Worth upgrading to DDR2 or....

[capcom24]

Hi, i recently bought Oblivion but i've noticed that my computer needs a lot of loading all the time. I hear my harddrive all the time. Now my question is: should i get a new motherboard with DDR2 support or is it more the lack of my memory?

My system:

P4 HT 3.2 ghz
DDR PC3200 1.5 gig (motherboard has support till 4 gig ram memory)
MSI Nvidia 7900GTO 512mb PCI-E
450W powersupply.

If i get 1 gig extra should i be fine or do i really need to get a new motherboard with DDR2 support. I was wondering if this is really worth cos my boyfriend has a CPU with intel core 2 duo with 2 gig ram memory but to be honest it looked like my computer was a bit faster and before i'm gonna spend money on a new motherboard and memories i want to hear more opinions. I've also heard that Microsoft is working allready on a new CPU so maybe not a good idea to get the new Intel core 2 duo, yet. I've heard that those new CPU will be released end 2007.........

 

[PC eye]

First you may want a Welcome to the Computer Forum! http://www.computerforum.com/70672-official-welcome-thread.html and a reminder to new members to review the http://www.computerforum.com/52038-forum-rules.html

The first thing to ask about here is what you mean by "hearing the drive"? As for taking longer for Windows to load that usually has to do with the total amount of startup items loading along with Windows. Besides simply running a good pair of 1gb dimms to see equal size on both channels the drive making sounds isn't healthy.

If you are hearing clicking sounds the drive is on the way out and will replacement. That is heard when the read/write heads start slapping against the drive platters. Not good! Microsoft doesn't work on cpus but new versions of Windows like the apparent Vienna due out in maybe 2009. AMD is the other main competitor to Intel as far as cpus are concerned and awaits the release of their quad core models.

When you are simply planning to see a new build then you would need DDR2 memory since that is standard on the Core 2 and AMD AM2 model boards. To simply upgrade the memory there you simply need to go for a matched pair of 1gb dimms(DDR400 PC3200) performance type memory capatible with that make and modle board. For seeing Windows load faster using the msconfig utility to lighten the load of stattup items in the startup group would help. But that drive making sounds? spells trouble there.

 

[junwang0808]

well, from my opinion. RAMs are mostly for gaming. if you just do some simple computing then you don't need too much. although, having more ram does speed up your PC a bit. it really depends on what you are doing. for example, more ram helps you zoom out and zoom back in from a game to your desktop. it helps you when you are running a game and also surfing the webs and listening to music. ( CPU have a little to do too but any pentium 4 above 3.0 or any processor better than pentium 4 shouldn't have much problems at multi tasking except if you are an extreme gamer who has your setting all the way up to the top )

if you want DDR2 i suggest you get DDR2 6400 as they should the twice the speed of your pc3200 rams. which they should increase your speed greatly than just adding more than pc3200


well thats my experience

 

[XanderCage]

ok, since i don't know of any brand that make like 768 ram chips, i'm going to asume that you are not running dual channel. So first thing get an even number of ram chips all the same number, be it x2 or x4. It will enable the dual channel which will give you more ram bandwidth. Other than that, i don't think that upgrading to ddr2 is really worth it. Yes ddr2 have higher clock speeds but they have higher latency timings so it's an eye for an eye.

My suggestions :

Get even number of ram chips
Replace your hard drive if you are hearing weird noises ( or check for any cables that might be touching it from the bottom or top )

 

[capcom24]

ok, since i don't know of any brand that make like 768 ram chips, i'm going to asume that you are not running dual channel. So first thing get an even number of ram chips all the same number, be it x2 or x4. It will enable the dual channel which will give you more ram bandwidth. Other than that, i don't think that upgrading to ddr2 is really worth it. Yes ddr2 have higher clock speeds but they have higher latency timings so it's an eye for an eye.

My suggestions :

Get even number of ram chips
Replace your hard drive if you are hearing weird noises ( or check for any cables that might be touching it from the bottom or top )

Well my harddisk is of course reading all the time. I don't know all those terms though. But when i play games like Quake 3/ Quake 4 my harddisk isn't really reading all the time so there isn't really any noise. It looks like 1.5 gig memory is enough for these games. But when i run Oblivion it looks like my harddisk makes more noise because it needs to read/load everything. So that's why i'm wondering, maybe Oblivion requires at least 2 gig ram so you don't have slow loads since the game is loading all the time and wherever you are.

And i do want a new computer in future, but not yet. I don't have really problem running the games and oter software. My videocard isn't the problem. SO i was wondering, before i get a new memory card and spend 70 euro on it maybe it would be wise to get a new motherboard with DDR2 support. But i'm not sure if i will gain a really big performance. Cos i used to have Sdram 133 when i moved to 400mhz i hardly noticed anything. Except my motherboard was capable to use more memory then max 1gig. So i don't want to spend money on things that i really don't need it yet. My computer is only 2 years old :S. I haven't overclocked anything. But Oblivion game is pretty new and maybe 1.5 gig isn't enough.

And yes i'm running in Dual Channel. 512mb slot 1 512mb slot 3 256 slot 2 256 slot 4.


sorry for bad english a dutch guy here

 

[XanderCage]

well, as i said ddr2 may have higher clock speeds ( the 640 part or 800 mhz part ) but they have higher latency also ( some weird timings like 5-5-5-5-15, while ddr have timings like 3-3-3-3-13 ) These are just made up but you get the point. Lower latency = better performance, higher clocks = better performance.
I say you get another set of 512 sticks.

Oh and i think you're proccessor might be the problem. It's a bottlekneck for that game.

 

[Cleric7x9]

it is better to have a higher clock than lower timings. the timings are important when you are looking at different sticks of RAM of the same speed. on a basic levels, the timings are how long it takes for the RAM to be read from one column or row to another. if you have faster RAM, the timings arent as important. loading times will be affected by the speed of the RAM, so i think that you would notice an improvement by switching to faster DDR2 RAM. simply adding more RAM will only make a difference if Oblivion is using your computer's virtual memory (the hdd being used as RAM). to test this, open oblivion, load a level, alt+tab out and press ctrl+alt+delete. when the taks manager comes up, go to processes, and see how much RAM oblivion is using. if your system is uisng more than 1.5 GB, you are using virtual memory, and simply adding more DDR RAM will give you faster load times

 

[PC eye]

For that board a good pair of 1gb dimms to replace the different sizes in dimms would make a big difference since then both channels would each see the exact same size of dimm. This is the recommendation over mixing dimm sizes for dual channel application. The Cas Latency seen with a matched of Corsair xms series PC3200 memory was 3-3-3-16 when those were in on the old Socket A build.

For a gaming rig many stayed with 1gb having a pair of 512s and not wanting too much memory. When ocing memory the latency will actually climb then as it often turns out. The thing that was readily noted here when upgrading from 1gb of performance memory to 2gb of vlaue ram was the gain then. Everything ended up loading faster and runs more stable.