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More RAM on the way


Rocky

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When I built this PC I installed 2x512 matched PC3200 RAM, somewhere along the line I ended up with 3 sticks though so I have had PC3200 512 stick sitting here doing nothing for months because I wanted to install it as part of a matched pair. So I eventually got around to ordering it's partner and it should arrive tomorrow!

That'll be 4x512Mb matched PC3200. I plan on doing some benchtesting to see what difference RAM makes in real world applications like games and video processing :thumbsup:

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Depends on the game. I can't remember which one it was, but not too long ago I read about a fairly new game which was reported to have chewed up close to a gig of RAM on occation. With games demanding more and more (the highest setting on Doom 3 is intended for 512MB video cards, for example), I'm not sure how long 1GB will remain "enough".

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For gaming I will test loading times and framerates with 512,1Gb,1.5Gb and 2Gb of RAM.

For apps I will do the same four tests for video rendering a complex movie and adding a complex filter to a paint shop pro image.

Any other tests you guys think would be interesting?

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I'd like to see what you think of operation flashpoint with viewdistances of 2000m with the different memory setups, I'm running 512 at the mo and will probably get another 512 sometime next year, I think the default viewdistance is 600m but thats crap for long range stuff or flying aircraft. Be nice to see how the game differs with varying amounts of ram.

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I'd like to see what you think of operation flashpoint with viewdistances of 2000m with the different memory setups, I'm running 512 at the mo and will probably get another 512 sometime next year, I think the default viewdistance is 600m but thats crap for long range stuff or flying aircraft. Be nice to see how the game differs with varying amounts of ram.

I don't have OFP but I can do it with VBS1, which would give you a good indication.

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It will probably show in high end stuff like video editing and graphics modeling. Of course with some games they just have to store lots of information and need it at hand. I've got 2 gig RAM and I don't see any issues involving needing more. My video card is getting older but it's still OK.

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Wish I could talk the wife into another gig of RAM for this rig, probably be sleeping on the lounge for a few days if I bring it up though :unsure:

Sent me down memorylane too and made me remember back in the day when I upgraded the old rig from 64Mb of RAM to 128...totally stuffed up the way one of my games ran. With 64 it ran perfectly smooth but after the upgrade it started freezing for a second or 2 every other minute. :wacko: Figured the problem out later though. Computer loaded all the data it needed for a few minutes of gameplay into the RAM and by the time it needed new data the harddrive had gone into sleep mode :rofl:

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  • 2 weeks later...

This morning I took a load of readings. I recorded game and OS start-up times (both clean start-ups, and re-starts (which are always quicker)).

I also recorded times for producing a DVD and resizing an image in PSP.

Tomorrow I will run the exact same tests to make sure the results are consistant.

Then I will run some FPS benchmarks. I'll use the test movie that's in HL2 and a random scene out of Doom3 with the frame counter running.

Then I might try running some benchmarking tools like 3dmark.

Once I've done all that, I chuck in the extra 1Gb and run the whole lot again!

It's alot of work, I better see some improvement LOL!

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doh, talk about teasing us, and more to the point how have you resisted throwing it straight in and testing vbs?

I know I know! I could have the RAM fitted in under 5 minutes and enjoy it's benfits right away, infact, I've had the RAM sitting here for blinking weeks, one stick has been lying around for months! But I want to benchmark the improvement, so patience is the key :thumbsup:

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Flippin nerds, never simple with you lot is it :P

Nahh that sounds cool, whack it in and Id be very intrested to see the results.

Not to rub it in, but my 2 year old PC runs hl2 on high with quite quick load times. Its only got 512. :sheep:

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Well I suffered a bit of a setback in my pernickity plans this morning. I had hoped my duplication tests this morning would yield exactly the same results as yesterday so I could proceed and install the new RAM and test the improvements.

However Half Life 2 had different ideas. I've started that game twice from a cold boot and twice from restrating it after closing the game down, and everytime it took a different amount of time to start up, and I'm not just talking seconds, one time it took 3 MINUTES to load the main menu screen. I don;t think I'll be able to use HL2 as a benchmark for starting times, I'll stick with Doom3 and GR2 for that.

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