4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

[O2zi3]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

Thanks for all your responses.....first up my sys specs are in my sig and i have a fairly speedy comp. i swapped and rotated between slots and ram to find that all the RAM was good. Trolling thru BIOS with 2 sticks and then 4 to see the differences. i found that the RAM was being seen as 333 (not 400 as should be). Also the CPU to DDR ratio was 2:1.66 instead of 2:2. All the memory timings were changed with 4 sticks (lower numbers ). So it looked like cos RAM was running slower...it speeded the timings to compensate (which dint work). A little tinkering got it back to 2:2 and 400 all round and the RAm timings went back to as per 2 sticks, now it is working as expected. i found out to my annoyance that the sys will only read 3.25GB...its a windows thing. Therefore, not getting full value for money. i wanted the extra RAM cos i'm going to be doing some video editing (not for BF2, but i think it loads a little quicker). To Merlin, i have read in numerous places, that removing pagefile is a bad idea as some apps need it. I have defragged and made sure pagefile is in 1 block to cut down on read/write times. As far as i have read removing pagefile to gain performance is a myth...i cant find the thread but its in this forum somewhere. Anyway, seems to be running fine now at default....as you can see i'm not an expert and i think my comp is fast enough at mom not to worry about overclocking, well see down the track tho.

[Blak_Phoenix]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

Get windows 64-bit, it should fix the problem, if not your Mobo may only be able to use up to 3GB of RAM. But my bet would be windows, download the trial and test it out.. if it works.. then there you go.. problem fixed!

[WildLegba]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

Nope wrong as well, as I said above please don't spread false information, it confuses people. DDR will ALWAYS run at double data rate, not mater what. You may be thinking of the speed drop from 400 to 333 that occours with the older cores.

ACK, I mispoke--I meant to point out that with four sticks his memory timing would top out at 2T....half the speed of 1T, if his memory was even running at that in the first place.

[Diabl0]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

Yeah dude
first 4 gigs is overkill with the windows xp and basically anything.

And you dont want to use all 4 slots on your motherboard.

I suggest you take one out and hold on to the other for later use maybe.
Or sell it.

[Panzerfaust Monk]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

With 4 Gb of ram remember to switch off your page file as well

Actually, it is wise to keep at least a little of the page file left. For some reason, Windows preforms better with it on.

[BOBSONATOR025]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

Yea, you need 64bit.

[Jofaba]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

All 4 Ram slots are full on my motherboard at 2 gig(4x512) and running dual channel. (ASUS P4-800-E)

Sorry but doubtfull. The design of most (as in almost every) motherboard(s), in my understanding, make this impossible. There are two dimms per channel, and in order to run as double data rate, you can't excede the threshold of 400mhz (effective). That's 200 actual (thus the double data rate). In order to achieve a larger memory bank than 2gb, then, you have to give something up. It's either going to be speed or accessible memory storage. In most cases its both. You'll be downgraded to 333mhz (157mhz actual roughly). The double data rate is usually refered to as effective because it's not an actual frequency. From my undertanding, it's sort of like comparing an AMD to an intel. While most of us aren't using the 64's to their full potential, they still run better than a 32 in a 32x environment. The same goes for standard DDR400 memory.

Keep in mind, I'm taking an educated guess and I'm not too bright =P But might at least give you enough info to look into it. Toodles ~ Jofaba

[O2zi3]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

Yeah dude
first 4 gigs is overkill with the windows xp and basically anything..

You're probably right...but i want to do some video editing so.....

And you dont want to use all 4 slots on your motherboard.

Well, my mobo was throttled back by 4 sticks, but is quite adjustable through BIOS so it wasn't that difficult to get back to where it should be. The performance increase in BF2 is small at best, but i do think it loads a little better and is a little smoother during really frenetic situations (e.g CQC with arty going off and vehicle carnage...used to slow a little with just 2 gig). My RAM was the cheapest name brand Corsair Value Select so it isn't the fastest, unfortunately while here in HK most computer parts are about 60-75% of the cost in australia, they dont seem to carry all the top spec RAM modules. As a guide my system (see sig) cost $2000 AUD....i saw similar sys advertised in an Aussie mag for $4000 (prebuilt i know....but it gives u an idea)

i would probably like to swith to XP 64 bit but all the tweaking to get it to work an run my current apps is more than i can bare at the moment. Who's running 64 bit XP out there??? what are you're experiences?? is it easy to get it all running nicely??? or is it a pain in the a$$ but worth it?

[Jofaba]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

The performance increase in BF2 is small at best, but i do think it loads a little better and is a little smoother during really frenetic situations (e.g CQC with arty going off and vehicle carnage...used to slow a little with just 2 gig).

Most likely the peformance boost you saw was 90% illusion and 10% cleaner running windows from, perhaps, a recent defrag, less programs running, etc. Some stuff you didnt even realize you were doing. Since BF2 can't possibly access all of that memory, or even 2gb, ever, increasing it won't make the game run better. Windows 32x will downgrade the speed to 333, so in fact, you're actually running "worse" ram. The frequency is more important than the volume.

Who's running 64 bit XP out there??? what are you're experiences?? is it easy to get it all running nicely??? or is it a pain in the a$$ but worth it?

I've used it. There's a free 120day trial on Microsoft's website. If you create a partition for it then you can download and install it and get an idea. It's funny, but I'm actually not sure yet whether Vista is going to be native 64 bit. Anyone? I've not read much on it but I've heard that's the plan. According to rumor, there's two versions available as beta's, one as 32 and one as 64, but the release version is supposed to be 64. The problem with XP64 is driver support. It's very user unfriendly because the market is so small.

[Blak_Phoenix]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

Yea, im not sure about Vista, i would assume it would be 64-bit, it would be stupid not to do it. But yea thats the only reason that im not changing to 64bit windows.. lack of drivers. Hopefully more will get released soon.. real soon.

[SO19Visionaries]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

i run with 4 sticks FSB is the same and sticks are in dual channel mode with all the timings correct, so some motherboards pbviously can run 4 sticks effectively :-/

[O2zi3]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

i run with 4 sticks FSB is the same and sticks are in dual channel mode with all the timings correct, so some motherboards pbviously can run 4 sticks effectively :-/

Yes, mine too...i was able to clock the RAM back to 400 in BIOS with timings as per 2 sticks. At the end of the day i bought the RAM cos i thought it was cheapish at just over $200AUD for an extra 2 gig to help make my video editing a little quicker

[k0nsl]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

The answer is simple. You need to read up on 1T and 2T. When running four sticks of ram on a 939 system, it will automatically launch into 2T mode, thus decreasing performance considerably.

[YES, I am late!]

"The amount of RAM reported by the System Properties dialog box and the System Information tool is less than you expect after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2":

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=888137

-k0nsl

I just bought another 2 gig of ram (2x1gb sticks matching pair) to add to the 2x1gb i already have...same brand Corsiar value select (nothing special all timings are 3 i think). Wasn't expecting much...maybe little faster load times in BF2...However, i am losing FPS big time..the game runs terrible now 10-20 fps at best, when i was getting 60-70 previously with just my 2 gig of ram...tried 2 differnt servers and the same........took the extra 2 gig out and now back to normal (e.g 60 odd FPS). Is there some configuration i am doing wrong to optimise the RAM??? in dxdiag it was showing 3327 Mb was expecting 4096 mb. i cant believe it appears i have wasted my money...What do u think???

[kushcompany]

Re: 4 gig of RAM....wtf??? losing FPS

be sure to play around with the ddr slots in terms of placement and seating. If you are using dual channel refer to ur mobo guide and double check if that feature is supported and if so which seats. Good luck...