What's the trade off with extra RAM ?

[almighty15]

They will be using it lazily though, if they're developers then they're being lazy.

Games aren't actually "ported", this is the reality of the situation. They are compiled for each individual platform that they are intended to be released on, they are not "ported" from one platform to another.

You could argue that excluse games are handled like that but multiplatform games, and games using engine like UE3 are pretty much ports.

Shader code should pretty much drag and drop between platforms, and we the new machines having x86 based CPU's having to compile for each platform should become a rare thing over the next few years.

 

[spoffle]

I'll book mark this thread and get back to you in 10 years...

You do that.

You could argue that excluse games are handled like that but multiplatform games, and games using engine like UE3 are pretty much ports.

They aren't ports at all. They HAVE to be compiled specifically for each platform otherwise they wouldn't work. Porting simply doesn't happen in this way.

Shader code should pretty much drag and drop between platforms, and we the new machines having x86 based CPU's having to compile for each platform should become a rare thing over the next few years.

There's a lot more to games and its coding than shader code. It doesn't matter whether specific lines of code can be dragged and dropped between platforms, they still have to have a specific build compiled for a specific platform.

Also, your comment on X86 just shows you don't know what you're talking about. Just because nearly all the platforms use X86 now doesn't mean that you can drag and drop code between platforms and it'll just work.

Otherwise you wouldn't have to specifically code and compile games for Unix (Linux and OSX) operating systems, by your logic they'd simply work because "X86".

The most prominent thing about X86 is that we're probably more likely to see PS4 and Xbox One emulators before we see fully functional PS3 and Xbox 360 ones. That's about it with regards to the relationship to PC.

X86 was chosen for the ease, and familiarity, as they could pretty much just take already established CPU and GPU technologies and use them without much fuss.

 

[almighty15]

.

I'm really not arguing with you... go and sign up and maybe you'll learn a thing or too..

http://forum.beyond3d.com/

developers hang out in the console technology section...

*Goes back to overclocking his 3770k*

 

[spoffle]

I'm really not arguing with you... go and sign up and maybe you'll learn a thing or too..

http://forum.beyond3d.com/

developers hang out in the console technology section...

*Goes back to overclocking his 3770k*

Except that you are. A games developer will KNOW that games aren't actually "ported", they'll be saying it because they're being lazy.

Games developers are people too, they aren't above being lazy...

 

[Papablu]

Thanks for your input guys. It seems that it's one of those dilemmas that will haunt us till the time comes when we do actually need more than the 8GB of RAM. Until then it will just be speculation.

I'm not sure if the stock level in the OC shop translates to system builds, but at the moment there's no 8GB sticks of the faster Orange RAM for the I-T.
I may well have to keep it at 8GB and then I'll update it at a later time, or maybe not as the requirements may well stay below the 8GB, who knows for sure.

I'll put my trust in the build having 8 Packs name behind it and for at least the next year I'm sure the 8GB will be plenty.

 

[ackersfury]

8Gb will be fine for games for the next 10 years.

Doubt it...these are the recommended requirements for the upcoming 'watchdogs' game for pc

RECOMMENDED

Processor: Core i7 3770 @ 3.5Ghz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0Ghz
RAM: 8 GB
Video Card: 2048 VRAM DirectX 11 with Shader Model 5.0 or higher (see supported list)
Sound Card: Surround Sound 5.1 capable sound card
Supported Video Cards at Time of Release:
nVidia GeForce GTX460 or better, GT500, GT600, GT700 series;
AMD Radeon HD5850 or better, HD6000, HD7000, R7 and R9 series
Intel® Iris™ Pro HD 5200

http://www.videogamer.com/pc/watch_dogs/news/watch_dogs_revised_pc_system_requirements_are_even_more_demanding_than_the_last_ones.html

 

[JCX50]

Personally, You would get a better system "gain" with the 16GB RAM (for other applications, not just for gaming) than a better overclock theoretically speaking. *plz don't shoot me*

 

[JonSmith]

8 is fine for the time being. Right now the 8GB DIMMs are expensive which is the problem.

The advantage of having more RAM is that from windows 7 onwards the OS uses spare RAM as a VRAM cache. I remember someone on the forums did a test showing that increasing your RAM from 4 to 8GB had basically the same effect as going from a 1GB GPU to a 2GB one (in BF3 at least).

 

[los]

I've got 8gb and thats what I will be sticking with till DDR4 is out, then I'll upgrade again.
So it all depends on how often you plan to upgrade really. If your worried and dont upgrade often then go for 16gb.
If you will go for DDR4 in a couple of years or so, I'd save and go for 8gb.

 

[murah]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/342932-33-kepler-cards-pulling-system-vram-runs

found this, might explain better(for above poster).

 

[smilertoo]

8gb will only be enough for the next couple of years, PCs are already leaving the new consoles behind on game scale, res, texture size etc.

 

[DarkBahamut]

The question around 8GB vs 16GB for gaming is an interesting one, and largely comes down to how a person uses their system. Do you close every single background application before you play a game? Then 8GB will almost certainly be fine, and for a good while to come. On the other hand, do you just leave everything open and fire up your game? Then you want 16GB+.

When I personally game I will leave chrome open, spotify for music, steam and maybe a couple of IM programs and I've hit over 8GB in use on several days in the past week while gaming.

And bare in mind this is before you even touch on the subject of reduced file system cache and mapped files and increased hard memory faults which all start occurring long long before you get anywhere near '100%' physical memory usage. I'd definitely recommend 2x8GB minimum for a build today.

 

[zyzzyzus]

Once more games start being released as 64bit apps only you might start needing more RAM. But until then they are limited to 4GB. That is why 8GB is recommended for games since there is RAM left for the OS etc.

Even when there is a true 64bit version there is a 32bit one too so that RAM wont go much above 4GB.

I don't think you can say for certain that in 10 years games wont need more than 8GB.

 

[Deus Ex]

Price mate, unless you are stealing your ram.

 

[Papablu]

A bit late on my reply here guys so I apologise for that. I ended up going with 8GB on the build itself but have just had my system RMA'd and have taken advantage and got another 8GB installed while it's in the hands of ocuk.

Rob told me today that he managed to get a 4.7 overclock on the 3.5 standard cpu which has replaced my faulty one. So if this runs well at 4.7ghz my initial assumption of losing some speed will be irrelevant and possibly comes down to the cpu itself ?