How much memory and how fast should it be for my 64 bit system?

Does the speed of my memory really matter?

from GalCiv3 Forums

When upgrading memory remember to look for real evidence of the value of the memory speed and size on the game you want to run.  Maybe Stardock could publish a white paper on the subject related to their products.  And if they demure from recommending a particular brand and model of memory then maybe just the specs they find as the sweet spot.

Linus gives a 5 minute explanation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWgzA2C61z4

 

For those who don't like to watch videos: the sweet spot on price and real game enhancing performance reveals itself at DDR3 1866 CAS 9.  I say "real game" performance because that's where it matters.  The artificial benchmarks that people use in the overclocking community are really only good for the overclocking community.  

Remember that this is for today's cpu, motherboard and memory configurations.  Linus was using state of the art I7 4700K in his demonstration.  Two years from now when Gal Civ III is finally released from beta the sweet spot recommendations may have changed.  

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May your Civilizations flourish in 64 bit.  It's just too damn exciting and I can't wait.

backs out of the room slowly...  (also looking forward to the Sacrifice of Angels 2 update (Goa and Zombie you too (All you guys rock!(Thanks))) )   *_* :borg:  

 

After thought:  The SOA2 update is out and it was fantastic.

 

28,326 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

As long as my i7 3770K with 8GB of ram (i could crank that up to 16gb) backed up by a 256GB SSD can play galciv3 I'll be happy. 

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I would hang fire on memory for the moment, there is plenty of time, just see how Stardock is going to put the extra memory to use first, and how they will do it. I suspect Win 7  8Gb will be the new "practical minimum" (they will not force people to buy more than 8Gb to keep up minimum performance levels). Above that will depend on what they ultimately do with it. I suspect 16Gb will be the maximum they will play with on mainstream, any more than that and it forces people to go Win 7 Pro (with its 192Gb max memory)  and they will not do the latter as a compulsion.

There is little doubt they will make it worthwhile getting more than 16Gb, but not "mainstream" as it would force upgrades to Win 7 Pro, the latter's not happening as a mainstream proposition.

I suspect 8Gb will be the sensible minimum, with 16Gb nice to have, and 16Gb + a nice bonus. There is no rush to buy it, it will be a while before even the Beta "needs" the higher quantity of memory. Just "hang loose" for a while, and buy a bargain, but otherwise leave it until mid next year if you are currently on 4Gb. If on 8Gb now, leave it, only buy more if final performance in a year's time dictates it. Just bare in mind that more than 16gb will need Win 7 Pro .....

Also worth buying higher speed memory if shelling out for more anyway, it does have significant benefits over 1600ns  memory, just make sure your maotherboard supports the higher speeds (2133 or 2400ns - higher speed than that is marginal and you pay through the nose for it). Do the homework on memory above 1600ns, not all boards support it, and you need to make sure the specific speed and memory manufacturer is supported by the motherboard.

A nice practical high end (ish) memory as a starter for ten: http://www.overclockers.com/gskill-ripjaws-ddr32133-8gb-ram-review/,

However, generic memory is fine for 95% of people, don't knee jerk high end matched memory unless the motherboard can really use it to the full.

 

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Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Well clearly you need this game to have better resolutions than real life!  (I just want a ton of races to all murder each other in a truly enormous galaxy).

Overall the 64 bit sounds great, keep the options available for this game to scale across multiple memory sizes.  

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Zydor, reply 2
Also worth buying higher speed memory if shelling out for more anyway, it does have significant benefits over 1600ns  memory
End of Zydor's quote

True if you are doing specialized work like video compression and you're doing it everyday.  My point and the point Linus makes is related to FPS in gaming for the average gamer.  1866 MHz is a sweet spot right now in terms of price and performance.  It's bang for your buck (which is why so many people still prefer AMD CPUs to Intels).  Paying for memory faster than 1866 would mean you have other interests that would benefit from the upgrade.  I don't want to mislead anyone.  But I agree with you about applications like video editing, especially when time is money and everybody wants it yesterday.  

 

backs out of the room slowly...   *_* :borg:

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting RedDwarf999, reply 4
backs out of the room slowly...
End of RedDwarf999's quote

Watch out for the banana skins ..... \o/