[SOLVED] I'm looking for advice on a RAM upgrade, I believe its bottlenecking.

[Chaos21]

So my main goal of buying this PC was to play Arma 3 on all high settings. Unfortunately, I'm was on a budget so I bought a used computer for about $320. It's been years since I built a computer. From what I understand, I can only use DDR3 with this mobo/CPU combo. I'm just wondering if anyone has any recommendations, as there might be some restrictions on ram speed I'm not aware of as well. I have a budget of around $70.

Here's my specs:

Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 2600 @ 3.40GHz 34 °C
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Gateway FX6850 (CPU 1) 38 °C
Graphics
SyncMaster (1440x900@60Hz)
4096MB ATI AMD Radeon R9 290X (ATI) 68 °C
Storage
465GB Seagate ST3500418AS (SATA ) 44 °C
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5002AALX-32Z3A0 (SATA ) 53 °C

As you can see, my ram seems to be quite the weak spot here. I'm sure an SSD would do me good too.

 

[General Kenobi]

So my main goal of buying this PC was to play Arma 3 on all high settings. Unfortunately, I'm was on a budget so I bought a used computer for about $320. It's been years since I built a computer. From what I understand, I can only use DDR3 with this mobo/CPU combo. I'm just wondering if anyone has any recommendations, as there might be some restrictions on ram speed I'm not aware of as well. I have a budget of around $70.

Here's my specs:

Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 2600 @ 3.40GHz 34 °C
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Gateway FX6850 (CPU 1) 38 °C
Graphics
SyncMaster (1440x900@60Hz)
4096MB ATI AMD Radeon R9 290X (ATI) 68 °C
Storage
465GB Seagate ST3500418AS (SATA ) 44 °C
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5002AALX-32Z3A0 (SATA ) 53 °C

As you can see, my ram seems to be quite the weak spot here. I'm sure an SSD would do me good too.

Well i dont think u need fast ram won't help maybe a little, but having an extra 8gb ram will make your experience smoother. You can even consider buying a ssd it will make a difference for sure

 

[Chaos21]

Well I don't think u need fast ram won't help maybe a little, but having an extra 8gb ram will make your experience smoother. You can even consider buying an SSD it will make a difference for sure

I think that will help, thank you. So you think Arma 3 will utilize more than 8gb? I thought that 8gb was the limit for most games right now. I was planning on getting an SSD or using the one I have on my Xbox eventually.

 

[General Kenobi]

I think that will help, thank you. So you think Arma 3 will utilize more than 8gb? I thought that 8gb was the limit for most games right now. I was planning on getting an SSD or using the one I have on my Xbox eventually.

Well Arma is an old game it recommends 6gb however having more ram always helps not only in games but it makes windows and your user experience smoother and having 16gb of ram is must have in 2020 and don't use your ssd from xbox since ssd also have some lifespan and its performance decreases by age ,so get new. When you'll run windows from ssd you won't recognise your system, so i think ram and ssd will be a worthy upgrade, but if not ram get SSD.

 

[Chaos21]

Well Arma is an old game it recommends 6gb however having more ram always helps not only in games but it makes windows and your user experience smoother and having 16gb of ram is must have in 2020 and don't use your ssd from xbox since ssd also have some lifespan and its performance decreases by age ,so get new. When you'll run windows from ssd you won't recognise your system, so i think ram and ssd will be a worthy upgrade, but if not ram get SSD.

So, it's best to install my windows OS on the SSD? I was thinking I could just install the games on the SSD and get away with it. I'll look for some decent 4gb DDR3 ram as well.

EDIT: Forgot to metinon, during running, Arma 4 only uses about 24% GFX, 56% CPU but always maxes out my RAM and HDD

 

[General Kenobi]

So, it's best to install my windows OS on the SSD? I was thinking I could just install the games on the SSD and get away with it. I'll look for some decent 4gb DDR3 ram as well.

EDIT: Forgot to metinon, during running, Arma 4 only uses about 24% GFX, 56% CPU but always maxes out my RAM and HDD

Yes installing or migrating your os to ssd will be a substantial difference windows will be snappier opening and closing application would be faster your overall experience will be changed and you'd be surprised just how big of a difference a ssd makes to your system. You can use an ssd to store your games and the boot time of your games will decrease and the loading screen would be faster. You can get a 256gb ssd however 500gb are usually a better value for money because the price difference isn't alot, yes more than that would also be great. About Arma 4 as i said more ram is good always especially while gaming, at what resolution and details are you playing that game??