Is RAM My Problem?

[ReVamped]

I bought and built a new rig in September. The specs are:

ASUS M2N-E
AMD Athlon X2 4200+
7600GT KO
Seagate Barracuda 160 GB HDD
Suntec 550 watt PSU
1 GB Super Talent DDR2-800

I mainly play games such as CSS and BF2. I felt that a new rig would let me play on my native res (1440x900) and run silky (60 fps or higher). The problem I'm having is that BF2 is extremely slow and chuggy. I play in a lot of Deathmatch servers in CSS. In combat (at least 3 people not including me) my FPS drops down to 30's and 20's. I thought it was just my graphics settings so I turned everything to medium and then low. I also tried lowering the resolution but I still got the same amount of FPS. I ruled out my graphics card as being a culprit. I thought my CPU could be the problem and I read at the gotfrag forums that setting affinity (turning off one core for steam) would give me a big boost. To my displeasure, it didn't. I came to the conclusion that I would be stuck getting this amount of FPS. Then I realized that the problem could be with my RAM. I'm not really familiar with Super Talent and I didn't read up on the clock speeds and everything. I bought the RAM at a computer show. So I'm asking now if my RAM could be the problem. It's a 1 gig stick (so no dual channel) and I don't know the timings. I tried looking on Newegg but couldn't find the model. I bought the stick for $117. Since Black Friday and Christmas are coming up, I'm thinking about getting 2 gigs of RAM. If anyone can recommend me some RAM or clarify if my RAM is the problem, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ReVamped]

The problem is I don't know the timings. I can check the timings in the BIOS right? (sorry, this is my first build and my first time to full access of BIOS options).

 

[ReVamped]

It does have a heat spreader and it's blue with the Super Talent logo on it. The timings are 5-5-5-15.

 

[ReVamped]

Ok, thanks. Does the Corsair XMS2 series work well with my motherboard? I heard the M2N-E has a lot of memory compatibility problems.

 

[M_with_one_M]

Next time when you play a game and have problems, press ctrl alt del, without ending the game first.
Now you can see how much RAM you are currently using in the window that comes up. If it shows more than 1 gig of allocated memory, you have a problem.

 

[ReVamped]

Yeah I read that OCZ RAM requires a higher voltage than the motherboard supports. I'll check into that Corsair Dominator RAM. Looks like I'm gonna have some fun over the next few months :lol:

 

[M_with_one_M]

I didn't know that. I'll try that next time.

 

[bigsby]

I have the M2N-E, actually my computer is quite like yours, except I've got the next lower down processor (but I overclocked it so it's faster than yours), and I play bf2 quite a bit so I are not dumbed.

The first thing is that, yes, definitely, your RAM is slowing you down substantially. When I first got a game worthy computer (if that, an x600SE), I at first had a gig of ram. When I upgraded it to two gigs, my FPS in BF2 went up substantially, especially near the beginning of the level, because it was using the page file so much.

With the same graphics card, and running at 1280 by 1024, I can get 50 to 80 FPS with no AA or AF on, but everything else up to max. Trying that will yield around the same results, as the amount of pixels between our screens are very small (mine is around 15 000 pixels larger, not much).

One last thing is to make sure that you have minimal tasks running in the background (that means MSN, Skype, Steam, Etc.). You don't have to do a total clear out but some things are a bit of a resource hog, and it's not like you need most of them open all the time, especially when you're playing a game (steam for example when you're playing bf2).

 

[ReVamped]

Ok, I changed the speed from DDR2-667 to 800, but what should I change the settings to from auto? I don't know the exact numbers I should put in (like 4-4-4 something else). Thanks in advance.

 

[ReVamped]

Awesome. I changed my speeds to 4-4-4-12 and 1t at DDR2-800 speed. I fired up CSS and went into a 12 man dust 2 server. I never got anything below 60 FPS even in combat. I stayed in the 90's to 120's and the highs are in the 140's. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[olmecoid]

Did you aply amd cpu driver? as weird as it sounds, I have read at maximum pc that dual core amd procesors have some issues with games. You can try at their web site to how you can fix the trouble.

 

[rodney_ws]

I have a screenshot (at home, sorry I'm at work) taken of the BF2.exe process consuming over 1 GB of memory by itself. In the spirit of full disclosure, I did have the expansion pack installed and whatever patches were applicable at the time... yes, I agree it's important you optimize your RAM timings (as previously suggested) but if you're going to play BF2 you really need 2 GB... that and Oblivion were the first two games I'd played that really seemed to want that 2nd GB. Optimizing 1 GB won't get around that fact.