Is 1024MB ram better than 512MB for gaming?

[Grit]

After reading a post about Star Wars : Galaxies REQUIRING 256MB of ram, but recommending 512MB, I started debating whether or not NOW was the time to add another 512 MB of ram to my system (mostly for gaming & occasional desktop stuff).

I've got a 2.4GHz P4, 512MB ram, and a Radeon 9700 Pro. I don't mind spending money on my system, but I don't wanna spend it if I'm not going to enjoy an improvement. Example - I had a nice Cheetah X15-36LP SCSI drive as my main drive. It didn't really make my computer boot up any faster, and it only loaded games about 1-2 seconds faster. So, despite the fact we know SCSI is a better/faster system for data storage, on a single-task gaming computer, it isn't much value.

What about that RAM? Will going from 512 MB up to 1024 MB make any kind of a difference in games like UT2003, Asherson's Call 2, Raven Shield, Splinter Cell, Warcraft 3, etc?

 

[human2k]

Games that run alot smoother with 1gb of ram:


BF1942 w/Desert Combat Mod
Simcity 4
Command and conquer Generals



(warcraft 3 runs fine with even 256mb)

 

[Tavoc]

I would say go ahead and get another 512. BF1942 already likes over 512 ram and I would suspect that many of the games you list would benefit as well. SWG will be another system hog, so if you dont mind spending money, I think you would see a definite benefit in the next 6 months worth of games.

 

[Grit]

I didn't think to add this before:

I'm moving to a 875 chipset board, intending to use the dual-DDR option. Is it more difficult to run/overclock 2 512 MB sticks than 2 256 MB sticks?

And yeah, Corsair XMS DDR400 is what I'll put in it.

I've got a Corsair XMS DDR400 512 stick in my current (asus p4pe) board. I'm either getting another stick of that and buying 256 MB of cheaper RAM for my wife's (e-mail/internet) computer, or buying 2 sticks of 256 for me and putting the current 512 stick in my wife's computer.

 

[RyanVM]

Shouldn't really be a problem as long as both sticks are of high quality. Corsair does sell a 1GB twin pack of the low latency XMS3200 RAM. That's probably what I'd go with.

 

[Tret]

yes

 

[chocobaR]

Yeah I think you should get 1 gig for SWG. That game will be huge.

 

[amdskip]

I just upgraded from 512 to 1 gb and it's worth the money if you like to game. I never dreamed we'd need so much memory but we do.

 

[Megatomic]

Unreal Tournament 2003 also runs better with 1GB of RAM installed. The game also exits much more gracefully with the additional RAM.

 

[Acanthus]

Planetside will also require 1GB+ of ram to run at max settings.

 

[0roo0roo]

monitoring 1942/simcity with system monitor on 2nd monitor whie game is running, ram usage easily exceeds 512.

 

[Baronz]

You definatly will see a boost with 1gb, and you will get your moneys worth of performance increase, but it isn't required and all games out at the moment will run fine with 512mb of ram. So if you have the ability to get 1gb, go for it. Ram is quite cheap now so it's not that big of a hit on your wallet either.

 

[Lonyo]

Get the extra since you'll probably want it in the future, by which time prices may have gone up.

I didn't really notice a difference in UT2k3 between 512 and 1GB RAM, but there was a big difference between 256MB and 512MB, that game won't run with less than 512MB.

As things are going, more RAM will be necessary in the future, so get it while it's cheap.

 

[bgeh]

yes in games like simcity 4 and bf1942

 

[Woodchuck2000]

More RAM is always better (up to any physical/archtectural limits, that is.) It's merely a question of diminishing returns as you install more. With RAM being so cheap at the moment, I'd certainly recommend going for a gig - You'll use it in the future, if not now.

 

[Pauli]

RAM is like wealth -- more is always better.

 

[HitokiriBattousi]

Alot of these games require so much because the companies do not necessarilly like to clean up the code. If companies cleaned it up, we wouldn't have to use as much ram, however we would still need alot of ram.

 

[Acanthus]

games like BF1942, EQ, Planetside, Dark Age of Camelot, and other online games that contain a lot of players will see a large benefit because of the enromous amount of textures that can be displayed on screen at once. It can be the difference between 20fps, and 5fps.

 

[snidy1]

I noticed a nice improvement when I added an extra 512

 

[Grit]

I've been reading that some of the performance benefit from 1 GB ram is in being able to turn off the swap file.

Is turning off the swap file going to negate the difference everyone is seeing under games/apps or is that what CAUSED the difference?

Just wanna make sure I don't buy the RAM, turn off the swap file, and then not enjoy the difference b/c the RAM is all used up for the swap file.

 

[0roo0roo]

don't turn off the swap file, its not worth the bother. ur ram will get used anyways, windows isnt a total tard. assuming your not running win9x

 

[LatexRat]

I am wondering about the swap file in XP .. I have a gig in my desktop, but on my server I have 600mb ram.. and when the server is left on for weeks .. the page file gets well over 900mb .. while ram isn't even being used. Why the hell is that?

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Planetside will also require 1GB+ of ram to run at max settings.

There definitely is a huge improvement from 512mb to 1024mb with Planetside.

 

[squidman]

Not really. The performance increase (estimated) will be 3-5 percent, tops, or none at all (more likely in the case of fast HDD). Memory - is primarily temp. storage of data, to-be/already processed by CPU, and your VGA. You have SCSI drive, correct? So i assume that SCSI your already preloads enough info (its still fast drive) into your RAM to be distributed among your CPU and VGA. 1 gig of RAM is GOOD and BENEFICIAL and NECESSARY for sytems with slow drives (ATA 66). In this case, the game would require the HDD to preload more data into the RAM ahead of time, so it wouldnt do that during the game, thus creating "jerking". SCSI is smooth, and its speed is sufficient enough to provide your RAM with constant and steady flow of data.

I have ATA133 drive, and keep it defragged. NEVER had i had any jerking in my games, and have an OG video card. Soon will get 4800 or 4600 tho.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

you can never have to much ram, storage, cpu speed, and bandwith