Splinter Cell - Tbilisi 1, 1024 x 768
CL 2 1T 512 MB
CL 3 1T 2 GB
CL 3 2T 4 GB
The same.
SW: KOTOR - Endar Spire, 1024 x 768
CL 2 1T 512 MB
CL 3 1T 2 GB
CL 3 2T 4 GB
OK. Looks like games that runs fine on 512 MB will pretty much have the same level of performance with larger memory. Just as we figures, it's the timing and Command Rate that would influence performance on these games. While we do have to make a compromise by using Command Rate 2T and higher latencies (CAS Latency 3), the performance difference is insignificant at most. So, if we were to upgrade to a larger memory, is it worth it to max it out to 4 GB? Let's take a look at these games load times..
| In msec | In percent | ||||
| CL 2 1T 256 MB | CL 3 1T 2 GB | CL 3 2T 4 GB | CL 2 1T 256 MB to CL 3 1T 2 GB | CL 2 1T 256 MB to CL 3 2T 4 GB | |
| Brothers in Arms | 2215 | 2123.67 | 2285.67 | -4.12% | 3.19% |
| DS | 3955.67 | 4202 | 3464.33 | 6.23% | -12.42% |
| DS II | 8611 | 8304.33 | 8296.67 | -3.56% | -3.65% |
| F1 | 19086.33 | 17256 | 18817.67 | -9.59% | -1.41% |
| FSW | 14034.33 | 14352.33 | 14503 | 2.27% | 3.34% |
| HW2 | 4839.33 | 4858 | 4803 | 0.39% | -0.75% |
| Lock On | 39924.67 | 8820.33 | 8870 | -77.91% | -77.78% |
| N2003 | 3394 | 3186.33 | 3237.33 | -6.12% | -4.62% |
| RBR | 5190 | 5562.67 | 5396.67 | 7.18% | 3.98% |
| SC | 1090.67 | 1599.33 | 1546 | 46.64% | 41.75% |
| SW:KOTOR | 2230.33 | 2353.33 | 3214.33 | 5.51% | 44.12% |
| Average | -3.01% | -0.39% |
Overall, the answer is no. If 512 MB is enough for these games, throwing more memory into your PC won't help, be it 1 GB, 2 GB or 4 GB. However, not all games behave the same. Games like Lock On that loads lots of data into memory will benefit from the additional memory. While other games may appear to benefit from larger memory, in the real world that translates to between 1 to 5 seconds faster when loading - not much and not noticeable. So, it looks like we need to turn our attention to newer, memory hungry games.
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