RAM
Posted by admin on Jul 10th, 2006
Hello all,I have a second machine with Vista home premium installed. I was wondering how much RAM is recommended? I am thinking of 3Gb of DDR400 for this machine. Its on 1GB of DDR333 at the moment, as its a machine cobbled out of bits lying about. I can get 2x 512Mb DDR400 from a mate, and buy a 2Gb matched job online. I briefly had Vista on my home machine (which is staying XP for the forseeable future), but didn't try any games. 1Gb of DDR33 is absolutely rubbish for GR:AW and Oblivion (duh! really?). I think that 3Gb may well just do, as this machine is not going to be used regularly.
Jul 13th, 2006 at 05:12 pm
I find 2GB adequate, maybe even more than adequate for the job. I've played most of the new games, BF2142, FEAR , Supreme Commander and I've not found a case where 2GB wasn't getting the job done. Granted, I don't run much else in the background when I'm playing games, my Outlook and Outlook Express\Windows Mail. I use to run Xfire and Teamspeak, but those were fairly light programs.If you want to do 3GB, there isn't a reason not to I guess. With Superfetch windows will try to cache more of what you use the most, though I don't know that really helps much with games, Supreme Commander is a 7.2GB install. So unless I get 8GB, I'm never going to cache the whole game. And I still don't see any major map load difference with Superfetch on or off. So with that said, I don't believe you *need* more than 2GB, and I presonally wouldn't spend the money on it, unless I knew I was going to get something out of it. But if the price is right and you just like having, it, there is no reason not to get 3GB."Carl"
Jul 16th, 2006 at 01:23 am
Sounds about right, I run most of my games, Supreme Commander etc in a window and have other things going on at the same time and the page file isn't getting used. That's with 2GB of RAM.If games are taking a long time to exit (in that Windows needs to be paged back into memory) that is a good indication some more RAM will help. But with 2GB Windows is still there in RAM, so there's still room at the moment. Paul Smith, Yeovil, UK. Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User. windowsresource.net/*Remove nospam. to reply by email* "Dale M. White"
Jul 17th, 2006 at 02:50 am
I have a machine with 1 GB of RAM, and a machine with 2 GB of RAM.Don't hesitate to get the 2 GB or more. It is VERY much worth it if you do any gaming. 1 GB works, but you have to get used to the delays and waiting... Dustin Harper dharper@vistarip.com vistarip.com "Paul Smith"
Jul 18th, 2006 at 08:35 am
Delays ? Just check the option box "Dont' delay on start and map load" All games have it now. "Dustin Harper"
Jul 21st, 2006 at 02:04 pm
More of a delay when starting or stopping a game. RAM issues while the game is loading, ending, or whatever. Dustin Harper dharper@vistarip.com vistarip.com "Dale M. White"
Jul 23rd, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, just go to Advance properties and click the "don't delay" button. While you're at it, make sure the "run really fast" button is checked :) "Dustin Harper"
Jul 25th, 2006 at 03:44 pm
OK, now for the other bit: I have a PhysX card installed as well, I think that 3Gb of RAM will help this rattle along at a fair old rate. Thanks for the responses everyone. Interestingly, Ageia has drivers for their card that work straightaway in Vista Home Premium 64 bit. I was impressed with Vista, but am holding back from upgrading my home machine until ATI DX10 cards become available ( so I can compare with NVIDIA). OK, so I will stay off topic and say that the Terratec PCIe x1 card in my Vista machine works great, and the media centre is very good, but most importantly of all, Oblivion works!