Upgrade from 2GB to 4GB

[vexun11]

Hello, I recently upgraded my memory from 2 gigs to 4 gigs of ddr2 800, I notice that even when I am in games I usually have an average of like 1800-2200 MB of memory free, does this mean that I can have stuff running in the background such as music, steam sidebar, etc and the game will run just as good because I have the extra memory? That is kinda the reason I upgraded, I know that most games dont use more then 2 or 2.5 gigs of memory, I am hoping that because I have the extra ram I can have stuff running in the background without effecting my performance.

I am running windows 7 64 bit with a AMD X2 5600+ 4GB DDR2 800, and a 9800GT.

I recently got this memory so I haven't had a change to run any benchmarks because this is a fresh install.

Any help would be great!

Thank you

 

[geofelt]

How does one measure how much "free" memory is available? It is not so easy, and does not tell you the whole story.
Windows-7 will keep(or even preload) things in anticipation of use. Over time your free memory will dwindle to minimum.

The best thing to is is to load up your system as you wish and check for hign demand paging rates.
Use the task manager/performance/resource monitor/memory/processes tabs. Look for an increase in hard faults/second.
You should have no problems doing what you want.

 

[vexun11]

I usually run this sidebar program that measures how much memory is in use, and free, and cpu meters, etc, It is just as accurate as the task manager, im just curious because before when I had 2 gigs of memory I had to close programs and antivirus to get the best performance, now that I have more memory I dont want to have to hastle and turn everything off and close everything, thats the reason I got more memory, and for future pc games.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Depends on the game.
Most older games only use one processor core. Some of the newer games will use 100% of four cores. And a couple will use 100% of 8 cores,(flight simX for example).

Your benchmarks will not change much, if at all, unless you were running ouy of memory and windows was using page file on the hard drive as memory.

 

[vexun11]

I have checked out crysis and a few other memory intense games and I still havent seen anything use more then 2 gigs, even with 64 bit, so just like flight sim x only uses that much? What other games are good to put the system to work?

 

[Unolocogringo]

OCCT for stress testing.
Prime 95 for processor and memory stress testing .
3Dmark 06 or Vanta for Video card testing.
Supreme Commander (game) will use you processor at 100% on both cores.
Running 3Dmark and prime 95 at the same time will use Both cores at 100% . And at the same time consume more of the available memory.
Most games will not require more than 2 gigs of memory. If they did 50%-75% of the computers in use would not be able to run them.

You have an older model 2 core or processor CPU. Some games will only use one core others will use both partially. Others will use both at 100%.

It depends on the game you are running. If a game uses 100% of both cores you will not have any processor time left for running the other programs you mentioned. Your game will lag or skip and the other programs will not get much processor time.
Processor useage and memory useage are two completely different animals.
.

 

[geofelt]

This study on 2gb vs. 4gb might help to explain memory usage in gaming:
http://www.corsair.com/_appnotes/AN804_Gaming_Performance_Analysis.pdf

 

[vexun11]

That's about as good of an answere anyone could get on this topic lol.

Thank you.

 

[vexun11]

Best answer selected by vexun11.