Tips for gaming with 8GB system memory?

heartburnron

heartburnron

heartburnron

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So I built my kids a gaming PC last month out of mostly spare and second hand parts. Being only 5 & 6 years old they're too young to appreciate high graphics settings so I settled for a Pentium G4560 and 8GB of Hyper X 2400 DRR4 RAM. I then dropped in my old Fury X which I expected to be able to handle anything on the 60Hz 1080p monitor they're gaming on.

However, today while playing Just Cause 3 they got a system memory warning from the game at the start menu, advising to close down other applications. There where no other open applications to close down aside from Steam. So what is the story in regards to games and system memory? I know all about VRAM and the impact graphics settings have on that but for system memory, is there anything that can be done? Will lowering in game graphics settings have any impact? The game itself is running ok with just the occasional stutter when driving around but I've no intention of adding any more RAM at the current prices...
 
Run JC3 at 720p and you should be fine but honestly keep your eye for some used RAM even if only 4gb, you'll lose dual channel but you wont notice. Had the same issue with the same game on my daughters PC and ended up adding ram.
 
I'm stuck on 8GB but I'm playing very few new AAA games anymore so I get by. A little under two years ago I bought 2x8GB but the xmp profile wouldn't apply so I returned the ram . . . regret it as it would cost double the price now.
 
Dempsey22 said:
  • Right-click Computer
  • Select Properties
  • Select Advanced system settings
  • Select the Advanced tab and then the Performance radio button
  • Select the Change box under Virtual memory
Click to expand...

Thank you.

Columbo said:
Run JC3 at 720p and you should be fine but honestly keep your eye for some used RAM even if only 4gb, you'll lose dual channel but you wont notice. Had the same issue with the same game on my daughters PC and ended up adding ram.
Click to expand...
Thanks. So does the resolution of a game effect the actual system memory as well as VRAM? I understand that system memory is utilised for applications, web pages, etc. but I don't understand the relationship between games and system memory?...
 
heartburnron said:
Thank you.


Thanks. So does the resolution of a game effect the actual system memory as well as VRAM? I understand that system memory is utilised for applications, web pages, etc. but I don't understand the relationship between games and system memory?...
Click to expand...
Game can use system RAM for whatever it wants :) Could be doing some weird buffering between the disk and the GPU's VRAM.

Normally a game engine doesn't use as much system RAM as VRAM by a long way, or at least that's how it used to be.

e: Plenty of us (including myself) are using 8GB sys RAM and having no issues, btw.
 
FoxEye said:
Game can use system RAM for whatever it wants :) Could be doing some weird buffering between the disk and the GPU's VRAM.

Normally a game engine doesn't use as much system RAM as VRAM by a long way, or at least that's how it used to be.

e: Plenty of us (including myself) are using 8GB sys RAM and having no issues, btw.
Click to expand...
That's what I thought. I knew 16GB has become the new 'standard' over the past couple of years but I wasn't expecting any issues by going with 8GB for their PC. Likely just that specific game as Columbo mentioned above similar issues.
 
I have no issues at all achieving 60fps with 8GB of RAM on JC3, BF1 etc. I get the warning on JC3 too. I don't have any of the latest latest games though like... COD WW2 etc. I have a stock 4770k and a 390x

I can't recall seeing more than 6GB in use in MSI afterburner. However I have pretty much no background processes running beyond windows default ones (and even some of those are turned off like One Drive). The only background stuff I have is dropbox and whatever client I need to have open to run a game. For more relaxing games I have spotify open too with no issues.

You'll be fine as long as you don't have loads of Chromes open etc. I certainly won't be upgrading with RAM prices what they are.
 
Some games definitely require 8GB+ BF1 @ 1440p I'm never below 8GB total usage.

download
 
8gb RAM is more than enough still these days. A lot of people still use 4gb believe it or not ! Especially when you said "Just Cause 3 they got a system memory warning from the game at the start menu" you wouldn't get a memory issue before you actually play the game ! More likely it either crashed or some other application was causing a memory leak (where it loops round eating up memory till there is none left and the system crashes due to poor software programming).

One thing to double check though in that your Windows OS is 32 bit not 64 bit. eg if you are using Windows 7 32bit for instance it will only use upto 4gb even if you have 8gb in it.
 
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