Ram Advice?

[Tim1981]

Hi, I have recently reinstalled Cliffs Of Dover and have been enjoying playing.I have a display running on my G15 keyboard which monitors my cpu and Ram usage.

I noticed some performance issues while on the ATAG server this evening whilst there was 60 odd players on.My ram was running at 95% and everything started to slow down.This is the first performance problem I have had since changing my graphic settings to Medium.

I am running a Q8400 overclocked to 3.2ghz with 4 gig (2 sticks) of matched Mushkin Ram on an old Asus P5K motherboard with Windows 7 64bit Pro.

I have some 1 gig GEIL sticks of ram and was wondering if it is worth adding another gig of unmatched ram to my setup.I'm not sure whether this would help reduce the ram load?

Any help, much appreciated.

[madrebel]

typically no running mismatched sticks is a recipe for problems. it can be done but isn't recommended by anyone.

CoD is a 32 bit app so it will never address more than 2GB of ram at any given time (actually the limit is about 1.7GB for 32bit threads). as long as you have 2GB of available memory then adding more won't do anything.

i wouldnt bother upgrading to different ram either as ddr2 is stupid expensive compared to ddr3. you can get 8GBs of CL7 ddr3 for like $45. if i were you I would wait for Sandy Bridge E and upgrade my whole setup then.

[ATAG_Bliss]

Hi Tim,

Like Rudelmann said, there's a memory leak that will eventually cause a crash for everyone.

If you're running Win7 x64, having more than 4 gigs will help you out considering the amount that other programs and your OS is using. I believe the OS and some other programs without the game will be pushing 1.5 to 2 gigs by itself. (Win7/steam/trackir/ts3 etc.)

That being said, I have some extra ddr2 laying around. If you pick up the shipping (assuming you're in the US), I'll gladly send you it (2x2gig ddr2 sticks).

[r0bc]

Most LGA775 motherboards performed worst with 8GB then with 4GB.
Personally wouldn't even bother.

[Tim1981]

Thanks for all the advice.

I have sent a PM to you Bliss.

[klem]

Well its pretty definite. I tried Rizone's memboost.exe hoping it would reclaim discarded memory but it didn't help.

I'm attaching screenshots of memboost showing a gradual eating of my memory. Memboost isn't able to do anything about it so its not redundant/discarded/fouled up memory but memory the game is holding onto. It seems it may be collecting data and holding it instead of dropping it when no longer required.

It seems to fill my memory over a period of 1.5 to 2 hours - I have 6Gb RAM - which is about right from experience. I thought I wasn't getting it on the JG27 server but that may be because I was only in it long enough to ride near the limit but didn't know without memboost to whisper in my ear. I tend to be on the ATAG server longer and that has until recently had more AI flying around. I have had complete lockups there on a few occasions.

The attached shows what it was like on the JG27 server tonight after I began to get memory warnings (memboost is set to warn me if >80% memory used). It never actually filled up completely because I left the server.

Then I restarted the game and went into the ATAG server and took screenies at about 20 and 30 minutes which co-incided with some action. You can see on the 20 and 30 minute screenies a small but steady increase in memory usage eventually adding ~0.8Gb to my memory load. All for taking off from Hawkinge, roaming around halfway to Manston then going halfway across the channel where I found a couple of He111s, then a coople more Hurricanes then a 109.

Hope they get it fixed soon!

[Tim1981]

I have made a few upgrades since last posting in this thread.I upgraded my gpu to a 2 gig ATI 6950 and I also bought a solid stat drive for Clod to run off.

I still get the odd stutters and realise that its the optimisation of this game.Im looking at a ram upgrade.I have 4 gb in 2 gb sticks (1066) installed with 5:5:5:15 timing's and at 1.9 Vcore.

The ram I have been looking at specify's 2.2 vcore.Will I be ok running my current ram at that higher voltage?

Which slot should I put the extra stick in on my motherboard?

Any help, much appreciated.

[louisv]

I have made a few upgrades since last posting in this thread. I upgraded my GPU to a 2 gig ATI 6950 and I also bought a solid stat drive for Clod to run off.

I still get the odd stutters and realize that its the optimization of this game. I'm looking at a ram upgrade. I have 4 GB in 2 GB sticks (1066) installed with 5:5:5:15 timing's and at 1.9 Vcore.

The ram I have been looking at specifies 2.2 Vcore. Will I be OK running my current ram at that higher voltage?

Which slot should I put the extra stick in on my motherboard?

Any help, much appreciated.


No, the voltage rating of one is not the other, verify the specs of that stick otherwise you could burn it. I am sure the stutters will not be affected by a small change in memory speed. And 5:5:5:15 at 1066 MHz is fast. At 1600 MHz (triple channel if you have it on your motherboard) you will not get much faster than 8:8:8:24 and it will not make a big change.

What you could do is add more of the same memory, it will give you more RAM for 64 bit apps and some more for 32 bit apps too. It will not fix the stutters...people with the the best rigs still get the odd stutters: I have a 980x and a GTX580 and I still get some low altitude or smoke stutters.

Let them fix it, its a basic graphic bug that they can't fix (or will not), so they are changing the whole graphic system for the next update.

Just wait a little.

Lou

[dnr]

As I progressed into complex engine management my rig started to freeze with increasing frequency so after a series of diagnostics and dumbing down the Win 7 graphics it got a bit better. My error log listed numerous warnings and critical events but it seemed that data thrashing is the culprit. This discussion string certainly sounds like the same problem I've experienced because after about 1 to 1.5 hours it seems that the memory loads up, tries to dump back onto the hard drive but eventually fills up and locks. I have to do a hard boot, but then the computer starts up as if nothing was wrong. I've increased the available space on my drive from about 8MB to 30MB aval as memory but it still locked up over the weekend. Last night I completed a Spit iia mission from Hawkinge with two Spits in tow, flew to Saint-Omer to intercept a FW 200 with ME 109 escort with about twenty AA guns waging war on the deck, and then returned with no issues over a 1 hr, 22 min period. CLoD and graphics were perfect (0500 hrs over the Channel, what a sight). I am opting to upgrade my RAM from 8 GB DDR3 1600 Kingston Hyper to 16 GB DDR3 1600 G.SKILL Ripjaws. I'll drop by Wed or Thurs and let you know how it worked. Hopefully the programming issues will be dealt with in due course and the RAM can be fully utilized as I want to crank the graphics to high in all settings.

P.S. No issues with the dual 6870/Crossfire setup.

CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2063 120mm LQ, Phenom II X6 1090T(3.2GHz), ASUS M4A87TD EVO MB, 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM, 2TB HDD, Dual 1 GB AMD Radeon HD 6870 (Crossfire) GPUs, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit, Saitek X52 Pro stick/thrust/rudder, Cyborg, 70” Sharp Quatton

[klem]

As I progressed into complex engine management my rig started to freeze with increasing frequency so after a series of diagnostics and dumbing down the Win 7 graphics it got a bit better. My error log listed numerous warnings and critical events but it seemed that data thrashing is the culprit. This discussion string certainly sounds like the same problem I've experienced because after about 1 to 1.5 hours it seems that the memory loads up, tries to dump back onto the hard drive but eventually fills up and locks. I have to do a hard boot, but then the computer starts up as if nothing was wrong. I've increased the available space on my drive from about 8MB to 30MB aval as memory but it still locked up over the weekend. Last night I completed a Spit iia mission from Hawkinge with two Spits in tow, flew to Saint-Omer to intercept a FW 200 with ME 109 escort with about twenty AA guns waging war on the deck, and then returned with no issues over a 1 hr, 22 min period. CLoD and graphics were perfect (0500 hrs over the Channel, what a sight). I am opting to upgrade my RAM from 8 GB DDR3 1600 Kingston Hyper to 16 GB DDR3 1600 G.SKILL Ripjaws. I'll drop by Wed or Thurs and let you know how it worked. Hopefully the programming issues will be dealt with in due course and the RAM can be fully utilized as I want to crank the graphics to high in all settings.

P.S. No issues with the dual 6870/Crossfire setup.

CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2063 120mm LQ, Phenom II X6 1090T(3.2GHz), ASUS M4A87TD EVO MB, 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM, 2TB HDD, Dual 1 GB AMD Radeon HD 6870 (Crossfire) GPUs, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit, Saitek X52 Pro stick/thrust/rudder, Cyborg, 70” Sharp Quatton

Be warned. One of my Buddies is running 16Gb RAM on a 2011 hot rig and he still gets the same problem. I think it may be an adressing issue rather than RAM availability. Like mine, his rig freezes in the 5Gb+ memory usage area.

[dnr]

Thanks Klem,

Once I get them installed I'll see if I can track my memory usage and time from start up to freeze up. Last night after posting I ran a scenario for just under two hours then started up a new one and it froze during engine warmup when one would not expect a lot of memory usage, so you're probably right.

[klem]

Thanks Klem,

Once I get them installed I'll see if I can track my memory usage and time from start up to freeze up. Last night after posting I ran a scenario for just under two hours then started up a new one and it froze during engine warmup when one would not expect a lot of memory usage, so you're probably right.

If you get (free) memboost
http://memboost.sourceforge.net/
and run it in the background it will show you your memory usage and you will see it slowly climb as you play. Its not easy to see what's causing it, sometimes I play for over an hour and the usage doesnt reach 3Gb, then it may more quickly rise to over 5Gb. Perhaps its better over the Channel and worse when ground objects and/or other aircraft are loaded in. In any case the problem will hopefully be fixed in the next patch.

If in doubt I restart the game when it gets over 3Gb+.

[dnr]

I ran a baseline tracking my memory usage through Win 7 Resource Monitor hoping to find evidence of memory leakage as the cause by my thrashing problem. Taking cold start data I ran the same scenarios in sequence and recorded the memory allocation at the conclusion of each mission. Most of the time it all looked pretty normal, but after the third mission on Thursday 16 Dec 11 as I pulled up the resource monitor window the standby memory was filling up before my eyes as the free space dropped to zero. I think this might have been a memory dump from the virtual memory paging setup back to the RAM. Needless to say my rig didn't respond well to that so I shut down and followed the same sequence on Fri night (17 Dec). The system finally locked up after about three hours of run time. I then swapped out the Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600 for some sexy new G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 PC3 12800 16GB. I can say that there is a noticible difference in CLoD performance as motion tracking is smoother, less judder on the geo layers and my rid remained stable for over four hours through three full missions and a couple of hours in mission builder setting up and testing new scenarios. At about 0017 hrs Saturday morning CLoD had finally had enough and it frooze. Difference was that my rig kept running just fine. I pulled up the resource monitor and still had bags of free memory remaining. Data that I collected is attached if its of use to anyone out there considering adding more RAM as a solution to their memory leaks and thrashing problems. I think Klem was right, this does not solve the programming problem, Win 7 might not even be using all that RAM properly, but this does delay total lockup long enought to get a more enjoyable experience out of CLoD.