Any games out there eating more than 512MB?

[bassman]

I'll be up for a new rig build around December, for a gamer friend of mine. The only concern I have left is the amount of memory to use. It'll be a dual channel config so I'll have to get 2 identical sticks. Here comes my brain bug: 512MB is affordable and is quite a large amount of memory, but, will it be too few RAM for gaming in about a year? Or is it already? CM4, for example, will probably eat up more than 512MB but there is no frame rate for me to concern with, so paging a bit won't make a big difference. This because, between 512MB and 1GB there's a major difference in storage capacity, but mainly, in price; 1GB will turn out in quite an expensive purchase here (around 200€) and I need to know if it will be worth it or should I consider a 18 months saving plan so then I can exchange the 2x256MB for 2X512MB along with some money for it. Bottomline, does heavy gaming (mainly auto racing simulators) require more than 512MB for good FPS flow (considering the video card already has 128MB)? What's your opinion?

Thanx in advance! :)

[chubtub]

The only game out right now that will eat that much that I know of is Star Wars Galaxies. I am sure there are a couple on there way that will take up that much.

IMHO, stick with the 512 it is not worth the money for 1gig yet. Get a 512 stick so you can buy another later if you need it.

[bassman]

[Get a 512 stick so you can buy another later if you need it. [/B]
That is an option but I wouldn't be using the mobo's dual channel capabilities; it may be more viable to make a deal for the later exchange with whoever sells the PC.

[NJEnviroguy]

Even before reading Chub's response I thought of SWG. I'm playing it with 512 and b/c of if I will making the move to 1gb of ram. Outside of that, I am not sure what other games really need it. I think RAM is always one of those things that its nice to have a lot of b/c it makes a great improvement on the system.

[NDD]

512MB will do fine. It's just better with 1G :p

[chubtub]

I am not too sure about this, but I think duel channel only gives a 2-3% boost if that?

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Chubtub's right, on AMD rigs the performance gian of DualDDR is fairly low and on Intel systems its only about 10% tops.

As for eatign up more than 512mb, i woudl hazard a guess at the latest in the flight sim series, but ive not used it myself

--Jakk:t

[Magua]

512 is enough to run all games now, but 1gb is just starting to help in some games (SWG, Halo). If you are deciding between buying 2 sticks of 512 or just 1 and getting a second later that really depends how much you have to spend. I would go with the 1gb personally. However if you are thinking of getting 2x256mb to utilize the dual channel I wouldn't recomend that. I would rather have the larger 512 stick to use later.

[Rob R.]

The real question is: are these games using that much memory by design or just poorly designed with memory leaks?

[Paco103]

I just got Dual Channel, I can't really tell the difference, although I'm not running any of the "special 2-channel DDR sticks" (Isn't that pretty much just marketing anyway?)

[Strawbs]

I doubt there is much difference between 512 & 1024 in gaming terms, but you could save some money by not buying matched sticks, they don't make an ounce of difference to performance! I have 2x256+1x512 running in Dual mode currently and the 512 is a different brand completely to the 2x256.

:t

[Logan2002]

There is a basic rule if you are building a computer (or buying) for gaming 512 should be your min. But 1gig is best (for the $ or Euro) I have about 1gig on this system I will keep it at that because this is a tualitin based system that I would be turning into a multimedia system, and I will be building a another gaming system. I will have to start out with 512 to save money (I will get more ram from my wifes computer!! She has ddr)

But more ram is always better!

[killer_teddy]

Originally posted by Rob R.
The real question is: are these games using that much memory by design or just poorly designed with memory leaks?
Why?
The hardware still has to deal with whats thrown at it even if it is just 'memory leaks'

[neverwhere]

if he wants to be HL2 ready, 1GB is about what he will need ;) :p Tho it will run on 512MB

[TechGuru]

If your only gonna buy 512 mb (2x256, or 1x512) buy the 512 mb stick, down the line buy another one then run in dual mode. That way your not chucking $100 bux in the trash, when you upgrade the RAM down the line

Its within reason that after this year we'll be answering this same question with you have to have 1gb of memory to play anything other than PacMan, so do yourself a favor, prepare for tomorrow as aposed with worrying about a 3% increase in memory performance.

[Paco103]

I have a version of Pong that is ~200MB installed, and I think around 60+MB in RAM when running!

[neverwhere]

now thats a nasty pong game ;)

[Magua]

You won't *need* 1gb for HL2, or Doom3, or any big game coming out, but it won't hurt.

MMORPG's will probably be the largest memory hogs, if you play those definately go 1gb. I have only played SWG on another computer (640mb RAM) but from what I hear 1gb helps. I would assume EQ2 will be a huge memory draw when it comes out, the first one ran MUCH better with over 512mb.

Like I said before, as long as you go with 1x512 PC3200 or higher your safe. With that you can upgrade later very easily and still take advantage of dual channel.

[RamonGTP]

Any game will run fine with 512MB, but if more is available, many can and will take advantage of that... BF1942 takes up a good 700+mb if you have that much available. I know this because I accidently hit the windows key on the keyboard while playing, and it kicked me out to the desktop... I hit ctrl+alt+del while Iwas there, and there it was... A whopping 73? MB of memory being used by the game.

[Logan2002]

I have about one gig and bf 1942 uses about 360~380 megs plus all of the other programs i have running i have only about 80~100megs free. I like haveing additional programs available to me so that I can chat right after playing, or surf the net, ect...

[bblqj78]

Remember a while back when I was playing Unreal 2...full settings. I had 512 Ram at the time and half way through the game upgraded to 1GB. The game ran smoother ...no doubt!
If ur running windows XP...up to 200MB may be taken by the op system...another 250Mb - 300Mb can be taken by the game.....and that dont leave much room for anything else.
:t

[bassman]

Originally posted by Bigjakkstaffa
on Intel systems its only about 10% tops.
10% of 2866 MIPS (P4 1.5)=286 MIPS
Logan2002: There is a basic rule if you are building a computer (or buying)
Yes, generally it's "stick to the budget", that's why 1GB deserves a lot of consideration...
TechGuru: so do yourself a favor, prepare for tomorrow
Read the last portion of my second post...
Paco103: "special 2-channel DDR sticks" (Isn't that pretty much just marketing anyway?)
Here's something interesting; never heard about that, please post a link :)

[Magua]

No doubt games will run smoother with 1gb, but none will require it. If you are questioning if 1gb is in your budget you can't go wrong with one stick of 512mb (check out crucial pc3200 for a brand). It will work great for now, and if you come up with a little more money you can easily slap in another.

[Aznmask]

Lineage 2 ... :D

Q: What are the computer system requirements for Lineage II?


Minimum requirements include: Pentium III 800 or above, 256M RAM, and GeForce2 graphic card.

To best enjoy the game's capabilities, we recommend players have a CPU with over one gigabyte Hz, 512M RAM or more, and a GeForce4-quality graphics card.

[Magua]

There are many games that may eat 512mb of ram or more, but none will require it to operate. I don't know of any with higher than 256mb required.

[Torlok2002]

yeah they got to sell to the low end users who wanna start PC gamin with their friends's old PC, or the kids who parents wont buy a new PC just to play games. And they get an amazing 10fps!, but hey they bought the game, the producers job is over. I know a lot of poeple that buy games and dont even know what their system specs are and wouldnt know what to do with those crazy #'s on the bottom of the box labelled "system requirements". Blah

Its all about what will sell today, the hardcore gamers make up a small.... very small portion of sales, so why woudl they produce a game that woudl only run on cutting edge systems??

</rant>

Of course what ive seen from halo, i doubt it would run on joe smith's PC with 128mb of ram, no it aint happenin, not playable....

[Logan2002]

I agree with what u said but I think that it is slowly changing. Alot of budget pc makers are including 256 or 512megs of ram with gf cards at a min of 64megs (sometimes shared)

[Paco103]

Yeah, but the problem is the onboard GPU, has no cooling (which itself limits it's performance) - or it's integrated into the northbridge, which produces enough of it's own heat - and using shared memory has 2 draw backs. . . it takes away from your system memory (not too big a deal) - and system memory is usually quite a bit slower than even budget video cards. Although I've also seen several companies offer things like a Radeon 9000 for an extra $70+, just most of the people that buy those are only looking at the processor speed. . . they need to be better informed - and so do the salespeople!

I think it's funny how some people wonder why my rig performs so much better than their expensive 'professionally built and tested' computers. I'm sure many of you have witnessed that too!

[Logan2002]

Yeah I have. I my machine cost only 500 bucks to build last year then i made ram upgrades, vid card ect...

Didn't think about the heat issue.

[Paco103]

heh - my computer bypasses dorm rules. . . we're not allowed to have space heaters, but I can just turn my case around so the exhaust blows at me :p. I found a case badge that said
"AMD - Space Heaters for Geeks"

Seems ATI has turned into that with their new cards too. . . . and I've got them both

[neverwhere]

hehe, my computer forces us to turn on the AC even tho its supposed to be off now :( My roomie hates the cold, but after living with my computer for a week he got used to it ;)

[Logan2002]

Well my compaq notebook book is a computer heating pad...good in the winter bad in the summer.

[MadGaz]

Hasnt Planetside been clocked at using loads of RAM (like 900mb or something) I've heard of it anyway.
As for cooling on my computer I got a nice thermaltake case with 7 inbuilt fans (which I removed and put better ones in hehe) I did have 512mb when I first had it but I upgraded to 1gig for another £100 and my friend gave me another 512mb stick for my b-day so I've got a nice 1.5gig ram now, just no slots left :(

[Logan2002]

For me bf 1942 takes up over 380 megs avg. I have 1 gig installed.

[koonthul]

Anything else going on besides just the gaming? I have 1 gig and it really helps when running apps like After Effects, where you need to shove lots of data into RAM to preview it. Graphics apps will choke things up pretty good...you doing anything like that?

[Logan2002]

When I am working with my digital pics i've seen the ram usage jump to about 100+megs.

When I surfing the net 100+ megs, I like alot windows open.