Second Thoughts- RAM Amount

[DanKD]

While choosing the parts for my PC, I decided to go with 2 gigs of RAM 4x512. Well now I've finally settled on all my parts and am ready to order, but now am thinking perhaps I am just overdoing it and really only need 1 gig. I am going with the OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev2 for reference.

This is a gaming machine. The original reason I decided to go with 2 gigs is because I play MMORPG's which is a major ram hog. But do I really need the 2 gigs for games like World of Warcraft and EQ2? Will the fact that my this is very high performance RAM nullify the need for the extra gig? What do you guys think?

 

[dunklegend]

If you really want the 2 Gigs get 2 X 1024. Otherwise 2 X 512 is the sweet spot right now.
If you get more RAM than you use you'll take a performance hit. How big? I don't know.

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[Rugger]

List the system specs that you are looking at getting and we will critique for you.

Brent is a huge WOW player and could give you some great gouge on RAM rqmts for that particular game - possibly EQ2, too.

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[fishmahn]

Fast ram won't mitigate the need for a second gig if the game goes over the first and starts swapping to disk. So, if the game needs it... get it.

I don't play WOW, only played EQ2 for a couple months, and got along fine on 1gig, but that was at the very beginning of the game - with patches and stuff I can see it needing more RAM than it did. If that means >1gig, then get 2.

I agree with the other guy - get 2X1gig instead of 4x512 if you can.

Mike.

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[BrentUnitedMem]

My shirt reads:
"I have a LVL 60 Shaman on Blackrock, his name is SoCalCrowley"

okay.. well maybe I am not level 60, but the rest is true! haha

I have 4 PCs at home including a lap-top all running WOW. Intel and AMD CPUs. VGA cards ranging from ancient to top-tier.

Anycase, this particular game does not work well with 512MB, especially when you enter capitol cities and there are literally dozens of characters around you. 2x1024 is the best setup for this game. You don't need more. You can even eliminate page filing with 2GB. 2x512MB works well too.

Surprisingly, I have a PC using a GeForce2 MX and the game runs fine. But when you play on an x800 or 6800 Ultra.. you'll never go back!

4x512MB is not a good memory setup at all because in many cases the system will clock the memory down, or you could suffer from further complications: (insert list here). Best to stick with two double-sided modules, either 2x512 or 2x1024.

Name brand memory really is much better than OEMs.

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<font color=green>"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sence." -The Buddha
<font color=blue>AIM BrentUnitedMem