How much memory?

[Slickone]

Does anything over 512MB make much difference? I don't do fancy photo editing effects, though with this next drive I could decide to take the plunge and get a DVDR drive and convert some VHS's. What about with the newest games?

 

[snidy1]

512 MB should be fine for your needs, unless you want a gaming system

 

[newbiepcuser]

If you're going to do a lot of video editing, multi tasking or plays games such as SIM City 4000 then definetly go with 1 GB of RAM.

 

[Blain]

If you just want to check e-mail and play Solitaire, 1GB should get you by... FOR NOW

 

[Slickone]

I am a gamer. So the newest games do make a big difference from 512->1GB?

 

[Abhi]

How much RAM do you have currently?

512 MB .. adequate for normal usage.

1 GB .... Gamer.

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: Blain
If you just want to check e-mail and play Solitaire, 1GB should get you by... FOR NOW

LOL
Yep, 1GB should suit ya fine!

 

[Budmantom]

I went for 512 to 1gig and I don't see a difference.

I game some and I do some photo editing.

 

[tart666]

Originally posted by: snidy1
512 MB should be fine for your needs, unless you want a gaming system

what games, other than 1942, are known to slow down on 512?

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: tart666

Originally posted by: snidy1
512 MB should be fine for your needs, unless you want a gaming system

what games, other than 1942, are known to slow down on 512?

Star Wars something... Forgot.

I just traded off my 1 Gig of DDR333 for 512 DDR400, I'm happier. With one gig though, you feel like you can multi task like crazy, could even leave some useless tasks open and not think twice about what resources they take up. Sometimes feels good to have that freedom.

 

[Slickone]

More input from anyone?

 

[LesPaul]

Well, I can't speak from experience because i've never had a gig of ram, but I have had 512 MB for years, and its only PC133 SDRAM. I really haven't had a need for more at all, and I do play BF1942 ALL the time, with mIRC, Norton, and ventrilo all running at the same time with BF1942. My bottleneck is my slow cpu, mobo, and my memory SPEED, not the amount of memory.. 512 seems to be more than adaquete.. I've checked the task manager while running BF1942 and the most memory i've ever seen it use is 198MB, which still leaves plenty for other things... When I get my next paycheck, I'm gonna get 1 GB of PC3200 just because I like the sound of 1 GB, and I can have more freedom with leaving apps running and multitasking.

 

[duragezic]

Yup, I think that 512mb is still good. I played BF1942 on my rig ever since it came out and it's always ran fine. No massive swapping with any game acutally. I set the swap to 300mb cause it never peaks past ~800mb usage. I also used to do a bit of video editing, capturing, etc.. and it would've been nicer with 1gb ram but the rest of the system was more of a bottleneck prolly. I can play all new games fine with 512mb, they are just choppy cause of the rest of my system if I turn the res or details up too much.

 

[Lyfer]

If you CAN AFFORD IT get 1GB, its future proof and newer games tend to run better with 1gb. If you're not a heavy gamer then 512mb should be mininmum to run WinXP.

 

[snidy1]

Originally posted by: tart666

Originally posted by: snidy1
512 MB should be fine for your needs, unless you want a gaming system

what games, other than 1942, are known to slow down on 512?

I noticed an improvement in C&C generals, Medel of Honor, and I'm sure Half Life 2 will use it.

 

[dullard]

I'd say 512 MB is great for now, but if you want to have good support for newer games, look for 768 MB (assuming you aren't overclocking to the max). No need to make the jump all the way to 1 GB if you are worried about the price of the full 1 GB.

 

[DaveSimmons]

search "512" for several earlier threads on this if you still want more input.

 

[Slickone]

I did, but I think they were all asking question about memory configurations (dual channel, etc), or were about as split on 512 or 1GB as this thread.

 

[Slickone]

More feedback?

 

[Zipp]

I went from 512 to 768mb of memory in my system and I really didn't see much of difference in most games except for BF1942. I even popped in another 256mb stick from my other system totalling 1 gig to see if it made any difference in BF but there wasn't. I think 768mb is a good level to shoot for unless you do alot of video editing or play certain games like the newer Simcity(so i heard).

When I play games online which is basically the only time I game, I always shut off stuff like Virus protection and messengers and just keep my firewall running and thats it. I don't think your going to get a virus while gaming...at least I never have in all my years of playing on line.

 

[Duvie]

I went to 1gb from 512mb and I feel the difference in my multitasking...for me multitasking quite often is tmpgenc encoding in the background a 4.3gb file and autocadd in the foreground doing some work on files that are quite big and often contain 3d content in which orbting is a feature I use....Watch ram even with 1gb fall to 450mb free...Keeps my page filing to a bare minimum.

 

[Rosencrantz]

I work with many applications, so the more the ram, the merrier. I also multi-task alot with multiple internet explorer windows, photoshop, dreamweaver, flash, and director sometimes open all at once because I have to do alot of importing, testing, etc.. i also game sometimes but dunno the diff between 512 and 1gig in that respect. Hope that helps.

 

[jar5tyle]

Originally posted by: dullard
I'd say 512 MB is great for now, but if you want to have good support for newer games, look for 768 MB (assuming you aren't overclocking to the max). No need to make the jump all the way to 1 GB if you are worried about the price of the full 1 GB.

For sure.

Slick, what games do you currently play? A couple games were mentioned that like 1 gig

 

[Arcanedeath]

Several games benifit from 768mb or 1 gig vs 512mb, including but not limited to Everquest, Star wars Galaxies, Sim City, BF1942 (esp the desert combat mod), Homeworld 2, ect... if your into online MMORPGs, RTSs or the some of the latest FPS games it might be worth looking into getting more than 512mb, also if in the future you are planing on doing Video encoding from VHS to DVDR you might benifit. With as cheap as memory is these days (sub $100 for quality PC 3200) there is really no reason not to get 1GB, I'm sure various game and apps will be comming out in the future that can benifit from more Ram, I'd say having more ram is one of the easiest ways to somewhat extend the life of your PC, as even a slower PC w/ alot of Ram and a decent video card can get decent frame rates in todays games. Hope this helps....

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: tart666

Originally posted by: snidy1
512 MB should be fine for your needs, unless you want a gaming system

what games, other than 1942, are known to slow down on 512?

UT2003, (undoubtedly UT2004 with have the same issue as its and upgrade of the same engine)
Simcity 4
Planetside
Everquest
Dark Age of Camelot
Star Wars Galaxies
Neverwinter Nights (during some custom levels)