Memory (RAM) Comparison


With current pricing trends, ram is one of the most affordable pieces of computer hardware for a system, making an upgrade easier and cheaper than ever. It is often debated as to exactly how much ram is required to make a noticeable difference, and at what point does the excess ram begin to have little or no effect. Age of Conan’s developers set 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 as the recommended amount, but with so many people running Windows Vista -a notorious memory hog - is it worthwhile to add in even more? One thing we must note in order to avoid potential backlash, is that a 32Bit Windows operating system cannot address any more than 4GB of ram, this includes your other hardware. Many gamers have video cards with memory ranging from 256MB to over 1GB, as well as other system peripherals that factor into this equation. As such, if you are running a 32Bit OS with a high end video card, you may want to consider switching to a 64Bit OS, which can address far more (16 exabytes, give or take), or else be prepared to see a sizable chunk of your physical memory missing.

Test System:
OS: Windows Vista SP1 x64
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
Video Card: nVidia 9800GTX 512MB
Ram:

• Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X1024-8500C5 1GB
• Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X1024-8500C5 2GB
• OCZ REAPER PC2-8500 DDR2 4GB

Our tests were only run on High settings in order to maximize load and clearly differentiate performance results.


The leap from 1GB to 2GB is enormous! With Vista eating up nearly ¾ of the available ram right off the bat, it leaves Age of Conan struggling to get its fair share. While detailed line charts are not available, our 1GB unit frequently took large dips into slideshow territory and loading levels and zones more than doubled.



The intro demo breaks the trend a little as it does not place as much load on the PC as our real game demos, but the results are still very much in line with expectations. Interestingly, our 4GB set does achieve more frames over the 2GB kit than in the other two benchmarks.



Tarantia was a run where we expected to see gaps widen, and while the separation between 1GB and 2GB grew, the 4GB set merely inched ahead, much as before. Doubling the ram for a 2% performance boost hardly seemed worth the effort to even snap it into the motherboard.


As evident in the results, the jump from 2GB to 4GB netted next to nothing performance wise, even using Vista. Keep in mind however, we are running with a fresh install of Windows Vista, the only background programs being drivers and monitoring programs, there are no other typical system stressors to factor in. Upon a fresh boot our physical memory usage sits at approximately 550MB of our available ram. With Age of Conan launched and running benchmarks, that jumps to between 1.6GB-1.8GB, on the verge of tipping the scales, but not close enough to create a altercation between programs. Our conclusion on the ram argument is this; your needs are very much dependent on your current situation. The facts are, that Age of Conan is going to eat up a good 1GB of memory during game play, potentially higher in areas we were unable to explore. You most likely will be chewing up the same amount if you are running Vista. That noted, check your system during idle to see exactly where your particular system stands. If you generally run programs in the background such as: Music, Anti-Virus, P2P clients or other such services, be sure to factor in their footprint. For most users all this is cutting it VERY close to an overrun with only 2GB, and given the ridiculously low price of ram, an upgrade would ensure smooth, quality gaming.