More RAM = Better Game?

[Ralon]

Hey everyone, I aint been around for a while (not since X3: Reunion) since my PC hasn't been able to play Terran Conflict. Anyway I managed to get my PC upto a level now that will play the Game so i've just installed it! I've current got 4GB of Ram on order for my pc and is due to arrive later in the week and early next week. Basically my specs are these:

O/S: Windows XP/Vista Dual Boot (all games including X3 installed on XP)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core (2.1 Ghz)
GFX: Radeon HD 3870 512mb GDDR4
SoundCard: Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
RAM: 4 x 512Mb DDR400 (4GB - 4 x 1GB PC3200 (400) RAM on order)

Motherboard is an oldish Nforce4-A939 AMD version which only supports PCI-Express x16 not 2.0 x16.

Oh and my motherboard can only support upto 4GB of Ram at a max of PC3200 DDR400

So basically after all that, when my new RAM arrives can I expect to see a decent performance boost with X3? Cause right now all I can really do is trade (with little combat in not densely populated sectors)

Thanks!

[Dragoongfa]

If the Vista setup is 64bit, then you can expect to see an overall increase in performance.

[fiksal]

seems to me AMD 3800+ is a bit on a slow side.

I got AMD Athlon 64 4200+ X2, and I vary rarely experienced slowdowns... though more often when I started building larger complexes. Almost no slowdowns in Xenon sectors.


games and programs should run better with more RAM, but I'd guess mostly if you were experiencing lag due to insufficient memory.

As far as I know X3 (along with Windows XP) never broke the 1.5 GB mark on my PC. If it did on your PC, then 4GB would help, otherwise - maybe not as much.

[Ralon]

well let's hope it does cause my game does sometimes Lag quite a bit and sadly it's the max processor my motherboard will support

thanks for the replies!

[Chealec]

If that's only WinXP pro (32bit) the most memory it will allocate to any given program is 2 Gigs so the improvement might not be as much as you expect. I seem to remember reading somewhere about an "unsupported" switch for X3 that allows it to gobble up more RAM... might be worth looking into. Or of course just run TC on the Vista boot as that's 64 bit.

Also disable FFDShow on x3tc.exe (and x3.exe if you're running Reunion as well) - killing that codec helps performance as far as particle effects are concerned (assuming you've got it installed of course).

To be honest - I'm not sure there's a whole huge amount you can do about slowdown with complexes though. There seems to be a ridiculously high poly-count on the connecting tubes that just nerfs the sector completely when they're onscreen.

Actually your PC isn't vastly different to mine (a bit better in fact) and the game is playable on my PC just so long as I don't attempt combat in any sector I've build complexes in.

Same slot 939 mobo (mine's an Asus), Audigy 2 ZS, my CPU is an Athlon 64 3700+ (single core) whilst my GFX card is a GeForce 7800 GTX. Oh and I've got 3 gigs RAM.

[aggrressor]

I can vouch for 64-bit Vista enjoying more ram. I've got 6GB of ram and the darn thing is faster in comparison to when I used to have XP-64. Only it freaks me out a bit when I look at the memory usage with almost nothing running.... 800mb memory usage fresh after load with nothing running and most processes disabled.... Get a few things going and you're breaking 3-4GB easy...

[Chealec]

It's 64 bit in general - the maximum amount of memory that can be theoretically addressed in a 32 bit system is 2^32 - roughly 4.3 billion bits, or 4 Gigs in anyone's terms.

A 64 bit system can theoretically address 2^64 bits... get a calculator, it's a really, really big number - approximately 16.8 MILLION Terabyes of RAM. Not that I can see any OS taking advantage of that in the immediate future

[aggrressor]

From one point of view - yes, there will be no OS in the near future, which would use a fraction of that. On the other hand I still remember how in 2002, when the biggest compact flash was around 1GB, they were saying that it would take 20 or more years to reach 32GB. And look at that, 6 years later we are looking at USB 3.0 because USB 2.0 cannot address more than 32GB
Or look at 2000 vs XP vs Vista... fresh after load win 2000 - 50mb ram, XP - 150, Vista - 800 and I hear Vienna aka Win7 is based purely on Vista...

[pjknibbs]

On the other hand I still remember how in 2002, when the biggest compact flash was around 1GB, they were saying that it would take 20 or more years to reach 32GB. And look at that, 6 years later we are looking at USB 3.0 because USB 2.0 cannot address more than 32GB

Whoever was saying that didn't believe Moore's Law, then (e.g. that the density of microelectronics doubles every 18 months). It's held true for 30-odd years...

[Ralon]

Thanks for all the replies guys, I hope my RAM will make a small difference.

What graphics settings are you all running your game on? maybe i'm expecting a bit too much from my HD 3870?

[Al]

Personally I run mine on low as I'm interested in the game play more than the graphics. Also I've got an older system than you and hence it laggs a lot in places, particularly in combat.

System upgrade coming soon

[Ralon]

Personally I run mine on low as I'm interested in the game play more than the graphics. Also I've got an older system than you and hence it laggs a lot in places, particularly in combat.

System upgrade coming soon

Yeah I might consider running mine on low soon but it seems to be handing quite well on medium see how it goes

[sndle9]

To be honest - I'm not sure there's a whole huge amount you can do about slowdown with complexes though. There seems to be a ridiculously high poly-count on the connecting tubes that just nerfs the sector completely when they're onscreen.

I'd agree that huge complexes will be a problem on pretty much any hardware if you play on high settings.
My machine is a tad excessive for a toy (unexpected cash bonus directed straight to a new rig before I spent it on something sensible) and large complexes still cream the frame-rates where large battles don't seem to bother it at all. I pretty much had to use the CC scripts to make heavy complex (100+ factories) sectors playable again.

As X is only 32 bit anyway a 64 bit O/S may not make much difference. My system is 8Gb/64 bit and XTC usually sits at around 2Gb with 3 to 3.5Gb utilised overall. I'd expect your upgrade to 4Gb to be noticeable even if it isn't silky smooth. Sticking with XP would probably help too as it isn't as hungry as Vista for background tasks.

Dave.

[Ralon]

To be honest - I'm not sure there's a whole huge amount you can do about slowdown with complexes though. There seems to be a ridiculously high poly-count on the connecting tubes that just nerfs the sector completely when they're onscreen.

I'd agree that huge complexes will be a problem on pretty much any hardware if you play on high settings.
My machine is a tad excessive for a toy (unexpected cash bonus directed straight to a new rig before I spent it on something sensible) and large complexes still cream the frame-rates where large battles don't seem to bother it at all. I pretty much had to use the CC scripts to make heavy complex (100+ factories) sectors playable again.

As X is only 32 bit anyway a 64 bit O/S may not make much difference. My system is 8Gb/64 bit and XTC usually sits at around 2Gb with 3 to 3.5Gb utilised overall. I'd expect your upgrade to 4Gb to be noticeable even if it isn't silky smooth. Sticking with XP would probably help too as it isn't as hungry as Vista for background tasks.

Dave.

Got 2GB of my new ram today so in total i've got 3GB so far, game seems to be a bit smoother although it did BSOD, not sure what might have caused that But it seems to be working fine so far.

I've decided to just keep it at 3GB and save the rest of my money for a new computer build since mine is way outta date and it's unfair how much new parts for this mobo cost compared to a newer one

[sndle9]

Good to hear it's improved your game.

If you get any more crashes, it may be worthwhile just removing and re-seating the new RAM a couple of times to help clean up the contacts. If your board has been around a while it may not be making a clean connection on the edge connectors.

Dave.

[Ralon]

Good to hear it's improved your game.

If you get any more crashes, it may be worthwhile just removing and re-seating the new RAM a couple of times to help clean up the contacts. If your board has been around a while it may not be making a clean connection on the edge connectors.

Dave.

Yeah I'll do that thanks

Can anyone recommend a good motherboard to get that's not TOO expensive but supports AM2+ processors?