THUGSROOK pointed out. Check it out here.


Go for the gig either way.

 

[screw3d]

Originally posted by: TheBoyBlunder
Can you think of a reason why you should NOT get 1gb? I can't.

I'm a broke-ass and I have to eat to stay alive.

That said, I do have a gig of PC3200@205MHz goodness

 

[tallman45]

It depends on what your setup is and what you apps you normally use. If you have 2 hard drives on separate channels with your page data file being on a drive separate from your OS then you will see better performance than if you had a single drive system.

If you use digital images and video files that are very large then yes, you will see a huge difference by going with 1gb.

Remember that the time it takes things to load equates to the time it takes to "get" data. That means the disk subsystem is the slowest part of the system. Minimize the back and forth retrieval from the disk subsystem and you will have snappier performance.

 

[JimRaynor]

Not everyone has or is willing to spend the money for another 512mb of ram. Also, maybe they just don't need it.

 

[CraigRT]

yeah only in games like BF1942 and Sim City 4, do you need 1 gig of RAM

otherwise, 512 is good enough.

 

[chocoruacal]

If you truly needed 1gig of RAM, it wouldn't even be an issue, you would have it already. You'll see zero difference in gaming performance/internet/word processing. If you do a lot of video/photo/CAD work then yes, it'll help. But it still might not be worth the extra $1xx to you.

 

[GTaudiophile]

The more the merrier. I've heard from many people that BF1942, and especially Desert Combat, loads MUCH faster with 1GB of RAM. Since BF1942 and DC are my primary games at the moment, I bought another 512MB. I won't install it until after Christmas. I do know, that with 512MB, DC has to do A LOT of caching to my harddrive, and that is bad for performance.

 

[Mavrick]

I'd surely go with a gig, maybe even more. Sim City swaps like heck on my 512

 

[optimistic]

Originally posted by: compudog
Through all of this you never mentioned what OS or other hardware you are running. I can draw that you are running a dual-channel board, so it's fairly recent hardware. Win2K/XP does perform marginally better with more RAM and games do load and run faster with more mem. Win 98 will run with 1 gig of RAM as THUGSROOK pointed out. Check it out here.


Go for the gig either way.

Hey thanks for the link.

 

[poppyq]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
yeah only in games like BF1942 and Sim City 4, do you need 1 gig of RAM

otherwise, 512 is good enough.

None of us really need 1GB (for general use, not referring to people who use computers for work, just a home system in general), but in most cases it will improve performance, it's just a desire, a want, not a need.