FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Register Register  Login Login

RAM speed vs. amount

Post Date: 2009-03-12
 Post Reply Post Reply
Author
  Topic Search Topic Search  Topic Options Topic Options
hotcakes22 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 07 Nov 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 106 		  Quote hotcakes22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: RAM speed vs. amount
    Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 11:40am
Hi, I was wondering whether speed or amount is more important when it comes to RAM and gaming. Is DDR2 800 @ 400 MHz pretty mediocre?
 
I believe there was a DS article about which aspects of the computer are important for gaming, but I can't find it.
Back to Top
JamesAstro View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 28 Nov 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 624 		  Quote JamesAstro Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 4:00pm
Originally posted by hotcakes22

Hi, I was wondering whether speed or amount is more important when it comes to RAM and gaming. Is DDR2 800 @ 400 MHz pretty mediocre?
 

I believe there was a DS article about which aspects of the computer are important for gaming, but I can't find it.


If you don't have enough memory for your game, then getting more memory is easily the most important thing to do. For example, if you only have 1 GB, then getting more memory is the most important step.

However, once you have enough memory, getting more generally won't help. For example, there is no point in going from 6 GB to 12 GB for gaming. It won't help at all. In that case, getting faster memory would be your priority.

James
Velox, Intel Core i9 11900K, ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero
32GB RAM, 1TB Samsung 980 Pro NVME
RTX 4090, 38" Ultrawide LG-38GL950G
Noctua NH-D15S cooler and NF-A14 fans, Corsair AX1600i PSU
Back to Top
hotcakes22 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 07 Nov 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 106 		  Quote hotcakes22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 5:26pm
I have 8 gigs of DDR2 800 at 400 MHz, as well as a q9300 and a 9800 GT.
 
I am trying to figure out what the biggest bottlenecks are in my system. If my RAM was twice as fast, would I get a considerably faster framerate in Crysis?
Back to Top
tman5890 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 282 		  Quote tman5890 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 5:43pm
Probably not. You would probably be better off upgrading your video card if anything.
Back to Top
DST4ME View Drop Down
DS ELITE
DS ELITE

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 5:44pm
your gpu will make the biggest impact in your games.

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
Back to Top
Dsnewb210 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 01 Oct 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 972 		  Quote Dsnewb210 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 6:48pm
You might want to think about upgrading your ram though.. 400mhz is pretty slow...
Back to Top
DST4ME View Drop Down
DS ELITE
DS ELITE

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 7:21pm
he has 800MHz ram either he is reading the bios which shows it as 400 x 2 = 800 or he needs to adjust his speed correctly.

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
Back to Top
Dsnewb210 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 01 Oct 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 972 		  Quote Dsnewb210 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 8:19pm
It could very well be downclocked if its set to default.. For ddr2 800mhz isn't bad at all..

Edited by Dsnewb210 - 12 Mar 2009 at 8:20pm
Back to Top
DST4ME View Drop Down
DS ELITE
DS ELITE

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Mar 2009 at 8:26pm
ya ddr2 800MHz I think is the second highest

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
Back to Top
hotcakes22 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 07 Nov 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 106 		  Quote hotcakes22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 2:41am
the ram is "8GB DDR2 800"
 
is this 400 mhz or 800 mhz?
Back to Top
DST4ME View Drop Down
DS ELITE
DS ELITE

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 3:28am
800MHz

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
Back to Top
hotcakes22 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 07 Nov 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 106 		  Quote hotcakes22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 2:55pm
hmm, in CPU-z it says
 
in Memory: DRAM Frequency 400 MHz
 
in SPD: Max Bandwidth PC2-6400 (400 MHz)
 
I'm not sure why it doesn't seem to say 800 anywhere.
Back to Top
Dsnewb210 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 01 Oct 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 972 		  Quote Dsnewb210 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 3:03pm

Since its ddr2 you have to take 400x2 and you get 800.. Your all set buddy! Just make sure in the bios your mem is running at 800mhz.
Back to Top
hotcakes22 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 07 Nov 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 106 		  Quote hotcakes22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 3:40pm
ah, thanks. How do I check bios? :)
Back to Top
Dsnewb210 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 01 Oct 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 972 		  Quote Dsnewb210 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 4:01pm

As you are booting up you should see alittle prompt to either press delete or one of the f1-f12 keys.

Back to Top
DST4ME View Drop Down
DS ELITE
DS ELITE

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 4:33pm
Originally posted by hotcakes22

hmm, in CPU-z it says
 

in Memory: DRAM Frequency 400 MHz

 

in SPD: Max Bandwidth PC2-6400 (400 MHz)

 

I'm not sure why it doesn't seem to say 800 anywhere.


pc6400 ÷ 8 = 800

so your ram is 800MHz

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
Back to Top
hotcakes22 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 07 Nov 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 106 		  Quote hotcakes22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 8:15pm
Hmmm, for some reason I'm not having any sucess checking BIOS. but hopefully it is not necessary?
Back to Top
DST4ME View Drop Down
DS ELITE
DS ELITE

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 8:50pm
You always know what ram speed you have from the "PC number" take that number divide it by 8 and you have your ram speed.

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
Back to Top
hotcakes22 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 07 Nov 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 106 		  Quote hotcakes22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 9:30pm
Originally posted by Dsnewb210

 Just make sure in the bios your mem is running at 800mhz.
Why was this recommended? Just in case for some reason the RAM was set to run at a low speed?
Back to Top
modern_outlaw76 View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 75 		  Quote modern_outlaw76 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Apr 2009 at 10:33pm
let me see if i understand this right.  i have 4 gigs of ddr3 at 1333mhz. instead of getting more ram i should just shoot for getting faster ram?Pinch  
Back to Top
DST4ME View Drop Down
DS ELITE
DS ELITE

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 14 Apr 2009 at 12:22am
faster ram = speed

more ram = more multitasking

If your 4GB is enough to do your multitasking now then you will gain nothing by adding more ram, if you increase your ram speed you will see very little performance if any.

With 1333MHz ram, you got good timings and good speed, you won't gain nothing from any ram upgrade, as a matter of fact if you get faster ram with slower timing you may hurt your performance.

Edited by DST4ME - 14 Apr 2009 at 12:23am

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down



This page was generated in 6.640625E-02 seconds.