Is 512MB enough for games such as World of Warcraft?

[Asharus]

I haven't upgraded my system in a while, it's an Athlon 1900+ w/ 512MB ram and a Ti4200 128.

While playing WoW, the HD would crunch and slow me down. This is due to the RAM, correct? If the HD is not crunching, it runs smoothly at 1280x1024 w/ default settings.

Should I upgrade to 1GB? How much ram is enough for you gamers out there?

 

[Regs]

256 is good enough for games like Warcraft. Well, just as long as you don't multi task a lot. For example, don't have a browser open or have any little 3rd party programs hogging all the available memory up.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Regs
256 is good enough for games like Warcraft. Well, just as long as you don't multi task a lot.

there is a difference between warcraft strategy games, and world of warcraft. he is asking about world of warcraft the MMORPG. i hear its a ram intensive game, i would opt for a gig.

 

[SneakyStuff]

A gig seems like the magic number these days.

 

[Reliant]

I would think that most MMORPGs would benefit from a lot of RAM just due to the amount of action going on in the game at any time.

 

[Asharus]

Dammit I cannot locate my receipt from crucial.com in my email archive. My last receipt was from 2001. Has it really been that long since I upgraded my PC? I need to figure out what kind of RAM I'm using so I can match it up.

Is there a progam out there that can determine what type of ram I'm using? I'm too lazy to bust the machine open, it's heavy.

 

[ponyo]

cpu-z

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: Regs
256 is good enough for games like Warcraft. Well, just as long as you don't multi task a lot.

there is a difference between warcraft strategy games, and world of warcraft. he is asking about world of warcraft the MMORPG. i hear its a ram intensive game, i would opt for a gig.

Oh hm. If it is a game that can load almost its entire level up from a load screen then I would recommend a gig too.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Asharus
Dammit I cannot locate my receipt from crucial.com in my email archive. My last receipt was from 2001. Has it really been that long since I upgraded my PC? I need to figure out what kind of RAM I'm using so I can match it up.

Is there a progam out there that can determine what type of ram I'm using? I'm too lazy to bust the machine open, it's heavy.

There's no need to match 'exact' RAM, even if you want to run dual-channel. Any 512MB stick that will run at the same timings should be fine.

And I second or third the recommendation for 1GB of RAM for MMORPGs. Now that I started playing CoH, I'm really wishing I had gone with more cheap RAM, rather than less fast dual-channel RAM.

 

[Delorian]

My bro-in-law has 256 meg and he's going crazy playing SWG, whenever he nears civilization, it jumps like crazy. He's got a decent connection through DSL as well, so it definitely shouldn't be the normal lag.

 

[Cawchy87]

my friend who only has 256mb sometimes play's c&c generals (rts like worlds of warcraft) and a message pops up once in a while saying "you are out of memory" i would get the gig

 

[PhoenixOrion]

hi asharus. upgrading to 1GB will take care of the bottleneck. you also mentioned that you run at 12x10 res, might want to lower the res to up the eye candy. blizzard reports that it should be scalable for most cpu and gfx.

have fun beta testing!

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Cawchy87
my friend who only has 256mb sometimes play's c&c generals (rts like worlds of warcraft) and a message pops up once in a while saying "you are out of memory" i would get the gig

WORLD OF WARCRAFT != WARCRAFT 3.

World Of Warcraft is their upcoming MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). It is NOT an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game, and the system requirements for it are very different (and much higher).

 

[Tostada]

For MMORPG's, more memory helps more than anything. Diablo II is ancient, and it chokes a bit loading waypoints with less than 512MB.

 

[Looney]

For MMORPGs, memory is much more important than even videocard. Get all the memory you can afford or your system will handle.

 

[jim1976]

I have recently put another stick of 512mb running at dual channel on my system. I can assure you playin Warcraft now is a gaming bliss.

 

[Asharus]

Thanks all. I found out that I used 512MB of PC2100 non-parity ram, Crucial has a ton of others, such as the faster PC2700 and ECC ram. I should just buy 1 512MB stick of PC2100 to match the RAM I have, correct?

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Asharus
Thanks all. I found out that I used 512MB of PC2100 non-parity ram, Crucial has a ton of others, such as the faster PC2700 and ECC ram. I should just buy 1 512MB stick of PC2100 to match the RAM I have, correct?

Buy whatever is the cheapest for your needs. Sometimes PC2700/3200/3500 is cheaper than 2100.

Just make sure the timings match when you install, run it at the slowest modules timings and you will be fine.

 

[Asharus]

Which of these are better (from hot deals @ kingston both for $75 AR):

KVR400/512R 512MB 400MHz DDR (PC3200) DIMM CL3

KVR333/512R 512MB 333MHz DDR (PC2700) DIMM CL2.5

I'm using an Abit KR7A-RAID w/ 2 sticks of Crucial 256MB 184-pin DIMM CT3264Z265 DDR PC2100 ? CL=2.5 ? Unbuffered ? Non-parity ? DDR266 ? 2.5V ? 32Meg x 64

You're saying that I won't have a problem using PC3200 or PC2700? What's the difference between the two? One has a faster latency, but the other has a faster bus?

 

[Acanthus]

Its actually identical chips. Either is fine. the 3200 will do 2700 at 2.5 and the 2700 will do 3200 at cas3.

Literally... if you bought one of each, and compared them, the serials are identical and everything.

 

[Metron]

It's nice to see that people are coming around regarding memory requirements for MMORPG's. I play a lot of Anarchy Online (and others), and people razzed me last year when I upgraded from 512 Mb to over a Gb. Load times dramatically improved, and task switching is much faster.

Metron

 

[duragezic]

If you're only using PC2100 I would probably take a gander at the FS/FT forum to try and pick up a 512mb stick of PC2100. IMO, it would seem like a waste to buy brand-new, faster RAM when your system is already outdated anyway; it couldn't use it. And when you finally do a major upgrade you're gonna have to dump all your major components so I wouldn't invest a bunch more $$$ into it this late.

Oh yeah, I never played WoW, but perhaps you could try lowering the resolution? 1280x1024 seems kind of high for a Athlon 1900+!! Maybe drop it down to 1024x768 but enable FSAA.

 

[Asharus]

I ended up buying a stick of Crucial PC2100 512MB, same spec as the ones I have for $85 shipped from newegg $10 cheaper than it was on crucial's site.

I've always used 1280x1024 (Desktop & Games) since purchasing the Nokia445PRO 21" CRT (courtesy of the hot deal forum and Dell).

Anything lower than that on the 21" looks pixelated to me. WoW runs fine when everything is loaded (IE when I stay in one area) but when I start wandering around, the HD will crunch and it slows down. I'm thinking that it's a RAM issue, and most of the people who posted here agreed.

Thanks again for your kind help folks!

 

[Asharus]

Update: I installed the RAM last night... WoW is now smooth as silk even at 1280x1024. Thanks for the help!

 

[Xernex]

Congrats and have fun testing.

<===== Jealous beyond belief