Do you guys suggest 1gb of ram instead of 512mb?

G

guitarguy316

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
303
i have 512mb pc3200 dual channel (2x256) ram. do you guys suggest getting another 512mb. im a gamer with a pretty good system (this memory, 9800 pro, p4 2.8gHz, p4p800 deluxe, audigy 2 zs). will having a gig of ram help out alot when doom 3 and hl2 come out? im not updating anything else for a long time except maybe the memory. i get 6100 in 3dmark03 right now, would having a 1gb make that higher (not that it really matters), im jw. any info would help and thank alot guys!
 
i put this in video cards instead of memory forum because i know most people here are all about games and the memory people arent necesarily...
 
well far cry runs a lot better with 1gb of ram instead of 512mb, so if hl2 and doom 3 follows this pattern, then it would make a difference
 
if you would get a stick of 512 im afraid you would lose your dual channel, which helps a lot for P4s

so those would have to go to ebay and get a matched pair of 512's would be my advice
 
Yeah, if you want to maintain dual-channel, you'll need another 256 MB x 2, or 512 x 2. As always, the more RAM, the better.
 
i know. i meant another 512 as in 2x256 dual channel...for a total of 1gig (4x256). i cant afford more than that right now. newegg has the ones i bought before for $93 w/ free shipping so...but i was wondering what you guys thought about it helping for the newer games. i play ut2k4 and cod. getting d3 and hl2.
 
well i built it myself from the ground up.....im getting there. memory is about the only thing i have left that i can upgrade besides a video card but im set on mine for awhile....i just picked it up in march for $200.
 
Extra memory will increase your minimum FPS by quite a bit, especially in large games such at battlefield and ut2004. With more memory you will also yield significantly faster load times.
 
so i guess it couldnt hurt.....will it improve my score alot in 3dmark03? i dont think it will that much cause i heard that it is pretty much graphics card/cpu reliant.
 
guitarguy316 said:
so i guess it couldnt hurt.....will it improve my score alot in 3dmark03? i dont think it will that much cause i heard that it is pretty much graphics card/cpu reliant.
Click to expand...

Why bother getting memory to "improve your 3dmark score"?

1GB of Ram is the standard for a gaming system now a days. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about. While it might not directly translate into X amount of FPS more it will help with minimum framerates caused by stuttering from texture swaping, or windows just swapping in/out from the paging file.
 
3DMark01 is still useful for judging how upgrades effect your performance. It's one of the 1st benches I loaded and ran after buillding my current rig. However with the newer GPU's and games using newer software (as in DX9) the benchmark is about out of steam for benching new game rigs built for FarCry and Doom3 and HL2.

I'll still run it when I pop my X800XT in. If I ever recieve it.
 
Yeah, running 1GB Dual Channel is sweet IMO. I hardly play games, but still, 1GB is always nice to have.
 
Even on my slow system, going from 512 to a gig made a huge difference in Far Cry.

With 512 I had to use mostly medium quality settings to maintain playability.
With a gig, I cranked up every setting except shadows to maximum quality and it still plays pretty smooth.

Not all games benefit from the extra memory, but the latest and future games definitely will.
 
ScretHate said:
Extra memory will increase your minimum FPS by quite a bit, especially in large games such at battlefield and ut2004. With more memory you will also yield significantly faster load times.
Click to expand...

When I bumped from 512 to 1 GB in early June, I noticed BF and UT2K4 Levels loading much faster. I also noticed how much of that RAM is being used - I have MBM display on by Crystalfontz 634 and some UT2004 ONS levels push me up over 800MB used (with less than 100 mb of swap space being used). Prior to the ram boost, i was maxing out my meme and swapping alot on the larger maps.

Game play is smoother too - less swapping for sure.

Am I runing 50 FPS faster? not even -

For the faster load times and smoother game play - 1 GB of Ram is worth it.

Peace,
Tim
 
somecallmeTim said:
For the faster load times and smoother game play - 1 GB of Ram is worth it.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I'd have to agree. BF maps load much faster and generally makes my system run smoother...
 
Yeah. I have a 512 stick and I know that if i had a 1gig of ram it would run my games alot better. Twice the ram twice as quick.Most the time anyways.
 
Yes 1gb of ram is going to be next-gen recommended specs. It will reduce in game jerkyness and improve loading times slightly. It may give a minor fps improvement but it really doesnt have a significant effect of fps unless you were loading from virtual memory alot with ur old ram.

Example results from a perf mon i ran on ut2k4 demo a while ago 504mb/512mb phys memory used during gameplay, so I had a little bit of swapping but nothing noticeable Im right at the limit of adequate.

If your low on ram, put agp aperture as low as it can go. Agp aperture is system ram dedicated for video use. Video cards have pleanty of memory and dont require a large heap of system ram (if used at all)

You can likely get away with 768mb but people like to keep to powers of two.
 
Now how about this: Would you recommend 1 gb of cheaper ram, or 512 mb of nicer, low latency ram?
 
omg dont buy that, your better off saving up 20-30 more dollars and getting something a little nicer.

And if you need to buy now there's always eBay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=44938&item=3488937655&rd=1

Thats after about 1 minute on ebay, I personally wouldnt buy a 256mb chip but anything is better than what your considering.

Edit: saving space
_____________________________________________________________
Major brands in the order I like them, mushkin, ocz, geil, corsair, kingston.

Kingston is a good brand but your getting the bottom of the barrel value line with a hideous timings for more cash than you can buy some nice, but used, ram. (used ram isnt that big of a deal, they live in a good environment.)

If I were you I'd do some research on ram, if you cant recognize a mushkin Level One, 2-3-2-5-1T chip being better than Kingston ValueRAM 3 dash God knows what ram your going to get swindled.
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Ah yes I guess I coulda rung in with an actual on topic point. lol Forgive the 3DMark babble on page 1. :D

Yeah Kingston is good memory. I go with Corsair XMS series myself. And yeah, 1GB (2x512) of dual channel ram is the shizznitobam!
 
i would have 1gb but 2x256 and 2x256...so two dual channels, will it still run the same as 2x512?
 
Yeah Kingston is good memory. I go with Corsair XMS series myself. And yeah, 1GB (2x512) of dual channel ram is the shizznitobam!
Click to expand...

i dont know man, i was going to get the XMS also but i found OCZ's timings to be better, and the ram to be cheaper by 15$. Somone tell me why this is so...lol

for reference to prove my facts here:

OCZ
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-889&depa=0
XMS
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-420&depa=0
 
oh, and as for your last question. I dont think you can have more than 2 sticks of dual channel ram. Mainly becuase most boards only have 2 dual channel spaces. . Personally from what i know, more sticks of ram equal seperate devices which use seperate power which should run faster. Correct me if im wrong.
 
let me rephrase then...i have 4 slots for memory.....so i can have 2 dual channel running....256/256/256/256.....4 sticks of 256 total is all i can hold. get what im saying? im using a p4p800 deluxe mobo. so then what 256 memory do you recommend? i need 2 of them and just regular memory will be fine, not the oc'in or anything special.
 
If you're not OCing, just get some Cheap Generic RAM as it won't make that much of a difference.

I've been running "cheapy" KingMax memory (DDR400) @ DDR440 speeds with a CAS timing of 2.5. So that puts it in the really good cheapo ram category.

Kingston Value Ram is pretty decent too.
 
yes def. get 1 gig of ram, with 512 many newer games/programs will cache to much to the hd and slow your system down.
 
listen, motherboard do not have 4 dual channel dimm spots. Only 2 of them. Hence the name "dual"=2. If they had 3 spots for ram to run in sync it would be called tri-channel ram i think. lol. Im making up names lol :D . anyway if your not o'cing the comp. Just get some value select corsair or somthing. Make sure latency is 2.5 and not 3. GL
 
A while back I went from 2x 256Mb sticks of Corsair XMS PC3500 v1.1 (BH-5) 2-2-2-5 to 2x 512Mb sticks of Buffalo PC3700 (Micron). I took a gamble as for a while these were BH-5's, but I struck out. My timings did go to poop but...

I really notice the big extra kick for digital photo editing (PSP 7.0) with browser windows open, outlook express and a software based TV tuner on my second monitor recording a show. And I see a noticable improvement in FarCry demo.

I'm not running in dual channel, though. So I hope if and when I do get an 865 or 875 that I can get it to run a config o/c'ing something like a P4C 3.0Ghz and aim for a 250Mhz FSB. I think the Micron chips will be able to handle it. Reason I got the Buffalo was they were $90 a stick when I bought them, and the only available BH-5 512Mb sticks (Mushkin) were almost double, way too much for me.

I say go for more of what you can afford keeping in mind any overclocking plans as mentioned in another reply, and sell your old stuff. Here is the system I'm running:

MSI GF4 4200 8x VIVO
P4 [email protected] 1.6 Vcore Swiftech MCX4000 YS Tech TMD fan ASIII
Viewsonic PF790 19" aperature grille & 17"KDS multi-monitor
Asus P4PE/L w/Buffalo PC3700 1Gb (2x512Mb) @ 2.5,3,3,8
SB Audigy 2ZS
Onboard Broadcom 10/100tx NIC
36Gb Seagate 10k.6 SCSI boot drive on a LSIU160
2 Mobile IDE racks, various IDE drives.
LiteON 16X DVD LTD-166S
LiteON 52X CDRW LTR-52327S
IBM Model-M keyboard
Enlight 8910 Server Tower Case w/4 variable speed case fans
Enermax EG465P-VE 431Watt P/S
Leadtek Winfast TV2000XP Expert TV/FM tuner card
USR 56K external modem
WindowsXP Pro
HP Photosmart 7760

BTW, Some otherboards are better than others with all 4 memory slots full and ability to maintain dual channel mode when identical matching sticks populate 1/3 and identical matching sticks populate 2/4. Now your timings may go to poop, as well as overclocking ability.

So the posts saying that you can't run DC with 4 sticks are wrong.

(corrected memory timings in spec from 2.5-3-3-7 to 2.5-3-3-8 as reported by cpu-z 1.23)
 
i know its not 4 dual channel spots...its 2 dual channel spots, therefore i can put a total of 4 dimm sticks into my pc.
 
Why are you saying he loose dual channel by adding 512? that is simple not true.

I run 2x256 + 512 in dual channel no problem at all. You just run 2x256 in one channel and 1x512 in the other no problems at all on my nforce 2.
 
SportyGuy220 said:
i dont know man, i was going to get the XMS also but i found OCZ's timings to be better, and the ram to be cheaper by 15$. Somone tell me why this is so...lol
Click to expand...

OCZ is probably cheaper because their QC is poor. Some sticks wont run at rated speeds, and some OC like hell at tight timings. The company also has a horrible history of lying to consumers and investors. I would advise against going there. Do a search for OCZ on hard forum.

I have 2 x 512 Corsair XMS and will be getting another set soon to go to 2 gigs of RAM because for my imaging 1 just isn't enough at times. To the original poster, I'd get 2 x 512 because if you want to add more in the future you won't have to take any of the ram you've got in there out. 4 x 256 will work in dual channel, assuming they're all basically the same type, but for reasons of upgrading in the future I don't recommend the configuration. Don't be cheap on your RAM, or it may end up costing you more in the future.


Good performance RAM includes Kingston HyperX, Corsair, and Mushkin performance pieces. For the regular stuff all three of those are good and Crucial is the gold standard of stability in my book. If it's a server or workstation where super fancy RAM might not matter, I'd get Crucial.
 
so your saying that if I took my 512 stick and moved it to my single channel dimm slot, and moved 2x256 of dual channel same exact brand of ram that i would be able to run dual channel with the 2x256 and the 512 would run in single channel. That sounds kinda bs, becuase i was told before that you couldnt do that. Its either all or none. 2 sticks dual or no sticks dual
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top