More ram?

[Heatseeker_no.1]

Would I get a significant performance gain if I upgraded to 2mb of ram?

[lil_jimmy_norton]

You mean 2GB, you would. Especially when you get that 7800GS in there.

[sackynut]

you would get more constant High fps, but that would be from 1 > 2. from 1.5 > 2 the improvment isnt as great (i know, i had it)

[infectedsoldier]

I had some performance 1GB RAM and when I went to 2GB it was a big improvement. Main thing was faster loading and all the start game stutter was gone. If the stutter when you start a new game doesn't bug you much and you don't care about being first in the game then don't worry about it. That's the biggest improvements you get that I've seen.

[Heatseeker_no.1]

Ah yes 2 gig lol. Thanks I think I will upgrade then.

[WildLegba]

With 2 gigs BF2 loads entirely into memory. Levels will load a *little* bit faster and stuttering is pretty much eliminated. In general, the overall performance and "feel" of the game is much improved. When I went from 1 to 2, after I played for an hour I considered it money very well spent.

If you really want levels to load faster, you'll need a 10k disk like a Raptor OR a RAID setup. A two-disk RAID 0 setup of your average 7200k disks will be approximately 20% faster than the Raptor and give you more bang for your buck in storage size as well, even with no fault-tolerance in the "0" level.

[<}US{>BlackHawkPilot73]

yes you will^^

[mafia_boy]

I would definatly get 2 gig of ram, and that new graphics card while your shopping!

[pinballwizard301]

Would you fellas say that upgrading from 512mb to 1.5gb of ram would make a huge difference?

[Heatseeker_no.1]

I did that and yes is certainly does.

BetaGeek, I looked into doing a raid setup tbh i'd never heard of it, how much faster do you reckon the maps would load?

[WildLegba]

I did that and yes is certainly does.

BetaGeek, I looked into doing a raid setup tbh i'd never heard of it, how much faster do you reckon the maps would load?


I run a 74gig Raptor and I am always, ALWAYS one of the first guys if not the first guy on the map when it loads. A two disk RAID, optimized for read access, should be 20% faster than the Raptor based on some general tests I did last year, so the maps would load pretty friggin' fast. Adding more disks would make it incrementally faster if you have an insatiable need for speed.

If you have a decent recent mobo it probably has an onboard RAID controller. Buy a second disk of whatever you are running now and you would be good to go.

[kaheiyeh]

Would you fellas say that upgrading from 512mb to 1.5gb of ram would make a huge difference?

HUGE difference. I upgraded from 512mb to 1.5GB of RAM. I was playing on Low settings with 512mb and now I play all high with 1.5GB.

[imported_Lemonking]

man I wish my checks wouldnt take forever to clear,as soon as they do I will order some ram of newegg,this thread helped alot.THX

[Heatseeker_no.1]

I run a 74gig Raptor and I am always, ALWAYS one of the first guys if not the first guy on the map when it loads. A two disk RAID, optimized for read access, should be 20% faster than the Raptor based on some general tests I did last year, so the maps would load pretty friggin' fast. Adding more disks would make it incrementally faster if you have an insatiable need for speed.

If you have a decent recent mobo it probably has an onboard RAID controller. Buy a second disk of whatever you are running now and you would be good to go.

Would doing a Raid 0 setup mean I would have to re-install windows first, or is there some way of copying the entire hard drive?

[RA-1972]

i went from 1.5 to xms corsair 2 x 1 gig match pair ddr what a difference no lag no stutter and all on mid to high .

[Heatseeker_no.1]

Right i'v ordered the ram, £22 per 512mb :D

[<DV8>mrbucket]

With 2 gigs BF2 loads entirely into memory. Levels will load a *little* bit faster and stuttering is pretty much eliminated. In general, the overall performance and "feel" of the game is much improved. When I went from 1 to 2, after I played for an hour I considered it money very well spent.

If you really want levels to load faster, you'll need a 10k disk like a Raptor OR a RAID setup. A two-disk RAID 0 setup of your average 7200k disks will be approximately 20% faster than the Raptor and give you more bang for your buck in storage size as well, even with no fault-tolerance in the "0" level.


In theory it is true for raid 0. But there is hardly a difference in most cases. If you go with a drive with a 16mb cache on a sata, you will save yourself a ton of money and get a faster transfer, the only thing your missing is the seek time of a 10,000 rpm raptor, which again, is hardly noticeable. The 2 gigs will give a pretty big gain on loads and overall performance.

[Heatseeker_no.1]

Why doesnt RAID 0 make much of a differance, is it because it would be bottlenecked by the rest of the system?

How about two raptors in RAID 0 ?

And I already have a 8mb cache sata, how much faster is a 16mb?

[-Darkstar10-]

if you want hookups on ram, order it on ebay let me tell you guys

i just bought a brand new unopened gig of corsair ram for $65 free shipping as well

[NoToRiOuSmInUtE]

2 GB is need if you want to play the game in absolute MAXIMUM setiings 1600x1200 resolution, I am doing it and the game runs awsome.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

if you want hookups on ram, order it on ebay let me tell you guys

i just bought a brand new unopened gig of corsair ram for $65 free shipping as well

Ugh, e-bay and important hardware don't mix....

[-Darkstar10-]

you just gotta make sure you somehow get a warranty in case its DOA, so just becareful what you buy and you'll save money

[WildLegba]

Would doing a Raid 0 setup mean I would have to re-install windows first, or is there some way of copying the entire hard drive?

There may be a way to setup a RAID without re-installing windows, but if there is I don't know anything about it. The issue as far as I know is that you need to install the third-party RAID controller drivers at the time you install Windows. You'll need to check the specifics of your equipment to be sure of the correct process.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Norton Ghost will copy your current drive to a RAID setup.

[Heatseeker_no.1]

So I wont have to reinstall anything, excellent. For a RAID setup I want a hardware controller right? Does my motherboard have One?

[lil_jimmy_norton]

So I wont have to reinstall anything, excellent. For a RAID setup I need the controller right? Does my motherboard have them?

Yes it does.

[infectedsoldier]

Why doesnt RAID 0 make much of a differance, is it because it would be bottlenecked by the rest of the system?

How about two raptors in RAID 0 ?

And I already have a 8mb cache sata, how much faster is a 16mb?


I honestly would say forget a RAID. For the most part you want it if you're doing video editing etc and it'll make a big difference. As for loading times in BF2 I doubt it might make you a few milliseconds faster plus I think it's more a headache etc. Just my two cents. I'd say a SATA 3Gbs would give you almost the same performance for cheaper plus less hassle. I'm always one of the first in and I just run one Raptor with 2GB of Corsair XMS Pro 3500LL.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

I honestly would say forget a RAID. For the most part you want it if you're doing video editing etc and it'll make a big difference. As for loading times in BF2 I doubt it might make you a few milliseconds faster plus I think it's more a headache etc. Just my two cents. I'd say a SATA 3Gbs would give you almost the same performance for cheaper plus less hassle. I'm always one of the first in and I just run one Raptor with 2GB of Corsair XMS Pro 3500LL.

SATA 3GBs does noting. Faster interface speed doesn't do any good when your internal transfer speed is the same.

[trodas]

Would be interesting if anyone could measure a timedemo or something for the 1G - 2G performance improve, after all.

I got a lot of performance improve and memory problems gone by just deleting all the *.bik files - they stop eating the memory and game fit will on optimized XP (and even better on W2k systems) into the 1G of ram :)

[vampman1]

i have just got an extra gig of ram, what a diff it makes, i would tell everyone to get 2gb of ram for this game

[Heatseeker_no.1]

Are there any disadvantages of using a RAID 0 setup? (are the disks more likely to become corrupt for example)

Also lil Jimmy, can you point me to some info on how Norton ghost can turn my existing setup into a Raid 0 setup, because I cant really find any info on it.

Thanks

[Gunny Highway]

Are there any disadvantages of using a RAID 0 setup? (are the disks more likely to become corrupt for example)

Also lil Jimmy, can you point me to some info on how Norton ghost can turn my existing setup into a Raid 0 setup, because I cant really find any info on it.

Thanks

On a RAID0 volume, half of the information is written on each hard drive.

Which means that if one hard drive fails, your your data is gone, on both drives. You essentially double the chances that a hard drive crash will mean loss of data.

As for performance, take a look here at StorageReview.com article on RAID0:
http://faq.storagereview.com/SingleDriveVsRaid0
It doesn't say it is bad, just that it isn't all it is cranked up to be on a desktops and with its raid controllers.

The point? Dont assume RAID 0 offers increased performance for all or even most applications... and dont assume that transfer rates reflect application-level performance.

To summarize, RAID 0 offers generally minimal performance gains, significantly increased risk of data loss, and greater cost. That said, it offers the ability to have one large partition using the combined space of your identical drives, and there are situations where the benefit of the benefits outweight the disadvantages. It is your computer: The choice is up to you.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Are there any disadvantages of using a RAID 0 setup? (are the disks more likely to become corrupt for example)

Also lil Jimmy, can you point me to some info on how Norton ghost can turn my existing setup into a Raid 0 setup, because I cant really find any info on it.

Thanks

Norton Ghost won't turn your setup into a RAID setup, it will just copy your existing drive onto a RAID array.

[Heatseeker_no.1]

Ah I get ya, so I could copy my existing 160gb hard disk onto another disk for storage, then using a second windows insallation copy that onto a Raid 0 setup of the original disk and another 160gb disk?

[lil_jimmy_norton]

You don't need another windows installations. Copy current drive to spare drive. Bott to spare drive and set up RAID array. Copy spare drive to RAID array.

[Stomp-GoA-]

WOW,

All this from a bug spray?

[ELEPHANTMAN]

BF2 uses 1.2 GB of RAM on high settings, even when you're using 1024 x 768, so obviously, if you've any less than 1.5 GB of RAM, you will be paging to your hard drive which will cause that hitching that you get at the start of each level. If you are planning to invest in more RAM, you should first check to see that your motherboard will support it at the same speed it runs 1 GB, some mobos will only support that much RAM at DDR333 speeds.

[WildLegba]

As for performance, take a look here at StorageReview.com article on RAID0:
http://faq.storagereview.com/SingleDriveVsRaid0
It doesn't say it is bad, just that it isn't all it is cranked up to be on a desktops and with its raid controllers.

True, but we are talking about a very specific task--loading maps at the beginning of a round. In that task, the faster the sustained read, the faster the level will load. RAID is potentially overkill for that, but if you are seeking the fastest possible solution, that is it.

If you want to get really sick, you can pick up a Raptor 36 and use it as a dedicated drive for your page file. :)

And yes, RAID 0 does double the potential for data loss through drive failure. That is one reason why I would never use a RAID 0 setup on anything other than the OS/Apps drives.