What a difference RAM makes...

Silverleaf · 01-01-09, 08:46 AM

Greetings and Happy New Year,

I've had a brand new system sitting here for the last 9 months or so, never fired up and essentially saved "for emergency" purposes. I decided to load SH3/GWX 2.1/SH3 Commander onto it and see what a RAM upgrade would do.

Both systems in this comparison have identical features:
Dell Inspiron 531
AMD 2.8 gig Processors
Nvidia 6150SE NForce 430 on-board graphics card

Here are the only 2 differences:

Ram:
CPU 1: 768 meg
CPU 2: 3 Gig

OS:
CPU 1: XP
CPU 2: Vista Home

****
JSG Mods enabled:
OLCE2
OLCE2 Adjusted GWX2.1 Enhanced Damage Effects

Load times to main menu:
CPU 1: 1 minute 12 seconds
CPU 2: 14 seconds

Much quicker, no surprises..

Load time with new career:
Cpu 1: 10 minutes 26 seconds
CPU 2: 1 minute 53 seconds

Holy carp! I went to make a glass of green tea, and glance back and my watchman is standing looking at me.

CPU 1: Coming out of base Wilhemshaven I always had slow down, and sometimes a sound would repeat 3 or 4 times until the processing was complete. Overall a good experience with slow downs occuring in/out of port and if I used external camera to view a wreck/torp hit up close.

CPU 2: No slow down, a squadron of planes flew over as I was leaving port, while 4 ships (3 merchants and a fellow sub) plodded along. Experience was quite eye-opening, given previous example.

SH3 End Game/Return to desktop:
CPU 1: 4 minutes 17 seconds to CPU Idle status
CPU 2: 29 seconds to CPU Idle status

This was not expected. Nice! Obviously I knew ram would make a difference, but until you actually see it for yourself you can only go by what others have experienced. The speed difference is night and day, but more importantly the gameplay and enjoyment factor just went up a hundredfold more.

I still prefer XP (Win 98SE is still much better) over Vista *blech*

Lastly - come January 10th (or thereabouts) I'll be updating to the best card I can find - Nvidia preferred so if anyone uses Nvidia, I'd love to see some recommendations. Money isn't so much an issue at this point, but I would like a card that embraces the new system.

I'd think 512 meg on board would be an advantage - but again I'm open to suggestions.

Cheers and thanks,

R.S.

01-01-09, 08:46 AM	#1
Silverleaf Wild Night in Bangkok Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Ohio Posts: 179 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	What a difference RAM makes... Greetings and Happy New Year, I've had a brand new system sitting here for the last 9 months or so, never fired up and essentially saved "for emergency" purposes. I decided to load SH3/GWX 2.1/SH3 Commander onto it and see what a RAM upgrade would do. Both systems in this comparison have identical features: Dell Inspiron 531 AMD 2.8 gig Processors Nvidia 6150SE NForce 430 on-board graphics card Here are the only 2 differences: Ram: CPU 1: 768 meg CPU 2: 3 Gig OS: CPU 1: XP CPU 2: Vista Home ** JSG Mods enabled: OLCE2 OLCE2 Adjusted GWX2.1 Enhanced Damage Effects Load times to main menu: CPU 1: 1 minute 12 seconds CPU 2: 14 seconds Much quicker, no surprises.. Load time with new career: Cpu 1: 10 minutes 26 seconds CPU 2: 1 minute 53 seconds Holy carp! I went to make a glass of green tea, and glance back and my watchman is standing looking at me. CPU 1: Coming out of base Wilhemshaven I always had slow down, and sometimes a sound would repeat 3 or 4 times until the processing was complete. Overall a good experience with slow downs occuring in/out of port and if I used external camera to view a wreck/torp hit up close. CPU 2: No slow down, a squadron of planes flew over as I was leaving port, while 4 ships (3 merchants and a fellow sub) plodded along. Experience was quite eye-opening, given previous example. SH3 End Game/Return to desktop:** CPU 1: 4 minutes 17 seconds to CPU Idle status CPU 2: 29 seconds to CPU Idle status This was not expected. Nice! Obviously I knew ram would make a difference, but until you actually see it for yourself you can only go by what others have experienced. The speed difference is night and day, but more importantly the gameplay and enjoyment factor just went up a hundredfold more. I still prefer XP (Win 98SE is still much better) over Vista blech Lastly - come January 10th (or thereabouts) I'll be updating to the best card I can find - Nvidia preferred so if anyone uses Nvidia, I'd love to see some recommendations. Money isn't so much an issue at this point, but I would like a card that embraces the new system. I'd think 512 meg on board would be an advantage - but again I'm open to suggestions. Cheers and thanks, R.S. __________________