8GB RAM for gaming!?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-memory-upgrade,2778-6.html

All these 2 years I though 4GB was enough.

Sounds good, so some programs still use a swap file even though you have more than enough RAM available? So having an extra 4GB of RAM available and using it as a ramdisk, storing your swap file there will significantly speed up applications that use virtual memory heavily. That's what I'm getting from the article anyway.

And you may not need more than 4gb to play the game, but having more than 4gb will keep some games like GTA4 from showing lots of artificats on screen and allow higher level of detail in textures. So it's not all about FPS, but how graphics too.

And also, if you tend to have more memory intensive apps opened while playing that super awesome game that only uses up to 4gb or less of RAM will still improve total system performance because your processes have more to work with (i.e. tabbing between apps will be faster possibly, at least according some of the comments to the article).

Interesting read. I've been thinking about going with 8gb for my next system anyway because it's not even a $100 difference, so it means nothing to me. Might as well.

I always knew my 8gigs was worth itgmaster456

Ditto 8)

Although I know I benefit from having this much memory, since I quite frequently play games with up to 10 other applications etc running...I alt+tab alot.

[QUOTE="gmaster456"]I always knew my 8gigs was worth itspittis

Ditto 8)

Although I know I benefit from having this much memory, since I quite frequently play games with up to 10 other applications etc running...I alt+tab alot.

"So far, so annoying. Other than the 64-bit client of Half-Life 2 with the Bombast mod installed, hardly any game sees an increase in frames per second using more RAM. The increased amount of system memory allocable by the graphics card noticeably decreases the number of visual artifacts in GTA IV. Load times could be shortened if the temporary directories were relocated to a RAM disk."

Just sayin'.

"So far, so annoying. Other than the 64-bit client of Half-Life 2 with the Bombast mod installed, hardly any game sees an increase in frames per second using more RAM. The increased amount of system memory allocable by the graphics card noticeably decreases the number of visual artifacts in GTA IV. Load times could be shortened if the temporary directories were relocated to a RAM disk."

Just sayin'.

tequilasunriser

You'll probably need it for demanding games like Metro 2033, but console ports are too crippled to use that much memory. Still, its good I bought 2 4GB DDR3 1333MHz kits.

Meh. I'll upgrade when my games start hitching from file swapping. That's the best indicator that you need more RAM. So far it hasn't happened.

Hmmm... i montior my usuage and even in games with texture mods and all my total ram usage has never gone above 3.5gbs even with a multi tab browser open in the background, that i have seen. So why doesnt the graphics card use that extra half gig if it really needs it?

when i get someone who isnt flavor-of-the-month toms failware telling me to get 8gb for gaming ill invest but until then i got pc gamer magazine saying otherwise.. whats more is they have benches to proove it.

they took a ssytem with 2 card hd 4870 cfx core i7 and then a mobo with room for lots of ram and plugged n played n benched

on crysis: warhead and farcry 2 they saw under 10% gains with ddr3's of various speeds and makes and timings after 5gb and after 12 fps started to actually DROP

after about 12gb ddr3-10666 they started to see the higher and more numerous ram counts actually DECREASE preformance.. though 3d mark kept going up it became smaller and smaller.

at 14gb ram they were at -2% fps in farcry -5% fps in crysis and saw only 50 points more from 3d mark vantage

its not practical to have mroe than 6gb ram and even that excessive ill happily dig it up and scan off a few on monday if you like to proove my point. TH is great but they are a generic site now that listens to whomever throws them the biggest chque to keep their domain going.

they favor nvidia cards over ati alot of the time unless there is a clear winner and they also have numerous sponors including the likes of ASUS, the late bfg and CRUCIAL

of course they want you to buy more ram.. their sponsored.

^ And your mag isn't mainstreem (lulz)? I find it very hard to believe that "more" ram would decrease performance. Logically speaking that is. If anything, it wouldn't be doing anything but looking pretty as it goes unused..xsubtownerx

i never seem to use more then 2GB of RAM when im playing with a few apps open.

^ And your mag isn't mainstreem (lulz)? I find it very hard to believe that "more" ram would decrease performance. Logically speaking that is. If anything, it wouldn't be doing anything but looking pretty as it goes unused..xsubtownerx

an OS can only use so much ram for a single application. its not that the games dont want to use it but 7, vista, xp 64 bits all will only hand out so much access to memory. and after that point any additional ram is wasted. too much excess and it will start going backwards.

in theory yes you are 100% correct but windows OS's give ram priority and access by program and cut them off otherwise people could have rage pro gpu's, and 2tb ram and be rocking doom 2 on screens the size of skyscrapers.

you would need to physically MOD windows in order to fix the cutoff points.

its not that it wouldnt use it, tis not that it doesnt see it, its not that windows (more than likely) see's that crysis or w/e wants it but it just wont give it up.

this is made furthermore realistic as everytime your adding to it your only getting so much back.. the returns from adding in more ram get smaller as you add to it.

here ill let tweak twon give you an example:

farcry 2, 12gb ddr3 vs 24gb ddr3

notice how the 24gb ram = 12gb ram essentially

and here is SiSoft sandra ram benchmark results for 8gb vs 16gb

these are just a handful of examples of where over 12gb doesnt do a whole lot for you... unless you absolutely need it for something VERY ram intensive like running a few dozen shadow copies.. dont bother.

and yes pc magazine is mainstream but its a ahrd copy of something a document of evidence you can edit stuff online, they get 1 shot.. thats it :P

and when its more importantly from a pc building guide the release every 2nd buisness quarter its a 1 shot deal they cant afford to goof.

"So far, so annoying. Other than the 64-bit client of Half-Life 2 with the Bombast mod installed, hardly any game sees an increase in frames per second using more RAM. The increased amount of system memory allocable by the graphics card noticeably decreases the number of visual artifacts in GTA IV. Load times could be shortened if the temporary directories were relocated to a RAM disk."

Just sayin'.

tequilasunriser

its a waste, 4 gigs is enough for todays and tomorrows games.

That article makes me want to buy another 2GB of OCZ Gold DDR3 1600MHz SDRAM.

Last time I checked GTA 4 used 3.1GB for itself. Most other games take 1.5GB. Still, 8GB is there when I need it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-memory-upgrade,2778-6.html

All these 2 years I though 4GB was enough.