Larger is better
The next question is how much RAM do we really need - especially to run games. Now, let's take a look at some memory 'footprints' - how much memory and page file used by several games.| Windows XP | Battlefield 2 | Brothers In Arms | Call of Duty | Dungeon Siege | Dungeon Siege 2 | |
| Memory available | 382.55 | 39.47 | 181.18 | 12.14 | 287.68 | 124.56 |
| Memory installed | 512 | 512 | 512 | 512 | 512 | 512 |
| Memory used | 129.45 | 472.53 | 330.82 | 499.86 | 224.32 | 387.44 |
| Page file used | 172 | 1032 | 314 | 445 | 256 | 406 |
| Page file normal | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 |
| 0 | 860 | 142 | 273 | 84 | 234 | |
| Total memory used (estimated) |
129.45 | 1332.53 | 472.82 | 772.86 | 308.32 | 621.44 |
| Windows XP | F1 Career Challenge | FEAR | Full Spectrum Warrior | Homeworld 2 | Lock On | |
| Memory available | 382.55 | 168.9 | 178.96 | 365.41 | 169.41 | 142.15 |
| Memory installed | 512 | 512 | 512 | 512 | 512 | 512 |
| Memory used | 129.45 | 343.1 | 333.04 | 146.59 | 342.59 | 369.85 |
| Page file used | 172 | 355 | 556 | 320 | 373 | 406 |
| Page file normal | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 |
| 0 | 183 | 384 | 148 | 201 | 234 | |
| Total memory used | 129.45 | 526.1 | 717.04 | 294.59 | 543.59 | 603.85 |
| Windows XP | Nascar 2003 | Quake 4 | Richard Burns Rally | Splinter Cell | Splinter Cell Chaos Theory | |
| Memory available | 382.55 | 249.26 | 13.68 | 288.52 | 299.66 | 78.21 |
| Memory installed | 512 | 512 | 512 | 512 | 512 | 512 |
| Memory used | 129.45 | 262.74 | 498.32 | 223.48 | 212.34 | 433.79 |
| Page file used | 172 | 260 | 656 | 322 | 242 | 415 |
| Page file normal | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 |
| 0 | 88 | 484 | 150 | 70 | 243 | |
| Total memory used (estimated) | 129.45 | 350.74 | 982.32 | 373.48 | 282.34 | 676.79 |
| Windows XP | Serious Sam II | SW: KOTOR | |
| Memory available | 382.55 | 36.84 | 266.04 |
| Memory installed | 512 | 512 | 512 |
| Memory used | 129.45 | 475.16 | 245.96 |
| 172 | 472 | 266 | |
| Page file normal | 172 | 172 | 172 |
| 0 | 300 | 94 | |
| Total memory used (estimated) | 129.45 | 775.16 | 339.96 |
all numbers are in MBs
You can see that older games usually have smaller memory footprints than newer games - most of them will still fit comfortably within 512 MB of RAM. Higher details (both polygons and textures) means larger amounts of data and larger amounts of memory needs to be accessed. Games with total memory used lower than 512 MB should be (relatively) 'stutter-free' since we don't always have to access the hard disk. Games with memory footprints slightly larger than 512 MB should still be stutter free, since the game may only need small bits of data from the hard disk. For games with larger memory footprints, it would be wise to upgrade this 512 MB system to 1 GB or even 2 GB (like for Battlefield 2) to completely avoid memory related stuttering. Larger amounts of memory, while tempting, is not really necessary. Remember, a 32 bit application (and operating system) can only address up to 4 GBs of memory. The 32 bit version Windows XP does come with a feature that allows it to address more than 4 GBs of memory, but it won't be useful for games (particularly 32 bit games).
Maintaining Bandwidth
OK, you've set your mind up to get 2 GB or even 4 GBs of RAM. Of course, having more RAM means you have to use either larger RAM modules and / or more modules. Larger RAM modules usually have higher timings (higher latencies) and more modules means you have to use a slower Command Rate as well (2T as opposed to 1T). So, if you want to upgrade your RAM above 512 MB, you'll likely have to make that compromise. Lower timings and lower command rate are usually beneficial to bandwidth, so it will be interesting to see whether or not the compromise we make by having more capacity (slightly less bandwidth) is worth the bandwidth loss.A typical motherboard has 3 to 4 memory slots (DIMM slots) to hold memory. Most modern chipsets such as the NForce 4 or VIA K8T800 cam support up to 4 GBs of RAM. So if you want to have 4 GB, you need 4 modules of 1 GB, preferably PC3200 DDR SDRAM modules. If you're shooting for 2 GB, you could either use 4 modules of 512 MB or 2 modules of 1 GB. The difference will be the command rate - the 1 GB modules may be dual bank modules so you'll have to use 2T instead of 1T. The other difference will be latency: 1 GB modules usually comes as CAS Latency 3 modules, while 512 MB may come as CAS Latency 3, 2,5 or 2 (if you're willing to spend the money).
Lower Load
Times
There is one other metric we wanted to address in this article that while it
doesn't affect gameplay performance, you as users will appreciate too: load
times. By having more memory, the game will be able to make use of the
additional memory and load all the data it needs entirely in RAM. This could
make load times shorter. At least in theory. Take a look at this example: if
an application has 640 MBs of data to load at one time on a 512 MB system,
the rest (about 128 MB) will be written back to virtual memory (hard disk).
Now, the game may not need all that data at once, so the additional data can
be loaded in background while we're playing (without causing a stutter).
However, during loading, the operating system must write back the data into
the hard disk, adding more time to the loading process. In this situation,
having more memory provide extra benefits that performance testing alone
can't show.[Previous Page]
[Go to top]
[Next Page]