Should I add RAM to my PC?

Gossinater

Member
Hey community, I think I'm in need of some more RAM...(games run sluggish at times and internet is fine)

So I have a home built PC with the following specs/parts
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX motherboard
16gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3 SDRAM
EVGA 960 graphics card
H100i V2 liquid CPU cooler
Corsair AX860 PSU
AMD FX-8350 8-core 4.0ghz processor

Or could my issue be that my OS is on a HDD and my games are all on my SSD. Would putting the OS on a SSD improve my game loading times?

I just recently installed the liquid cooling system and would not mind upgrading maybe another component. I just don't know which.

Thanks in advance for ya'lls help!
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
You've got 16GB of RAM which is more than nearly any game would use (with room to spare). Upgrading your GPU would have the most benefit and overclocking the 8350.
 

Gossinater

Member
ok Great! I will look at a step up graphics card. Perhaps a 980? Something just a step or two up, but not top of the line. I really only play Escape from Tarkov and BF4
 

Calin

Well-Known Member
No. The games are most likely running sluggish because the 8350 is now an old CPU and its single core performance has always been sub par. Upgrading the 960 would be a good idea too. Which games are you playing exactly?
Edit: You just posted the post above as I was posting this. I don't think you can find a new 980 anywhere so I'd go with a 1060 if you don't want to spend much.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Replacing the 8350 would be a whole new platform and expensive endeavor. If you just got the water cooler overclock it. They can clock pretty high and you'd get a noticeable difference.
 

Gossinater

Member
Ok I’ll shop around for a 1060.

Darren I’ve never done that. Is there a guide somewhere or software that over clocks as needed? Or do I micro manage it? Obviously I’m brand new to over clocking
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
I used to have a 8350 similar to Darren. You could feel a noticeable difference overclocking to 4.6-4.8 but the heat output becomes pretty substantial.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
I used to have a 8350 similar to Darren. You could feel a noticeable difference overclocking to 4.6-4.8 but the heat output becomes pretty substantial.
Yeah I'd shoot for around 4.4-4.5. I got mine to 4.6 but ran it at 4.4GHz for temp and power reasons. Definitely faster than stock without the power to melt the sun you'd need for 4.8ish.
 

JaredDM

Active Member
I agree with everyone else here that it's unlikely you need more RAM. Just as a test, open up Resource Monitor on your computer and leave it running while you do whatever it is you normally do when you start getting lag. As soon as you start to get some lag, quickly switch over and see what was maxing out or coming close to its max. You may see that you're only really using 30% of your RAM and it's actually your CPU hitting its limit.
 
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