RAM Increase and Gaming Effects Help...!

R

Resonance456

Geek Trainee
Hi all,
I am looking to increase my RAM from 1GB to 1.5GB or 2GB RAM (only have 2 slots atm each consisting of 512MB RAM) and I was just wandering what affects it would have on gaming. For example will this RAM increase allow me to run the game on higher gfx specs, or will it just increase the games running speed/frame rate??

Thanks for any help received :D
 
Well, 1Gb will be enough, if your game runs perfectly fine with 1gb of ram, your not going to see better frame rates, usually it wont make any difference with graphics settings too, you graphics card plays the biggest part in that, but yes with lower memory your graphics settings usually wont be able to go as high, it all depends on what games you play, at the moment games like F.E.A.R, Oblivion and COD 2 take advantage of 2gb of ram, in the future 2gb of ram will help, but depends if your going to play the latest games, i have 512mb of ram in my computer, the other 512mb is in my other computer, with 1gb of ram i can run Need For Speed Most Wanted at maximum settings preety much, but when i take half of the ram out so i only have 512mb, i usually get small 1 second crashes.
 
Well, 1Gb will be enough, if your game runs perfectly fine with 1gb of ram, your not going to see better frame rates, usually it wont make any difference with graphics settings too, you graphics card plays the biggest part in that, but yes with lower memory your graphics settings usually wont be able to go as high, it all depends on what games you play, at the moment games like F.E.A.R, Oblivion and COD 2 take advantage of 2gb of ram, in the future 2gb of ram will help, but depends if your going to play the latest games, i have 512mb of ram in my computer, the other 512mb is in my other computer, with 1gb of ram i can run Need For Speed Most Wanted at maximum settings preety much, but when i take half of the ram out so i only have 512mb, i usually get small 1 second crashes.
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I see what you mean... well, to tell you something, I have F.E.A.R. and I have oblivion and i have COD2 and I can tell you with my current specs I cannot run them on full only on medium and usually with no more resolution that 1024*768.

My system specs are:
  • AMD Athlon 64bit 3000+ (socket 754) @ 2GHZ
  • Nvidia GeForce 6600 256MB
  • 1GB PC3200 RAM
  • On Board AC VIA Viynel '97 Sound Card
  • Windows XP Home Edition OS

Now that you have this information - what possible improvements may I see from upgrading my RAM (althought I do know that gfx card plays the biggest part in gfx settings)???
 
well, first off, you wont be able to play any of those games at maximum settings unless you get a new graphics card, i would suggest upgrading to 2gb if you want to, it should help along those games, do you use graphics editing applications?, if so the ram will be a great help to that.

What sort of framrates are you getting in games now, how long have you had windows installed for?, the ram will help windows load quicker aswell.
 
well, first off, you wont be able to play any of those games at maximum settings unless you get a new graphics card, i would suggest upgrading to 2gb if you want to, it should help along those games, do you use graphics editing applications?, if so the ram will be a great help to that.

What sort of framrates are you getting in games now, how long have you had windows installed for?, the ram will help windows load quicker aswell.
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well, when i go to get my ram it will of course be 2GB. i dnt use gfx editing apps. i have had windows installed for about a year or more now, maybe 2 (relativley new comp). and surprisingly i get some really good frames on games, for example, on oblivion, although i am only runnig on medium, i get about 30 frames out and about 50 frames in maybe, i think that was it last time or check, maybe in was higher lol. cod2 gets just a little more than oblivion, again running on medium-ish and fear more or less the same.

(btw,a 19" lcd/tft monitor wouldn't do anything other than sharpen images/ better quality right?)
 
Well yea, 19", bigger screen, higher native res, with my older monitors i used to run at 1280 x 1024, now i need to run at 1440 x 900 to get best pic, in games it slows performance down, depends if the monitors is better quality than your old one, may even be faster (MS), means less chance of ghosting although this aint a problem when monitors are 8ms and below.

A year :o, damn i would REALLY suggest doing a fresh install of windows, having Windows installed that long is bound to slow stuff down ALOT, max i have an os installed for before re-install is about 4 months.
 
At this point more ram isn't going to make a difference. The 6600 isn't a bad card but those are pretty much the most demanding games out and a that card simply doesn't have the capability of running those games, with them being so GPU intensive anyway. Your processor isn't ideal but again it's not bad by any means and exceeds the minimum requirements. It's currently paired up very well with your graphics card so there are no bottlenecks but I think you'd find a major difference if you upgraded to an X800XT or 7600GT (there are rare AGP editions out there). Granted this isn't a dirt cheap expenditure but it will make a major difference I think you'll find.
 
Well yea, 19", bigger screen, higher native res, with my older monitors i used to run at 1280 x 1024, now i need to run at 1440 x 900 to get best pic, in games it slows performance down, depends if the monitors is better quality than your old one, may even be faster (MS), means less chance of ghosting although this aint a problem when monitors are 8ms and below.

A year :o, damn i would REALLY suggest doing a fresh install of windows, having Windows installed that long is bound to slow stuff down ALOT, max i have an os installed for before re-install is about 4 months.
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Well, first off this is the monitor I am getting. it's an LG 19" and has a 2000:1 contrast ration and 2ms response time with a buncha other special feats. the link for this monitor is here - [URL="http://komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=327398"]http://komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=327398

It is also really good for the price. and yes, just to reiterate lol - it is much better than my soon to be old monitor as it is a 19" CRT which had a huge back to it and runs any where on native res 1024 +.

As well, in regards to you reboot - me thinks that might have to be done - the computer still runs fast and windows is very functional and responsive atm - so maybe for now until i get my ram i can just defragment both my registry and hard drive?

At this point more ram isn't going to make a difference. The 6600 isn't a bad card but those are pretty much the most demanding games out and a that card simply doesn't have the capability of running those games, with them being so GPU intensive anyway. Your processor isn't ideal but again it's not bad by any means and exceeds the minimum requirements. It's currently paired up very well with your graphics card so there are no bottlenecks but I think you'd find a major difference if you upgraded to an X800XT or 7600GT (there are rare AGP editions out there). Granted this isn't a dirt cheap expenditure but it will make a major difference I think you'll find.
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in regards to exfoliate: i know my gfx card is medium range and my processor low to medium range - however it is still good compared to a lot of processors out there, i mean, not THAT many people have 64bit right?

any whats, i do wanna upgrade my gfx card to the 7800/7950gtx or something like that but i have to prioritise my finances first and right now I need a new monitor, so i unfortunately have to upgrade gfx lol... unless you know any where i can make sum fast and easy cash lol ;)
 
Unfortunatly i dont think your going to be able to upgrade to one of those graphics card, it will require a new motherboard, possible new ram and cpu depending on what cpu skt you decide to go for, well, lots of cpu's out there now have 64bit, hell even the intel celerons have it now!, the 3000+ is i would say a mid end cpu now, there are lots of cpu's better than that now, the cheapest core 2 duo's which are like £130 woop any AMD cpu.

If you ever want to upgrade your graphics card, X800XT, X850XT, 7800GS etc.. are going to be the best you can get, there preety cheap now, but still, i wouldent bother buying another graphics card for AGP now unless you REALLY dont want to upgrade you motherboard and if you want to go with the latest cpu skt then porribly upgrading the CPU, unless your motherboard allready has a PCI-E slot?, if not, when you get the money, do a big upgrade all at once, cpu, mobo, ram and graphics :)

Also, DAMN, that monitor is Awsome!, 2ms and that vv high contrast ratio :o, what a good price too, the only letdown is that it's not widescreen, would be alot better with widescreen now :), i picked up my Acer 19" widescreen for £140 from Argos, 5ms, 700:1 contrast etc.., obviously no match compared to yours, but cheap for what it is =p.

I suppose you could defrag your Hard Drive, never knew you could defrag the Registry :s, you have got Anti Virus & Anti Spyware software installed right?
 
Uunfortunately i don't think your going to be able to upgrade to one of those graphics card, it will require a new motherboard, possible new ram and cpu depending on what cpu skt you decide to go for, well, lots of cpu's out there now have 64bit, hell even the intel celerons have it now!, the 3000+ is i would say a mid end cpu now, there are lots of cpu's better than that now, the cheapest core 2 duo's which are like £130 woop any AMD cpu.

If you ever want to upgrade your graphics card, X800XT, X850XT, 7800GS etc.. are going to be the best you can get, there pretty cheap now, but still, i wouldn't bother buying another graphics card for AGP now unless you REALLY don't want to upgrade you motherboard and if you want to go with the latest cpu skt then porribly upgrading the CPU, unless your motherboard already has a PCI-E slot?, if not, when you get the money, do a big upgrade all at once, cpu, mobo, ram and graphics :D
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in regards to what you've said here, I more or less agree. My socket is 754 and therefore I am limited to good cpus as from what I know 975 (i think thats it) is the better.
Secondly, I unfortunately do have an AGP gfx slot :( lol and therefore again am limited on gfx card choice, however i have found some really good gfx cards such as the 7900 256mb in agp etc. i have a good psu at 500 i think it is. and yes indeed i will be doin a complete system overhaul and upgrade everything, but that wont be for another year or so (finance:() so i am trying to do the best and cheapest upgrades for now.

Also, DAMN, that monitor is Awsome!, 2ms and that vv high contrast ratio :o, what a good price too, the only letdown is that it's not widescreen, would be alot better with widescreen now , i picked up my Acer 19" widescreen for £140 from Argos, 5ms, 700:1 contrast etc.., obviously no match compared to yours, but cheap for what it is =p.

I suppose you could defrag your Hard Drive, never knew you could defrag the Registry :s, you have got Anti Virus & Anti Spyware software installed right?
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yup - thats a good monitor indeed, i was lucky to have found it and at such a good price too (i ordered it today, should be here within the next 4 days). and i agree with the wide screen thing, thats the only let down. btw, you have the exact monitor my friend has :P

and yep, u can defreg registry... the program best to use is tune up utilities 2006 - Google that and visit their site and get the trial version or buy it if u like.

I have firewall, anti virus spyware adawre the works lol - so i am v well protected :D
 
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