A question for the more computer literate - will new RAM increase my FM game speed?

I'm thinking about buying 1gb of ram, at the moment my PC is 1gb ram but i want to double it to 2gb - would this speed the game up or does it take into account other factors like your processor?

fyi My processor is Intel Core 2 4300 @ 1.80ghz if that makes any difference.

Is your current set up (leagues/database) what you normally run? If so just open up task manager and have a look. If you have 'physical' available but FM is still using a large chunk of 'virtual' then increasing RAM will make no/little odds to that save game.

How would I go about checking that isuckatfm and would setting fm as a high priority program help?

I have a very similar question, except I have already gone and bought the RAM. Previously I had 1GB of RAM alongside an AMB Athlon 64 3200 2.00Ghz processor. Running a game on the small database, with only a few leagues running, it was perfectly playable but did take quite a long time when there were lots of fixtures at the same time i.e. internationals, FA Cup third round weekend etc, which was slightly annoying.

I had £60 burning a hole in my pocket so bought another 2GB today, taking me up to 3GB, and expected to see a real improvement but I have noticed absolutely no reduction in the time taken to process fixtures. Indeed, the only increase in speed I have noticed is that the 'loading' icon in various languages no longer appears at start up...

Basically, is this normal and was I expecting too much? Is it more my processor that is holding me back now? Any advice would be appreciated as, if there is no noticable improvement, I may as well return the RAM and waste the money on something else!

Hey bigdavieh save up and buy a new processor. Make sure it's compatible with the mother bored you already have so you can buy the best one you can get.

bardock - thanks for the advice: I'm actually thinking of buying a new system entirely as this one is getting old now. I just hoped a little £60 outlay in the short-term might speed things up until I can afford it. Wishful thinking perhaps!

How would I go about checking that isuckatfm and would setting fm as a high priority program help?

My keyboard is knackered so long posts are frustrating so I'll post a link

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc938567.aspx

There is more complex stuff going on in terms of how OS allocates memory and/or FM interacts in doing so but I know zip about that. All I know is when I switch between 512MB to 1GB a given FM save game still uses roughly the same amount of virtual/physical memory when loaded and holidayed for 3 months.

I'm self taught in this so I don't 100% know and when you google you'll find one 'expert' claiming one thing and another 'expert' claiming another. As naive as it sounds I tend to trust the Microsoft articles above random internet posts.

It definitely will with a good processor, but yours isn't really a good one so it probably won't.

So do you think i need to buy a new processor too as well as RAM? What kind of processor shoudl I be looking at if so? Is there any other hints to increase the overall perfomance of my PC?

David it all depends on your motherboard and what it can handle. Find out what motherboard you have then look for compatibility online I can even help you but you still need to figure out what motherboard you have.

In theory faster processor means faster FM. RAM is kind of iffy I think because the game can only take so much RAM if you already have enough then it doesn't matter how much ram you add. Maybe the quality of RAM might make a difference. A DDR2 400 for example will be slower than a DDR2 800. Again though you can't just go and buy one blindly you have to find out exactly what your motherboard can handle.

I've got 1 save that has about 10-15 leagues active and playable. I've got another which has 75 active leagues...

The RAM used in both save games is almost identical. You need 1Gb free (i.e. not in total, but over and above what your pc uses when idle), for FM2009 to run without resorting to Virtual Memory (which uses hard disk as RAM, which is far slower).

So, assuming you have enough RAM, the thing that will improve FM most is CPU. Seriously thinking about upgrading mine as well as it's taking a long, long time to process fixtures on that 75-League database, as you can imagine, but would like to stick with it as will be a cracking career save.

More ram will spead FM up but since yous is only a 1.8ghz the improvement will only be minimal, but still a speed increase, just a little one. Now if you had a 3.0ghz prcessor and doubled your ram then the speed increase would be a fair bit more

I've got 1 save that has about 10-15 leagues active and playable. I've got another which has 75 active leagues...

The RAM used in both save games is almost identical. You need 1Gb free (i.e. not in total, but over and above what your pc uses when idle), for FM2009 to run without resorting to Virtual Memory (which uses hard disk as RAM, which is far slower).

So, assuming you have enough RAM, the thing that will improve FM most is CPU. Seriously thinking about upgrading mine as well as it's taking a long, long time to process fixtures on that 75-League database, as you can imagine, but would like to stick with it as will be a cracking career save.

Why on earth would anyone want to run a 75 league dv for ? Are you crazy ?

The most i've ever had on was 12 leagues. You can use a ddt file that will still load up all players on db without having all the leagues running, you just got to search for it on these forums.

Yes, quite possibly I am crazy with that db size... I was having an indecisive moment when I set it up and my eyes became greedier than my processing capability

Thanks for the tip on ddt files... I'll look it up.

anton I had the same problem. I wanted all possibly leagues looking to have one hell of a career managing everywhere. start from the lowest and end in one of the top European clubs. About a month in I just gave up the damn thing was too slow.