How much memory bandwidth do we actually use/need?

[Aznguy1872]

I was thinking about this today while I was at work. Do we actually utilize all this memory bandwidth that we get from our memory? Is DDR2 more then enough for gaming purposes and for future games that are coming out? Or is ddr2-1066 an overkill as well as DDR3? What do you guys think?

The reason why I ask this is because I can sell the current ram I have which is 2GB OCZ ddr2-8500 and buy 2 of the cosair 2GB xms ddr2-800 for a total of 4GB for just about the same price. What would you guys do if you guys were in my place?

 

[Rebel44]

I would go for 2x2GB ram.
You only need high speed RAM if you want OverClock CPU with low multi.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Mixing different brands of memory is not recommended. I would suggest you buy a 2 x 2gb kit or, EXACTLY match your existing RAM.

 

[NHutch]

You don't need 4GB of ram. You probably don't even need 2GB of ram. The most ram I really ever use is around 1GB and that's while playing BF2... I only need 1.3GB of ram (my board is retarded, it's detecting 2 of my 512MB sticks as 128MB each.)

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: NHutch
You don't need 4GB of ram. You probably don't even need 2GB of ram. The most ram I really ever use is around 1GB and that's while playing BF2... I only need 1.3GB of ram (my board is retarded, it's detecting 2 of my 512MB sticks as 128MB each.)

Just curious, how do you know how much RAM any person actually needs

 

[JustaGeek]

IMHO, 3GB of RAM is more than enough for 99% of all the users, until the 64-bit OS's and software designed for them become widely available.

 

[Aznguy1872]

Yeah, I mean, I really don't want to drop down to DDR2-800 since I have ddr2-1066. I guess when I do need 4 GB of ram, I'll just buy the current one I have which is the OCZ rather then selling it and buying 2 of the cosair ram. But my main concern is if I do decide to get 4 gb of ddr2-800 (since its cheaper) will I be losing alot of performance in future gaming? Thanks for the input guys.

 

[JustaGeek]

IMO, the bandwidth is just like a highway. More lanes you build, more cars will pass through.

Now, how wide you build it depends on your traffic. The way I feel about it, a good 800MHz memory with tight timings, e.g. 4-4-4-12 is as good as 1066MHz memory with 5-5-5-15.

My SANDRA bandwidth is highly dependent on the FSB - higher the FSB frequency, larger the bandwidth (like the speed of the cars on the highway - a lot going slow or a few going fast in the same period of time, with final result being the same number of vehicles in a given time frame).

With the FSB 266MHz, it was about 5400MB/s; with the present FSB speed of 325MHz it is about 6600MB/s, about 20% more with the same frequency of 800MHz.

So the main factor is the speed of FSB - the RAM must just have to be able to accomodate the throughput. That's why the overall performance difference of the computer running same CPU with the faster RAM is only 1-2%, if that. But if you increase the speed of your FSB/CPU, the differences are much more prominent.

But again - if the RAM is too slow, it won't be able to accomodate all the data that the CPU tries to push through it.

High quality 800MHz RAM with the timings 4-4-4-12 is, in my opinion, more than sufficient for today's CPU's.

 

[Aznguy1872]

Wow, thanks alot for that input. I never really thought about 4-4-4-12 at 800 being equivalent to 5-5-5-15 1066 memory.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard

Originally posted by: NHutch
You don't need 4GB of ram. You probably don't even need 2GB of ram. The most ram I really ever use is around 1GB and that's while playing BF2... I only need 1.3GB of ram (my board is retarded, it's detecting 2 of my 512MB sticks as 128MB each.)

Just curious, how do you know how much RAM any person actually needs

Someone has never played Supreme Commander and high resolutions.

 

[JustaGeek]

Even Supreme Commander does not use more than ~2.5GB of RAM, so the total of 3GB of RAM is plenty.

It might be able to use more on the 64-bit OS, but very unlikely - the "overage" will just go to the system.