2GB vs 1GB

[nmsumike]

hey all new to the forums. *waves*

i currently have 1GB (2x512) crucial ballistix and pretty much just play WoW at the moment. Here's the question, would i see "noticable" frame rate improvement in WoW (World of Warcraft) to justify buying an extra GB of ram?

Also, i play around with OC'n my system from time to time and would adding 2x512MB more (4 sticks total) affect the OC ability of my system or will it not affect it at all. Oh, and will i still be able to keep my tight timings with 4 sticks vs 2.

Hope someone knows all my answers lol. thanks,

Mike

 

[DrBlofeld]

The timings and command rate depend on if you have a Intel or Amd system and what type of CPU you have in case of an AMD system.

 

[nmsumike]

its an Athlon 64 3500+ (newcastle... i think)

 

[steckman]

I seriously doubt you would see a "noticeable" frame rate improvement in WOW when moving from 1GB to 2GB.
If your new memory is lower "quality" that your older memory, it will limit your overclocking ability.
I don't personally know if moving from 2 to 4 sticks of RAM affects your timings.

 

[vimka]

Since you're on AMD 64, you'll want to go with 2x1024 rather than 4x512. You can't get 1T timings with 4 sticks, and I believe certain motherboards will slow you down to 333MHz (not 100% sure on that one, maybe someone else can confirm that?).

As for whether or not you'd see a huge difference in WoW, it really depends on the resolution and quality you're playing at. Your video card is something else you want to look at. If you have a nice video card and are playing at high resolutions & quality, the extra GB will definitely help out. But if you have a 9800 Pro or something, your bottleneck is going to be there - not the RAM.

 

[sturm]

Check the motherboard manual to make sure, but many amd boards will slow down to 333 fsb when 4 sticks of memory are used. Now on my board I can use 4 single sided sticks at 400 mhz but double sided its 333 mhz.
Other than maybe the speed drop it wont hurt to add another gig. If you ever do need it youll have it. If you playerd Battlefield 2 then I would say go ahead and get the extra 1 gig.

 

[nmsumike]

my vid card shouldnt be bottlenecking it lol (id hope... x1900xtx)

thanks for the responses.

i know i would have rather gone with 2x1GB strips but i already had 2x512 and no place for them to go so ya... didnt want to waste em.

also i dont think anyone has answered will it be "harder" to OC 4 sticks vs 2?

 

[chuckshissle]

I don't know about WoW but on BF2 you need 2Gb of ram to play it with high settings as 1Gb will give you choppy frames. So if you want to play WoW at high settings then go for 2Gb of total ramage and besides most great games that have huge multiplayer maps are coming out and would need 2Gb to run it at high settings. It's not about frame rate when you go for 2Gb but it ables your system to run huge maps with higt settings as I have tried this with my 2Gb of value ram and 1Gb of XMS2 ram.

 

[nmsumike]

well i checked my user manual from online .... but i dont see anything saying whether or not it will be DDR 400 or 333 with 4 sticks

its an ASUS A8N5X.... if anyone knows *shrug*

 

[maury73]

I tested some time ago the 4 modules setting on a system equipped like this: Asus A8N, A64 3500+, 4x512MB Kingston HyperX DDR434-CL2.
I tested 2 sets of 4 identical modules (same production week): one set run ok @200MHz (DDR400-CL2), but the other slowed down to 167MHz (DDR333-CL2).

There is a physical problem because long PCB tracks introduce delays in fast bus signals and the signal path for reaching the second couple of modules is longer than that for 2 RAMs.
It's about 3 "equivalent" cm longer, because you must take account for the real lenght of the tracks (that go up and down through 4 PCB layers) and for the parasite capacity of the slots (they are through hole mounted, not SMD!).

A 4 modules configuration is about 10cm of "equivalent" track lenght that equals to 0.35ns signal delay and the maximum allowable delay @DDR400 is 0.5ns, at the maximum output current of the chips and CPU pin drivers.
So you are at the limit and a little difference in the RAMs current drive capacity can force you to slow down the clock freqeuncy: the lower the output current, the higher the delay times along capacitive lines like memory buses.