Increasing RAM for Gaming Performance?

[Guest]

Hi guys,

I'm having issues with a very noisy computer in which when I run intensive apps such as RIFT (video game) it does a lot of clicking and it starts to lag especially in graphics intense areas. Now, I was wondering whether increasing RAM would speed this up and my computer in general?

My stats are listed:

Processor: AMD Sempron(tm) 140 processor, 3.5ghz
RAM 1024MB
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 512mb but overclocked to 815mb.

So from that could I be advised as to whether my cpu really needs an upgrade or just the memory to improve game performance? If it is RAM, is there any particular ram I should choose? I have a BIOSTAR motherboard i think?

Thank you in advance!

 

[benikens]

lagging in graphics intense areas would imply the best way to increase your performance would be a newer video card, your current card is several generations old now. personally for gaming i would recommend more then 1gb ram. i don't know how that particular cpu performs for gaming, but i would start with the graphics card.

 

[lowjack989]

The CPU is gonna bottle neck a good graphics card....First things first, upgrade your RAM and CPU, then get you a better vid card if you want better performance you got to pay to play. I would suggest some 1600 MHz RAM, at least a X2 555, and either a 460, 470, 6850 or 6870. Just my opinion...BTW the clicking you hear could mean bad things...PSU going bad....Vid card fan bearings....etc.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the responses. As for upgrading CPU I've been reading that my processor can be unlocked to a dual core? But I only have an SB750 motherboard. Is there any way at all to unlock without buying a new motherboard?

 

[lowjack989]

Here's is a excerpt from an old TH article that might help:

"Why this worked remains a mystery. Two motherboard vendors—ASRock and Biostar—claim to support the ability to unlock X3 CPUs, but neither company is able to divulge exactly how they’re doing it. To be fair to both companies, this is less likely to be trickery on their part, and the closest we've come to an explaination goes a little something like "ACC is able to adjust the error checking process of the CPU, enhancing its error tolerance and avoiding the potential for collapse under certain circumstances." As the theory goes, increasing the error tolerance with ACC makes it possible to "revive" the disabled silicon.



A product manager from Biostar says that any board with an SB750 southbridge can technically achieve the unlock. ASRock confirms the same, and gave us its test data with a number of CPUs indicating a fairly even split between chips that will unlock and run stably, chips that will unlock but aren’t stable, and chips that won’t unlock at all. "


According to this your chipset supports ACC...Personally I have no experience with using the ACC feature as I always just buy CPU's that are binned higher up such as X4 or X6...meaning I want my cores to be tested to be stable ... So when OCing, I can achieve higher stable clocks

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

First: You need more RAM. 1GB is just not enough. I recommend 4GB as an absolute minimum, with 8GB being optimal.

Second: Assuming the ACC option is there in the BIOS, you would need to enable that to get the second core working. Then, test the CPU using stability testing programs like Prime95, OCCT, and others. Some CPUs have the second core disabled because it doesn't work, so the unlocking isn't guaranteed.

 

[Guest]

Here's is a excerpt from an old TH article that might help:

"Why this worked remains a mystery. Two motherboard vendors—ASRock and Biostar—claim to support the ability to unlock X3 CPUs, but neither company is able to divulge exactly how they’re doing it. To be fair to both companies, this is less likely to be trickery on their part, and the closest we've come to an explaination goes a little something like "ACC is able to adjust the error checking process of the CPU, enhancing its error tolerance and avoiding the potential for collapse under certain circumstances." As the theory goes, increasing the error tolerance with ACC makes it possible to "revive" the disabled silicon.



A product manager from Biostar says that any board with an SB750 southbridge can technically achieve the unlock. ASRock confirms the same, and gave us its test data with a number of CPUs indicating a fairly even split between chips that will unlock and run stably, chips that will unlock but aren’t stable, and chips that won’t unlock at all. "


According to this your chipset supports ACC...Personally I have no experience with using the ACC feature as I always just buy CPU's that are binned higher up such as X4 or X6...meaning I want my cores to be tested to be stable ... So when OCing, I can achieve higher stable clocks

Yeah, that's what I was finding on websites that it said mine can unlock (SB700) (Model A780L).

 

[Guest]

First: You need more RAM. 1GB is just not enough. I recommend 4GB as an absolute minimum, with 8GB being optimal.

Second: Assuming the ACC option is there in the BIOS, you would need to enable that to get the second core working. Then, test the CPU using stability testing programs like Prime95, OCCT, and others. Some CPUs have the second core disabled because it doesn't work, so the unlocking isn't guaranteed.

I've tried booting up the BIOS and looking for ACC, but that doesn't seem to appear? I've tried the "hidden" function buttons ctrl f9 or whatever it was, but to no avail. My model is A780L and the Southbridge is SB700. Do you have any idea as to why I cannot see the BIOS ACC unlock feature? Or do I need to download/update my BIOS?

Thanks.

 

[lowjack989]

You have the SB700 there is the problem you have to have at least a SB750 southbridge chipset for the ACC feature