[TEC] SH3+GWX 2.0 with 3GB RAM

[Graf Paper]

Howdy, Kaleuns!

Since I'm branching out into computer graphics and, eventually, 3D modeling, I decided to purchase some new RAM for my trusty old box. Delivery is expected on Monday.

The RAM is 3 GB of DDR 333 MHz that I found for a very good price.

Yep, time to celebrate. Ol' G.P. was able to afford an "upgrade"! This don't happen very often. :roll:

My question, as it relates to SH3 is this:

I've had to use the Lite Harbor Traffic and 8km Atmosphere to avoid lagging my system too badly. My CPU is a 2.4GHz Athlon, vid card is ATI Radeon x1650 Pro 512MB AGP, and current system memory is 512MB DDR266 RAM.

I figured that old RAM is the last major bottleneck.

Can anyone with a similar system tell me if using the regular harbor traffic and effects along with the 16km Atmosphere will still lag and make the game stutter, even with the new RAM I'm getting?

I'd like to avoid having to monkey around with ripping out mods to find out for myself. This would entail a bit of work since I merged some of the mod files for compatibility, such as the Real Weather Fix + Lite Harbor Traffic + SH4 Scene.

[bert8for3]

My system is very similar: Intel 2.4, same vidcard and also AGP, 1G RAM. SH3 runs very smoothly and in harbours with the full harbour traffic, there is stuttering but not so bad. Outside harbours and eg even with convoys close by, there's no stuttering at all. So I'm thinking that your upping to 3G (and I think your new RAM is better than mine) will make a big difference.

[antikristuseke]

You should be fine with 3gb, used the 16k mod with full harbour trafic on my old 2.2ghz barton and 1gb of ram with no major issues, but at high time compression near convoys things got very laggy, then again why on earth would one sue high time compression when near a convoy.

[Jimbuna]

You should experience an improvement http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/thumbsup.gif

[P_Funk]

What are you crazy? ALWAYS MORE RAM! JUST LISTEN TO THE NAME! RAM! SOUNDS POWERFUL! SOUNDS LIKE AN ANIMAL... LIKE SOMEONE'S... well can't say that BUT ITS HUGE!

More ram is always better. :yep:











...RAM!

[danurve]

Graf Paper; IMO the light harbour traffic is a last act, you shouldn't need it.

My current system is a 939 2.0, 2-gigs dual channel OCZ, ati x1300 256 agp.
The game runs great except if I'm zoomed in with the scope on burning ships or sometimes when I ride the scope low and you have the blurring affect. Smoke and explosions are usually dealt with ok, but if the scope is on one of those intense fires, its much like loosing control of the game. I don't think that is a result of 16k. When I just had 1 gig of ram it was an issue. To be honest if I had to go back to 8k I'd feel to be missing to much.

Now back to light harbour traffic for a minute.
If you've never run another mod called War Ace before someone might not understand this. I think the current level of harbor traffic in GWX (at least 1.03) is just right. The card doesn't choke and you can pan around and enjoy it. The harbour traffic in War Ace was almost at an arcade level. So ask yourself how much time are you spending in harbours. Or, navigate out of the harbour on the map screen.

[Graf Paper]

Casting off from the harbor is the only time I really lag in the game and only when I'm still close to the dock with the band playing and airplanes cruising overhead.

It may actually have more to do with so many sounds playing at once as I do not experience much lag from graphic effects once I'm out to sea. A ship that explodes spectacularly is about the only other choke point for me with graphics, but not by much.

Hopefully, I will have my new RAM in my eager hands in about 20 hours or less!

I feel like it's my birthday! :rotfl:

[Tool]

The only time mine lags or hangs for a few seconds is when i'm at >128 TC and playing music.. using 16k and regular harbor traffic. I find it odd given i have a E6400 dualcore with 2 gigs of dual channel.. but given the ~1.5 minute load time with a GWX 2 campaign save, i can understand it does load a lot into the RAM.

Tool.

[Graf Paper]

:D OH BOY!! :D

My RAM just got here! :rock:

Time to sign off and go snap these in!

Can hardly wait to see how SH3+GWX performs! :D

[CapZap1970]

don't forget to let us know how did it work... :up:
CapZap

[Graf Paper]

Got my RAM installed but there was only one hitch. Despite my motherboard's manual asserting it supports 3GB of DDR333 RAM, I can only have 2GB installed. System locks up upon boot every time with 3 sticks installed. None of the RAM is defective as all three work fine when swapping them. :damn:

Interesting note is the manual does explicitly state that DDR400 RAM is limited to 2GB.

The only explanations are:
a) Mobo manufacturer lied
b) RAM vendor used down-clocked DDR400 modules and relabeled them as DDR333.

Sometimes you just want to take all these hardware manufacturers, drop them on a desert island, then nuke the island. :stare:

On a more positive note, I was able to up some of my system settings with this new RAM, such as enabling the highest pipeline speed between my CPU and FSB.

First thing I did was fire up SH3+GWX2.

My detailed and concise report of my initial impression follows:

http://static3.filefront.com/images/personal/g/GrafPaper/128692/woldfdcdii.jpg


:rock:NO LAG WHATSOEVER!:rock:

The game even loads slightly faster!:D

[CapZap1970]

glad you were able to see improvement, even if you are having problems with 3 memory sticks. :rock:
Same thing happened to me some time ago, and it's because the motherboard sometimes have conflicts when trying to handle 3 sticks. It's always better to have 1, 2 or 4, but not 3. Why? I don't know... :hmm:
Anyway, glad you can enjoy the improvement. :up:
CapZap

[Sirkam]

I have a PIV 3,2 GHZ (LGA775), 2GB RAM DDR400 and a 7600GT 256MB AGP Graphic card. My CPU is a bit more powerfull than your CPU, i have less RAM than you and my VGA is a bit less powerfull. Maybe the problem is the DDR frequecy (333) of your RAM and your programs running in the background (like antivirus, firewalls, etc...)
I run the game perfectly with the default mods activated.

[XLjedi]

I doubt your OS would even recognize more than 2 gigs...

Does your BIOS see the 3 gigs and then the PC just chokes when it tries to load your OS? ...or does the BIOS not even recognize it?

[Jimbuna]

Got my RAM installed but there was only one hitch. Despite my motherboard's manual asserting it supports 3GB of DDR333 RAM, I can only have 2GB installed. System locks up upon boot every time with 3 sticks installed. None of the RAM is defective as all three work fine when swapping them. :damn:

Interesting note is the manual does explicitly state that DDR400 RAM is limited to 2GB.

The only explanations are:
a) Mobo manufacturer lied
b) RAM vendor used down-clocked DDR400 modules and relabeled them as DDR333.

Sometimes you just want to take all these hardware manufacturers, drop them on a desert island, then nuke the island. :stare:

On a more positive note, I was able to up some of my system settings with this new RAM, such as enabling the highest pipeline speed between my CPU and FSB.

First thing I did was fire up SH3+GWX2.

My detailed and concise report of my initial impression follows:

http://static3.filefront.com/images/personal/g/GrafPaper/128692/woldfdcdii.jpg


:rock:NO LAG WHATSOEVER!:rock:

The game even loads slightly faster!:D

Pleased your sorted http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/9026/wolfthumbsuprw5.gif (http://imageshack.us)

[Tool]

I've never seen 3 gigs as a common standard either.. usually 2 or 4gigs is what most newer MBs support. I currently have 2 gigs setup in dual channel.. which with a 3rd stick would probably cause some serious issues as 2 would be in dual channel with one stick in single. Are you saying you don't have 4 slots for RAM? Kinda odd in my experience. I also don't believe XP supports > 2 gig, but i could be wrong (that is assuming you are running XP pro like the majority of gamers do yet).

Tool.

[The Butcher]

32bit XP should recognize a little over 3 gig. Aplications wont be able to access anything over that but the operating system and drivers can.

:up: More is better!

[antikristuseke]

b) RAM vendor used down-clocked DDR400 modules and relabeled them as DDR333.


Doesnt mater if the used downclocked DDR400 modules as you say, not in the least tbh. It's the SPD chip on the ram stick that sets memory parameters, regardless of wether the chips on the pcb are actualy capable of higher frequencies or not.

[Graf Paper]

Keep in mind my box is an older system. The mobo was purchased new in 2002. It has three 184-pin DIMM slots and each slot can use 64MB-1GB of DDR RAM at 133/266/333 MHz. Support for DDR 400 is two slots only with a max of 2GB RAM.

At the time, this was a very top-of-the-line mobo for single CPU setups with more features built into it than Darth Vader's bathroom. It's certainly proven its staying power over the years and runs almost any software you can throw at it, except for the new games that have been hitting shelves in the last year or so. Then again, SH3 was the last new PC game I purchased as it seems after that there were just the usual clones and sequels for the FPS, RTS, and MMORPG genres.

Maybe I'm just getting jaded after playing 30 years worth of video games, beginning with Pong. I still miss my Commodore-64 sometimes. But I digress...

Funny thing is the BIOS auto-detect saw the RAM as DDR 400 until I configured it in the BIOS as the DDR 333 that it is supposed to be.

With the full 3GB installed it seems to pass the memtest portion okay, but then things get a bit odd. The POST appears to progress normally, but the BIOS begins issuing error beeps and the LED indicator panel shows a general fault code (or else it's locked up because all the indicators are lit steady red.)

Right as it gets to the point where my WinXP Pro should boot, the system locks up and these three artifacts show up at the top of the screen. They're always the same three "garbage" characters, the one that stands out in my mind is a black @ symbol in a red block.

After playing through a patrol last night, I can further clarify my initial assessment. The fact that there is no lag in the harbor is a real treat for me. For once I can enjoy the experience of being on the bridge as we set sail, instead of hiding at the Nav Map, as the crowd at the quay proudly cheers us on (and that damnable band keeps playing their song...over and over and OVER).

There is only one thing that causes severe lag now, when a ship explodes after I've hit it with an eel. I mean really explode, like 'KABOOM!' from a critical hit, not the usual 'BLAMMO!' from a torp impact. I think that may be more my fault for cranking up the AA and AF a couple of notches.

Overall, having upgraded my RAM has resulted in a much richer and far smoother experience with SH3+GWX2. :D