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I thought I knew everything about hardware to get for gaming but I think I am wrong about somethings and I just wanted to clear some things up and get some questions answered from actual gamers not bench markers.
First off How effective is Ram for gaming? and how much is considered enough?
I just decided to upgrade my computer to have 6gbs of Ram to help improve my performance on games and gaming. But I am not sure Ram is really needed.
What is the Difference between a quad-core CPU and dual core CPU?
I currently have a dual-core CPU that is overclocked to 3.0ghz but I am noticing some lag on higher end games. Is this just because my CPU is older or do I need more Processing power (higher clock speeds) and potentially a quad-core or higher
If a Video Card has enough Vram to run a game but is not listed (or is an older card) will it still perform as well as Newer card with the same specs or a different card?
I bought a new Graphics card sometime in December that has 1gb of Vram, but when I look at system requirements for games and even canyourunit? I see that my card isn't supposed to be compatible with a game but it generally works fine. Unless I use heavy PhysX effects.
Anyway any questions you can answer would be helpful
My Computer Specs are:
CPU:Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.0ghz
Video: Nvidia Geforce 9800 Gt
Video RAM 1.0Gb
Pixel Shader version 4.0
Vertex Shader version 4.0
Ram: 2 gbs (upgrading to have 6 gbs)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
I have been running most games fine except a few newer games and more graphical games
- 12 Replies
How effective is Ram for gaming? and how much is considered enough?
You don't need much ram around 4gb is fine but the speed of the ram will help generally 1066mhz and up is good.
What is the Difference between a quad-core CPU and dual core CPU?
A lot of games don't use 4 cores depending on the game they generally use 1 or 2 unless they are newer games which are starting to use more cores but even then it doesn't make a massive difference its generally the quality of the cpu that makes the difference.
If a Video Card has enough Vram to run a game but is not listed (or is an older card) will it still perform as well as Newer card with the same specs or a different card?
Most games dont gain from more then 1gb of vram (I think bf3 is the only one that has a noticeable difference and even then its a few fps) but if your graphics card isn't better then the minimum recommended card then it probably wont run the game well if at all.
With your system I would reccomend either a gpu upgrade (if your psu can handle it) or a new build because its pretty old and will struggle to run a lot of games especially at a good resolution like 1080p or 900p I imagine your playing at low resolutions with a 9800 because it's a bad card compared to some gpus you can get now even cheap ones.
With your system I would reccomend either a gpu upgrade (if your psu can handle it) or a new build because its pretty old and will struggle to run a lot of games especially at a good resolution like 1080p or 900p I imagine your playing at low resolutions with a 9800 because it's a bad card compared to some gpus you can get now even cheap ones.
What is funny is I run all my games HDMI at 1080i 1768x992 and I don't really have performance issues. The only thing I am noticing is horrible loading times and bad connections. Also closing applications like Payday 2, Borderlands 2, Skyrim, Fallout NewVegas, will be really slow to close and take about a minute to go back to my desktop and fully get back up to normal speed.
I am glad to hear about the Ram question even though that was pretty much the same answer benchmarkers gave me.
I do agree that my system is pretty old, I am actually not sure what has been done to it because my MoBoa might be newer than the case
It depends what you class as playable some people are happy with 20 fps I personally like to have 50+ to keep it nice and smooth it also depends on the settings you run at because as I said before some people don't mind having low settings its all preference but generally I don't like to play on lower then medium in any game.
If your having problems with loading times it might be worth either upgrading you hdd depending how good it is or just getting an ssd would probably help but before you invest any money in to it I would do a full virus scan (I recommend malwarebytes) and get ccleaner and let it go to clean some junk off your pc then I'd either use windows defrag tool or get defraggler and defragement your hdd but that will take hours so it's best to leave it on late at night and that should help speed up your hdd a bit.
If your having problems with loading times it might be worth either upgrading you hdd depending how good it is or just getting an ssd would probably help but before you invest any money in to it I would do a full virus scan (I recommend malwarebytes) and get ccleaner and let it go to clean some junk off your pc then I'd either use windows defrag tool or get defraggler and defragement your hdd but that will take hours so it's best to leave it on late at night and that should help speed up your hdd a bit
No offense or anything but you are kind of acting like I don't know anything about computers and it is funny. I have my graphics for many games at high to medium depending on the game. My FPS is fine. You are probably right about the HDD because mine is old. That might be what I change next. Just got the ram today and I haven't tried any games with it yet but so far my speed is greatly improved with browsing and steam start up.
Yeah I use CCleaner all the time but I like advanced system care better from iobit.
**Update**
Ram was my problem all my programs start fast and close fast now. It makes a huge difference.
Off to play Skyrim on Ultra
No offense or anything but you are kind of acting like I don't know anything about computers and it is funny
Everyone is at different levels with how much they know about pcs so I don't know how much you know so I'm trying not to miss anything you might find helpful sorry if I offended you.
I have my graphics for many games at high to medium depending on the game
I'm suprised you are managing with a 9800gt but it might be because your using 1080i I've never used it or seen comparisons between it and 1080p because 1080p is generally considered the one to go for.
Just look at this benchmark for cod 4 with a 9800 on 1920x1200 it only just manages around 50fps and cod 4 isn't exactly high detail compared to other games.
I know you might think this is a stupid question but are you using sli and what hz is your monitor?
Ram was my problem all my programs start fast and close fast now. It makes a huge difference.
What mhz did you have before and now? I have gone from 4 to 8gb not long ago when one of my ram sticks got corrupted and I didn't notice a change so I expect it was the speed of the ram.
It's also a good idea to remove useless things that takes up memory like shaded icons, blinking cursor with trail effect, animations, computer sounds (beeps, bells, startup music, etc.).
Defragmenting the hard drive regularly also helps.
I'd get a n]better Graphics card...Maybe a Gigabyte Geforce GTX 740?
I'd get a n]better Graphics card...Maybe a Gigabyte Geforce GTX 740?
Internet is great for that. Whenever you want to buy something, all you have to do is ask questions, read reviews and you can build an amazing gaming rig and save money at the same time.
I know you might think this is a stupid question but are you using sli and what hz is your monitor?
Nah and I have an HDTV as my monitor at 30Hz it looks like.
Just look at this benchmark for cod 4 with a 9800 on 1920x1200 it only just manages around 50fps and cod 4 isn't exactly high detail compared to other games.
The post that guy benchmarked it at was from 2008. I think they redid the card or something because mine is nowhere near as terrible as that card and I got mine last year. I can run MW2 on max and I don't notice a lack of speed also Fallout New Vegas and Skyrim I can run on ultra. Skyrim is slower (of course) but New Vegas didn't change
What mhz did you have before and now? I have gone from 4 to 8gb not long ago when one of my ram sticks got corrupted and I didn't notice a change so I expect it was the speed of the ram.
I don't know but I didn't replace the old RAM I just more I had 2 gbs already and I added two 2 gb sticks
'd get a n]better Graphics card...Maybe a Gigabyte Geforce GTX 740?
First off I don't think you know what you are talking about because they don't have GTX 740 from what i've seen and Gigabyte is kind of a terrible brand imo they are alongside MSI for having kind of crappy cards.
And if what I think you are talking about is the Nvidia GTX 780 or 770? then Yeah those cards would be great but they are top of the line brand new and expensive.
It's also a good idea to remove useless things that takes up memory like shaded icons, blinking cursor with trail effect, animations, computer sounds (beeps, bells, startup music, etc.).
Defragmenting the hard drive regularly also helps.
I believe that is great for a kind of last resort on slower machines but it doesn't make a huge difference. Just buys you some time thats all
I don't know but I didn't replace the old RAM I just more I had 2 gbs already and I added two 2 gb sticks
Oh you only had 2gb the difference from 2-4 would be quite noticeable from what I have heard.
Nah and I have an HDTV as my monitor at 30Hz it looks like.
That explains how you can play in the specs you said because with a 30hz monitor you will only see 30fps so you wont notice the difference between 30 and 60 fps.
Maybe a Gigabyte Geforce GTX 740
The 740 isn't out yet...
Oh you only had 2gb the difference from 2-4 would be quite noticeable from what I have heard.
Yeah so now I have 6gbs of ram and I found out my MHZ.
My old Ram (2gbs) is 266mhz
and my New RAM 2, two gig sticks (4Gbs) is 333Mhz
I ran the 3dMark Demo test and my computer was getting 230-300 FPS on the Basic test Graphics test and only a 30 FPS on the Physics test
The more advanced test was 28-32 FPS on Graphics and a horrible result of 3.2 FPS on the Physics test
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