Can't decide between upgrading my RAM or not.

[Scorage]

Heya, and I'm looking for a second opinion for my problem. My computer is:
- Intel I5 760, 2.8 Ghz (Running at 3400 with OC) with a Thor's Hammer on top of it.
- OCZ Gold plated 4 GB (2x2) RAM (1333)
- 2 1.5 TB Hard Drives, one is 5400 and other is 5900 RPM
- MSI Nvidia GTX 460
- Win 7 Proffessional OS.

At this point, I am unsure about going for 8 GB ram (Thinking about Gskill Ripjaws) or not. A friend of mine said it wouldn't increase my gaming performance, even though he has 8GB RAM himself.

The thing here is, I will not install WoW on this computer. So this is strictly going for best graphics - performance for mainly new games, from CoD to Crysis 2, or Dawn of War 2 - Retribution to Starcraft, without forgetting the classic series of Dragon Age and Mass Effect to give an example. I want my small little monster to chew through whatever any game can throw at me.

So, go for new set of RAM's, or not? Help me out.

[Deleted]

More RAM (edit: DIMMs, not capacity) actually reduces performance as it puts more strain on the memory controller. Unless you're actually experiencing problems due to a lack of ram (which I doubt with a single instance of any game and you didn't mention anything other than games) which you should notice just stick with 4 GB. If you wanted a performance upgrade GPU is the way to go, SSDs will improve loading times on certain games and all desktop activities too.

[nwo]

4GB of RAM is more than enough if all you're doing is gaming. If you're doing a lot of multi-tasking along with gaming, then I would recommend upgrading to 8GB.

[Kegler]

i upgraded my PC from 4gb to 8gb ram. I see a decent improvement in gaming, but a monumental improvement in multitasking and navigating the OS on my PC.

This is assuming you're using a 64-bit OS. If you're not, 4GB is more than you can utilize anyways.

[Dashield28]

Here's a breakdown from my own experience over the years (based on machines postdating ~2005).

Going from 512mb to 1GB can often lead to something like 400% performance increase.
Going from 1GB to 2GB is another ~150% performance.
Going from 2GB to 4GB is around a 50% performance increase.
Going from 4GB to 8GB is only around another 10% performance increase.
Going from 8GB to 16GB has little to no effect for most tasks.

Depends on your usage.
I never have jsut the game open. I constantly use 4+ GB of ram. I ususally have Nextflix playing, bit torrent, my HW management stuff, fraps, sometimes i leave adobe premiere open in the background, sometimes i have 2 wows running at once, or Rift and Wow running at once.

Youre performance increase percentages are based on YOUR usage solely. For me, anything less than 6GB would be SEVERE performance degradation. I run with 8.

[Beace]

My opinion: If you already have 4 GB of memory, that's good enough for most things, including games. If you were building a new computer from scratch though, I'd definitely recommend 8 GB since it's so cheap.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...rade,2778.html is a good read on the subject.

[Asera]

I'm knocked down to 4gb from 8gb (since my 8 gig Mushkin kit doesn't work on the P67 very well). It kinda sucks, huge difference with multitasking. WoW there isn't much difference, probably the same deal for any other game I have. If you multitask alot, 4 -> 8 makes a big difference. If all you're doing is gaming though, you'd be better off with a new video card or an SSD than more memory.

[Scorage]

First off, thanks for all the helpful replies.

And yes I do multi-task, from watching a video to frapsing a game I play. And usually there are many programs running at the back, so I guess I will be upgrading afterall.

SSD is just way too expensive to become option 1 for upgrading, I'd rather go for some 5XX series graphics card instead.

[haxartus]

More RAM (edit: DIMMs, not capacity) actually reduces performance as it puts more strain on the memory controller.

That's why when upgrading from 4 to 8GB is better to sell the 2x2GB sticks and get 2x4GB.

[vesseblah]

Your HDD's are painfully slow btw, SSD would make an incredible speed boost for just about everything except game framerates.

[fangless]

Having 4GB in my system at the moment, I don't think I could even think of a combination of programs installed on my PC that would make me want to have more than 4. Some games take up over a 1GB, but you aren't likely to be running massive Photoshop spreads while playing a full screen game :P

[Deafyx]

As some others have said, I would go with 8 GB (2 x 4) 1600 Ram. I have the G Skill version of it that matches my P67 mobo, and they work well.

[Scorage]

Your HDD's are painfully slow btw, SSD would make an incredible speed boost for just about everything except game framerates.

I know that, but only way to upgrade to 3 TB of SSD is to win the lottery. No other way around it. (SSD's cost twice as much as the total sum for my computer right now)

About 700 Dollars per 500 GB of SSD. They are really, really new around here. Have to wait first, and explore my other options for upgrading.

[haxartus]

I know that, but only way to upgrade to 3 TB of SSD is to win the lottery. No other way around it. (SSD's cost twice as much as the total sum for my computer right now)

About 700 Dollars per 500 GB of SSD. They are really, really new around here. Have to wait first, and explore my other options for upgrading.

Get a small SSD and put only the OS in it. 80GB is enough for the purpose.

[nwo]

Get a small SSD and put only the OS in it. 80GB is enough for the purpose.

80GB would be enough for the OS and a couple of games you frequently play.
I think what vess wanted to say is that you should at least look into upgrading to a 7.2k rpm HDD, something like a Samsung Spinpoint F3 or WD Caviar Black. They are very affordable and are likely to be a nice jump from your 5.4k and 5.9k rpm HDDs.

[electrikfuzz]

I know that, but only way to upgrade to 3 TB of SSD is to win the lottery. No other way around it. (SSD's cost twice as much as the total sum for my computer right now)

About 700 Dollars per 500 GB of SSD. They are really, really new around here. Have to wait first, and explore my other options for upgrading.

People don't buy SSDs to put all of their shit on. A small one for your OS and WoW and a few other programs is more than enough.

I have an F60 with Win7, WoW, GIMP, SC2 and a few other things on it, and I'm still sitting at about 10gb free.

Get a nice SSD and a WD Black.

[vesseblah]

I know that, but only way to upgrade to 3 TB of SSD is to win the lottery. No other way around it. (SSD's cost twice as much as the total sum for my computer right now)

About 700 Dollars per 500 GB of SSD. They are really, really new around here. Have to wait first, and explore my other options for upgrading.

Didn't mean move everything to SSD. 90-120GB SSD can hold Win7 + few favourite games and most of the normal apps comfortably and you can stash 3TB of midget porn on the slow 5400rpm HDDs.

[Asera]

Most people do OS/WoW on the SSD, another option is to just put WoW or anything else you want a speed boost for on it. Currently I have Win7 at the front of one of my Caviar Blacks (60GB partition), followed by a 200gig general programs partition, the rest reserved for Virtual Machines. 60GB Vertex II has WoW and a 2gb page file on it. Other Caviar Black right now is empty and used for recording video.

[Scorage]

Didn't mean move everything to SSD. 90-120GB SSD can hold Win7 + few favourite games and most of the normal apps comfortably and you can stash 3TB of midget porn on the slow 5400rpm HDDs.

I'll let you know when TV shows like How I met your mother and Dexter start sporting midget porn.

[nwo]

I'll let you know when TV shows like How I met your mother and Dexter start sporting midget porn.

Do you record them with a TV tuner or download them?