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2GB vs 1GB RAM test

post #1 of 23
3/16/05 at 11:46pm
Thread Starter 
I ran a search and didn't come up with any real data.

Has anyone with 2GB ever run an fps test on say... Doom3, then yank out a stick and repeat the test?

If not, could ya?
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post #2 of 23
3/17/05 at 12:01am
increase of ram size doesn't increase fps much (or at all). it makes programs load faster and reduces stutters

edit: you know what I mean
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post #3 of 23
3/17/05 at 12:13am
Increasing RAM size increases the ability for your PC to multitaks and since your O/S and all it's services are tasks, you will at all times be multitasking. Performance gains are observable up to 1024MB, but beyond that I have no idea whether the increase is noticable.
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post #4 of 23
3/17/05 at 12:20am
Thread Starter 
That's why I want a test. I see a few folks with 2GB in their sig. It should be simple enough to run a real comparison, rather than speculation on what "should" happen.
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post #5 of 23
3/17/05 at 1:05am
A good way to test is to Max out every possible setting and resolution in game like... Doom3 or Half Life 2. Still... It wouldnt be enough to drain the already generous 1GB of Ram many people configure with.
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post #6 of 23
3/17/05 at 1:54am
Most MMORPG's will take every ounce of RAM and give you a big benefit.
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post #7 of 23
3/17/05 at 12:25pm
I would have consider upgrading my Dell XPS to 2GB Ram but when I check my system dell was nice enough to stick 2-512 stick in it in stead of 1-1GB stick which sucks means I would have to buy 2-1GB sticks and sell the 512's but I sure am not buying the sticks from dell way over priced!
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post #8 of 23
3/17/05 at 2:40pm
Thread Starter 
The matched 2x512 sticks should give you a performance boost over a single 1x1024 stick. That, added to the fact that it's not clear at all whether 2GB actually benefits much these days, should make you less angry.

When it comes time that you'll really want to upgrade to 2GB, the prices will have dropped.

For me, I know I need 2GB for my molecular modelling software. I have it on order, and it'll be here next week. I'll do a comprehensive comparison of performance when it arrives (if no-one else does).
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post #9 of 23
3/17/05 at 10:49pm
Quote:
it makes programs load faster and reduces slutters
I was really looking forward to those too... mmmm
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post #10 of 23
3/18/05 at 12:03am
2 GB prolly won't be noticable in games. If you work with video, 3D rendering, CAD, etc. then it makes a difference - also helps if you like to have 20 applications running at once.
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post #11 of 23
3/18/05 at 12:12am
I think that Battlefield 2 recommends 2 gigs?
PS- I think I dated a "Slutter" once.
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post #12 of 23
3/18/05 at 12:52am
Quote:
PS- I think I dated a "Slutter" once.
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post #13 of 23
3/18/05 at 3:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
I think that Battlefield 2 recommends 2 gigs?
Wouldn't be surprised. Those bots don't come cheap (no slutters jokes!)
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post #14 of 23
3/19/05 at 10:12am

What does memory do for you

Actually 2 Gig may or may not help anyone out. The purpose of paging is to allow more memory use than that actual physical ram in the computer. So what memory can buy for you is that you will not have to go to disk to get some code or data necessary to run the application(s) running. That being said, it also depends on the OS and the application regarding how they use memory. Typically applications are written to the virtual OS's memory model and let the hardware decide when/how to page. So running a test on a machine that has 512M of memory and the test does not page, nor is it written to optomize memory usage, will not run faster on a machine with a terrabyte of memory.


Tattooz
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post #15 of 23
3/19/05 at 12:42pm
Yes paging is to act like more physical memory but the hard drive is so many times slower than your RAM that you want as much memory as can be handled. WHen you go from RAM to a hd, you drop from GBps to MBps of throughput not to mention the latency. From that you have a huge performance hit. Also yes it does depend on the OS, and I'm not sure but I think we are all dealing with XP here. So you can totally disable a page file, or if not make it so that it is useless and make everything stay in memory.
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post #16 of 23
3/19/05 at 5:16pm
Hmm I think there is a registry tweak...I found the link once but I lost the link due to a recent reinstall and forgetting to backup my bookmarks, but what that tweak does is not access the hdd to page stuff until the entire RAM is filled up first. So when I had everything running on my machine, for programming purposes, i had Tomcat server, NetBeans, and MySQL running and with the Windows XP codebase loaded into memory, I would use around a half gig of memory and my hard drive would not be accessed at all. It was very nice. I am still looking for that page...and if you guys want here is a brilliant link that I highly recommend to everyone...especially those who use the dos prompt a lot...

http://www.pctools.com/registry-mech.../registry-fix/

take care.
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post #17 of 23
3/19/05 at 5:49pm
Agree with ComputerGeek737 - if you can get something to run in hardware RAM instead of virtual memory, you get much faster performance.

The question really comes down to, how often do things page on your system if you have 1 GB. If it's a lot, then 2GB is a good idea. If it's rarely, odds are you can find a better use for the money. YMMV.
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post #18 of 23
3/19/05 at 6:23pm
Do you mean this one?

Go to start\run\regedit -and then to the following key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

1.DisablePagingExecutive -double click it and in the decimal put a 1 - this allows XP to keep data in memory now instead of paging sections of ram to harddrive yeilds faster performance.

2.LargeSystemCache- double click it and change the decimal to 1 -this allows XP Kernal to Run in memory improves system performance alot

I tried it, but when I ran 3d mark and checked my system information it said that page file was still being used
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post #19 of 23
3/19/05 at 7:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
The question really comes down to, how often do things page on your system if you have 1 GB. If it's a lot, then 2GB is a good idea. If it's rarely, odds are you can find a better use for the money.
Uh-huh. And I see much discussion everywhere regarding the pros and cons... trouble is... it's always just discussion. I have yet to see anyone actually experiment, and post hard data. This is what I'll do next week if no-one beats me to it.
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post #20 of 23
3/19/05 at 9:23pm
Well in my Dell Dimension XPS Gen 2 i've got 2GB RAM, i can pretty much do everything, i wanted to check something in a different game while playing Americas Army, so i went into HL2 while playin AA and i had to problems, i dont know if it does that at 1GB but my XPS2 has 1GB i will be able to see what happens !!!When i get it!!!!
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