Can I upgrade RAM or Graphics card?

[MostWantedSoulRider]

My signature describes my system build.

1) If I choose r9 280x as an upgrade, I need to pay more.

2) If I choose RAM, I could go up to 16 GB which is really lower in price than the new graphics card

Now, it seems R9 270x itself seems to work fantastic on high end games yet not sure if it can withstand on next 4-5 years of gaming world.

Should RAM is upgraded, minor/major stuttering and lags would be vanished (I hope so).

Though I have money for graphics card, I'm thinking to save some of it and spend on RAM. This is bit puzzling me and hence I seek help. Thanks in advance.

 

[MostWantedSoulRider]

That's a bit much, 120GB / 256GB is enough.

oh okay then, thats nice. and hey I got a clarification about my PC's memory too. Is it okay to avoid dual channel and insert RAM chips in the same channel? I just wanted to see how my system would perform on it.

 

[Novuake]

Dual channel is always better. In most cases you won't see a difference though.

 

[MostWantedSoulRider]

Dual channel is always better. In most cases you won't see a difference though.

Yeah, true. I agree with your point that dual channel is better. But is it safe to insert RAM Chips in same channel?

My motherboard is Gigabyte H87M D3H. It has 4 RAM slots in the following color order:-
Channel A: Black, Grey == Channel B: Black, Grey.

As per my mobo manual, B-B or G-G provides the dual channel. My exact question is: Can I install the RAM Chips in Channel A itself and see how the PC performs?

 

[Novuake]

Your welcome to. No risk of damage.
Unless your clumsy of course.

 

[MostWantedSoulRider]

Your welcome to. No risk of damage.
Unless your clumsy of course.

lol thanks.

 

[jitpublisher]

Let windows manage your paging file, windows does a pretty good job on its own. If you have 8 gig of memory, for maximum performance, turn it off, or set it to like 50meg maximum. Using your hard drive for memory will slow your system down, if you have enough memory installed in the first place, like 8 gig or more. Why? Because using your hard drive for memory is literally 100 times slower than your RAM. That is also what causes stuttering, when the game must go to the hard drive to load textures, or any other information the game needs to run, it can cause exactly the problem your are talking about. An SSD will help keep this to a minimum. However, nothing can make a poorly coded game run smooth.

 

[MostWantedSoulRider]

Let windows manage your paging file, windows does a pretty good job on its own. If you have 8 gig of memory, for maximum performance, turn it off, or set it to like 50meg maximum. Using your hard drive for memory will slow your system down, if you have enough memory installed in the first place, like 8 gig or more. Why? Because using your hard drive for memory is literally 100 times slower than your RAM. That is also what causes stuttering, when the game must go to the hard drive to load textures, or any other information the game needs to run, it can cause exactly the problem your are talking about. An SSD will help keep this to a minimum. However, nothing can make a poorly coded game run smooth.

I am hearing a good news from my card now, jitpublisher. Like you said, windows itself is managing the paging file i.e., I turned it to default. An Idea light started glowing up, above my head on how to avoid stuttering in Watch Dogs.

In my CCC (Catalyst Control Center), I overrode the application settings (all applicable ones) by setting the values to the most minimal one with multisampling and triple buffering.

Now the game play is like a charm and could see no stuttering issues at all. So, upgrade wouldn't be necessary. If the next-gen games like Division and FC4 craves for more graphics, then I will slightly increase my budget and upgrade the card to 280X vapor.

Edit: For now, I wouldn't be bringing changes to my hard drive as I could filter good results with the current one. I am thinking to purchase HD monitor as my card is capable of going through 1080P. I know there would be drops in frame rate when the resolution gets higher but r9 270X is made for 1080 pixel screen. And 768 pixels for this card is like underestimating the physical power of a bull with a skinny human (in my perception), hehe

 

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

Glad you figured it out, and a nice monitor can make all of the difference! Good luck!

 

[MostWantedSoulRider]

Thanks, 'Man'. I will afford 1080P by this month.