More RAM Can Save Your SSD

[jjjallen 37]

 

From what I have read lately:

 

1.) You don't gain anything from having more than 8GB of RAM for most games . . . UNLESS you are running a 64-bit game, such as the 64-bit version of X-Plane 10. (32-bit Windows can only use a maximum of 4GB per process.)

 

2.) Faster RAM is also important, even though most gaming benchmarks won't show that it increases performance. That is because most only show maximum FPS, and the biggest difference is in the increase of the lowest FPS (the low-performance spikes). Faster RAM will make some game/sims run smoother (Such as Skyrim, CIV 5, FSX, and X-Plane). +1600MHz RAM also has a more noticeable effect with faster CPUs . . . the more you overclock your CPU, the more benefit you will see with faster RAM. Plus there are other programs that will benefit from more than 8GB.

 

I'm getting a new PC this summer, and it is going to have 16GB of 2133MHz CL-10 RAM. Upgrading from 8GB @1600 added less than $100 to my build.

 

Please read the article from the OP.

 

Cheers

jja

[Arwen 289]

@Arwen: CL 10 is not really fast, you´ll need CL 9, something like this:

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231638

Speed is a factor of both RAM Speed and Latency. Higher MHz RAM @ CL 10 can beat Slightly lower MHz RAM @ CL 9.

 

I'm having my system built for me, so my system memory selection is pretty limited (unless I'm willing to pay a premium for a special order). Plus my build includes a Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler, so that pretty much limits my choices to low-profile memory sticks.

 

My choice was between 2133MHz CL-10 RAM, or 1866MHz CL-9 RAM, and the 2133MHz one is the faster [10/2133*2000=9.37] [9/1866*2000=9.65].  From what I have read, the sweet spot which had been 1600Mhz CL-9 (9/1600*2000=11.25) for the past few years, has increase a bit as CPUs have increase a bit.  Some now are suggesting that the new sweet spot is perhaps 1866MHz CL-9 RAM. Anything faster than that would not likely be worth the extra cost, due to the small benefit you might gain in performance. [Two 8GB sticks of 2133MHz CL-10 RAM only costs me $10 more than two 8GB sticks of 866MHz CL-9 RAM.]

[Arwen 289]

Please read the article from the OP.

 

Cheers

jja

I DID read that article before I wrote my reply!

.

What I wrote was is response to the post above mine, where it was stated that there is no performance benefit for games/sims from increasing 8GB System RAM to 16GB. What I didn't point out (because I felt it would be obvious), was that if you're running a 64-bit game (which can use more than 4GB of RAM per process), that there would be a greater benefit with even fewer writes to a SSD.

 

Cheers to you too.

[Guest]

@Arwen: CL 10 is not really fast, you´ll need CL 9, something like this:

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231638

 

+1

 

I already both this 8GB kit for my build.

I looked all over the place for 2400 with low timing

and this kit is the money shoot for 4770k FSX build

[Kami 1]

@Arwen wrote:

 

"From what I have read, the sweet spot which had been 1600Mhz CL-9"

 

I really don´t know about any "sweet spot" - I still use 1600Mhz 7-8-7-24 T1 - and that´s fast!

 

You build as you prefer, I just wanted inform you about the faster RAM.

[Arwen 289]

Sweet Spot = "best bang for the buck":

 

http://www.gskill.com/en/review/view/g-skill-ripjawsz-ddr3-1600mhz-cl9-16gb-memory-review-at-benchmarkreviews-com?p=7 "Right now, a good DDR3-1600 memory kit hits the sweet spot for price vs. performance: it's faster than DDR3-1066 and DDR3-1333 (besides, there's some subtle enthusiast stigma attached to memory slower than 1600MHz), and provides virtually the same performance as much more expensive "high performance" memory. You'll get G.SKILL's lifetime warranty and support in a 16GB kit that's less than $90 at Newegg, which is the lowest price I can find for a DDR3-1600 quad channel memory kit with 9-9-9-24 timings. Right now this is the best bang for the buck available in a memory kit of these specs."

 

http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=856&Itemid=67&limit=1&limitstart=5 "This memory hits the sweet spot for price vs. performance: it's faster than DDR3-1066 and DDR3-1333 (besides, there's some subtle enthusiast stigma attached to memory slower than 1600MHz), and provides virtually the same performance as much more expensive "high performance" memory."

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6372/memory-performance-16gb-ddr31333-to-ddr32400-on-ivy-bridge-igp-with-gskill/14 "For the majority of users, the DDR3-1866 C9 kit from G.Skill is a great buy, as long as the user remembers to enable XMP(!).  Budget conscious builds will find solace in the DDR3-1600 C9 kit, which is a no brainer over the 1333 C9 kit for the extra $5.  If your pockets are a little deeper, then the G.Skill DDR3-2133 C9 kit will offer some extra performance, but not as much as jumping between the other kits will.  The DDR3-2400 C10 kit is not in the right ballpark compared to the other kits and only serves well for forum signatures.  To sum up:

 

$75: Ares DDR3-1333 9-9-9 4x4 GB

$80: RipjawsX DDR3-1600 9-9-9 4x4 GB – Recommended for Budget Conscious

$95: Sniper DDR3-1866 9-10-9 4x4 GB – Recommended 

$130: RipjawsZ DDR3-2133 9-11-10 4x4 GB – Recommended for Deeper Pockets

$145: TridentX DDR3-2400 10-12-12 4x4 GB – Not Recommended"

 

http://www.tested.com/tech/pcs/456423-how-buy-ram-your-pc/ "For general computing and gaming, 8GB of RAM is the sweet spot. Get a set of two 4GB DDR3 DIMMs, at at least 1600MHz. If you're running AMD's Trinity platform, you should get DDR3/1866, but DDR3/2133 is a good step up if you can afford it. If you're on Ivy Bridge or Haswell, DDR3/1866 is a good step up. Don't worry about fancy heatspreaders or the lack thereof, unless you have a big CPU heatsink. Get RAM from a reputable manufacturer, preferably something from your motherboard's Qualified Vendor List, and make sure it's set in the BIOS to run at its rated speeds."

[jjjallen 37]

 

 

$130: RipjawsZ DDR3-2133 9-11-10 4x4 GB – Recommended for Deeper Pockets

 

These work great!

 

Cheers

jja

I DID read that article before I wrote my reply!

.

What I wrote was is response to the post above mine, where it was stated that there is no performance benefit for games/sims from increasing 8GB System RAM to 16GB. What I didn't point out (because I felt it would be obvious), was that if you're running a 64-bit game (which can use more than 4GB of RAM per process), that there would be a greater benefit with even fewer writes to a SSD.

 

Cheers to you too.

Sorry - I read (or don't read =) too fast.

 

Regards

jja

[Appliance 51]

If one has 16 Gb of Ram it is possible to turn off the page file entirely and benefit from increased performance accordingly.

[UlfB 7]

If one has 16 Gb of Ram it is possible to turn off the page file entirely and benefit from increased performance accordingly.

Have you our somebody else performed some benchmarking? Links would be very much appreciated :mellow:

[Sam 68]

Just disable the pagefile already..

[Appliance 51]

 

 

Links would be very much appreciated

 

 

 

 

 

[UlfB 7]

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kNWMfAaVj0

 

Nice clips :-)

 

But my question was about bencmarks regarding your statement:

 

If one has 16 Gb of Ram it is possible to turn off the page file entirely and benefit from increased performance accordingly.

Do you have any links to benchmarks with and without using a page file?

[Kami 1]

@Ulf:

 

This guy did all the hard work, which I´m too lazy to do!

 

http://www.tweakhound.com/2011/10/10/the-windows-7-pagefile-and-running-without-one/

[UlfB 7]

@Ulf:

 

This guy did all the hard work, which I´m too lazy to do!

 

http://www.tweakhound.com/2011/10/10/the-windows-7-pagefile-and-running-without-one/

Excellent test! And the author's conclusion is exactly what I suspected:

Conclusion

After 20 or so hours of prep and roughly 32 hours of benchmarking there was no difference between having a pagefile and not.

Waist of time disabling use of the page file ^_^

[Kami 1]

Agree, and it can cause other problems, Windows really like to write on that pagefile from time to time...

 

http://lifehacker.com/5426041/understanding-the-windows-pagefile-and-why-you-shouldnt-disable-it

 

What size to use?

 

http://www.simforums.com/forums/page-file-size-question-for-nick-n_topic33554.html