To add more RAM or not? That is the question...

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BlueEcho

Member
Sep 12, 2006
30
0
0
Hey guys, I currently am running 2x512(1GB) of Centon RAM (Bargain bin samsung RAM) and im pondering the need add another gb of RAM. My comp supports up to 4GB and if I get the RAM im looking at :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141423

Then id be running 4x512, 2 Kingston and 2 Centon sticks, my big question is whether or not its worth it to upgrade to 2GB from 1GB (I am a gamer mostly, Vanguard/EQ2/FEAR/CS:S etc) and whether or not that setup would be good for me, and if I need the 2GB for vista.

Thanks for any advice you can offer :)

Beau
 
Cogman

Cogman

Lifer
Sep 19, 2000
10,286
147
106
Ram is almost always good. But if you have a gig all ready you might consider upgrading your CPU to a dual core Optron, that may give you a bigger performance boost then ram. Another thing that may improve your gaming experience more then ram is getting a 7600GS Nvidia card, about the same price, but will give a fairly good boost to performance.

Vista loves ram, so if you want to have a general performance increase then more ram is definitely a good way to go.

So judging by the system in the sig this is the priority that I would place for you.
1. CPU
2. RAM
3. GPU

With GPU and RAM being about equal.
 
Cogman

Cogman

Lifer
Sep 19, 2000
10,286
147
106
Also, if you are going with windows Vista, you might want to try setting up ReadyBoost with a cheap flash drive. Don't know if that will be a great speed improvement but it should help.
 
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BlueEcho

Member
Sep 12, 2006
30
0
0
Good info, but if I do upgrade my proc, my budget cap would be like $120... I heard about the using flashdrives as RAM thing, will that be viable? And will I need to upgrade to 2GB anyway? I don't plan on buying a new comp till about a year from now if not more.
just a thought
 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,727
46
91
see if you need more ram - task manager->performanc tab - what does comit charge (K) say at peak?
 
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BlueEcho

Member
Sep 12, 2006
30
0
0
Well im at 627700ish total commit charge and peak is 650072, not running any games atm... I really want to be able to run stuff like oblivion, FEAR etc better... I dont think im ready to spend $200+ on an agp gfx card, I got this X850 pro january of last year and I <3 it
 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,727
46
91
run the games and see what it does. if you are idling at 650MB clean your startup man!!! :D

game like oblivion are mass gpu resources so unless you buy a 8800gtx you aren't playing it at a high resolution and eye candy so don't worry about it
 
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PhoenixOrion

Diamond Member
May 4, 2004
4,312
0
0
since you mentioned that you play Oblivion or want to play it, going from 1GB to 2GB would definitely help with your current rig.
 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,727
46
91
since you are already running you cpu faster anyway, go the ram if you are exceeding 1GB when gaming. i pesonally think you should be able to drop your idle uses to less than 300MB - see what that does for you as you are still gpu limited..
 
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justlnluck

Senior member
Jul 13, 2004
261
0
0
BlueEcho, I have a very similar setup to yours. I just purchased a 939 X2 3800 for $145 and a gig of KingstonValue RAM. I'll let you know if I see a difference. Just got my X2 from Newegg tonight.
 
D

Dave Richardson

Member
Dec 1, 2006
51
0
0
As a reference for you - I played about 700 hours of Oblivion on an Athlon XP 2400+, 512MB RAM, Nvidia 6200, Win XP system last year. Obviously I sacrificed a lot of outdoor eye candy but the gameplay was generally great. Turn off grass!!

I just upgraded my RAM to 2GB. I have started running a lot of stuff concurrently and Win task mananger reported 1.3GB memory in use. With 512MB RAM that meant a lot of paging. Switching between tasks was a bit painful. Now its pretty much instantaneous. If you are in this kind of position more RAM is about the best investment you can make. I ditched 2 * 256MB sticks and bought in 2 * 1GB sticks of memory matched stuff to maintain dual channel operation. The 256MB stuff was pretty high spec stuff compared to the new 1GB sticks - the memory timings are not so tight. I could persuade myself I detect the system being a wee bit more sluggish than before. I don't overclock.

Edit: If you are playing a single person game like oblivion disconnect your network cable and turn off the firewall and anti virus temporarily for a speed boost. Obvious, free, but a lot of people miss it ;)
 
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BlueEcho

Member
Sep 12, 2006
30
0
0
I would love to know how your upgrades turned out. If I decided to upgrade it would probably be one of those two if not both so im very interested to see if you noticed a performance jump.

Thanks! :)

Beau
 
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justlnluck

Senior member
Jul 13, 2004
261
0
0
My RAM should be arriving tomorrow. I was surprised to find out Newegg ships from multiple locations. I live in CA and had enjoyed getting my parts fast even though I pay tax. Now the benefits of Newegg aren't so much. But I do love their selection and I couldn't really find a better alternative vendor.

I'm going to install both components tomorrow (and give the inside of my case a good cleaning as well). Tonight I left Task Manager open for a bit and watched my CPU and RAM usage while I opened various applications. I noticed that even though I have 1 gig, I quickly run out of memory when I run Photoshop Elements and Nikon Scan. I have a Nikon scanner that scans 35mm slides and it eats RAM like no tomorrow. When I had both of those applications open, along with a Firefox browser, I only had 16MB left of physical memory and 1.65Gig page file!!!

Photoshop alone (with various background programs) only leaves me with less than 370MB of physical memory, so I know the extra Gig with be very welcome. My CPU also goes to 100% quite often when I scanning and opening new programs. I can't wait to see if dual core makes the system run any smoother.
 
Zebo

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Originally posted by: BlueEcho
Well im at 627700ish total commit charge and peak is 650072, not running any games atm... I really want to be able to run stuff like oblivion, FEAR etc better... I dont think im ready to spend $200+ on an agp gfx card, I got this X850 pro january of last year and I <3 it
Click to expand...

Wow your comp must be whored out the the max. I only commit charge 54 megs with nothing running and have never hit 800megs with any game and I play them all. No wonder you guys all talk about 2G as being nessesary.:light:
 
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justlnluck

Senior member
Jul 13, 2004
261
0
0
I didn't even look at my Commit Charge. I think I have all of you beat. My Current says 431836 and my Peak says: 1383604 LOL
 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,727
46
91
Originally posted by: Zebo
Originally posted by: BlueEcho
Well im at 627700ish total commit charge and peak is 650072, not running any games atm... I really want to be able to run stuff like oblivion, FEAR etc better... I dont think im ready to spend $200+ on an agp gfx card, I got this X850 pro january of last year and I <3 it
Click to expand...

Wow your comp must be whored out the the max. I only commit charge 54 megs with nothing running and have never hit 800megs with any game and I play them all. No wonder you guys all talk about 2G as being nessesary.:light:
Click to expand...

now that is a lean install :) xp or 2k?
 
Zebo

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Originally posted by: bob4432
Originally posted by: Zebo
Originally posted by: BlueEcho
Well im at 627700ish total commit charge and peak is 650072, not running any games atm... I really want to be able to run stuff like oblivion, FEAR etc better... I dont think im ready to spend $200+ on an agp gfx card, I got this X850 pro january of last year and I <3 it
Click to expand...

Wow your comp must be whored out the the max. I only commit charge 54 megs with nothing running and have never hit 800megs with any game and I play them all. No wonder you guys all talk about 2G as being nessesary.:light:
Click to expand...

now that is a lean install :) xp or 2k?
Click to expand...

2kpro with unessesary services disabled by me. Nothing but NV driver and firewell loads on startup as far as third party concerned. I actually had it down to 34 megs once and fully usable...lemme see if I can find a screeny.
 
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