Ram speeds & gaming

[flanker12k]

Like 768mb pc2100 vs 768mb pc3200?

i realize more bandwidth is avalible but does it translate into smoother gaming?

 

[Jerm324]

yes it will help, as pc3200 runs faster than pc2100, and it would also be better to buy ram with fast timings as that would help too. Although the difference in FPS wouldn't be as great as say upgrading a video card from a fx5900 to a fx6800.

 

[flanker12k]

I already got a 9700pro 128mb vid card so i figured it wasn't that

I overclocked my cpu slightly and still saw no performance difference

only logical conclusion i can come up with is the ram speed

i'm talking about forgotten hope for bf42 mod = uber ram intensive

when you speak bout timings you mean the CAS/RAS latency?

another stupid question, how is that different from pc3200 "speed"?

 

[DKlein]

1. If you only overclock slightly, you won't see any real difference. Really I can't comment on that, though, because I don't know how you are determining the difference or the rest of your system setup. If you're just basing it on how the game "feels," then it's because most people couldn't tell anything under a 5% difference (in general), and this is even harder to see in games. Also, depending on your resolution, AA/AF, and in-game graphics options, you might still be bottlenecked by your video card. Even if that's not the problem, there can be any other number of reasons that a CPU overclock did not translate into significant gains.

2. Although I don't want to put words in Jerm's mouth, timings generally refer to CAS-tRP-tRCD-tRAS timings (e.g. 2-3-3-7).

3. Timings are different than "speed" in that speed dictates how fast the RAM talks to the CPU, and timings dictate how fast the RAM can get the data from within itself. Decreasing timings and increasing "speed" should both increase overall performance.

4. Why is Forgotten Hope uber RAM intensive?

5. For the original question, yes it should. More bandwidth means that, assuming your processor is up to it, you won't have as many wasted cycles while your CPU waits around for the necessary data and that your processor is able to get more data sent in the same time frame. Waster cycles = bad, FYI.

 

[mwmorph]

form 2100 to 3200, on an a64, ther is maybe 7% max difference on almost all games. other memory intensive things like rncodinc, zipping files etc is almost uaffected too. there is a memory matrix stickied on the cpu/processors thread comparing pc2100 and pc3200 as well as some other speeds. almost no difference except in artifical benchies.

edit: nevermind, it's not stickied anymore there here's a linky
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1475190&enterthread=y

 

[SlitheryDee]

There are some noticable advantages to pc3200 memory vs. pc2100. However I would say that going up to 1gb of anything would better improve general performance in gaming, video editing (BIG improvement), and multitasking.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
edit: nevermind, it's not stickied anymore there here's a linky
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1475190&enterthread=y

That thread is specific to a64 cpus. If you're using any other cpu than you may see more improvement with faster memory because most other cpus don't have integrated memory controllers.

 

[glorifiedg790]

I have an athlon xp 2400+ I have 512Mb pc2700 ram but my cpu's fsb is clocked at 133mhz. Typically for my experience with athlon xp's (not sure about a64's) is that my memory benchmark was much higher with my Ram to cpu ratio set at 1:1. Only reason I didn't go with pc2100 was to give myself room for overclocking

 

[mwmorph]

64s can rum ram async easily without performance loss.

 

[flanker12k]

reason why its so ram intensive is because of the maps have SOO much more objects on them then typical maps would. and the textures are quite well done = more ram. to give an idea of how much ram is required the modders recommended atleast a gig of ram. my computer specs are as follows

1700 oc'ed to approx 1800
768mb of pc2100 ram
radeon 9700pro w/ 128mb ram