Dwarf Fortress--best RAM

[Pandoras_Folly]

I'm planning on building a machine to Run just Dwarf fortress and the Most Crucial part of the system will be the RAM. It will only need a couple Gbs of RAM to run, but it will need ALL that being accessed constantly. So I need the fastest Ram running at the Lowest latency possible. It needs to dump as much data as it can, as fast as it can, as often as it can.

so what RAM should I buy?

another note, if you aren't familiar with the game, it require Very little graphics as it uses ASCII or modified ASCII to display items

I am sure you guys can even point out things I don't know to ask so please do.

thanks!

 

[TidusJames]

CPU, THAT is where this game is held back, NOT ram....

 

[Pandoras_Folly]

CPU, THAT is where this game is held back, NOT ram....

While CPU power is important the game actually holds the fastes CPUs back as it is a singlethread program so it doesn't get a boost from additional cores after the first 1. It relies on raw speed of the individual cores and not multi-core/hyperthreading/virtual cores that more graphic intensive and commercial games take advantage.

So this leaves me with very few options for CPUs: i7-3770k and the i3-3240 are the chief ones i am looking at, also the ones suggested by the CPU forum. Frankly the i7 is more than twice the price of the i3 and only offers significant improvement after overclocking. So now I am looking for the lowest latency and Fastest RAM to go with the few CPUs that will improve gameplay.

also thanks for your answer it was a huge help!

 

[SirGCal]

Generally speaking, I like to get faster, smaller amounts of ram. For example. Some people might build a modern rig on a motherboard with 4 slots of DDR3 that can hold a max or 32G. And they'll put 32G of CAS 11 1333 memory in there. I see that a lot actually. Sure it works just peachy. A lot of modern boards though can handle a lot more, without even overclocking. I.E. I would rather stick with 16G at 1866, CAS 8 (for gaming).

You have three items; Size, CAS and Speed.

CAS is the latency of the memory, or how long it takes to respond to commands. So for gaming memory, lower CAS is better. But SPEED is also critical, higher speed is simply that. So there's a trade off, A CAS 9 at 1600 is still better then a CAS 8 at 1333... So it can get confusing.

To make it simple, do this. Look up your motherboard. See what it's memory speed is (if you don't want to overclock it, that's perfectly fine, it will have a posted max limit. A lot of modern ones do like 1866 just peachy today without overclocking).

Then go shopping for that speed of memory in the amount you want. If you have 4 slots and you want to fill it up, there ya go. OR if you don't want to fill it up but you want faster, you can use all four slots at half of their capable size for a lower CAS value, that's what I usually do. If you were making a video editing rig, CAS isn't quite as important as raw size and speed oddly enough, it all comes down to intent of the box.

As for brands, so many good ones out there. My go-to brands right now are G.SKILL and Mushkin just because I use so much of em. Oddly enough I used to use a lot of Corsair but, well, I'll just say I've lost my taste for them lately and leave it at that. Still use their power supplies though (which really, for the most part are Seasonic's anyhow).

But there ya go, everything you need to know to get the memory you want for your rig. Hope it helps.

 

[SirGCal]

CPU, THAT is where this game is held back, NOT ram....

So this leaves me with very few options for CPUs: i7-3770k and the i3-3240 are the chief ones i am looking at, also the ones suggested by the CPU forum. !

Don't leave the i5-3570k out of that mix. It's the same as the i7 but cheaper without the hyperthreading, but since you really only need one core for your primary game, what's the point. The i3 should be fine.

I have the i7 in my current gaming rig. It can overclock on air to 4.5G no problem. Might be a lucky chip though. Most of them can do 4-4.2 without fail. The i5's also. Their stock 3.5G setting is mild. But you might be able to clock it harder also if you turn more cores off depending on your board's capabilities and cooling system also obviously. I built the i5 for my boss' gaming rig actually just last Christmas. Stout beast. My i7 at the same time. But with the new chips coming out, they are on sale all over right now. Good time to snag one.

 

[Pandoras_Folly]

CPU, THAT is where this game is held back, NOT ram....

So this leaves me with very few options for CPUs: i7-3770k and the i3-3240 are the chief ones i am looking at, also the ones suggested by the CPU forum. !

Don't leave the i5-3570k out of that mix. It's the same as the i7 but cheaper without the hyperthreading, but since you really only need one core for your primary game, what's the point. The i3 should be fine.

I have the i7 in my current gaming rig. It can overclock on air to 4.5G no problem. Might be a lucky chip though. Most of them can do 4-4.2 without fail. The i5's also. Their stock 3.5G setting is mild. But you might be able to clock it harder also if you turn more cores off depending on your board's capabilities and cooling system also obviously. I built the i5 for my boss' gaming rig actually just last Christmas. Stout beast. My i7 at the same time. But with the new chips coming out, they are on sale all over right now. Good time to snag one.

Nice, I like that the i5-3570k has 6mb of L3 cach. that was one of the things attracting me to the i7. (dwarf fortress requires a lot calcs that reference and change previous calcs and subsequent ones, it can get ridiculous especially with creatures trying to find a path) the price is decent too. I think I may have found my CPU at least. It probably won't be bought for another month or two so plenty of time for the price to come down another 20$ or so.

i saw a lot of good reviews for mushkin and G.Skill, those were actually the ones i was looking at. Overclocking is something I will definetly be doing, not extreme though.