Interesting results though I would back up Gatticus on the difference seen on a friends system load timesfor BF2 though actual FPS increase was hardly noticeable. I've also seen some say WWIIOL runs a lot better once you go beyond 1GB, I'd like to see if thats true.

nice article.

i was thinking of increasing my 1gb ram to 2 gb, but might hold off a little longer now.

2Gb of RAM in RO is known as 'Sniper Qualification RAM', because those with it always get into a fresh map first and are able to grab the sniper rifle.

That's the only game I know of where 2 gig of RAM is a known advantage, confirmed by Joe's loading-time tests above. Nice work Joe.

I would also like to see this. Especially the 2x1gb test vs 4x512.

About the rFactor 1150 load time, I have 2x512 (P4 3.6G) and am seeing anywhere from a minute to 1:20 to load from desktop to main menu. I think it's due more to the sim searching for servers before starting.

Was your test done offline?

Sorry, my motherboard (Asrock 939Dual-SATAII) will only run memory at -2T timing.

No, my test was done online. AFAIK rFactor doesn't search for servers until you click the "JOIN" button to see the server list. rFactor does check in with the Matchmaker service when it starts, however, so your long load times could be due to this.

I think rFactor's load time, like the SFP series, is also dictated by the number of mods in the game. The more you have, the longer the load time.
Another thing that's not covered here is in some games you use more RAM as time goes on. I'd say a good third of my games will use 1200-1400MB of RAM, like RO. If you have only 1GB, that means swapfile use at some point. Whether reflected in longer loading times once in the game, or pauses/stutters at other points depends on the game situation.

I remember CFS3 is one where each new plane loaded increases the RAM footprint. I have over 100 planes in the game, and if I sit in the main screen, where the pilot lounges by his plane, and just switch from plane to plane to plane, by the time I reach 40 planes or so the game is pushing 2GB RAM used.


The Jedi Master

Nice write-up, Joe.

Interesting. I would think that the load placed on the PSU would be greater for 2G vs 1G even if the 2G was not being fully used? I've read on some forums of some PSUs that were borderline not being able to handle 2G of ram especially if it is 4x512.

Errr...most of the tests show a pretty massive jump right here, but...are you SURE it's the 'going from 512mb to 1gb of ram'? I mean, the Opteron you tested with is dual-channel. Going from one stick to two sticks *doubles* the memory bandwidth (IE., 1x512mb PC3200 = 3.2gb/s bandwidth theoretical. 2x512mb PC3200 = 6.4gb/s bandwidth theoretical.)

Surely, that would make an ENORMOUS difference in performance, no? Wouldn't a better test of 512mb have been to do 2x256mb?