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Is my ram a bottleneck?

Forum Games General : PC Gaming - Is my ram a bottleneck?

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victordilorenzo   11-17-2008 at 06:25:14 PM

Specs:
e8400
2 gigs DDR2 PC 800
8800GT overclocked 700/2000/1680 or something like that


Here is my problem, I am playing Oblivion at 1920x1080. I have various texture mods, nothing huge like QTP3 but some LOD improvements which leaves my game a little shuddery. Since my FSB is not running at the full 1333 because the ram is slower, I was thinking that maybe some 1333 DDR3 gaming ram would better keep up with the CPU and 8800GT's GDDR3. I would get 4 gigs instead of 2 because I also notice my game crash once or twice because it ran out of memory.

Anyone think this would help? I could get the ram at a reasonable price so if I can get a good performance increase out of it I would go for it. I would also get an aftermarket cooler and crank that e8400 up to 3.8Ghz or so. The ram, as I understand would help with that.

Thanks! all thoughts and recommendations appreciated!

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jay_l_a   11-17-2008 at 10:05:14 PM
- 0 +

victordilorenzo wrote :

Since my FSB is not running at the full 1333 because the ram is slower




Fire up CPU-Z, I'm sure your ram is running at full speed.

I think you're confused, assuming your (non-GPU) clocks are stock here is what you have:

External clock frequency: 333MHz
FSB (quad pumped) 333x4: 1333
CPU 333x9: 2997Mhz (3Ghz)

Now your RAM should be running at a 6:5 ratio.
So take your clock frequency 333Mhz
it's DDR, so 333x2 = 666Mhz

If you have your ratio set correctly
666(DDR) x6/5 = 800Mhz



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llama_man   11-19-2008 at 10:02:31 AM
- 0 +

You might do better wih more RAM rather than faster RAM. Bear in mind you will need a 64-bit OS if you have more than (I think) 3.5Gb RAM.

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