New gaming computer

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Gerbil333

Originally posted by: Fisher999

Originally posted by: VERTIGGO
To reiterate what was said about RAM, if you only play FPS games like HL2 and Doom 3 you'll be fine with 1GB. However realtime strategy games and even the Battlefield series games which handle numerous units and widespread AI may run into limitations with only 1GB.

Correct me if I'm misdirected, anyone. I'm referring to my old Athlon 3400+ system with 1024MB RAM.

Really Vertiggo, (not being sarcastic), are some of the modern games really "sucking up" that much RAM (along with the rest of the system) that 2 GB is becoming essential ???

Yes, HL2 will eat up 1GB. After a few maps in HL2 with 2x512mb installed, here's a a shot of Task Manager. I know that the Peak Commit Charge also includes virtual memory, however, when I tried 2x512 + 1x256 (1.25gb), the system peaked at about 1070 MBs! Not only can Windows utilize extra RAM, it takes about 10 seconds to exit HL2. Games have always done that when I've not had enough RAM, and they suddenly exit instantly when the system has enough memory.

2 GBs may be slightly overkill right now, but I'm sure that in under 12 months games will run best with more than 1gb.

You get a little ram happy I noticed. I play all the games HL2, Doom3, FC etc while DLing with 30 windows on avant open and never go over 700mb. Maybe you got 300 things in task bar, comp all whored out to malware and spyware something, but that is not normal.

A friend of mine was like this. Had 512MB and all he ran was AOL and was using 650MB!!! I told him to go buy another stick 512MB because fixing his problems were insurmountable RAM was cheaper.