RAM Question

[JCFast]

I wonder if there's a big change if I had 2gb of some sorta gaming RAM or if I just have 2gb of normal Buffalo RAM? Is there a big fps difference in BF2 for example?

[JCFast]

Re: RAM Question

Come on! Someone say something!
BTW how much memory does Task Manager say you have free?

[Uncleadolph]

Re: RAM Question

Gaming RAM is just better timings and much better overclockability. I suppose the FPS may be about 5FPS better with the gaming RAM, but it's not really worth the extra money unless you want to overclock.

-Ben

[NoSoup4You]

Re: RAM Question

As long as it works and the timings are relitively low, you should be okay.

[imported_Wreck]

Re: RAM Question

Come on! Someone say something!
BTW how much memory does Task Manager say you have free?

Certain brands do perform better on games. You'd probably want to look at a ram comparision to pick which one suits you best. Task manager says I have about 1Gb of free ram while playing.

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2560&p=9

OCZ value VX seems to perform best for budget sticks.

[Flanker]

Re: RAM Question

No such thing as "gaming" RAM. If there are 2 different 2GB modules, then the only way one would be better than the other is if one can reach faster "timings" that the other. Even then, those timings won't make a noticeable difference. Its true that the better kinds of RAM are used for overclocking and when you have RAM running at 270MHz compared to 200Mhz, it DOES make a noticeable difference. But if you aeren't overclocking, then a $150 set of 2GB Value Memory is just as good as that $400 set.

[imported_Wreck]

Re: RAM Question

The ram benchmarks I linked show all that ram running at the same speed in each test. There are performance differences of over 40 FPS in some games just by picking different brands. Like I said OCZ value VX performs very well for budget sticks, but you need to be careful about which ram you buy. The performance differences result mainly from the timings and type of IC's used in the sticks. I don't agree that any value set is just as good as a premium set if you are not overclocking.

[Flanker]

Re: RAM Question

2 things I noticed. Tests were run at 1024x786. And the difference of 40FPS was in the 500fps's. That translates to 12fps in the 90-fps limit imposed by BF2.

[imported_Wreck]

Re: RAM Question

2 things I noticed. Tests were run at 1024x786. And the difference of 40FPS was in the 500fps's. That translates to 12fps in the 90-fps limit imposed by BF2.

You are correct, but in that environment the GPU becomes the bottleneck. That skews the actual real performance gains you would see at low resolutions. I agree at high res in real world environments it won't be noticeable, but the gains are still there.

[Flanker]

Re: RAM Question

Yes, the gains are there. But not $250 worth.

[imported_Wreck]

Re: RAM Question

Yes, the gains are there. But not $250 worth.

The difference in 2Gb packs of value ram vs. high performance are slightly less than that although still alot. For instance OCZ value PC3200 is $167, and OCZ gold PC4000 is $225 after MIR. So is the performance worth $58?

More commonly the value ram runs about $180 while the high performance runs about $280 atm. So it's about $100 difference in most cases.

[Flanker]

Re: RAM Question

Nope, you could get a better videocard for $58-$100.

[imported_Wreck]

Re: RAM Question

Nope, you could get a better videocard for $58-$100.

True.

[JCFast]

Re: RAM Question

Thanks mates. I've decided to just buy an another 1gb stick of Buffalo. And make that 512mb work with my secondary computer. :)