Battlefield 4 RAM Usage

[spitfire97]

Hello everyone,today I wanted to start a topic about the ram usage battlefield 4 is using.

Minimum ram required is 4GB,Adjusted is 6GB,and recommended is 8GB.

My System Specs:

Core i5 Quad 2400 3.1ghz
4gb 1333 mhz Transcend
HD Radeon 6870 1GB

To start off, I ran the test with 1333 MHz 4gb Transcend ram and the task manager to see the usage of ram BF4 is using,and here are the results.

Low Settings - 2.45 gigs of ram used, 1.55 free - FPS: 50 - 80 (Mission:Shanghai)
Ultra settings - 2.85 gigs of ram used, 1.15 free - FPS: 30 - 50 (Mission:Shanghai)

I want some enlightment on why is the max usage of my ram only 2.9 gigs with all settings on Ultra even though the recommended Ram is 8gb FTW lol.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Remember that the game isn't always the only thing running, plus you're not running it at a very high resolution (assuming from GPU+frame rates).

Plus some sections of the game are probably higher memory usage than others.

 

[Pinhedd]

Hello everyone,today I wanted to start a topic about the ram usage battlefield 4 is using.

Minimum ram required is 4GB,Adjusted is 6GB,and recommended is 8GB.

My System Specs:

Core i5 Quad 2400 3.1ghz
4gb 1333 mhz Transcend
HD Radeon 6870 1GB

To start off, I ran the test with 1333 MHz 4gb Transcend ram and the task manager to see the usage of ram BF4 is using,and here are the results.

Low Settings - 2.45 gigs of ram used, 1.55 free - FPS: 50 - 80 (Mission:Shanghai)
Ultra settings - 2.85 gigs of ram used, 1.15 free - FPS: 30 - 50 (Mission:Shanghai)

I want some enlightment on why is the max usage of my ram only 2.9 gigs with all settings on Ultra even though the recommended Ram is 8gb FTW lol.

Keep in mind that BF4 is not the only running application. It has to share that recommended 8GiB with other programs as well as the operating system.

 

[Outlander_04]

The game is a 32 bit program . Its total maximum RAM usage would be just over 3.3 gig for the same reason that 32 bit OSes cant use more RAM than that

64 bit installations can use more

 

[Pinhedd]

The game is a 32 bit program . Its total maximum RAM usage would be just over 3.3 gig for the same reason that 32 bit OSes cant use more RAM than that

64 bit installations can use more

Battlefield 4 has both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries, it defaults to the 64-bit one

 

[photonboy]

1) As said, it depends what else is running. I have 8GB installed, and my PC on bootup uses about 3GB of that. If needed, Windows could move some of that to a drive Pagefile but that takes a little time so isn't optimal.

2) BF4, and many games, often use more memory as the game progresses up to a maximum. You may need to test for up to 30 minutes or more.

3) BF4 has been improved since launch quite a bit so the memory requirements are lower now.

4) Multiplayer vs Singleplayer is probably different, as is the size of the map and number of people.

5) The VIDEO CARD and settings may have an impact on the amount of System RAM used.

 

[Ra_V_en]

2.9GB BF3 + 1.5GB OS = 4.4 GB ... you also have to consider the fact there is something called files caching. I'm not sure does BF4 actually put all the resources for the map... i seriously doubt that considering the game size... thus there is some point especially for large maps something has to be loaded from the HDD... if the files that are about to be loaded are already stored in file cache... its very likely you wont even notice something is happening in the back stage. If your ram is already used for primary resources there is nothing free for file caching thus you are very likely to notice choppiness while in game-loading.
Other thing is multiplayer mode.... this is a bottomless well for PC resources since there is quite more to do than just handle rendering.

 

[Outlander_04]

The game is a 32 bit program . Its total maximum RAM usage would be just over 3.3 gig for the same reason that 32 bit OSes cant use more RAM than that

64 bit installations can use more

Battlefield 4 has both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries, it defaults to the 64-bit one

He is not using the 64 bit program

 

[photonboy]

The game is a 32 bit program . Its total maximum RAM usage would be just over 3.3 gig for the same reason that 32 bit OSes cant use more RAM than that

64 bit installations can use more

Battlefield 4 has both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries, it defaults to the 64-bit one

He is not using the 64 bit program

WHY do you say he's not using the 64-bit version? He's obviously using 64-bit Windows (2.85GB used, 1.15GB free).

 

[mohit9206]

I have almost never encountered a situation where playing even intensive games have resulted in total system memory usage exceeding 4gb.(i have 8gb)

 

[Pinhedd]

I have almost never encountered a situation where playing even intensive games have resulted in total system memory usage exceeding 4gb.(i have 8gb)

EverQuest Next Landmark beta was weighing in at 3.4GiB a few minutes ago

 

[Outlander_04]

The game is a 32 bit program . Its total maximum RAM usage would be just over 3.3 gig for the same reason that 32 bit OSes cant use more RAM than that

64 bit installations can use more

Battlefield 4 has both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries, it defaults to the 64-bit one

He is not using the 64 bit program

WHY do you say he's not using the 64-bit version? He's obviously using 64-bit Windows (2.85GB used, 1.15GB free).

It wont matter if he is using a 64 bit OS . If he has installed a 32 bit game the game program itself cannot use more than 3.3 gig of RAM . The reason is the same as a 32 bit OS cant use more than that [ of course ] and applies whether you have a 64 bit OS or not

 

[Ra_V_en]

The game is a 32 bit program . Its total maximum RAM usage would be just over 3.3 gig for the same reason that 32 bit OSes cant use more RAM than that

64 bit installations can use more

Battlefield 4 has both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries, it defaults to the 64-bit one

He is not using the 64 bit program

WHY do you say he's not using the 64-bit version? He's obviously using 64-bit Windows (2.85GB used, 1.15GB free).

It wont matter if he is using a 64 bit OS . If he has installed a 32 bit game the game program itself cannot use more than 3.3 gig of RAM . The reason is the same as a 32 bit OS cant use more than that [ of course ] and applies whether you have a 64 bit OS or not

Wrong.
3.3 gig is a limit of the 32bit windows not an executable..
There are in fact 2 limits over 32bit software 2GB or 4GB depends of the /largeaddressaware compilation mode.

So in fact it actually matters is it a 64bit OS or not....

Read more here before posting false statements:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx#memory_limits

 

[photonboy]

Outlander_04,
I said he's using 64-bit Windows because we know BF4 can use quite a bit of System RAM due to the 8GB recommendation provided there's no OS limitation. I don't know why you keep bringing up 32-bit because that's simply not relevant.

The point of this post is to figure out why he's not even using 4GB of memory if 8GB is recommended and I attempted to answer that.

Also, there is no "3.3GB" cap on 32-bit Windows. 32-bit Windows can address a 4GB memory map which comprises Video, System mainly and some minor other things. If System RAM was 3.3GB that would likely indicate 512MB was used for Video Memory so that's a special case.

When CPU's were physically 32-bit only they could only address 2exp32 memory locations (4GB). There are workarounds for 32-bit OS and 64-bit CPU's to get more available memory now but default is still 4GB accessable.

 

[Outlander_04]

The game is a 32 bit program . Its total maximum RAM usage would be just over 3.3 gig for the same reason that 32 bit OSes cant use more RAM than that

64 bit installations can use more

Battlefield 4 has both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries, it defaults to the 64-bit one

He is not using the 64 bit program

WHY do you say he's not using the 64-bit version? He's obviously using 64-bit Windows (2.85GB used, 1.15GB free).

It wont matter if he is using a 64 bit OS . If he has installed a 32 bit game the game program itself cannot use more than 3.3 gig of RAM . The reason is the same as a 32 bit OS cant use more than that [ of course ] and applies whether you have a 64 bit OS or not

Wrong.
3.3 gig is a limit of the 32bit windows not an executable..
There are in fact 2 limits over 32bit software 2GB or 4GB depends of the /largeaddressaware compilation mode.

So in fact it actually matters is it a 64bit OS or not....

Read more here before posting false statements:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx#memory_limits

I did not say it didnt matter if he used a 64 bit OS .

I said if he was using a 32 bit program in a 64 bit OS then the RAM usage limitation would apply anyway.

Please read more carefully in future . That will often stop you being wrong

 

[Outlander_04]

Outlander_04,
I said he's using 64-bit Windows because we know BF4 can use quite a bit of System RAM due to the 8GB recommendation provided there's no OS limitation. I don't know why you keep bringing up 32-bit because that's simply not relevant.

The point of this post is to figure out why he's not even using 4GB of memory if 8GB is recommended and I attempted to answer that.

Also, there is no "3.3GB" cap on 32-bit Windows. 32-bit Windows can address a 4GB memory map which comprises Video, System mainly and some minor other things. If System RAM was 3.3GB that would likely indicate 512MB was used for Video Memory so that's a special case.

When CPU's were physically 32-bit only they could only address 2exp32 memory locations (4GB). There are workarounds for 32-bit OS and 64-bit CPU's to get more available memory now but default is still 4GB accessable.

Go install 4 gig of memory in a 32 bit copy of windows and see if you can get the OS to recognise all of it .

3.3 gig is all you are going to get

And this is generally in line with the OP's RAM usage . I cant know for sure that this is his problem , but it does seem the most likely answer

 

[Pinhedd]

Outlander_04,
I said he's using 64-bit Windows because we know BF4 can use quite a bit of System RAM due to the 8GB recommendation provided there's no OS limitation. I don't know why you keep bringing up 32-bit because that's simply not relevant.

The point of this post is to figure out why he's not even using 4GB of memory if 8GB is recommended and I attempted to answer that.

Also, there is no "3.3GB" cap on 32-bit Windows. 32-bit Windows can address a 4GB memory map which comprises Video, System mainly and some minor other things. If System RAM was 3.3GB that would likely indicate 512MB was used for Video Memory so that's a special case.

When CPU's were physically 32-bit only they could only address 2exp32 memory locations (4GB). There are workarounds for 32-bit OS and 64-bit CPU's to get more available memory now but default is still 4GB accessable.

Go install 4 gig of memory in a 32 bit copy of windows and see if you can get the OS to recognise all of it .

3.3 gig is all you are going to get

And this is generally in line with the OP's RAM usage . I cant know for sure that this is his problem , but it does seem the most likely answer

Okay, I'll install it in a 32 bit copy of Windows Server 2008, or a 32 bit copy of Windows Server 2003, or a 32 bit copy of Windows 2000 Advance Server. In fact, I could install up to 8GiB minimum on any of those and it would work just fine.

 

[Outlander_04]

pinhedd what relevance does that even have to this topic?
PAE is not a feature of a desk top OS , and even if you have a system capable of PAE then each application is still limited to less than 4 gig of RAM

But to recap . If the OP has installed the 32 bit version of BF4 his RAM usage is in the range he could expect , regardless of whether or not he had a 64 bit OS

 

[Ra_V_en]

"I did not say it didnt matter if he used a 64 bit OS ."

"It wont matter if he is using a 64 bit OS"

Oh man just a LOL

"I said if he was using a 32 bit program in a 64 bit OS then the RAM usage limitation would apply anyway."

"If he has installed a 32 bit game the game program itself cannot use more than 3.3 gig of RAM ."

What you mean and what you write is two different things... and you are asking me to read more carefully

What kind of limitation is 3.3 gig because its not related to 32bit program... as said before there are two limits over 32bit program and its 2 or 4 gig depends of the compilation mode. You are mixing wrong terms

While i do accept i might be wrong, seems you cannot. I've sent decent resource link with proper information which overturns your missed statement and you are still suggesting 3.3 gig is some kind of magic value nothing can cross.

As photonboy said there is NO SUCH THING as 3.3 gig limit... it may show up as available memory due to shared addressing range but it totally different story.

Those who don't believe >4GB ram actually helps improving BF4 should actually test it... using ram as a texture cache is different than using ram as a data precache.
While the game will be working good if all the textures are allocated there still be fps spikes when game is about to suck data from the HDD.
I've seen it on my own eyes with 4GB ram over 64bit OS, when I've put 4 GB more there was not such spikes almost at all. The difference was very noticeable despite the fact BF4 process was still not using more than 3GB itself.

 

[Outlander_04]

"I did not say it didnt matter if he used a 64 bit OS ."

"It wont matter if he is using a 64 bit OS"

Oh man just a LOL

"I said if he was using a 32 bit program in a 64 bit OS then the RAM usage limitation would apply anyway."

"If he has installed a 32 bit game the game program itself cannot use more than 3.3 gig of RAM ."

What you mean and what you write is two different things... and you are asking me to read more carefully

What kind of limitation is 3.3 gig because its not related to 32bit program... as said before there are two limits over 32bit program and its 2 or 4 gig depends of the compilation mode. You are mixing wrong terms

While i do accept i might be wrong, seems you cannot. I've sent decent resource link with proper information which overturns your missed statement and you are still suggesting 3.3 gig is some kind of magic value nothing can cross.

As photonboy said there is NO SUCH THING as 3.3 gig limit... it may show up as available memory due to shared addressing range but it totally different story.

Those who don't believe >4GB ram actually helps improving BF4 should actually test it... using ram as a texture cache is different than using ram as a data precache.
While the game will be working good if all the textures are allocated there still be fps spikes when game is about to suck data from the HDD.
I've seen it on my own eyes with 4GB ram over 64bit OS, when I've put 4 GB more there was not such spikes almost at all. The difference was very noticeable despite the fact BF4 process was still not using more than 3GB itself.

I will presume you have no actual experience with 32 bit copies of windows .
But rather than explain , it will be easier if you just read this link
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/maximum-ram-for-windows-7-32-bit/4286bbfa-6851-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5
Not all of the information is completely accurate but most of the posters have a general understanding .

It is absolutely typical that 32 bit windows systems report 3.3 gig of RAM as the maximum available [ but it will vary depending on the hardware ]

The performance spikes you have noticed are almost certainly other system processes making calls on RAM or CPU. If a file opens , your AV runs to scan it and uses RAM the game will not have that RAM available . But it can be any background windows process , or installed program .


But still you miss the point .

The OP is wondering why the game uses such a limited amount of RAM in his computer .
Still the most obvious explanation is that he has installed the 32 bit version of the game .

 

[Ra_V_en]

I will presume you have no actual experience with 32 bit copies of windows .
But rather than explain , it will be easier if you just read this link
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/maximum-ram-for-windows-7-32-bit/4286bbfa-6851-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5
Not all of the information is completely accurate but most of the posters have a general understanding .

It is absolutely typical that 32 bit windows systems report 3.3 gig of RAM as the maximum available [ but it will vary depending on the hardware ]

The performance spikes you have noticed are almost certainly other system processes making calls on RAM or CPU. If a file opens , your AV runs to scan it and uses RAM the game will not have that RAM available . But it can be any background windows process , or installed program .


But still you miss the point .

The OP is wondering why the game uses such a limited amount of RAM in his computer .
Still the most obvious explanation is that he has installed the 32 bit version of the game .

1) We do not know anything about the OP PC configuration...
2) The question of the OP maybe indeed was "why the game is using < 4GB ram while they suggest to have 4GB or more. But the answer for that is quite short:
Typical ram configurations are 1GB/2GB/4GB and so on, so while indeed game can use itself up to 3GB of ram there is also OS and other applications hanging in the background. So if you consider typical PC configuration ... those 2.45 (game ) + 1GB+ for OS is just over 3 GIG and 4 is the nearest higher round.
When they say "minimum 4GB ram" they mean its minimum for the game and for the OS since you need one to start the game.
3) If the game actually can use over 2GB then it means its either 64bit mode executable or 32 bit mode with /LARGEADDRESSAWARE. If its the second one then it has 4GB limit NOT 3.3GB which you suggested here:

" If he has installed a 32 bit game the game program itself cannot use more than 3.3 gig of RAM "

4) The fps spikes was directly related to hdd activity during game preloading of some parts of the mission and it has nothing to do with AV and background processes. I have no AV and there is almost 0 background software started while i play the game i have dedicated Win7 only for gaming with only crucial services and drivers running, for casual work i use other OS installation with multi-boot mode.
The preloading process can be heavily boosted while you have more RAM then minimum when the file cache is working thus finally giving performance as expected to be. That is why 6 or even 8GB is suggested.

5) The OP didn't say did he check whats the mem usage during multiplayer with 64 maps... I would be surprised if it still was below 3 gig.

6) The link you've put is proving the words you said wrong... there is 4 GB limit over 32bit windows OS's which an addressing limit... and the RAM is not the only memory PC has to address... which ofc may lead to showing 3.3GB as the available ram but its not the limit itself only a result of some PC configuration.
Obviously if you run 32 bit software over 32 bit OS which has available ram of 3.3GB due to hardware configuration the program cannot use more than that.
But if you run the same 32bit software over 64bit OS then theoretically the program can use up to 4GB... not 3.3.
So if you say "it doesn't matter was it 32 bit or 64 bit OS" it theoretically does... by the difference of those 0,7 GB more.

7) Btw i don't feel like proving do i have or not any experience with 32bit os or not.. thats not the subject and my answers are based on observation, knowledge and logic not a fairly tales and if are missed you are free to correct me.

This is all i will write here since it's far more then should be posted in this topic.

 

[oxiide]

The game is a 32 bit program . Its total maximum RAM usage would be just over 3.3 gig for the same reason that 32 bit OSes cant use more RAM than that

64 bit installations can use more

Battlefield 4 has both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries, it defaults to the 64-bit one

He is not using the 64 bit program

WHY do you say he's not using the 64-bit version? He's obviously using 64-bit Windows (2.85GB used, 1.15GB free).

It wont matter if he is using a 64 bit OS . If he has installed a 32 bit game the game program itself cannot use more than 3.3 gig of RAM . The reason is the same as a 32 bit OS cant use more than that [ of course ] and applies whether you have a 64 bit OS or not

There is no separate installation for the 32-bit version of Battlefield 4, its there if you opt-in to using it by checking a box in Origin. Since the OP said nothing to the contrary we can assume he left things at defaults, in which case he's likely running the 64-bit executable.

 

[Pinhedd]

pinhedd what relevance does that even have to this topic?
PAE is not a feature of a desk top OS , and even if you have a system capable of PAE then each application is still limited to less than 4 gig of RAM

But to recap . If the OP has installed the 32 bit version of BF4 his RAM usage is in the range he could expect , regardless of whether or not he had a 64 bit OS

False, PAE is a requirement to use Data Execution Prevention. It is enabled by default when hardware enforced DEP is supported (Added with the 64 bit revisions of the Prescott microarchitecture I think) and has been since Windows XP SP2. In fact, the 32-bit version of Windows 8 requires PAE as it ships with only a PAE kernel so PAE must be enabled to run it.