Which is Better Higher OC or More RAM ?

[oslama]

I am trying to decide whether to keep 16 GB ram and run CPU @ 3.2GHZ or just use 8 GB and run @ 3.8GHZ .

I want to get back to PC gaming. I am usually 6-12 months behind the current gaming trends ( wait for game $ to go lower). Mainly play 1st person shooters and RTS/RPG games at low-medium settings.

AMD Phenom X4 830 (stock 2.8ghz)
Patriot 8GB 1333MHZ and 8GB 1066MHZ ( affects o.c )
ASUS M4A88TM
Radeon 7770 1gb
Win 7-64 bit
Coolermaster hyper 101A w/push-pull fans.

 

[MrSquished]

I am trying to decide whether to keep 16 GB ram and run CPU @ 3.2GHZ or just use 8 GB and run @ 3.8GHZ.

AMD Phenom X4 830 (stock 2.8ghz)
Patriot 8GB 1333MHZ and 8GB 1066MHZ
ASUS M4A88TM
Win 7-64 bit
Coolermaster hyper 101A w/push-pull fans.

what do you do with the PC

 

[KingFatty]

Luckily you can check the RAM usage when you are normally using a computer. I'm guessing that you'll not exceed 8 GB, so using 16 GB would be wasteful.

Also, you can check the CPU usage when you are normally using a computer. I'm guessing that you'll regularly hit 100% CPU usage and saturate it, so you would be well-served by a higher CPU overclock.

Also note: perhaps the overclock is not enough to be worth the trade-off. Even if you could use more CPU, maybe your overclock is still going to leave you needing more CPU power, so you are only less-screwed with the overclock.

 

[nurturedhate]

I take it the issue is that you are having problems running 16bg ram and 3.8. Maybe there is a way to still have both that you are overlooking. Providing more information regarding your settings when oc'd may allow us to suggest something.

 

[Greenlepricon]

Yep I'm a little confused on what's stopping you from having both. That aside, your RAM at 1066MHz is a little slow to begin with, so I don't think it's going to really help you out much unless you just need that extra 8 gigs. If you must choose I would say the cpu speed is the better choice.

 

[Logical Orion]

It's a common misconception that having more RAM increases performance. It only increases performance if you run out of RAM, and it's usually pretty obvious when you run out of RAM - things immediately turn into a slideshow, since the CPU now has to use your much slower hard drive as "pretend RAM."

I play BF3, Planetside 2, MechWarrior Online, Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, and lots of other stuff maxed out at 1080p with 4GB. Having more RAM would make no difference.

If I was editing video, or giant Photoshop images, then I would want more.

 

[eternalone]

It's a common misconception that having more RAM increases performance. It only increases performance if you run out of RAM, and it's usually pretty obvious when you run out of RAM - things immediately turn into a slideshow, since the CPU now has to use your much slower hard drive as "pretend RAM."

I play BF3, Planetside 2, MechWarrior Online, Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, and lots of other stuff maxed out at 1080p with 4GB. Having more RAM would make no difference.

If I was editing video, or giant Photoshop images, then I would want more.

BF3 uses way more than 4Gb ram.

 

[Greenlepricon]

BF3 uses way more than 4Gb ram.

I don't think it normally does... 4Gb is the recommended and it might be able to take more, but I haven't heard of any problems with using less than 8 assuming you're not running anything besides the game. Then again I don't ever max out my 8 so I never monitor RAM usage...

Besides that oslama would go from 16 to 8Gb so at least it wouldn't affect him.

 

[oslama]

I will be playing Bf3, cod umteenth version, StarCraft.

1066mhz ram is impacting overclockability.

 

[Insomniator]

For now, definitely run 3.8 with 8GB. You'll never use 16GB with current games.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

The only reason I upgraded my RAM was because I got tired of not being able to alt tab out of games and browse the web smoothly. But I only need 8GB, those CPUs really respond well to overclocking so I would definitely do that as you have 8GB already.

Gamers need no more than 8GB right now. 4GB is fine for most uses as well.

 

[MrSquished]

yeah i have 16gb and i don't want to give a crap if i leave a lot of proggies open at the same time i do anything. i keep chrome open like 15 tabs, zune, maybe a paused movie in the background on MPC-HT, bunch of stuff in the system tray, lightroom open with multiple 16MP files with adjustments to them, and a bunch of other stuff, and then launch bf3 over that.

use just over 9gb of RAM.

so if it doesnt bother you to manage a little bit of your open programs, 8gb is enough for pretty much most stuff unless you do photo or video editing and things of that nature.

 

[KingFatty]

Overclocking your CPU, as well as the CPU-NB, will definitely help Starcraft 2. But even with that help, you'll still be limited by your overclocked CPU. Regardless, you can go ahead and see what default settings SC2 chooses based on your CPU, and then overclock it and see how it chooses more ambitious default settings due to the faster CPU capability.

But if you change ram from 8 GB to 16 GB, nothing will change. If a secret fairy came and changed your RAM during the dead of night, you'd not be able to tell by using your computer. Your experience would be the same, and the only way to know would be to look at how much RAM is installed because the computer's behavior would be unchanged.

Definitely go for the CPU overclock, especially for SC2 where you will be able to turn on special features and enjoy improved visual quality by increasing the CPU (and CPU-NB) performance.

 

[Pottuvoi]

BF3 uses way more than 4Gb ram.

Single process cannot use more than 4GB of main memory without 64bit executable.. (LAA allows up to 4GB)
There has been rumors that BF4 would be 64bit only..

Adding more memory is good and increases system overall performance until all tasks fit into it.
When this happens adding more memory doesn't do a thing.

Currently running 18GB system and planning to get some additional memory as I have run out of memory couple of times..

 

[Denithor]

For now, definitely run 3.8 with 8GB. You'll never use 16GB with current games.

This.

I understand why you can't run higher OC with that slower memory, you're limited in how high you can push the fsb (or whatever it's called in AMD chips - been way too long since I overclocked one of those). You could look into reducing your RAM multiplier so you can run a higher fsb. But overall that extra 8GB isn't going to change anything unless you're leaving tons of stuff open in the background while gaming.

 

[oslama]

This.

I understand why you can't run higher OC with that slower memory, you're limited in how high you can push the fsb (or whatever it's called in AMD chips - been way too long since I overclocked one of those). You could look into reducing your RAM multiplier so you can run a higher fsb. But overall that extra 8GB isn't going to change anything unless you're leaving tons of stuff open in the background while gaming.

I only have the amd catalyst center, spybot, realtek audio panel, anti-malware bytes and MS internet security running in the background.

 

[CurrentlyPissed]

It's a shitty option but I'd sell and build new. You are wasting time with that build. I know it sucks to be blunt, but going from 3.2-3.8 with that processor in todays world isn't going to net much.

If you are completely strapped Then I guess go with the 3.8 option, unless you do any media editing. Then stick with the 16GB.

Nothing you can use will use more than 8GB unless as I said, and others are doing any media work.

 

[NTMBK]

It's a shitty option but I'd sell and build new. You are wasting time with that build. I know it sucks to be blunt, but going from 3.2-3.8 with that processor in todays world isn't going to net much.

It's going to net ~20% improvement, actually. And given that an older CPU like that's single threaded performance is fairly likely to be the bottleneck in his gaming rig, it's worth doing.

 

[Jimzz]

Yep 8Gb memory and over clock as much as you can.

 

[Puppies04]

It's going to net ~20% improvement, actually. And given that an older CPU like that's single threaded performance is fairly likely to be the bottleneck in his gaming rig, it's worth doing.

This +1.

As for the RAM question....

4GB of RAM is fine for BF3 as long as you don't plan to have multiple programs running in the background 8GB is more than adequate and what I would recommend for anyone building a rig today who didn't have abnormal RAM usage needs (think photoshop etc) 16GB is complete overkill for a rig used mainly for gaming.

 

[oslama]

I don't see much gain in upgrading to AMD FX besides new socket path. Intel is out of my price range.

 

[CurrentlyPissed]

It's going to net ~20% improvement, actually. And given that an older CPU like that's single threaded performance is fairly likely to be the bottleneck in his gaming rig, it's worth doing.

Well sure it's worth doing, but I don't think he's going to see the gains he's expecting. But as I stated, if upgrading is out of the question, then yeah I'd do the OC.

 

[poohbear]

Well i upgraded to 16gb from 8gb, & the main difference i noticed is when i minimize windows & run multiple programs, it doesnt hiccup or stutter anymore. Very smooth. I even have 2 games opened at the same time, BF3 & DoW2! It takes DoW2 5-10 minutes sometimes to find a match, so i just play BF3 and when its ready DoW2 pops up & BF3 minimizes automatically with no stutter or problems at all. When i tried that with 8gb of ram DoW2 crashed.

If u dont do much multi tasking then yes, u wont notice a diff.

 

[poohbear]

It's a common misconception that having more RAM increases performance. It only increases performance if you run out of RAM, and it's usually pretty obvious when you run out of RAM - things immediately turn into a slideshow, since the CPU now has to use your much slower hard drive as "pretend RAM."

I play BF3, Planetside 2, MechWarrior Online, Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, and lots of other stuff maxed out at 1080p with 4GB. Having more RAM would make no difference.

If I was editing video, or giant Photoshop images, then I would want more.

Huh?? I noticed a huge difference going from 4gb to 8gb in BF3! it used to stutter occasionally & sometimes quite frequently when things got hot, but when i went to 8gb the stuttering completely disappeared.

 

[KingFatty]

Hmm, the problem is that stuttering and hiccups are errors, not a sign of low RAM.

If moving to 16 GB from 8 GB made your stuttering go away, I'd think that was more a coincidence that maybe you had bad memory or something?