RAM and loading times

jerm138 · 01-12-10, 11:59 PM

I have a pretty decent computer.

My weakest link is definitely my RAM. I only have 1G of it and it's only 800mhz.

Would upgrading/adding RAM improve my loading time?

Right now, it takes 6 minutes from the time I double-click the SH4 icon until I can be back on patrol.

I can boot up my computer from dead to on-the-internet in 30 seconds, so 6 minutes to start a program seems extreme.

G2B · 01-13-10, 12:06 AM

6 minutes, another stick could not hurt and ram is usually inexpensive. If possible get matching sticks otherwise if you get one stick faster it will still only function as fast as the slowest one.

Zero Enz · 01-13-10, 12:06 AM

I'm sure it would help, I am using 4 gb in dual channel mode, I can get from the desktop to patrol in about a minute. My sticks also run at 800 Mhz. You also have to take into consideration things like your ; Cpu, OS, start up list, and how fragmented your HDD is. Defragment your Hard drive if it needs it and clear up your start up list, If you're using Windows it's Start->Run->Msconfig->Startup.
If it's still slow you might wanna upgrade to 2 or 4 GB. 2 would probably fit most of your needs, but 4 will help with things to come.
~Hope this helps

Armistead · 01-13-10, 12:38 AM

It would help some, alot depends on your motherboard/chipset. If your specs are low in general, you may not notice much more, but it would certainly help some. Make sure you cut all the background programs and services off that you can.

PC's are cheap now....

jerm138 · 01-13-10, 12:49 AM

I'm pretty good about keeping everything clean and streamlined... lots of stuff I learned when flight simming. I don't have any startup programs at all (that's how I'm able to boot in 30 sec.)

I keep my drives pretty well defragged too.
The only things I kept from my last system are the CPU (3.4 Ghz Pentium D Dual Core) and the RAM.

I actually had 4 1G sticks in my last computer, but my new mobo is picky and for some reason it doesn't like 3 of the sticks. I think the RAM is my bottleneck. I'm able to run nearly everything I throw at the computer without problems (Crysis maxed out with 30FPS).

The loading time of SH4 is the only thing I've found to be annoyingly slow.

Zero Enz · 01-13-10, 01:04 AM

Are you running any mods? That may slow you down as well, I'm running TMO+RSRDC and it did add 20 seconds on to my load time.

Armistead · 01-13-10, 04:20 AM

One gig just gonna cause problems for this game. For sure take it to 2, 4 if you can. If you have all the background crap not running, it should be helpful. It takes me 23 seconds to load the game and I run about 11 mods. If you can, I would replace the old ram with new also and up it's speed...so cheap today, it's worth it.

KlassenT · 01-13-10, 05:51 AM

On the note of RAM, it's probably old news to you if you tried to recycle 4x1GB for a new build, but for anyone else reading, I'll toss in one of the recommendations I made to a friend earlier this week. As a general rule, more physical sticks will lead to higher performance. Take two identical systems of 4GB memory, one with 2 sticks of 2GB, and one with 4x1GB. Assuming the chipset and data bus are wide enough to support it, being able to request data from four locations instead of two can be a major advantage, and needless to say, they'll both top out a single 4GB.

As for your specific situation, if you're not sure whether or not your board will natively support DDR2-1066, I will caution you that it can take a bit of tinkering (Voltage, CAS) to get 1066mhz RAM working up to snuff on a few boards. Since it sounds like you're pretty capable when it comes to putting a build together, as long as you're not afraid to get your hands a bit dirty and call in some help from search engines, it's really not all that complicated. Just figured it was worth noting so that you can do a little preliminary research if you go with a 1066 model.

Apos · 01-13-10, 10:11 AM

Minimal size of RAM memory is 2GB for me. I highly suggest you to get another 1 or 2 GBs. DDR2 RAM (i belive you have DDR2) is cheap... I got 2GB for 80 PLN (~less than 20 euro) from friend of mine. If you're going to get 3GB (4GB totally) be sure to upgrade your OS to 64bits. 32bit windows doesn't use more than 3.2 GB Ram memory.

peabody · 01-13-10, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerm138

I have a pretty decent computer.

My weakest link is definitely my RAM. I only have 1G of it and it's only 800mhz.

Would upgrading/adding RAM improve my loading time?

Right now, it takes 6 minutes from the time I double-click the SH4 icon until I can be back on patrol.

I can boot up my computer from dead to on-the-internet in 30 seconds, so 6 minutes to start a program seems extreme.

Hello Jerm138,
I guess I am a good a candidate to give input here. I have the exact same chip Pentium D 3.4, and I have Corsair XMS 800mhz ram. And a Gigabyte board that has an 800mhz FSB. So even though there are a lot of other things that affect the loading we are the same on cpu and ram speed. But I have 3GB RAM (2X 1GB and 2x 512Mb) running in dual channel mode.

If I skip by everything, intros, reading the assigned port and the date, don't stop at the captains room to change anything and go straight to the mission, I am in the boat in 1 minute and 4 seconds. Of course if I have to load a saved mission that could add more time, or could be faster depending on what it has to load, since it is loading a mission it doesn't have to go throught the captain's room, so it evens out.

As for MODs it depends on what the Mods are. You can have a MOD that changes a file, but if it doesn't increase the size of that file it should load at the same speed. The Mods that would slow down a load would be Mods that either add more objects (ships,subs etc), more mission files, or overwrite files. If the game loads for example the Menu1024_768 file and the second MOD overwrites it and the third one overwrites it again, you have loaded that file three times.

So I would think your best bet is to try the stock 1.5 with no mods, skip by everything with a mouse click and see how long it takes to get into the sub. Then you would have more accurate info to compare apples to apples.

But either way more RAM should help the situation. But adding faster Ram may not make a bit of difference if the board doesn't support the speed. Also another thing that can affect loading is your hard drives. RPM, SATA, IDE, and how full they are.

I have run the game in the beginning with only 1GB Ram and although I did not time it, I am sure it was nowhere near 6 minutes. So there may be other things affecting the load.

Peabody

01-13-10, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peabody

Also another thing that can affect loading is your hard drives. RPM, SATA, IDE, and how full they are.

Peabody

i can confirm this, i never thought having half of a 320gb hard drive full mattered (i had 190gb of data) but switching to a 500gb hard drive with the exact same cache level cut down on loading times by a good 30%

today they have 32mb cache hard drives for very reasonable prices and that can help you a lot, a 500gb @ 32mb cache sata 3.0 goes for $80

a 4gb set of (2x2gb) ram your computer will help you a lot too if your board will support it, if not then get a 2gb set of (2x1gb) ram

jerm138 · 01-13-10, 06:12 PM

Thanks for the tips, everyone.

I've learned some things about RAM that I didn't know.

Time to hit newegg and start shopping!

01-13-10, 09:52 PM

Webster wrote...

Quote:

i cant confirm this, i never thought having half of a 320gb hard drive full mattered (i had 190gb of data) but switching to a 500gb hard drive with the exact same cache level cut down on loading times by a good 30%

Whoa, this is very interesting, do you have your hard drive configured as just the C drive or is it partitioned? I don't want to believe that a 60% full hard drive is causing performance problems but... I might have to start checking out Newegg's prices on HDs.

Urge

Ships-R-Us · 01-13-10, 11:49 PM

If you devote a second hard drive for the installation you will get faster load times.

Hard drives start writing data at the outer edge of the platter. For every rpm more data is read at the start of the drive than is at the center of the drive.

If you install the game as the first thing on the second drive you are well off. Make a partition somewhere further into the drive for mods and other data or even some nonchalant programs and you will be fine.

Remember that your OS is at the start of C drive for the same reason, faster access to data.

If you barely had enough room on C drive to install the game because all other programs ate up the good space it could take forever to load the game.

When I devoted a second drive solely for the game and mods, load time decreased immensly.

01-14-10, 02:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urge

Webster wrote...

Whoa, this is very interesting, do you have your hard drive configured as just the C drive or is it partitioned? I don't want to believe that a 60% full hard drive is causing performance problems but... I might have to start checking out Newegg's prices on HDs.

Urge

yep i had a typo

i meant to say i CAN confirm it

also it was a single unpartitioned drive

it was a 320 with about 20 unread for whatever reason it always hides part of the disk (backups for system restore or something i think)

so i had 300gb usable drive space with 190 filled and 110 unused so i figured it had plenty so it wouldnt slow me down but for the reasons shipsrus explained it causes a bottleneck in your system so its the size of the drive that is the most important and how full that drive is.

once you get to or pass the halfway point of your drive capacity it starts hurting the speed of your system and while it may not matter to the average person if you want the full speed you can get out of it try and size your disk so its never more than 1/4 to 1/3 full to keep max performance.

01-12-10, 11:59 PM	#1
jerm138 Watch Officer Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 332 Downloads: 35 Uploads: 0	RAM and loading times I have a pretty decent computer. My weakest link is definitely my RAM. I only have 1G of it and it's only 800mhz. Would upgrading/adding RAM improve my loading time? Right now, it takes 6 minutes from the time I double-click the SH4 icon until I can be back on patrol. I can boot up my computer from dead to on-the-internet in 30 seconds, so 6 minutes to start a program seems extreme. __________________

01-13-10, 12:06 AM	#2
G2B XO Join Date: May 2009 Location: Guam, I think Posts: 420 Downloads: 80 Uploads: 0	6 minutes, another stick could not hurt and ram is usually inexpensive. If possible get matching sticks otherwise if you get one stick faster it will still only function as fast as the slowest one. __________________

01-13-10, 12:49 AM	#5
jerm138 Watch Officer Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 332 Downloads: 35 Uploads: 0	I'm pretty good about keeping everything clean and streamlined... lots of stuff I learned when flight simming. I don't have any startup programs at all (that's how I'm able to boot in 30 sec.) I keep my drives pretty well defragged too. The only things I kept from my last system are the CPU (3.4 Ghz Pentium D Dual Core) and the RAM. I actually had 4 1G sticks in my last computer, but my new mobo is picky and for some reason it doesn't like 3 of the sticks. I think the RAM is my bottleneck. I'm able to run nearly everything I throw at the computer without problems (Crysis maxed out with 30FPS). The loading time of SH4 is the only thing I've found to be annoyingly slow. __________________

01-13-10, 06:12 PM	#12
jerm138 Watch Officer Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 332 Downloads: 35 Uploads: 0	Thanks for the tips, everyone. I've learned some things about RAM that I didn't know. Time to hit newegg and start shopping! __________________

01-13-10, 11:49 PM	#14
Ships-R-Us Commander Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 452 Downloads: 134 Uploads: 0	Dedicated hard drive reduces load time. If you devote a second hard drive for the installation you will get faster load times. Hard drives start writing data at the outer edge of the platter. For every rpm more data is read at the start of the drive than is at the center of the drive. If you install the game as the first thing on the second drive you are well off. Make a partition somewhere further into the drive for mods and other data or even some nonchalant programs and you will be fine. Remember that your OS is at the start of C drive for the same reason, faster access to data. If you barely had enough room on C drive to install the game because all other programs ate up the good space it could take forever to load the game. When I devoted a second drive solely for the game and mods, load time decreased immensly.

01-13-10, 12:06 AM	#3
Zero Enz Watch Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chicago Posts: 27 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	I'm sure it would help, I am using 4 gb in dual channel mode, I can get from the desktop to patrol in about a minute. My sticks also run at 800 Mhz. You also have to take into consideration things like your ; Cpu, OS, start up list, and how fragmented your HDD is. Defragment your Hard drive if it needs it and clear up your start up list, If you're using Windows it's Start->Run->Msconfig->Startup. If it's still slow you might wanna upgrade to 2 or 4 GB. 2 would probably fit most of your needs, but 4 will help with things to come. ~Hope this helps

01-13-10, 12:38 AM	#4
Armistead Rear Admiral Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: on the Dan Posts: 10,880 Downloads: 364 Uploads: 0	It would help some, alot depends on your motherboard/chipset. If your specs are low in general, you may not notice much more, but it would certainly help some. Make sure you cut all the background programs and services off that you can. PC's are cheap now....

01-13-10, 01:04 AM	#6
Zero Enz Watch Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chicago Posts: 27 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	Are you running any mods? That may slow you down as well, I'm running TMO+RSRDC and it did add 20 seconds on to my load time.

01-13-10, 04:20 AM	#7
Armistead Rear Admiral Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: on the Dan Posts: 10,880 Downloads: 364 Uploads: 0	One gig just gonna cause problems for this game. For sure take it to 2, 4 if you can. If you have all the background crap not running, it should be helpful. It takes me 23 seconds to load the game and I run about 11 mods. If you can, I would replace the old ram with new also and up it's speed...so cheap today, it's worth it.

01-13-10, 05:51 AM	#8
KlassenT Mate Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 54 Downloads: 21 Uploads: 0	On the note of RAM, it's probably old news to you if you tried to recycle 4x1GB for a new build, but for anyone else reading, I'll toss in one of the recommendations I made to a friend earlier this week. As a general rule, more physical sticks will lead to higher performance. Take two identical systems of 4GB memory, one with 2 sticks of 2GB, and one with 4x1GB. Assuming the chipset and data bus are wide enough to support it, being able to request data from four locations instead of two can be a major advantage, and needless to say, they'll both top out a single 4GB. As for your specific situation, if you're not sure whether or not your board will natively support DDR2-1066, I will caution you that it can take a bit of tinkering (Voltage, CAS) to get 1066mhz RAM working up to snuff on a few boards. Since it sounds like you're pretty capable when it comes to putting a build together, as long as you're not afraid to get your hands a bit dirty and call in some help from search engines, it's really not all that complicated. Just figured it was worth noting so that you can do a little preliminary research if you go with a 1066 model.

01-13-10, 10:11 AM	#9
Apos Mate Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Poland Posts: 59 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	Minimal size of RAM memory is 2GB for me. I highly suggest you to get another 1 or 2 GBs. DDR2 RAM (i belive you have DDR2) is cheap... I got 2GB for 80 PLN (~less than 20 euro) from friend of mine. If you're going to get 3GB (4GB totally) be sure to upgrade your OS to 64bits. 32bit windows doesn't use more than 3.2 GB Ram memory.