RAM speed vs. amountPost Date: 2009-03-12 |
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hotcakes22
Senior Member Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 106 |
Quote Reply
Topic: RAM speed vs. amount Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 11:40am |
Hi, I was wondering whether speed or amount is more important when it comes to RAM and gaming. Is DDR2 800 @ 400 MHz pretty mediocre?
I believe there was a DS article about which aspects of the computer are important for gaming, but I can't find it.
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JamesAstro
Senior Member Joined: 28 Nov 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 624 |
Quote Reply Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 4:00pm |
If you don't have enough memory for your game, then getting more memory is easily the most important thing to do. For example, if you only have 1 GB, then getting more memory is the most important step. However, once you have enough memory, getting more generally won't help. For example, there is no point in going from 6 GB to 12 GB for gaming. It won't help at all. In that case, getting faster memory would be your priority. James |
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Velox, Intel Core i9 11900K, ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero
32GB RAM, 1TB Samsung 980 Pro NVME RTX 4090, 38" Ultrawide LG-38GL950G Noctua NH-D15S cooler and NF-A14 fans, Corsair AX1600i PSU |
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hotcakes22
Senior Member Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 106 |
Quote Reply Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 5:26pm |
I have 8 gigs of DDR2 800 at 400 MHz, as well as a q9300 and a 9800 GT.
I am trying to figure out what the biggest bottlenecks are in my system. If my RAM was twice as fast, would I get a considerably faster framerate in Crysis?
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tman5890
Senior Member Joined: 18 Feb 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 282 |
Quote Reply Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 5:43pm |
Probably not. You would probably be better off upgrading your video card if anything.
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DST4ME
DS ELITE Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 5:44pm |
your gpu will make the biggest impact in your games.
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Dsnewb210
Senior Member Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 972 |
Quote Reply Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 6:48pm |
You might want to think about upgrading your ram though.. 400mhz is pretty slow...
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DST4ME
DS ELITE Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 7:21pm |
he has 800MHz ram either he is reading the bios which shows it as 400 x 2 = 800 or he needs to adjust his speed correctly.
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Dsnewb210
Senior Member Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 972 |
Quote Reply Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 8:19pm |
It could very well be downclocked if its set to default.. For ddr2 800mhz isn't bad at all..
Edited by Dsnewb210 - 12 Mar 2009 at 8:20pm |
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DST4ME
DS ELITE Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 8:26pm |
ya ddr2 800MHz I think is the second highest
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hotcakes22
Senior Member Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 106 |
Quote Reply Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 2:41am |
the ram is "8GB DDR2 800"
is this 400 mhz or 800 mhz?
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DST4ME
DS ELITE Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 3:28am |
800MHz
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hotcakes22
Senior Member Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 106 |
Quote Reply Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 2:55pm |
hmm, in CPU-z it says
in Memory: DRAM Frequency 400 MHz
in SPD: Max Bandwidth PC2-6400 (400 MHz)
I'm not sure why it doesn't seem to say 800 anywhere.
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Dsnewb210
Senior Member Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 972 |
Quote Reply Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 3:03pm |
Since its ddr2 you have to take 400x2 and you get 800.. Your all set buddy! Just make sure in the bios your mem is running at 800mhz. |
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hotcakes22
Senior Member Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 106 |
Quote Reply Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 3:40pm |
ah, thanks. How do I check bios? :)
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Dsnewb210
Senior Member Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 972 |
Quote Reply Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 4:01pm |
As you are booting up you should see alittle prompt to either press delete or one of the f1-f12 keys. |
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DST4ME
DS ELITE Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 4:33pm |
pc6400 ÷ 8 = 800 so your ram is 800MHz |
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hotcakes22
Senior Member Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 106 |
Quote Reply Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 8:15pm |
Hmmm, for some reason I'm not having any sucess checking BIOS. but hopefully it is not necessary?
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DST4ME
DS ELITE Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 8:50pm |
You always know what ram speed you have from the "PC number" take that number divide it by 8 and you have your ram speed.
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hotcakes22
Senior Member Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 106 |
Quote Reply Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 9:30pm |
Why was this recommended? Just in case for some reason the RAM was set to run at a low speed?
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modern_outlaw76
Newbie Joined: 22 Feb 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 75 |
Quote Reply Posted: 13 Apr 2009 at 10:33pm |
let me see if i understand this right. i have 4 gigs of ddr3 at 1333mhz. instead of getting more ram i should just shoot for getting faster ram?
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DST4ME
DS ELITE Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply Posted: 14 Apr 2009 at 12:22am |
faster ram = speed
more ram = more multitasking If your 4GB is enough to do your multitasking now then you will gain nothing by adding more ram, if you increase your ram speed you will see very little performance if any. With 1333MHz ram, you got good timings and good speed, you won't gain nothing from any ram upgrade, as a matter of fact if you get faster ram with slower timing you may hurt your performance. Edited by DST4ME - 14 Apr 2009 at 12:23am |
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