512MB or 1GB of ram?

[QuestionsandAnsweres]

Would I see a difference between 512mb of ram and 1gb (saying there the same speed)?

I like to play games like UT 2k3, EQ and BF1942

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: QuestionsandAnsweres
Would I see a difference between 512mb of ram and 1gb (saying there the same speed)?

I like to play games like UT 2k3, EQ and BF1942

For gaming, an extra 512MB isn't really noticable (unless you use Mac OS X). 512MB is sufficient nowadays for things like that.

 

[Woodchuck2000]

You'll probably notice very little difference.

 

[Whitedog]

No

 

[Whitedog]

What I meant... There would be a "difference", but none you would be able to see or tell...

It's like this... can you "tell the difference" between 60 and 63 FPS? No.

 

[Smilin]

If you check the readme for UT2k3 you'll find that there are only very rare circumstances when UT2k3 will use more than 256mb of memory. The remaining apps on your list are even less demanding.

 

[corkyg]

The only thing I know of that would really work better with 1 GB over 512 is digital imagery processing, especially video imagery.

 

[erikistired]

i've got 1gb of ram, and i don't have any memory issues in windows. but i honestly haven't seen any difference from when i had 512mb. i'm sure there are some, but nothing that screams "wow what a difference."

of course i'm still running pc133, so YMMV.

 

[CaptnKirk]

There was a Crucial Memory report a few months back that showed that RAM perfromance (Speed) peaked with 768MB
and delcined slightly at 1024MB, and stayed flat until the threshold of 2048 was reached, and it was barely above the 768MB
performance level - strickly talking about speed of system. Volume/Depth of cue obviously goes up, but no appreciable gain in
speed. How many home systems have the ability to stuff RAM to meet the 2048 Threshold?

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I imagine BF1942 would use the xtra RAM. That game is a memory hog.

 

[andrey]

I work with many CAD images in SolidWorks and Pro/Engineer and for me 1GB does make a pretty noticeable differnce from the time when I had only 512MB. In games and other "regular" applications I haven't noticed that much of the difference.

 

[Sid59]

i vote, NO.

 

[Arcanedeath]

Everquest at least w/ all the Luclin models on is a memory hog, I noticed a HUGE difference between 512 and 1gb so I'd vote get the extra memory

 

[HGC]

I used to have 1 GB, but I took half out for another computer. I have not been able to see any difference.

 

[911paramedic]

The big difference for gaming is the memory on your video card I think. The system memory should not matter much as long as you have that 512.

 

[Ben50]

In windows 2000 or XP just go into task manager and check out your max ram usage after you've used the computer for a week or so. If its over 512MB then go for 768MB or 1GB. The key is to minimize disk swapping as much as possible.

 

[axelfox]

just buy 1gb, then send me half

 

[HannibalX]

Use the extra 512 meg as Ramdisk! Then load UT entirely into memory!! Buwahaha!

You will notice no real speed increase unless the speed of the memory is higher. Look at it this way, an ATA33 hard drive that is 20 GB is the same speed as an ATA33 40 GB; it won't be faster until it is an ATA66/100, etc.

 

[arcenite]

I do not believe you would notice any type of increase at all.

Bill

 

[Kroffty]

get 1gig and make 512 of it a ramDrive.
Then move your pagefile to the ramdrive.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: Ben50
In windows 2000 or XP just go into task manager and check out your max ram usage after you've used the computer for a week or so. If its over 512MB then go for 768MB or 1GB. The key is to minimize disk swapping as much as possible.

This is exactly what I was going to say, but this:

Originally posted by: Kroffty
get 1gig and make 512 of it a ramDrive.
Then move your pagefile to the ramdrive.

doesn't sound like a bad idea either, if you can really do it. I don't actually know that it will. You might see some difference in performance by doing this, but I seriously doubt you'll see any performance gain just from adding 512MB of RAM to the system.

Does anyone know if you actually can make some of your RAM into your pagefile?

 

[Lonyo]

If you plan on making any maps for UT2k3, then get 1 gig of RAM. I can easily use over 512MB when making a map for it, as the textures, static meshes and that map itself uses lots of ram, otherwise 512MB should suit your needs.

 

[Woodchuck2000]

doesn't sound like a bad idea either, if you can really do it. I don't actually know that it will. You might see some difference in performance by doing this, but I seriously doubt you'll see any performance gain just from adding 512MB of RAM to the system.
Does anyone know if you actually can make some of your RAM into your pagefile?

What exactly would be the point? The whole point of having more ram is to reduce the page-file usage.

 

[Bagheera786]

i have a related question. Will I get better performance if I buy 512 CorsairXMS3200 and overclock to its level, or if I get 1GB Corsair PC2700 and overclock to its level?

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Kroffty
get 1gig and make 512 of it a ramDrive.
Then move your pagefile to the ramdrive.

No, bad idea. The point of the page file is to store things that can't fit in RAM. If you put the page file on a RAM drive, you incur extra overhead as Windows shuffles stuff back and forth between your "real" RAM and your RAM drive. Windows' memory management subsystem is smart enough to manage the whole 1GB of RAM by itself just fine, so just leave the pagefile on the disk where it belongs; it won't be used if there's no need for it.

Oh, and if you want to get a second (and third, and fourth, and fifth) opinion on this, just ask in the OS forum. Plenty of NT gurus will be ready to either give you really technical explanations as to why putting the pagefile in RAM is a bad idea, or they'll just tell you to F off because it's such a silly question to begin with.