Author Topic: Memory Upgrade (Read 535 times)

Slash27 · « **on:** November 16, 2004, 09:08:54 AM »

Im kicking around a memory upgrade and need input. It seems like Im getting texture reloads more and ore when I play and someone told me I needed more memory. Is this true? ( by texture reload im talking about the whole game going white breifly then back to normal, that is a texture reload right?)

My system specs are

AMD XP 2100
128 Gf4 Ti 4600
512mb PC2100

Now if I do upgrade, do I have to put PC 2100 in it or will it work with 512 of something else? If I do need to by 1g of something else, whats the best bang for my buck. Trying to stay around $200(less would be great:D )

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 16, 2004, 03:31:49 PM »

Slash, newegg has some kick-prettythang deals on RAM. I have a set of low-latency PC2700 sticks from PQI I bought from newegg for 166 dollars plus shipping. Thats 2x512 also, 1GB of RAM for less than you wanted to spend. And faster than what you have too. You wouldnt believe the increase in fps and general improvements I got just from adding that extra 512MB of RAM. Of course I screwed up and should have ordered the PC3200 RAM, but that was 209. I'll just have to order the new and find a use for these I just got I suppose. Still, check em out.

Tigerdirect is a little more expensive most of the time, but they have specials some months and you can get some really good deals from them too.

Slash27 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 16, 2004, 05:37:20 PM »

Thanks SA:aok

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 18, 2004, 12:43:46 AM »

Just a further note. Make sure before you buy you read the reccomendations and reviews posted by previous buyers. The PQI memory I just bought from them turns out to be flaky. Not saying the whole company is bad, but I found very few reviews for their stuff compared to other brands. I took a chance, I lost. I stand by reccomending NewEgg, I've bought lots of stuff from them and never had a problem.....till now. But I've also found their RMA process to be fast and fairly painless. Which, I suppose, is a good thing. Good luck with whatever you buy!

SA2

Booky · « **Reply #4 on:** November 18, 2004, 01:12:58 AM »

Yeah newegg is the best online shop.

I don't think you can use 2700 on your system but check your motherboard specs. There are some low latency 2700 sticks from kingston and OCZ, but like I said before Im firly certain your CPU bus is limited to 266MHz.

Do you have the box for preloading memory checked in settings? If so, try unchecking it, I hear that helped some people.

Slash27 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 18, 2004, 10:04:02 AM »

I don't think you can use 2700 on your system but check your motherboard specs. There are some low latency 2700 sticks from kingston and OCZ, but like I said before Im firly certain your CPU bus is limited to 266MHz.

I bought some PNY PC2700 that syas its compatable with 2100. How do I know its working anyway?

Do you have the box for preloading memory checked in settings? If so, try unchecking it, I hear that helped some people.

I do. A day before I installed the extra 512 of memory I switched my resolution from 1600x1200 to 1280 x 11??( down one). I also switched the max texture from 512 to 256. What a huge difference. I went from constant stutters, crappy fps, and texture reloads all the time to smooth game play and decent fps. In all honesty I was about to hang it up. I was so damn frustrated. Im not completely satisfied with my frame rates and would like to get them a bit higher and I really havent seen an increase with new ram so I am curious if its working.

Thanks for the feedback guys, keep it coming. I am computer illiterate as hell so keep it simple too:D

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 18, 2004, 12:22:17 PM »

What is your AGP aperture set to? If you have the option of changing it anyway. Try making the setting bigger if it's set small. This will reserve a space in system memory for your VP to store textures and draw them out as it needs them. Too big can be bad, and too small can be bad, and ideas about the "perfect" size change every day it seems. Right now it looks like people are deciding that the "right" setting depends on the game you are playing. As long as you dont set it for more memory than you have available (cant use what you dont have) you shouldnt cause any bad things to happen playing with it.

Right now, honestly, your bottleneck is the CPU, and your FSB speed. The extra RAM will help ease the load on the CPU a bit, as you've noticed from the improvements, but I'm not sure how much of a FPS increase you'll get without increasing the CPU.

Oh, and all RAM up to PC3200 should be backwards compatible with PC2100. Whether your computer can or cannot take advantage of the faster RAM, it will just run at the speed of the slowest stick.

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #7 on:** November 18, 2004, 12:43:40 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Booky
Yeah newegg is the best online shop.

I don't think you can use 2700 on your system but check your motherboard specs. There are some low latency 2700 sticks from kingston and OCZ, but like I said before Im firly certain your CPU bus is limited to 266MHz.

A lot of folks don't understand RAM speed ratings. The bus speed of RAM is merely a rating for the minimum speed you should be able to run it at. You can always use higher speed RAM since the actual speed is controlled by the BIOS setting. For example the RAM in my sig is rated at 433mhz and I am using it with a 333mhz CPU. I have the FSB and RAM speed bumped up to 400mhz so the RAM hasn't even reached it's rated speed. If you plan to OC the FSB, it is always better to use the fastest RAM you can afford without sacrificing low latency. Some systems don't like mixed RAM, but most will work fine and with RAM speed set to auto in the BIOS, it will run at the correct speed and slower latency of the two.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 18, 2004, 01:47:08 PM »

What he said. ^

Booky · « **Reply #9 on:** November 18, 2004, 04:42:03 PM »

I know that you can use higher speed ram with lower speeds, I was only pointing out that the higher speed will run the same as the lower speed.

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #10 on:** November 18, 2004, 05:14:48 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Booky
I don't think you can use 2700 on your system but check your motherboard specs. There are some low latency 2700 sticks from kingston and OCZ, but like I said before Im firly certain your CPU bus is limited to 266MHz.

Hmmmm.... I guess I misunderstood your post. It sounded to me like you said faster RAM wouln't work on his system. I just wanted to clarify it for those who don't know.

Booky · « **Reply #11 on:** November 18, 2004, 07:24:30 PM »

Yeh, I guess it did kind of sound like that didn't it. What I meant was that he may not be able to use 2700 at 2700 speed on that motherboard and no matter what his CPU is still 266 (2100) so it wouldn't matter anyway.

There were a few MB manufacturers taht sold boards that would support 266 adn 333 CPU's so they could run the memory at 333 but the CPU couldnt handle it if you used one with a 266fsb.