2GB of RAM: Do We Really Need That Much?

Discussion in 'PC Hardware, Software and Displays' started by MuFu, Feb 19, 2006.

  1. HellasVagabond

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    Guys i dont know but when i had 1gb Q4 in ultra was loosing frames in a big degree..
    Choppy like hell.
    With 2gb however it all went away.
    I dont think one needs a 512ram card, not yet anyways.
     
  2. Frank

    Frank Certified not a majority
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    If you have 2GB, you should turn off your swapfile. That has the most noticeable effect in speeding things up.
     
  3. MuFu

    MuFu Chief Spastic Baboon
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    Amazing how much having 4 DIMMS kills overclocking sometimes. On my system (Asus A8V, Opteron 144) anything above 9x260HTT fails MT86+, while with 2 DIMMs 9x300MHz is rock solid, even at 1T.
     
  4. Richard

    Richard Mord's imaginary friend
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    http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28786

    Btw, I only tested one quality setting because there were no differences between 1gb and 2gb at maximum settings (so it stands to reason there are likewise no differences in any other quality settings).
     
  5. Bludd

    Bludd Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall
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    Funny, It Worked Last Time...
    No, don't do this. It is silly for any modern operating system to have a pagefile of size 0.

    RAM, Virtual Memory, Pagefile and all that stuff

    More
     
    #45 Bludd, Mar 2, 2006
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 2, 2006
  6. HellasVagabond

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    Microsoft recommends that people have a swap size 1 1/2 times the RAM installed..
    Dont they know the system they have built ????
    So far i have 3gb swap file on a 16mb cache Sata2 HD and i have no problem in anything.
     
  7. Richard

    Richard Mord's imaginary friend
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    Actually, they don't... recommend 1.5xRAM that is, not that they're unaware of how their own system works. ;)

    http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=237740

    The "set your page file to one and a half times your ram" advice that you can find all over the internet is a fallacy perpetuated by the fact most people don't have 2gb or more of memory.

    also:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889654

     
  8. Moloch

    Moloch God of Wicked Games
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    It is pretty silly to suggest that 1.5x ram since the more you have the less swapping.
    However it may be benefical to have the swap file= your ram amount so you can do full memory dumps should your system crash.
     
  9. HellasVagabond

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    Im this close in getting another 2gb so i can stop the paging file :pP
     
  10. Frank

    Frank Certified not a majority
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    Well, there is a problem with that strategy: not only are individual processes limited to 2 GB, but all your (user space) programs together are as well! And while the kernel can use some more, it only uses 64 MB at most in any case.'

    So, the only thing that could benefit would be disk cache. It would be really silly to swap that. And if you don't use a page file, it eliminates the most common use of that swap file in the first place.

    It might have an effect, if most programs that require the memory didn't use their own memory manager. But they do.

    The only real benefit is when you set the flag on boot that allows all user space programs together to use 3 GB. That is, if you run multiple memory-devouring programs at the same time, that really use all that. And if you want to do it that way, just put 3 GB into your machine, hope your motherboard supports it, and turn off your swapfile. Because in that case, there would be no use whatsoever in having that.


    And if Microsoft says differently, I would like some proof. Being a programmer and all, I think I have a pretty good grasp about how that is supposed to work.
     
    #50 Frank, Mar 2, 2006
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 2, 2006
  11. fallguy

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    Yes, for a gamer who likes to run games with high detail, you need 2gigs to get smooth gameplay in some games. I would not go back to 1gig if someone paid me to do so.
     
  12. Cartoon Corpse

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    people will pay you to do that?
     
  13. KimB

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    Well, sure, if they want the RAM :)
     
  14. Diplo

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    Shame, as I was just about to offer you a £10,000 a month contract to do just that. Darn, you must be kickin' yourself now...
     
  15. HellasVagabond

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  16. fallguy

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    Sorry, your funny money does me no good...
     
  17. Moloch

    Moloch God of Wicked Games
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    I'm using a 2GB page file :lol:
    I made it big when I had 512MB, now I have 1GB.
    I could use another 512mb though :smile:
    I don't play BF2...
     
    #57 Moloch, Mar 3, 2006
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 3, 2006
  18. soylent

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    *feh* 750W just isn't enough anymore. You need this: http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=870 :)
     
  19. Moloch

    Moloch God of Wicked Games
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  20. Diplo

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