Does more or faster system ram give you better FPS?

sep

Platinum Member
Aug 1, 2001
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256MB vs 512MB vs 768MB vs 1024GB

or what about overclocked system ram?

-JC
 

sep

Platinum Member
Aug 1, 2001
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76
I upgrade my RDRAM from 256MB to 512MB then 768MB. I never really monitored for the increase, but I'm curious if anyone else has noticed.

-JC
 

dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
8,558
3
76
Ram is great, you can never have too much ram, the more the better. Quanity in general will give you more performance then speed will, this is because, right now, ram speed is above what is needed, in the future you will need both, fast and large quanities. What im saying is, you would rather have 768MB of PC2100 DDR, instead of 640MB PC3200 DDR for it will give you better performance in general to have more, because it wont have to swap as much, but in things where swapping isnt needed, the faster ram is favorable. I went from a 512 133 SD system to a 512 DDR 2700 system and my radeon 9000 pro 3Dmark went up by 1500 points, In future, memory speed is needed more then it is now, im planning on buying 2 512 sticks of PC3200 and gonna be running with a gig of Dual Channel PC3200 effectively 6400 Memory :)
 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
512MB slow RAM is better than 256MB fast RAM in modern conditions (I know, from personal experience) because the extra RAM reduces swapping, improving performance more than the speed does.
Abover 512MB, extra RAM doesn't have all that much effect (again, personal experience), but I'm not sure about speed differences at the 512MB level.

Basically, you might as well get 512MB fast RAM than 768MB slower, and 512MB slow over 256MB fast.
Hope that helps.
 

SilverBack

Golden Member
Oct 10, 1999
1,622
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This really depends on several things.
Going from 256 to 512 will usually give you an added frame rate, but it's usually a small increase 1-2 fps.
Speed of ram and timings play a small part, as well as the power of your cpu. A more powerful cpu can use the ram more efficiently.

Going from 512 to 768 shouldn't be noticeable. I went from 512 to 1024 and didn't see any real performance boost except in memory intensive programs.
(Rendering for example)


 

gururu

Platinum Member
Jul 16, 2002
2,402
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once you hit 512 MB, faster timings will give more performance than more RAM.
 

JBT

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
12,094
1
81
should this be in the video forum?
dito what does this have to do with video ?
any ways I would have to agree with the others once you have atleast 512 megs of ram then speed would be the limiting factor under not amount.
Bascially if u have less than 512 get more !!!if u have more than 512 get faster stuff!!
 

BFG10K

Lifer
Aug 14, 2000
22,709
3,005
126
Faster RAM will always help provided you have enough of it so that the game doesn't swap while you're playing it. First get at least 512 MB (1 GB is preferred) and then concentrate on getting it faster.
 

Megatomic

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
20,127
6
81
Originally posted by: GtPrOjEcTX
Originally posted by: Megatomic
Originally posted by: JBTele
should this be in the video forum?
dito what does this have to do with video ?
What's with all the Mod-wannabes lately?
there's always been modwannabes. wth have you been?
Hmm, I've been around. It just seems like lately they have been crawling out of the woodwork. They ought to find threads they can contribute meaningfully to.
 

Confused

Elite Member
Nov 13, 2000
14,166
0
0
Look at the THREAD TITLE

Does more or faster system ram give you better FPS?


That's why it's in video
rolleye.gif


Quit it with all the Mod-Wannabe's, it's getting VERY tiring
rolleye.gif



Confused
 

FearoftheNight

Diamond Member
Feb 19, 2003
5,101
0
71
Originally posted by: Confused
Look at the THREAD TITLE

Does more or faster system ram give you better FPS?


That's why it's in video
rolleye.gif


Quit it with all the Mod-Wannabe's, it's getting VERY tiring
rolleye.gif



Confused

Yea I agree. Its not that serious.