Ram memory, or speed question

[jfriz 27]

I am running P3D.

Upgrading memory ram.  Should I buy say 8GB's at a higher speed, around 3000? Or, for about the same price say 16GB's, at a slower speed, around 2000? 

I know the 16GB's at a higher speed would be better, but, getting pretty expensive. Trying to make the best affordable choice...

I will make sure the speed matches my ASRock 97 Pro MB.

Thanks,

Jerry Friz

 

[Spidierox 4]

I would go for the 16GB... speeed is good enough but then you have double of the 8...that makes it worthwhile as your budget is limited 

(don't worry mine is too)

[jfriz 27]

Hi Dieter,

Thanks, kind of what I was thinking.

I thought more folks would way in, Dan for one, and Kyle.

Regards,

Jerry Friz

[scandinavian13 5,192]

 

 

I thought more folks would way in, Dan for one, and Kyle.

 

On vacation, but I guess that hasn't kept me away from the forum entirely when I'm not out.

 

I have 32GB of reasonably fast RAM, but the biggest issue is really going to be your CPU. That's the bit that you want to be fast (for FSX in particular). More RAM just gives you more space to let your programs run in. Faster RAM is going to give you faster access to that space, but it's also limited by the paths to that RAM on your board.

 

Here's a good run through of RAM speed (he runs over capacity quickly at the beginning):

[por930 51]

Interesting video Kyle. Sort of says don't waste your money on 'expensive' ram as the difference are pretty small.

 

Enjoy your vacation. I just returned from three weeks in Canada and 1 week in Japan.

[garrett_frank 150]

Also keep in mind the rule of thumb to divide the memory speed by the CAS. It should help in comparing different RAM setups. Higher factor is better.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

 

 

Enjoy your vacation. I just returned from three weeks in Canada and 1 week in Japan.

 

Thanks! Nice! Just ran into a guy who lives in Japan last night at the hotel bar on the way back up to my room.

[Cann0nF0dd3r 21]

Being 32bit doesn't FSX/P3D only use 3.5-4gb regardless of how much you have in your system?

 

Stop posting on vacation Kyle! LOL I've spent a total of a year and a half in Japan, amazing country, loved every minute of it!

[downscc 1,327]

 

 

Being 32bit doesn't FSX/P3D only use 3.5-4gb regardless of how much you have in your system?

 

True, but the simulation is never the only thing that needs memory.  Right now my system commit memory use is 7.9GB with a B77L flight in progress.  This is why 8GB memory is a minimum and 16GB is recommended.  More than 16GB is justified if you have other operational requirements.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

 

 

Being 32bit doesn't FSX/P3D only use 3.5-4gb regardless of how much you have in your system?

 

True. I have more RAM for other stuff going on. I occasionally have the sim, AS2016, Chrome, Visual Studio, and a few other development programs running to work on projects, so all that RAM is nice to have.

 

 

Stop posting on vacation Kyle!

 

haha - I just do it when I'm back in my room. I've been walking around Portugal and covering about 9mi daily of walking alone. I'm definitely taking my time to decompress.

[Cann0nF0dd3r 21]

Same here but I have 16gb instead of 32gb. Runs pretty good for the most part, I can average 20-30fps on the ground at UK2000 Heathrow in the NGX or T7 in P3D. Even with AS16+ASCA running, and EFB transmitting to a second computer.

[jfriz 27]

Thanks Kyle, Dan, and others, just what I was looking for. Enjoy your vacation, I spent a lot of time in Japan..

 Hope you take lots of pictures, and videos.

 

Jerry Friz, Ksea

[Tabs 2,790]

On vacation, but I guess that hasn't kept me away from the forum entirely when I'm not out.

 

I have 32GB of reasonably fast RAM, but the biggest issue is really going to be your CPU. That's the bit that you want to be fast (for FSX in particular). More RAM just gives you more space to let your programs run in. Faster RAM is going to give you faster access to that space, but it's also limited by the paths to that RAM on your board.

 

Here's a good run through of RAM speed (he runs over capacity quickly at the beginning):

 

That vid's 3 years old and the newer chipsets/CPUs like the 6700K have actually shown more of a benefit from using higher performance RAM actually - from Linus's own forum:

 

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/423703-skylake-6700k-appears-to-be-scaling-significantly-with-ramspeed-in-dedicated-gaming/

[Guest]

Please bear in mind that FSX and Prepar3d are 32bit software, that means they occupy no more than ~ 3.5 GB, that's a tech limit of 32bit software, even if running on a 64bit OS.

 

If you have a bunch of addons, let's say 7-8 of them, they doesn't go beyond 1GB-2GB therefore 4-8GB are much more than enough for flight simming with FSX and Prepar3d.

 

Common nowdays games may benefit from having 8 or even more than 8GB but you can check it your self precisely, just fire up Prepar3d, lunch 7-8 addons and open the windows Task Manager, you will see that almost never your RAM occupancy goes beyond 4GB, unless you are simoultaneously playing 3-4 modern games and you have opened 10-12 internet sessions  :wink:

[downscc 1,327]

 

 

open the windows Task Manager, you will see that almost never your RAM occupancy goes beyond 4GB,

 

That is just plain false.  Right now I am only running P3D and AS16 (my web browsing and maps and PFPX are on a second workstation) and total memory is 5.3GB physical memory, 7.9GB system commit.