High Memory usage during games, will more RAM help?

[Boon]

Processor: AMD E2-6110 APU with AMD Radeon R2 Graphics
Video Card: AMD Radeon(TM) R2 Graphics
Memory: 3.5 GB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (build 9600), 64-bit



First off I'd like to say, yes i have a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ computer. In fact it's a laptop. and it sucks. Right now the game i mostly play is CS:GO and I run that 800x600 low settings, i net around 18-30 fps generally. I noticed while playing, if I open task manager I can see that 'memory' is very high, usually in the 90s with CS taking up around 350mb or so. I also noticed if I have chrome or something open, and its using about 100mb csgo slows down and my frames go even lower

Right now I have 4gb of ram, is 8gb going to bump up the performance, or am i SOL cause my processor sucks and integrated graphics are the devils ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

[initiaLiSeD]

Yes, probably a small bump in performance because both the CPU and GPU components of the APU share your pool of RAM. You may be able to get more performance by going into BIOS (usually F2 on boot on a laptop) and increasing the GPU memory allocation.

[Boon]

I tried that. I have some kind of HP laptop dont remember what, but there is literally nothing in the BIOS. Like super bare bones, I can change almost nothing

[Boon]

http://imgur.com/a/ktgok

some screenshots of task manager while cs is running
in the last one you can see that the CPU usage barely goes over half, is there a reason for that?

[CursedPanther]

74% is nowhere near critical, consider that you have less then 4GB available.

[_I_]

3.5g sounds like your running win32

post a cpuz validation link
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
cpuz -> validate button -> submit button
it will open a browser, copy the url (address) and paste it here

win32 has a 4g (3.5-3.75g) ram limit, more ram will not help at all


if games are hogging up that much ram, check what tasks are consuming the most and kill them

start -> run -> msconfig
startup tab, untick all startup items
service tab, untick all non ms items
reboot


https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/
install mbam
run mbam, let it update, and full scan
fix all problems
reboot in safe mode
run mbam, let it full scan
fix all problems
reboot


also check task scheduler, many newer forms of malware use it to update or reinstall themselves
start -> right click on computer -> manage
computer management -> system tools -> task scheduler -> task scheduler library
that list should be empty

[Rove]

Originally posted by ✘ blink ✘:

http://imgur.com/a/ktgok

some screenshots of task manager while cs is running
in the last one you can see that the CPU usage barely goes over half, is there a reason for that?

The other interesting thing to monitor would be your GPU usage.

The screenshot there does not show memory at 90%.

[[AU] Tabris:DarkPeace]

The cores are only two issue, which basically means they suck for modern applications and games.

Even though it's a quad core it is the 2nd weakest quad core on the market IPC wise and designed for long battery life or low battery cell count computing.

This is normal for very low end AMD CPUs I believe.

[[AU] Tabris:DarkPeace]

The CPU is VERY WEAK TWO ISSUE CORES there isn't much he can do.

[Samadhi]

Originally posted by TabrisDarkPeace:

The CPU is VERY WEAK TWO ISSUE CORES there isn't much he can do.

I totally agree.
The screenshot tells the story.

[Boon]

ok, i didnt think there was anything i could do, just wondered if ram might maybe help but i guess not

thanks anyway

[Samadhi]

Originally posted by ✘ blink ✘:

ok, i didnt think there was anything i could do, just wondered if ram might maybe help but i guess not

thanks anyway

More RAM will help you to a degree, but your low frame rate is a symptom of your weak CPU/GPU combination.

[Rove]

More RAM will help prevent performance drops, freezes and crashes.

It will allow your system to perform to the utmost but your system is really very low performance even still. So you need to think about the reality of saving up for building a $250~ to $500~ gaming desktop and also about using your TV for a monitor or getting a monitor and the cost of basic keyboard, mouse and speakers (if not included in the TV/monitor). You thus might just want to get more RAM for now or you might want to put that money towards the first step of saving for building your basic gaming desktop.

I also got to say that if CS:GO is taking up only 350MB then you should just shut down other programs that are running in the background and then hopefully you can slim down your memory usage to under 50% pretty easy.

[Boon]

Originally posted by Rove:

You thus might just want to get more RAM for now or you might want to put that money towards the first step of saving for building your basic gaming desktop.

that's the thing. I have the money for it, but there's a lot of other things that I'd rather spend my money on and save for. I was just wondering if I should get any more ram cause its a hell of a lot cheaper than buying or building a better pc

[[AU] Tabris:DarkPeace]

If you're using under 85% of your RAM I woukd not bother.

That PC is a dead end money wise.