Memory Will BF3 benefit from 8GB of RAM (instead of 4GB)

I was having a session on BF3 a few days ago and couldn't help but notice the total system RAM usage hitting 95% (3.8GB) ! There were very few programs using the memory which were running in the background.

So, would upgrading to 8GB of RAM show improvements in average FPS? Minimum FPS? Or no improvement at all?

Also, I've read the articles about RAM speed making little/no difference with Sandy Bridge. Is this still the case with games or does that only apply for productivity programs?

 

You won't see much difference at all but since ram is cheap atm it's still worth having 8gb of ram for everyday use.

 

Ah :/!

I didn't think extra RAM would make too much difference to gaming, but seeing as the usage was so high, I thought it may be causing a bottleneck of sorts. I was experiencing some FPS drops, but that could be due to my 1GB GFX card.

Yes, I do agree its worth getting anyway. Just keeping an eye out for the right deal. If I thought BF3 for example would benefit, I may just buy the RAM sooner.

 

I think a little bit more than 4gb will be good for Bf3 - I seem to be stuck on high 90 and sometimes peaked on my memory after playing bf3, so I'm tempted to upgrade to 8gb myself.

 

95% RAM usage isn't where I want to be lol.

I'm curious as to how much the difference will be. I understand the above comments saying that it would only be a little difference, but if the RAM is causing a bottleneck, surely the difference would be quite substantial (system dependant)?

Now, what are people's opinions on RAM speed and its worth?

 

SSD makes a greater impact and GPU memory is more important for BF3 on ultra settings.

You won't see much difference in games with the ram. Going from 8gb to 16gb made my windows much snappier, kind of like the speedup u get when you disable the swap file.

 

^Yeah. To put it this way 4gb vs 8gb is a heck of a leap to compare and therefore people are often disappointed when they see by adding 100% more RAM it doesn't appear to change that much.

BF3 would be fine on 4.5gb or 5gb. It just seems to need that little bit extra to take some pressure off from using virtual memory. But £35-45 will buy you a corsair 8gb dual channel kit @ 1600mhz with 1.5v, you can play around with the timings yourself however it is not that important as the speed of the memory is not the issue. The issue is when it has no capacity left on the memory to store the page files for the CPU to read the PC has to rely more on grabbing directly from the HDD/virtual memory. Hard drives are slow which is why investing in a SSD would give you more noticeable load times and performance difference (upon other reasons).

But at the end of the day, more memory won't hurt and if you can afford it you might as well pick some up before prices start shooting up as they seem to do every so often.

 

Got an SSD but now that you mention, it could probably do with a decent clean up to restore its faster operational state

perhaps I could justify the 8gb for windows

I doubt that the ssd is the issue.

Perhaps i should just get 8gb cheap ram while its cheap so that I don't have to think about the potential for future bottlenecks.

I do use photoshop a lot too. That seems to be very RAM heavy... I'm trying to justify the upgrade

 

Basically, when DDR3 is so cheap, you should upgrade. I bought 16gb gskill 1866mhz this year and I was shocked at how much quicker the desktop felt.

Photoshop is a good excuse as is the HD video editing I do from time to time.

 

I don't think you will see that much difference in the game however if you are like me and have a tendency to tap out of games while playing you will see a major difference here. With 4 gb you properly aren't able to tap out quickly and have everything responding instantaneously as the RAM is reserved for the game, 8 gb will change that much.

Running on 6 GB myself right now and have had to go down on 4 once in a while and I must say that there is a noticeable difference between 4 and five GB RAM. But again as I am on DDR2 I am not sure how the difference feels on DDR3.

 

Indeed. I'd hate to upgrade and watch it get cheaper though

might just get 8gb of el cheapo DDR3. In my opinion, it's all the same stuff (i don't OC it) and has the same warranty. Aria have a good deal on some Exceleram actually...

 

correct you are there.

I regularly go out of the game to check temps and emails between rounds etc. I also have temps displayed on my secondary monitor which could affect ram usage?

Looks like I've just about made my mind up . further info is welcomed though. Always nice to read that a purchase is justifiable

 

I don't think this is likely to happen. RAM prices are very low and manufacturers are making it at razor thin margins. At best the prices will stay around this level, at worst we will see an increase either for legitimate reasons or they'll find an excuse. I know I haven't forgiven myself for not buying a bunch of 2TB drives I was thinking about just a few days before the factories got flooded.

 

In my own testing dropping from 8GB to 4GB in my gaming machine (see sig) make no difference in BF3. It also made no discernable difference in how my machine "feels" although everything is running off of an SSD (be that windows or Steam).

I should note of course that I am heavily GPU limited in BF3 (running 3560x1920) and my machine is running a very recent install of Windows 7 with bugger all on it.

That said I will be putting 8GB+ back in it as soon as possible (only switched out to give my wife's system 4GB of memory) as there are no doubt times where 4GB isn't enough.

 

Don't know where you guys are getting your figures? My total system RAM use in BF3 never exceeds 2GB.

 

isn't bf3 still a 32bit game so max ram usage will be 2gb

 

Well this is what RAM window 7 Ultimate 64bit uses at idle.



And this is how much it uses, when running BF3.



So yes, I would get 8GB of RAM.

 

i cant remember exactly what mine is i think its approx 4gb

 

Don't waste money on 8gb. If you want to upgrade, get 16gb because that will make a noticeable difference. 16gb 1600mhz isn't expensive.

Edit: looks like 16gb is creeping up in price.

Lucas4 said: "Indeed. I'd hate to upgrade and watch it get cheaper though "

In actual fact DDR3 has increased in price over the past few months.

 

Memory is so cheap, 16GB is a senisible choice, will keep you in ram for years!