Is my RAM bottlenecking my system?

[ebevan91]

Windows 7 64-bit
EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW
EVGA Geforce GTX 460
QX6700 @ 2.67ghz
4GB RAM DDR2 @ 800mhz
650W PSU
650GB HDD

 

[striker410]

Define bottlenecking? It sure doesn't run as fast as say DDR3, but there's nothing you could do besides replace the whole motherboard. I don't see any reason to upgrade right now honestly, if you are fine with your CPU.

 

[Draneico]

what are the symptoms you are seeing that lead you to ask the question>

 

[grody]

I don't think those older 775's can take DDR3.

My guess, looking at those specs, is that he recently upgraded his video card from something like a 8800gt to the new 460 and isn't seeing much in the way of fps increase.

From my research, looking to upgrade my 9800gtx+ sli setup running on an evga 780i board, I needed to get an i3 or i5 to make use of the new video cards (6850, 570, etc). That is probably what you'll have to do as well. So keep the 460 and use it in a new build.

 

[ebevan91]

I don't think those older 775's can take DDR3.

My guess, looking at those specs, is that he recently upgraded his video card from something like a 8800gt to the new 460 and isn't seeing much in the way of fps increase.

From my research, looking to upgrade my 9800gtx+ sli setup running on an evga 780i board, I needed to get an i3 or i5 to make use of the new video cards (6850, 570, etc). That is probably what you'll have to do as well. So keep the 460 and use it in a new build.

Well, a few months ago, I made a thread about Battlefield Bad Company 2, and why I still get pretty much the same framerates after I upgraded to a quad core and a DX 10 card, then a DX 11 card a year and a half later. I went from a GTS 250 to a GTX 460 back in February. And the game still runs like crap even on the lowest settings.

So I was thinking maybe my RAM was the problem. Basically what I want to know, is if faster RAM, such as 1066mhz, would make much of a difference when playing a video game.

 

[striker410]

No, I don't think ram is the problem at all. Sounds like a CPU bottleneck honestly. What's your res? I would try OCing that CPU up a bit. Maybe 3.2-3.4GHz? not sure what it can hit with a good cooler.

 

[ebevan91]

No, I don't think ram is the problem at all. Sounds like a CPU bottleneck honestly. What's your res? I would try OCing that CPU up a bit. Maybe 3.2-3.4GHz? not sure what it can hit with a good cooler.

Well, I don't have it overclocked now and my temperatures at idle are mid to upper 30s with one of the top rated coolers from newegg.

 

[striker410]

That's very cool. You don't have to worry until you get up to like 60c under load.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

Memory isn’t the problem, on the Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme QX6700 has a FSB of 1066 so in a dual channel mode. So for each channel the maximum speed at which information can be transferred on each channel is 533. Since the processor you are run is DDR2 800 it is being slowed down to deal with the slower FSB. http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=28028&code=Intel%c2%ae+Core%e2%84%a22+Extreme+Processor+QX6700+(8M+Cache%2c+2.66+GHz%2c+1066+MHz+FSB). So unless you are somehow overclocking the processor you won’t be able to reach the speed of the memory.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

Short answer: No
Ram is the second fastest thing in your system. Hard drive being the slowest thing in your system. It is likely your drive. It might be on its way out do a diagnostics test on the drive. Upgrade your video drivers as well. Don't forget to patch your game.

 

[ebevan91]

My hard drive isn't even a year old though.

 

[striker410]

Well then what exactly is "runs like crap"? If you are expecting to max it or even near max, you are asking to much.

I'm sorry, but we may not be able to help you. You've brushed aside every suggestion we've made.

 

[Overclocked Toaster]

if its running like crap even on low then your problem is probably not hardware related. if you are getting poor performance on online matches it may be related to ping/latency or your connection

 

[ebevan91]

Well then what exactly is "runs like crap"? If you are expecting to max it or even near max, you are asking to much.

I'm sorry, but we may not be able to help you. You've brushed aside every suggestion we've made.

What I'm saying is, my PC exceeds the recommended system requirements for Bad Company 2, but I'm only getting 30 to 40 FPS or so on the lowest possible settings.

 

[striker410]

What's the screen res? If above 1920x1080, I could see that.

 

[ebevan91]

1680 x 1050

Native

 

[Evan20x]

Hows your temps during gameplay and under load?

 

[ebevan91]

Last time I played, the GPU didn't get any higher than 58 and the CPU temps were al in the mid 50s as well.

 

[peachy_29]

Windows 7 64-bit
EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW
EVGA Geforce GTX 460
QX6700 @ 2.67ghz
4GB RAM DDR2 @ 800mhz
650W PSU
650GB HDD

I think I may have the same problem, just purchased a 570 gtx and it just seems like somthings not right or slowing it dow / holding it back. I have the latest drivers for the card and upto date bios, never been into ocing systems as this was my 1st ever build.

E8500 @ 3.16
8gb corsair dominator ram
msi p7n diamond
vista 64 bit
zotac 570 gtx

 

[grody]

Wait, are you running a 32-bit or 64-bit OS?

 

[ebevan91]

I'm running a 64-bit Windows 7.

Maybe I need to do a clean reformat?

I haven't reformatted it since October 2009

 

[grody]

Maybe I need to do a clean reformat?

Couldn't hurt.

 

[ebevan91]

Problem solved!

It WAS my RAM.

My old RAM went bad this past weekend, so I bought new and better RAM, and the game runs 50-80 FPS on all high settings.

 

[jeffery6803]

Problem solved!

It WAS my RAM.

My old RAM went bad this past weekend, so I bought new and better RAM, and the game runs 50-80 FPS on all high settings.

what is the new ram you purchased i have a similar setup and notice huge fps drops in benchmarks if i don`t oc my ram thinking about selling current ram and upgrading to some pc2- 8500