Crucial PC4000 Ballistix Tracer 2GB - 2GB vs 1GB Gaming - Game Performance
Game Tests:
Battlefield 2
We'll go through the test games alphabetically and start with Battlefield 2. This is a PC (Poorly Coded) game that is rumored to love 2GB of memory. The graphics are decent, but not groundbreaking, and the levels are well written. You either love it or hate it, but we're not here to discuss the game, we're here to show you the numbers.
I ran a couple of pre-scripted timedemos from Anandtech and Guru3D and used some batch files to run these benchmarks. Anandtech's timedemo is from a raised perspective and fails to show close detail, and the Guru3D timedemo is of a single player in a map. I decided to take the time and record my own timedemo which shows a bit more realistic game action. Here's how it stacks up:
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As you can see, load times are dramatically reduced in Battlefield 2 with the inclusion of an extra GB of RAM. Instead of waiting up to 50 seconds for a level to load, times are now reduced to as little as 26 seconds. Framerates take a nice jump as well. Anandtech demo showed a 44% improvement and the BCCHW demo showed a nice 33% improvement. I was quite surprised by these results in Battlefield 2, but don't actually expect this performance curve to hold throughout the other games.
Call of Duty 2 - Demo
At the time of writing, Call of Duty 2 is not yet available, but Activision has released a demo that is very popular. Call of Duty 2 appears to have all the mayhemic elements of the first game and war is everywhere. This demo showcases the high detail textures and non-stop gunfire, explosions, and madness that is Second World War. We ran the tests below at exactly the same settings, and just swapped out the 1GB kit for a 2GB kit.
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The Call of Duty 2 Demo shows some performance improvements in a 2GB configuration when it comes to loading levels, but performance is pretty much flat to .1 FPS lower with 2GB. This game appears to be CPU and GPU bound as the 6600GT SLI setup couldn't average a full 34FPS at 1024x768 all high detail. If you plan to be a big CoD2'er, 1GB of RAM will do you nicely.
Counter Strike: Source - Stress Test
Counter Strike: Source has almost a cult-like following and this article would be remiss if it did not cover at least the CS:Source Stress Test from Valve. Like all the other benchmarks, this test was loaded and ran a minimum of three times and averaged to ensure accuracy. Notice the performance numbers below:
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Performance between 1GB to 2GB is pretty flat in this benchmark. What I do find noteworthy is that there is a performance difference. Valve has done a great job coding the Half-Life 2 and other Source projects to run very well on older as well as top-end hardware. Load times are not affected at all by an extra GB of memory, but in-game FPS do get a minor boost. We are only talking about 2.5% faster FPS, but it is consistent and measurable.
