Will upgrading to 8gb increase gaming performance?

[Ashish Joseph]

My current specs
cpu - Core 2 quad Q9550
gpu - gtx 750 ti
mobo - asus p5g41t-mlx
memory - 4gb ddr3(2 x 2 GB)
1tb wd green hdd
768p resolution
windows 7 64 bit
I have seen many games with minimum system requirements of 4 - 6 GB ram. My mobo has 2 ddr3 ram slots, which i filled with 2 gb ddr3 ram. I can sell them and get 2 x 4gb ram, if it will get a significant performance increase.
If the increase is only like 5%, then i won't do it.
Two questions
1)How much performance increase will i get if i upgrade to 8gb?
2)My mobo supports 800/1066/1333 OC ram. Will it be okay if i buy 1600 mhz ram, will it be slower than 1333? 1333 ram has CL9 and 1600 ram has CL11, so if i buy 1600 mhz, when it gets downclocked automatically, will its latency also get reduced to 9 or will it stay at 11?

 

[Tom Tancredi]

No your CPU and low end GPU will still be the biggest impact, also running on low resolutions dont' help much either. It will help meet some game requiring 4GB or more when you're '4gb ddr3' is already much less in order to run the Antivirus, the Windows Update in the background, drivers, etc. biting away at that (never mind if you have your Steam client up, your IM, your Email checker, etc. all running as well)

Your best bet would be a more up to date iCore system with a better level card, normally the x60/70/80 lines (aka GTX 660, 770, 680, etc.) are the better performance, any x50 or below are cheapo low end low performance cards.

 

[neieus]

Everything Tom says is true you'll get more from the CPU/GPU however adding additional ram can help in some games that requires more memory. The best thing would be is to run a tool such as hwinfo and track your memory usage while gaming and that will give you a clear indication on if you need additional memory or if your CPU/GPU are holding you back.

 

[carssuckjeepsrule]

Neieus has got the right idea...see where you're at. More RAM is usually a good thing, but the whole enchilada has to be looked at...
That said, warning: personal opinion on it's way...take my two cents but please do your own research.
Okie doke, I don't want to start drama, but I have to disagree with Tom T on your GPU. Based on Tom's Hardware rating the 750 ti honorable mention in Mid ranged graphics cards, I wouldn't call your hardware "low end". Is it a $399 card? nope, but it's decent. Tom T is, however, fairly accurate with the CPU analysis....although your processor has some horsepower, that tech has become long in the tooth and something on an 1150 socket, for example would be much more efficient and productive.
I struggle with this issue too....when is sinking $ into an older system just not worth it?
At $80 for a 8gb RAM kit, you're creeping up on the cost of Tom's Hardware experiment of buying a Pentium 3258 and motherboard for $115. That little system is amazing, and other 1150 options (i3/i5) only get faster. Obviously you'd be spending $35 bucks more and still have 4gb of RAM, but I'm thinking a faster, smarter, stronger foundation is the way to start.

 

[carssuckjeepsrule]

Little more light on the subject....
http://www.techbuyersguru.com/RAMgaming.php

 

[Ashish Joseph]

Neieus has got the right idea...see where you're at. More RAM is usually a good thing, but the whole enchilada has to be looked at...
That said, warning: personal opinion on it's way...take my two cents but please do your own research.
Okie doke, I don't want to start drama, but I have to disagree with Tom T on your GPU. Based on Tom's Hardware rating the 750 ti honorable mention in Mid ranged graphics cards, I wouldn't call your hardware "low end". Is it a $399 card? nope, but it's decent. Tom T is, however, fairly accurate with the CPU analysis....although your processor has some horsepower, that tech has become long in the tooth and something on an 1150 socket, for example would be much more efficient and productive.
I struggle with this issue too....when is sinking $ into an older system just not worth it?
At $80 for a 8gb RAM kit, you're creeping up on the cost of Tom's Hardware experiment of buying a Pentium 3258 and motherboard for $115. That little system is amazing, and other 1150 options (i3/i5) only get faster. Obviously you'd be spending $35 bucks more and still have 4gb of RAM, but I'm thinking a faster, smarter, stronger foundation is the way to start.

Well, i am happy with my pc. I only play at 720p, which is my monitor's maximum resolution, and i am more than ok with that. It is just that i am not sure that games like crysis 3, AC4, watchdogs will run since they need 4+ gb ram. I have just finished the original crysis and assassin's creed revelations. I am playing in order, so i haven't tried the latest games yet(with the exception of tomb raider). I am actually running 32 bit now and i will install 64 bit after i finish my current stock of games(or the save files may go), so it is gonna be a while. My cpu and gpu qualifies the minimum requirement for every game, but ram doesn't qualify the minimum requirements for a few games like watch dogs. So wouldn't those games slow down because of the ram?
I actually prefered not to upgrade the ram, but the upgrade was recommended to me on another thread, but didn't know how much performance increase i would get. That is why i asked.

 

[carssuckjeepsrule]

I'd go back to what Neieus said and see what's holding you back. I'm venturing a guess here but since you have an ok video card and processor, RAM will probably poke it's head up as the culprit, but that's merely a guess. Get the 8 and rock out.
I guess if you had 4 RAM slots we probably wouldn't be having this discussion....ad four more roll.
I'm wrangling the same issue on a 2 slot board... buy 4 or just spend the cash on 8 and be done with it.
Good luck!

 

[neieus]

CPU/GPU is what will dictate if your games will "slow down" but ram will help improved how fast things load. Since each game is different I highly suggest you do as suggested and monitor your CPU/GPU/RAM usage otherwise you're just throwing money at it and solving nothing. Otherwise just get yourself 4GB more RAM then you'll at least have that covered.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

[I am actually running 32 bit now and i will install 64 bit after i finish my current stock of games(or the save files may go), so it is gonna be a while. My cpu and gpu qualifies the minimum requirement for every game, but ram doesn't qualify the minimum requirements for a few games like watch dogs. So wouldn't those games slow down because of the ram?
I actually prefered not to upgrade the ram, but the upgrade was recommended to me on another thread, but didn't know how much performance increase i would get. That is why i asked.

32Bit can ONLY address 3GB of RAM period, so it wouldn't matter till you move to 64Bit. 64Bit changes things dramatically and you can't just "upgrade" in place, so much is different.It requires a CLEAN install, so I would be prepared for the extra work.

It isn't the "games slow down", they just won't RUN and will inform you your system does NOT meet the minimum qualifications. As I mentioned it isn't "I installed 4GB RAM so I have 4GB of RAM" it is "I installed 4Gb running Windows, Antivirus, my FB, EMail, Instant Messaging, etc. so I have only 1.3GB to run games." The more things your 'running' at the same time, the less memory you have for other things and NO Watch Dog will not even play on your low end system (as I noted before) and even if it did you would be on LOW Graphics, 1024x768 display and 'cruising' in the 20s to 30 fps range. Modern games need modern hardware, simply put. If you can't afford to 'pay to play' then I suggest a PS4 as it is a MUCH better value per dollar in performance (AC:Unity 1080P 60FPS on High) then what you will ever get with your lower end hardware.

 

[Ashish Joseph]

[I am actually running 32 bit now and i will install 64 bit after i finish my current stock of games(or the save files may go), so it is gonna be a while. My cpu and gpu qualifies the minimum requirement for every game, but ram doesn't qualify the minimum requirements for a few games like watch dogs. So wouldn't those games slow down because of the ram?
I actually prefered not to upgrade the ram, but the upgrade was recommended to me on another thread, but didn't know how much performance increase i would get. That is why i asked.

32Bit can ONLY address 3GB of RAM period, so it wouldn't matter till you move to 64Bit. 64Bit changes things dramatically and you can't just "upgrade" in place, so much is different.It requires a CLEAN install, so I would be prepared for the extra work.

It isn't the "games slow down", they just won't RUN and will inform you your system does NOT meet the minimum qualifications. As I mentioned it isn't "I installed 4GB RAM so I have 4GB of RAM" it is "I installed 4Gb running Windows, Antivirus, my FB, EMail, Instant Messaging, etc. so I have only 1.3GB to run games." The more things your 'running' at the same time, the less memory you have for other things and NO Watch Dog will not even play on your low end system (as I noted before) and even if it did you would be on LOW Graphics, 1024x768 display and 'cruising' in the 20s to 30 fps range. Modern games need modern hardware, simply put. If you can't afford to 'pay to play' then I suggest a PS4 as it is a MUCH better value per dollar in performance (AC:Unity 1080P 60FPS on High) then what you will ever get with your lower end hardware.

Computers are not easily affordable in India compared to the US. The costs are pretty high due to taxes. The PS4 costs $700 and xbox one costs $900. Every game costs $70. PS4 is no way a better value here. Same situation with pc upgrades

 

[carssuckjeepsrule]

Ah...India. Ok. Your English typing is pretty good. We sometimes assume everyone has the luxury of Amazon.com and Newegg and two day delivery of a $120 motherboard and processor is no big deal.
I play older games on older hardware most of the time since I have three college students. I play tech support and they get upgrades first. Their old stuff becomes my "new stuff". On the bright side, at one time the older games the NEW game so being behind a couple of years is no biggie to me. (Just upgraded my stuff and going to try out Borderlands 2 so I understand what the heck the boys are talking about).
My recommendation is the same as before...run the test like Neieus said and see what the slowest part is. Tom is correct also...upgrading the RAM is a waste on a 64 bit system. I'd do a good software scrub of your system and take out the trash. Lose the stuff not needed to free up resources. Get the best drivers for each component. Then...enjoy the older games (Portal, Stalker, Fallout 3, etc run fine on older hardware as long as you don't max out the settings). Older games are nice because they're cheaper ($59 bucks for Call of Duty...why?) and also the world has fixed the bugs and made awesome mods for the games. Good luck!

 

[Tradesman1]

An increase to 8GB will help quite a bit, games are using more and more DRAM so should see increases, can also consider cleaning out STARTUP as most folks have a lot of junk in there that isn't needed and just uses up system resources, also if not already, consider OCing the rig, the 9550 OCs very well

 

[Ashish Joseph]

Thanks everyone.
I am not going to upgrade to 8 GB seeing that the performance gain is minimal
One more question, should i upgrade to 64 bit or should i stay with 32?
Since 32 bit can only use about 3 gb, which includes vram as well, 64 bit should improve performance right?
I am okay with fresh install of windows, software, drivers, etc(have done it before)
Is there any problem if i install both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of windows?(since 64bit may not support all games)
If no, should i install it on the same drive or different one? 32 bit win 7 is installed on C drive

 

[Tradesman1]

64 bit would be the better way to go and 8GB would still be better overall, you'd be surprised by the gains you can see

 

[Tom Tancredi]

Thanks everyone.
I am not going to upgrade to 8 GB seeing that the performance gain is minimal
One more question, should i upgrade to 64 bit or should i stay with 32?
Since 32 bit can only use about 3 gb, which includes vram as well, 64 bit should improve performance right?
I am okay with fresh install of windows, software, drivers, etc(have done it before)
Is there any problem if i install both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of windows?(since 64bit may not support all games)
If no, should i install it on the same drive or different one? 32 bit win 7 is installed on C drive

Well no one said it would be minimal gain, I believe you were expecting if A) In BF3 I get 15FPS B) Double RAM would get me 30FPS or something like that. NO. What it will do is provide ENOUGH RAM that your ONLY running RAM for the games and stop having Windows realize "oh game needs 2GB, there is only 1.37GB available oh I will just use the Swap File and swap back and forth to the very slow HDD based memory". And it doesn't take just .63GB (630Mb), it instead uses something like 1.5GB from the HDD THEN asks the RAM for the remainder, so that way it doesn't cause a CRASH / Lockup with NO RAM available to 'think' about anything else.

So if your planning to go 64BIt, 8GB is the normal people have MINIMALLY. What is being said (at least by me) is that the cost of Windows ($179) plus RAM ($150?) is about the cost of investing into a newer system anyway (can get a off the shelf i5 Core that you can put the gtx750ti into for only $349 which includes Windows 64Bit, 8GB RAM, 1TB, etc. http://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?searchin=first&intagid%5B%5D=3&q=i5+desktop&pp=20 Staples been having deals as well as Lenovo Outlet) . OR if you wanted you could just invest in a console (PS3 or PS4) which plays ALL games, and the NexGen (PS4) plays many of them (for example AC:Unity) at HIGH graphics, 1080p screen around 60FPS. Then you NEVER have to worry about parts, OS versions etc. and is much more 'BANG for your limited BUCKS'.

NO you do NOT need to install BOTH 32Bit and 64bit, 64BIT is backwards compatible and will run all 32bit stuff. NO you do NOT want to install two 'WINDOWS' on the same computer, this will mess the computer up as they ONLY expect ONE Operating System to shout out 'HEY I know you just turned me on, I am the one in charge!" instead of two WIndows BOTH saying the same thing then arguing over it and finally causing a big fight that breaks your 'Windows' no matter which one it was.

 

[Ashish Joseph]

Thanks everyone.
I am not going to upgrade to 8 GB seeing that the performance gain is minimal
One more question, should i upgrade to 64 bit or should i stay with 32?
Since 32 bit can only use about 3 gb, which includes vram as well, 64 bit should improve performance right?
I am okay with fresh install of windows, software, drivers, etc(have done it before)
Is there any problem if i install both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of windows?(since 64bit may not support all games)
If no, should i install it on the same drive or different one? 32 bit win 7 is installed on C drive

Well no one said it would be minimal gain, I believe you were expecting if A) In BF3 I get 15FPS B) Double RAM would get me 30FPS or something like that. NO. What it will do is provide ENOUGH RAM that your ONLY running RAM for the games and stop having Windows realize "oh game needs 2GB, there is only 1.37GB available oh I will just use the Swap File and swap back and forth to the very slow HDD based memory". And it doesn't take just .63GB (630Mb), it instead uses something like 1.5GB from the HDD THEN asks the RAM for the remainder, so that way it doesn't cause a CRASH / Lockup with NO RAM available to 'think' about anything else.

So if your planning to go 64BIt, 8GB is the normal people have MINIMALLY. What is being said (at least by me) is that the cost of Windows ($179) plus RAM ($150?) is about the cost of investing into a newer system anyway (can get a off the shelf i5 Core that you can put the gtx750ti into for only $349 which includes Windows 64Bit, 8GB RAM, 1TB, etc. http://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?searchin=first&intagid%5B%5D=3&q=i5+desktop&pp=20 Staples been having deals as well as Lenovo Outlet) . OR if you wanted you could just invest in a console (PS3 or PS4) which plays ALL games, and the NexGen (PS4) plays many of them (for example AC:Unity) at HIGH graphics, 1080p screen around 60FPS. Then you NEVER have to worry about parts, OS versions etc. and is much more 'BANG for your limited BUCKS'.

NO you do NOT need to install BOTH 32Bit and 64bit, 64BIT is backwards compatible and will run all 32bit stuff. NO you do NOT want to install two 'WINDOWS' on the same computer, this will mess the computer up as they ONLY expect ONE Operating System to shout out 'HEY I know you just turned me on, I am the one in charge!" instead of two WIndows BOTH saying the same thing then arguing over it and finally causing a big fight that breaks your 'Windows' no matter which one it was.

I didn't expect anywhere near 2x performance increase for doubling ram, more like 10 - 20% and also to avoid that virtual memory thing slowing down the pc when gaming.
I already have 64 bit windows, the 32 bit was installed by the retailer when i bought a new hdd.
And the ram is not a big deal as well. I could sell my current sticks and get two 4GB sticks, would cost ~$50
An i5 upgrade would cost around $400 and that is for a low clocked i5 and B85 mobo, i3 would still cost $300, and devil's canyon hasn't come yet.
I can't afford a full upgrade right now.
What's funny is that ps4 costs $700 here and what's funnier is that i don't have an hdtv.
By minimal gain, i was referring to carssuckjeepsrule's link.
And please answer my other question i asked.
My mobo supports 800/1066/1333 OC ram. Will it be okay if i buy 1600 mhz ram, will it be slower than 1333 or cause instability? 1333 ram has CL9 and 1600 ram has CL11, so if i buy 1600 mhz, when it gets downclocked automatically, will its latency also get reduced to 9 or will it stay at 11?
BTW, i am not expecting anything more from 1600 ram, just that 1333 is hard to find here as every retailers shifted to 1600 ram and they say that 1600 >>> 1333 ram. They don't know anything at all, if i go there and ask for a gpu, they would say that they have 1 gb and 2 gb gpu, and the 2 gb one is faster(they usually have a 210 or a 610), and they also say that gpu speed depends on ram speed,gpu is only for displaying the image rendered by the cpu, etc.
1600 should work considering that the retailers here use 1600 ram with h61 mobos, which does not support 1600 mhz(which they have no idea of).