RLE Compression for textures

[Captain America]

In photoshop there is an option to save .tga files with RLE compression. RLE is a loss less compression meaning visually the image quality is the same just a smaller size.

I noticed when using this I can significantly reduce the size of many of the game images, which in theory should reduce memory usage. Take for instance the Periscope.tga file, by default it's 4mb but when saved with RLE compression its 2.64mb. Thats a significant difference. I was thinking if I changed every .tga texture in the game I should notice improved performance.

Before I go ahead with this task I was hoping someone who knows about textures and RLE compression would advise me if this is a good idea. I don't want this to make my performance worse. I was thinking...if the texture is now compressed I am saving memory but will it require more GPU/CPU power to display the image in the game because its compressed? Should RLE be used for graphic intensive games? The devs didn't use it so it makes me wonder if this is worth it.

Any info is appreciated.

-CA