Hey everyone,

I knowit is only slightly related to Oblivion, but I was wondering if I could ask some advice about improving my RAM in my PC. I already have 4GB, but would like to upgrade to something higher, so have several questions:

- Is there a point where it is not worth going higher? I saw a 16GB set (4X4GB) -- would that be good, or on the whole unneccessary? I know More>Better usually, but does it level-out in general use?
- Can I just install any make of RAM -- I am guessing the manufacturer does not matter, but there seems to be other details-- so which do I need to pay attention to most?
- Is there any reliable programs to check my RAM? I know Crucial have one, but it just seems to recommend their own for obvious reasons...

Thanks in advance to anyone who could help with these questions.

-Post Script-
Sorry if this double-posts, I got a 'Cannot display' message-- so if there are two, please feel free to lock one.

What ram do you have in there now? Do you have a 64 bit operating system? More isn't necessarily going to give you better performance, you MIGHT get better stability, but, that's gonna be about it. Going to faster RAM isn't going to be really noticeable either, as the RAM is more than likely NOT the limiting factor for performance. Processor, or video would be the more likely candidates.

Right now I have 4GB-- DDR3, I think it is.

My performance is pretty good at the moment-- I have a Quad-core, but I cannot recall the details of my Graphics (on my Laptop right now); my main concern was just that it is about a year or so old, and with how fast things develop, and had heard that a RAM boost would be useful from someone who knows more about these things than me. But if RAM would make little real difference, than I guess it is not something to worry about too much

Thank-you for the response, though

It depends on what you use your laptop for.

There aren't any games out there that use more than 4gb of ram. They simply don't have textures and other assets that take up enough space yet. Oblivion in particular is unable to use more than than 2gbs of ram without hacking the executable. On the other hand, if you do some other tasks like audio/video editing, running physics simulations or huge enormous spreadsheets... then you will see a huge improment.

One thing to watch out for when buying ram is that there are a lot of high-end products being presented as "gaming" ram. They boast higher clock speeds, fins for cooling and improved timing. This stuff is meant for benchmark programs and hobbyists. I have yet to see anybody show proof of a noticeable performance increase in a game from upgrading to one of these. Just get a mid-line product from a reputable manufacturer such as Corsair, G-Skill or Kingston.

Snarlelfargen,
Thanks for the response It is my PC I am planning to upgrade-- but yeah, I mostly use it for gaming and what not. Windows is telling me I have 4gb, but it also says only something like 3.5/3.75 GB is usable. Would that actually effect the '4GB' recommendation on some of the newer games, do you know? Or is that taken into account, and they just 'say' 4GB because it avoids confusing people?

On 32-bit operating systems there is a hard limit of 2^32 memory address, which is equal to 4096MB or 4GB. To initialize other hardware like the graphics aperture and other hardware the system needs to use memory addresses. This reduces the number of memory address available for RAM. Computer with 32-bit O/S may show between 3.25 and 3.75GB of RAM when 4GB is installed.

System requirements usually factor this because 32-bit applications may only use up to 2GB (standard setup) of RAM. The rest of the 4GB requirement is most likely for overhead. You can increase application use of RAM to 3GB (32-bit O/S) or 4GB (64-bit O/S) with the large_memory_aware flag, sometimes called /3GB flag.

Thanks, I should have thought to mention that. For clarification,windows XP is 32-bit and Windows 7 is 64 bit. You can get 32-bit Win 7, but you see it very rarely.

XP has a 64-bit version (NT 5.2) but that is even rarer than Windows 7 32-bit

CDM_ if it was only for Oblivion you want to upgrade the RAM, it is not worth it. 4GB is plenty enough, even with 64-bit operating system. OB does not use beyond about 1.8 GB of RAM before it will crash on you. Possibly it will use some more if you apply the LAA patch (did not work for me however). So OB is always bound to crash at some point before even the 4GB RAM is fully exhausted.

Can't speak for Skyrim though.

Strictly for gaming, the 4 GB are still quite enough for all current titles, even Battlefield 3 and stuff. So unless you have applications like video editing or photoshopping and do some real work there, you will not notice a real benefit from more RAM... AT THE MOMENT. The software to make consistent use of it is simply not there. So I'd say you can still wait to purchase more RAM. If you want to spend some on a PC upgrade, go for a 64GB (or more) SSD (my recommendation Crucial m4). You will notice big performance gains if you install the OS and your main apps/games thereon...

Again, I cannot speak about how exactly Skyrim uses or not uses a large RAM, simply don't know.