RAM
The statistics of one of the most popular gaming clients unequivocally says: basically (more than a third) gamers using Steam have 8 GB of RAM . The second place is occupied by the indicator “12 GB or more”, and therefore the additional question that will be disclosed in this material, we propose to put as follows: is there any sense to increase the memory array of the gaming PC to 16 GB? Or as an upgrade to acquire something more useful. For example, SSD.
Let’s see what igrodely advises. Here is a list of recently released games and recommended requirements for the amount of RAM:
• Mass Effect: Andromeda – 16 GB;
• Ghost Recon Wildlands – 8 GB;
• For Honor – 8 GB;
• Sniper Elite 4 – 8 GB;
• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard 8 GB.
As you can see, in most cases, according to the developers, 8 GB of RAM is enough for a comfortable game in 2017. It turns out that there is no need for 16 GB. Or does it not work?
How much memory do modern games consume
“Game PC” is a loose concept. To date, a large number of video cards are on sale, which are quite suitable for games in such resolutions as Full HD, WQHD and Ultra HD. Popular are the GeForce GTX 1060 models with 3 GB and 6 GB of video memory respectively, as well as GeForce GTX 1070 and GeForce GTX 1080 with 8 GB. Well, we all lick the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11 GB. AMD adapters are popular with such models as Radeon RX 470 and Radeon RX 480 with 4 GB and 8 GB of video memory, respectively. We specifically touched this point, since the level of memory consumption depends on the 3D accelerator installed in the gaming computer. Below is a table of video memory consumption by modern games using the example of GeForce GTX 1080.
Source: 3dnews.ru
The situation, in our opinion, is very clear: most games on high and maximum graphics quality settings require more than three gigabytes of video memory. What does it mean? The GeForce GTX 1080, fortunately, with the “brains” is all right. The flagship accelerator is therefore flagship: a user who has the means to purchase such a device will probably not save on RAM either. The most popular in Russia still use cheap video cards of the level Radeon RX 460, GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, GeForce GTX 1060 3/6 GB and Radeon RX 470/480 with 4 GB. If there is a shortage of video memory, all the data that does not fit is written into RAM. Therefore, we have the following paradox: a system block with a cheap graphics card needs more RAM.
For this small experiment we took two video cards: GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB and GeForce GTX 1080 8 GB. On both systems, 12 games were run with maximum graphics settings in Full HD resolution. Measurement of video memory consumption was carried out within 5 minutes using the program MSI Afterburner. The most important lot is the use of the RAM kit Kingston HyperX Predator HX430C15PB3K4 / 64 . There is no reason to worry about the lack of RAM in games with such a whale.
The result is obvious: games that require more than 3 GB of video memory with the graphics quality settings set by us, random access memory. We specifically aggravated the situation by the fact that, along with the games on the Windows 10 operating system, the Steam, Origin, Uplay, NVIDIA 378.49 driver was automatically launched, as well as the Google Chrome browser with eight open tabs (VK, Facebook, Gmail, Youtube, Geektimes , Google search, Yandex.Market and Twitch). In general, we tried to reproduce the usual scenario of using the computer by the usual user.
With the example of games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Watch Dogs 2, we see that the presence of 16 GB of RAM does not look like reinsurance. Taking into account that of 12 applications more than 8 GB of RAM was consumed in 11 of them, there is no doubt that the presence of 16 GB in the gaming system is a harsh reality.
Well, it’s time to stop. Measurements of the consumption of RAM in games are given, the numbers turned out to be more than obvious. Until we meet again … stop, let’s have a couple more tests. The question of a lack of RAM for a gaming PC makes another question urgent.
16 GB or SSD?
“ I already have 8 GB of RAM in the system for a long time, and I play calmly All modern games! “- the reader will exclaim. Indeed, you can play with these input parameters. If there is a shortage of video memory, the application uses RAM as the swap file, then, when there is a shortage of RAM, a swap file is placed on the drive. You can not do without it now
“The Witcher 3”, GTA V, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Watch Dogs 2 – no game started when the swap file was disabled and The system has only 8 GB of RAM. And what if you use a solid state drive as a swap file. As you know, SSD is noticeably faster than classic mechanical hard drives. In addition, the solid-state drive is not only valuable fur speed in games, but also speed in general. Who will deny themselves the pleasure to speed up the loading of the operating system and related programs? Perhaps the speed of the swap file will be enough to prevent the game from slowing down when there is a shortage of RAM.
This time we disabled the browser with open tabs. In the next small test, it was decided to additionally check whether it would be better to use an SSD with a swap file on it or add another 8 GB to the system to get 16 GB in total?
The test bench consisted of a Core i7 processor -7700K and GeForce GTX 970 graphics cards 4 GB. The memory we chose Kingston HyperX Fury HX421C14FB2K2 / 16 it quietly starts at an effective frequency of 2400 MHz. The games were installed on a solid-state drive Kingston SSDNow UV400 SUV400S37 / 240G and on a Western Digital WD10EZEX hard drive. As a result, there were three configurations: SSD + GeForce GTX 970 + 8 GB RAM; HDD + GeForce GTX 970 + 8 GB RAM; HDD + GeForce GTX 970 + 16 GB of RAM.
Alas, even the use of a sufficiently powerful solid-state drive Kingston in the system with a lack of main memory resulted in a noticeable drawdown of FPS. This is particularly evident in Rise of the Tomb Raider and Watch Dogs 2. During gaming systems with 8 GB of RAM clearly lacked smoothness. To get rid of drawdowns related to the lack of operational and video memory, it is necessary to reduce the quality of graphics. In particular, turn off anti-aliasing.
However, we see that SSD still helps the system when there is a shortage of RAM. Drawdowns frame rate is, but they are not as critical as when using a bundle with HDD. In the case of the hard disk in Watch Dogs 2 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, the real friezes are observed, it is absolutely impossible to play!
Plus, the SSD is also in the fact that it is installed in the cells Memory, the game is more quickly loaded. This moment is actual for network games, when it is necessary to break into the game as soon as possible.
Conclusion
Well, we demonstrated that a modern gaming computer requires at least 16 GB of RAM. Especially the presence of such a volume of RAM is relevant for gaming PCs of the average hand, that is, in systems using video cards with 3 GB, 4 GB and even 6 GB of video memory.
And at the same time we demonstrated that the SSD also does not interfere Game system. Yes, in case of lack of RAM from FPS drawdowns, a fast SSD does not always save, but it at least relieves the system of micro-suspensions. Plus, we do not forget that the “hard drive” is faster operating system, and the games themselves are loaded much faster. Therefore, SSD and 16 GB of RAM are the necessary attributes of a modern gaming PC.
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For more information about Kingston and HyperX products, please visit the official website of the company. In the selection of its kit HyperX will help the page with a visual aid.
