I am thinking of upgrading my computer a bit (even though I probably don't HAVE to.), and while I have already decided on the graphics card because of Directx 11 (the Nvidia GTX 570), I haven't been able to decide if I should upgrade my RAM or anything else for that matter. I have a feeling my RAM isn't quite as good as the rest of my PC because I spent very little on it when I was putting it together, originally. Here's my current build: Motherboard:EVGA E758-A1 3-Way SLI (x16/x16/x8) LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard Processor:Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Graphics Card:EVGA GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 RAM:G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Hard Drive 1:Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive 2:Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EADS 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Power Supply:SILVERSTONE DECATHLON DA850 850W ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply So, looking at that, what do you folks think I should upgrade? The RAM is running for 70 bucks now, so I'm only assuming new fancy ones like THIS would blow my current ones out of the water, am I wrong?
I hate to shatter your dreams, but my advice may just end up saving you $154.99. You most definitely do not need to add some more RAM to your system. 6GB is more than enough. I repeat, more than enough. The most current Windows O/S, 7, only takes up 2GB of memory on average. Add up another 1.5GB for playing games like COD Black Ops. If you're a programmer or video editor, you still have enough memory to render swiftly. Save yourself the cash. I wouldn't even bother spending money on a new GPU if i were you. GTX285 is also good enough. But i guess thats a matter of preference. If you want to get better graphics, by all means, upgrade. But trust me on the RAM. You don't need it.
well, I don't know too much about ram, but I figured the total GB of the RAM isn't ALL of it. I figured, the RAM itself has different speeds depending on the model/company/etc.. So some 6GB is faster than other 6GB, therefor, you will simply get better performance with better RAM. At list thats what I'm guessing... I just want to get the best performance I can out of this PC without upgrading the processor to a 950 or something (cause I already know that will help with Tessellation rendering in coming games)
You're right, RAM has several elements which determine performance and speed. Timing, frequency (speed), cas latency... You're current setup has a Triple Channel Kit, DDR3 1600 (speed), and timing of 9-9-9-24. The Ripjaws series that you want to purchase has the same exact specifications, besides the extra 6GB which won't give you any boost whatsoever. If you really want a nudge in performance, you might want to check out these puppies. Cas latency of 8 and speeds of DDR3 2000. Unfortunately, your motherboard's memory standard allows you to use up to 1600 speeds. So, here's something i found that you might find interesting. cas latency of 6 (a great improvement over your current 9). Read about cas latency here. Still though, is it worth the upgrade? I stand with my previous answer
I'm with scorps65 on this one. Unless you are using more than 6GB of RAM right now, changing up the RAM speed will give you the smallest of performance increases, if anything. Your money may be better spent elsewhere.
Well, I'm a stickler about graphics, and I have seen the features of DX 11 (Tessellation being the biggest). It's worth upgrading my graphics card to something only slightly better, for DX 11 (Nvidia GTX 570).
