Will any extra RAM Help NVIDIA Turbocache in Crysis or in any game?

Hi everyone

I've been playing Crysis lately and I just wanted to ask if I get more RAM ( I have 2GB now), will that help the performance of laptop in Crysis.
Now I can play it at full resolution 1280x800 in High settings (Shaders, Objects and Shadows to Medium) in Dx9 mode but with no AA or AF and I get around 24fps. My laptop is the Acer 5920G and the card is 8600M GT overclocked with ntune at Core 630 / Memory 460. The game when I play uses 1.2 GB of RAM, so I know that my 8600M GT can use up to 760 MB of RAM additional to the 256MB graphic memory that has on board. I know that the memory that uses from RAM it's much less efficient that the graphic memory but still it is a boast (at least from benchmarks I can see around the web). So I was thinking of buying extra memory, 3GB or 4GB, what's your suggestion? I know that 2GB RAM is enough if your card doesn't support turbocache, and adding more RAM doesn't increase the fps. But I haven't found any benchmark using graphic cards with turbocache (nvidia) or hypermemory (ATI) in different RAM configurations. My system is Vista x86 premium. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Turbocache memory isn't all it's cracked up to be, at most the extra RAM will help your machine load textures faster and have slightly better performance at higher resolutions.

 

Don't expect a great improvement at standard res but only at higher...
But consider that a desktop pc that run crysis at high settings doesn't exists...so you can change what you want on your laptop and you'll never have a 30fps constantly

And also what you will gain for the ram you will lose for the boost of resolution...
So change ram only if you need to work hard on your laptop....2gb of ram are enough for standard multitasking and games...

 

with that card it will help a little bit, so i would do it, plus Vista wants about 3GB of ram if your gaming anyways, everything will laod faster at startup, etc...i would go for it IMO.

 

i think extra ram will defenitely make a good difference. not only in the game but also in paging of windows files during game. as now the memory is just sufficient to run the game. windows files must be paged to disk. by increasing ram you can improve the performance. however go for a 4gb upgrade instead of a 3gb one. If u go for 3 gb (1x2gb+1x1gb) i think u cant enable the dual data rate capability of DDR ram. so upgrade to 4gb (2x2gb). and install windows vista x64. (in 32 bit u can use only 3.2 gb max). This will defenitely boost ur overall system performance and make your system somewhat futureproof.......well ultimately everything depends on ur wallet

 

forgot to mention ...... u can also use the windows ready boost to increase performance a bit....... i am not a gamer...... however i think it will help in increased performance during gaming if u run outta ram. check my thread on this
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=219824

 

Well. Adding more RAM doesn't always help. You can try, but I think the result will dissapoint.

 

RAM is a cheap upgrade nowadays and having a lot of RAM never hurt anyone. I remember reading a thread a while back that 3GB definitely helped performance in an 8600-based system. I'd recommend getting a 2GB stick and replacing one of the 1GB sticks in your notebook with it for a total of 3GB. 2GB DDR2-667 sticks for notebooks are around $50.

 

I'm in the same boat, good advice.
For the m1330, you will need this type of memory, whether you get it from Corsair or not bears little significance: http://corsair.com/configurator/corsair_custom.aspx?id=351589

I'm looking at this memory for my m1530:
http://corsair.com/configurator/corsair_custom.aspx?id=361461
4gb should be enough, I find 2gigs just doesn't handle the multitasking I was told it could.

 

RAM is so cheap right now I wouldn't hesitate for a second to upgrade to 3GB. Your machine will run snappier all around. I am not sure how much performance increase you'll see in Crysis though?

Like mentioned earlier just buy one 2GB stick and replace one of your 1GB sticks with it. You can even sell the 1GB stick on craigslist or NBR classies etc...

 

the game is nuts..i stopped playing it.. i am playing Rainbow Six Vegas currently

 

I'm glad I got my 1530 with 3GB's of RAM. Much faster than my M1330 with 1GB RAM.
One question, what makes your computer feel speedier overall, the processor, RAM or graphics card?

 

a combination of all...lol.

 

Yes, u can:

 

Yes this is true BUT... you are only using 2x 1GB in dual channel, the other 1GB is not being used in dual channel as it has no pair to match with. S'all good though. 3GB for Vista better than 2GB IMO.

 

Using a USB drive for the readyboost is an interesting point but it seems that the windows use this usb space when the ram is full. So I don't know how that will cooperate with the nvidia turbocache since turbocache use the ram when the graphic ram is full. (Please correct me if I am wrong).
Nevertheless I gave a shot since it's quick, cheap and easy to test it.
Using the crysis benchmark tool I use the following settings

Beginning Run #1 on Map-harbor, Demo-Assault_Harbor
DX9 1280x720, AA=No AA, Vsync=Disabled, 32 bit test, FullScreen
Demo Loops=4, Time Of Day= 5
Global Game Quality: Custom
Custom Quality Values:
VolumetricEffects=High
Texture=High
ObjectDetail=Medium
Sound=High
Shadows=Medium
Water=High
Physics=High
Particles=High
Shading=Medium
PostProcessing=High
GameEffects=High
All other settings if not mentioned are on High

As you can see the demo is the Assault_Harbor which is a very nice demo with explosions, demolishions, plants, airplanes etc. Generaly this demo tests both CPU and GPU. Before when I mentioned that I am getting 24fps it was from the Benchmark_GPU demo which mainly tests the graphic card.
I have to add also that my antivirus and windows defender is on. I have McAfee Enterprise 8.5i and it cannot be disabled unless I remove it from the startup programs which I didn't.
If anyone is interesting I am using the modded driver 173.80 from laptopvideo2go and the card is overclocked at core 630/ GRAM 460 using ntune.
Anyway, I did the test without readyboost or with 2GB readyboost.

Without Readyboost

TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 4100, Recorded Time: 132.23s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 241.34s, Average FPS: 16.99
Min FPS: 6.25 at frame 3603, Max FPS: 27.65 at frame 971
Average Tri/Sec: -1926709, Tri/Frame: -113413
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.12
!TimeDemo Run 1 Finished.
Play Time: 211.86s, Average FPS: 19.35
Min FPS: 6.25 at frame 3603, Max FPS: 29.03 at frame 1969
Average Tri/Sec: -2703952, Tri/Frame: -139723
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.10
!TimeDemo Run 2 Finished.
Play Time: 218.59s, Average FPS: 18.76
Min FPS: 6.25 at frame 3603, Max FPS: 29.03 at frame 1969
Average Tri/Sec: -2564428, Tri/Frame: -136720
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.10
!TimeDemo Run 3 Finished.
Play Time: 212.23s, Average FPS: 19.32
Min FPS: 6.25 at frame 3603, Max FPS: 30.15 at frame 1722
Average Tri/Sec: -2678151, Tri/Frame: -138630
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.10
TimeDemo Play Ended, (4 Runs Performed)

Run #1- DX9 1280x720 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Custom ~~ Overall

Average FPS: 19.143333333333333333333333333


With 2GB Readyboost

TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 4100, Recorded Time: 132.23s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 232.10s, Average FPS: 17.66
Min FPS: 9.23 at frame 383, Max FPS: 29.22 at frame 1739
Average Tri/Sec: -2107671, Tri/Frame: -119317
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.11
!TimeDemo Run 1 Finished.
Play Time: 214.35s, Average FPS: 19.13
Min FPS: 9.23 at frame 383, Max FPS: 29.22 at frame 1739
Average Tri/Sec: -2689838, Tri/Frame: -140623
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.10
!TimeDemo Run 2 Finished.
Play Time: 213.96s, Average FPS: 19.16
Min FPS: 9.23 at frame 383, Max FPS: 29.22 at frame 1739
Average Tri/Sec: -2617521, Tri/Frame: -136599
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.10
!TimeDemo Run 3 Finished.
Play Time: 213.92s, Average FPS: 19.17
Min FPS: 9.23 at frame 383, Max FPS: 30.23 at frame 1729
Average Tri/Sec: -2590082, Tri/Frame: -135141
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.10
TimeDemo Play Ended, (4 Runs Performed)

Run #1- DX9 1280x720 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Custom ~~ Overall

Average FPS: 19.153333333333333333333333333

The Average comes from the runs 1, 2 and 3. The run 0 doesn't count as is the one where the windows load the demo onto the memory. So the difference is 0.01 fps. Nothing.
As I see it though, looking closer, you can see that the run 0 is much faster with the readyboost which means the windows loaded the game faster.
So it will help a bit when you are in a new stage in the game. Also the min fps is 3 fps more with readyboost. That's a very interesting point.
But it will be more interesting if someone has more than 2GB Ram and turbocache graphic card to do the test with 2 and 3 GB or 2 and 4 GB RAM.

Now I don't understand why the double rate of the RAM will be a good thing since the FSB is 800 MHz but the memory can only go up to 667 MHz (Someone had posted that even when he tried 800Mhz memory his laptop downgraded to 667MHz). Double rate means 1334 MHz but that will not have any effect, I think, with FSB at 800 MHz, right?

 

Using the Crysis GPU benchmark it will tell you how much memory it is using. Or you could just alt/tab and check task manager too. But that will be ram Crysis is using + other system resources. As your test prooves, readyboost is not really going to give you more frames. The only thing that will do that is a better gfx card or lower resolution or game settings.

 

Its actually double data rate from 333mhz x2 = 667mhz , of course 1hz off. Use CPU-z to check your RAM info it will tell you the clock speed is 333mhz. I thought i was getting ripped off when i saw that my ram was only running 333mhz then i learned about DDR

 

:yes: Ok guys, I found this thread in our forum where lunatic tested G1S with 2GB or 3GB RAM and the game FEAR and it definitely makes a difference.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=131467

The thread was also pointing to an address where there was a proper benchmark done in OS 64bit and it definitely gave a boost 2%-19% in the fps comparing 2GB and 4GB RAM testing in 9 games. The link is below

http://www.bcchardware.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3135&Itemid=40&limit=1&limitstart=0

So I am definitely getting a 2GB RAM stick to begin with. I don't know for 2x2GB configuration as I have a 32bit OS and I am not seeing myself changing to 64bit, at least for now.
I will post results by the end of the week for crysis.

 

That 2nd link is definitely more conclusive.

BF and COD2 were the only games with an increase around 18% - 19%. A couple others hovered around 10% and many were in the 2%-4% increase range. So will more ram boost your performance in games... yes. How much really depends on the game and how many resources are sucking up your memory during the game.

I still say the BEST way to increase performance in games is a better GPU (for FPS games) if your CPU is not being a bottleneck. However this is hard to upgrade in a notebook. If your CPU is a major bottleneck then upgrade that. Then if you are humming along and only have 2GB of Ram... put another GB in there and your flyin. However Ram is probably the cheapest upgrade. So really many factors regarding your budget and current hardware come into play here.

As I said before Ram is really cheap so it's totally a worthwhile investment even if game performance doesn't get much better, everything else will just be snappier and you'll be happier