Performance increase with more than 4GB of RAM?

[ryan d ale]

Hi.

I want to know if I would see a performance increase for PR if I added 2x4GBs at 1333Mhz to the current system specification:


Computer Type ACPI x64-based PC
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 64Bit
OS Service Pack Service Pack 1
Internet Explorer 9.0.8112.16421
DirectX DirectX 11.0
Date / Time 2013-07-15 / 17:26

Motherboard
CPU Type QuadCore AMD Phenom II X4 Black Edition 965, 3415 MHz (17 x 201)
Motherboard Name Asus M4A77TD (3 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR3 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)
Motherboard Chipset AMD 770, AMD K10
System Memory 4087 MB (2 x2GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM)
DIMM3: Corsair XMS3 CM3X2G1333C9 2 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM (9-9-9-24 @ 666 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 592 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 518 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 444 MHz)
DIMM4: Corsair XMS3 CM3X2G1333C9 2 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM (9-9-9-24 @ 666 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 592 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 518 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 444 MHz)
BIOS Type AMI (12/22/09)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series (1024 MB)
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series (1024 MB)
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series (1024 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress)


Multimedia
Audio Adapter ATI Radeon HDMI @ ATI Cypress/Hemlock - High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Adapter VIA VT1708S @ ATI SB750 - High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Adapter VIA VT1708S @ Creative SB X-Fi Audio Controller

[LITOralis.nMd]

You won't see an increase if you currently aren't running dozens of background programs when playing PR. I mean things like iTunes, Java Updater, Skype, Adobe updater, etc.

(In short, difference between 4GB and 12GB or RAM in BF2 is approaching zero)

You could just install GameBooster to shutdown background programs when playing PR and you'll have plenty of RAM available for BF2 and PR. Razer Game Booster

[PLODDITHANLEY]

Same question but Arma 3?

[LITOralis.nMd]

Going from 4GB RAM to 12GB RAM will produce real improvements in load times, ie. less warping, less abrupt changes in LoD, and less framerate lag when moving at high speed.

For Ryan, if PR is your main game and not Arma2/3, you'd do better spending that money to overclock your 965BE CPU, if possible with your motherboard.
buy a aftermarket CPU cooler, some thermal paste, maybe another fan for push pull fans on the CPU cooler.

[ryan d ale]

Going from 4GB RAM to 12GB RAM will produce real improvements in load times, ie. less warping, less abrupt changes in LoD, and less framerate lag when moving at high speed.

For Ryan, if PR is your main game and not Arma2/3, you'd do better spending that money to overclock your 965BE CPU, if possible with your motherboard.
buy a aftermarket CPU cooler, some thermal paste, maybe another fan for push pull fans on the CPU cooler.

Thank you for the detailed reply.

PR is indeed my main game.

I'm OCing with AMD overdrive to by 0.3Ghz and small OC on GPU with an aftermarket cooler already. I was interested in discovering the bottleneck for PR performance and I'm glad you pointed it out.

Processor/Mobo socket because processor is best for available socket lol

Running on RAID 0 - this is performance enhancer right?

[LITOralis.nMd]

Well, the difference between a good 7200 rpm HDD, such as a WD Black 3.5" HDD, and a lower quality 6 year old 7200 RPM HDD, can be significant.

But the difference between a good 7200 rpm HDD, such as a WD Black 3.5" HDD, and a RAID 0 with two WD Black 3.5" HDDs, is pretty minimal in PR.

RAID 0 has drawbacks, such as the real possibility (probability) of catastrophic failure resulting in total data loss.

If you already own two HDDs of the same model, you can go forward and RAID 0 them, but I still suggest getting a seperate drive for your OS, and for important documents, and getting a backup program of some sort to keep two copies of important documents on both the RAID 0 drive and other HDD.

RAID 0 of 7200RPM HDDs will make big performance boosts in Arma2/3. I did so before I bought a SSD just for Arma2 in 2011, was happy with the result since it cost me nothing at the time, until I had the extra cash for a SSD.

[LITOralis.nMd]

This is one of the superb overclocking guides for your 965BE CPU
http://www.overclock.net/t/525113/pheno ... king-guide

and this is the overclock.net's [OFFICIAL] Phenom II X4 9x5 OC Club thread, with lots of info:
[OFFICIAL] Phenom II X4 9x5 OC Club

I can't be held responsible if you fry your components, please do your own research!

[LITOralis.nMd]

This is one of the superb overclocking guides for your 965BE CPU
Phenom II Overclocking Guide

and this is the overclock.net's [OFFICIAL] Phenom II X4 9x5 OC Club thread, with lots of info:
[OFFICIAL] Phenom II X4 9x5 OC Club

I can't be held responsible if you fry your components, please do your own research!

[LITOralis.nMd]

This is one of the superb overclocking guides for your 965BE CPU
http://www.overclock.net/t/525113/pheno ... king-guide

and this is the overclock.net's [OFFICIAL] Phenom II X4 9x5 OC Club thread, with lots of info:
[OFFICIAL] Phenom II X4 9x5 OC Club

I can't be held responsible if you fry your components, please do your own research!

[ryan d ale]

Thanks for everything I need.

[Psyrus]

Actually, I think there are potentially large benefits to pushing past the 4GB ram barrier.

For example, if you go with 16GB of ram, most people would raise an eyebrow and ask if you're going to be doing much photoshop or something... but what you can actually do is:

~4GB-6GB dedicated for OS stuff, then have a 10-12GB ramdisk that you run your favorite program of the (day/week/month) off. Combined with an SSD for day to day OS stuff, it really makes a computer fly. I did that for ARMA2 and it made a significant difference to the LOD popping and whatnot.

It pretty much won't improve your FPS though. Having too little ram will introduce chug, but having excessive amounts does not improve performance past 100%