RAM

Jatez · February 2005

My game is REALLY laggy, but everything is above the reccomended requirments ecsept my RAM. It is at the mininum requirments, and my game is slow as I said. Will this effect my game a lot, and how much would RAM cost? Please answer!

nash8114 · February 2005

The game can be laggy in various ways.
The 2 most common types of lag are connection lag and harddisk lag.

The first being quite obvious (but I'll explain anyway, you never know who reads this.) Its lag between your game client and the server. Effects this has is "warping" things in the screen, slow response time when you do things, and sometimes delays in chat and things alike.

The second being lag caused by your harddisk not keeping up. This is usually caused by a lack of memory in the PC. Effects this has is that your screen freezes often and continues a second or so later. When you come to a new place, you may hang even longer, and your harddisk light will be constantly on.

In case you have the second type of lag, you will need to upgrade your memory.
Working with the minimum required amount of memory for a game is not my recommendation in the first place. I usually try to stay above the "recommended" amount of memory for the game.

The cost greatly depends on your system build, the quality of memory, the day price (varies more than oil prices) and the amount your want to increase.

Cheers,
Nash

j-monster · February 2005

shouldent be much of a problem. I ahve the min ram requirements to and i still pull off a decent 21-23 fps. Could be the server.

flyngtrmpt · February 2005

how far above minimum is your graphics card?? i have minimum ram and minimum graphics card on this computer and i experience some fun system lag from time to time, nothing to keep me from playing though. I'd try making sure all your graphic settings are turned all the way down and see how that goes, that helped me a bunch. and if you tell us what kind of RAM you have then i'm sure we can tell you some ballpark prices. i for one have RD-RAM in this computer (poor me) so theres no way i'm shelling out all that money for another 256MB... but if you have SD-RAM or even DDR RAM then you can get more with minimal money.

Kiamde · February 2005

Gaming nowadays requires RAM for many reasons. First is to keep up with the harddrive. Second is to keep up with the graphics card. If I were you, I would surely find the money to buy at least 512 megabytes of DDRRAM 2700 and up. It will do wonders for your gaming.

rathma · February 2005

I've got 512MB Ram but it's still killing me. My CPU light is ALWAYS on and making noise especially in the cities. I get around 1-3 FPS and then outside cities it's a calm 30 fps.

Atomicus · February 2005

When my computer wasnt working i had to use my mother's 2.6 celeron D with 512 DDR and a radeon XT. The computer ran the game okay if i set all the video settings to very low and yet i still got some lag. When i got my current computer up and running with all settings maxed, i didnt see lag except for server side.

joshco · February 2005

CompUSA has RAM for prices that are good. I bought some for my computer pretty cheap there, just a thought.

hercules · February 2005

I sold this system to a friend- athlon 1600,768RAM,ti4600(my old reliable for 3 years).

He has used it on raids and has no problem at all .Only complained about lag once during OB last day event on euro servers.

He has a pent 4 2hgz,512RAM,FX5200 also and says he is getting much better fps with that system above and had lag with the pent 4 in crowds and cities.But now has no lag with the ti4600 in city crowds at all.

Seems to me WoW is very light on the cpu and hardly ever utilizes more then 1ghz.However,like all games once you get into huge crowds the RAM and g cards kick into hyperdrive .So have more RAM is essential for WoW and like all games a good graphics card is important.

I am pretty sure even if he added more RAM to that pent 4 he would still have lag in raids due to the poor quality FX5200 card .Next time i am in his house i will offer to swap some RAM to that pent 4 system and see what happens in a crowd.

sifa · February 2005

Yeah mmorpgs are ram hogs. I would say that minimum amount of ram that should be in your system now should be 512 and recommended should be 1 gig. But if you have 256 you can go into windows task manager and cancel all processes that arent essential to keeping your comp running to free up some ram. As far as video cards if you are planning on upgrading that dont be fooled by the amount of ram on the card. A lot of card manufacturers know that pc gamers have been trained to judge a cards performance based on the amount of ram on it so they slap a 256 mb of ram on weak fx 5200 core that is way too weak to even utilize all that ram. To put it into context, even a 9800xt wont effectively use the 256 mb of ram on it. So if you are planning on buying a new card just make sure it has at least 128 mb and then look for a better core (9600 pro, 9800pro or 6600gt) as opposed to a 9600se with 256 mb of ram.

Having a strong processor wont do much to boost your frame rates but it would prevent your system from bogging down to to 1-2 frames when the are a lot of people around cause the processors is what marks the coordinates of the objects in game then based on the code that the proc delivers the graphics card draws pictures/frames. Also amd procs are better in gaming and give a lot more bang for your buck so go ahead and ignore the "Runs great on p4 ht" signes that you see on just about ever game.

Spokrey · February 2005

If, I recall, RAM does not alter FPS, but rather your video card does.

RAM does provide support for your system, and helps the AMOUNT OF DATA FLOW, run faster than it usually would. So, basically, it just speeds up the processing of your game.

If you move around with your mouse, and it's very choppy and slow at turning, then it's most likely you're graphics card. I will not doubt, though, that if you have low RAM, that, that too, also portrays a role in the lag.

Sometimes, it's just server lag which can be checked with the three colored bars on the bottom right (green, yellow, red) If you're getting red/yellow it's definantly server lag.

Stableboy · February 2005

Please do ignor all posts saying lag has nothing to do with ram..... there are 2 types of lag, as has been previously stated, lag on you're internet connection.... and lag on your PC ... (hmmm 3 types if you include lag on the game server... but you can only do something about the other 2 lol)

If you are experiencing lag in a game it could be because there is either a problem with your internet connection OR .... most likely in your case, the game has run out of ram on both your video card and internal memory to use, so now it is using the page file on your hard disk to store information. Your hard disk is VERY slow compaired to your ram ... check if your hard disk LED is going crazy when you experience lag.. listen to the whiring of your hard disk. I strongly suspect that you just need to stick some more ram in the PC .

Unknown · February 2005

RAM is usually pretty cheap, it costs more as you go up, so if you have alot of RAM slots on your motherboard, you wont have to spend as much money.... RAM is typically under 50 bucks for a 512 stick.

Scaris · February 2005

From what I have seen when I did the beta, I would probably recommend you upgrade your ram, that will make a huge difference for you and its a very significant factor in performance. That would be the first avenue I persued.

Eminence_dk · February 2005

256 mb ram is minimum yes. but barely playable.

i have 512 ram, thats smooth running, even with sucky gfx cards :O

Ram costs... hmm... its different. find a hardware online shop or something and look. prices are VERY variable.

zebulone · February 2005

I had 512ddr when i played US beta, and for an example, when i entered stormwind area the game freezed and had trouble keeping up with what was going on. Escpecially when flying the gryphons into a city i was just outside the main wall, and then suddenly i had landed.
Now, i bought another stick of 512 noname ddr memory and i have yet to see same problem i had with only 512.

PC is a Shuttle SN45G2 2500xp @ 2ghz, 9800pro 128, 2x512 pc3200 ddr ram.
Playing at 1280x1024 at max detail except view distance at 75%. Average fps on normal situations 40-60, tops 100 in empty areas, and lowest i had were now in EU beta event in a raid 13 fps, and very playable.

512 is minimum that i recommend for a more pleasant gamingexperience, but 1024 is perfect.

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