Quick question on FM10 Ram Usage

Ok so we all know the more Ram u have, the faster FM will go. Now my question is as followed.

For years ive been hearing FM only uses up to 2k Ram and no more than that. Will this finally be updated with FM10 so i can update my motherboard to at least 8k Ram? I'm a player who loves to play with as much leagues as possible and it would be great if i can run it with lets say 5k Ram or even some more whilst windows is running like a charm.

Is there anybody who can fill me in on any info regarding Ram usage on FM10?

Thanks in advance.

You mean 2GB and not 2k of RAM? 2k of Ram is 1/24 of what a ZX spectrum had lol

Fm 2009 doesn't use more than 2/3GB depending on your OS and I imagine fm2010 will be along the same lines (I've not heard otherwise although I could be wrong). The game speed is mostly determined by your CPU.

Also, I think (could be wrong so please don't flame me) that XP and 32-bit Vista will only use 4gb of ram. If you have more then it won't recognise it. It will also deduct your video and sound cards from the 4gb. You may want to check the OS as you'll need the 64-bit version to use 4+ gigs.

I also thought ram was more important than the cpu.

Also, I think (could be wrong so please don't flame me) that XP and 32-bit Vista will only use 4gb of ram. If you have more then it won't recognise it. It will also deduct your video and sound cards from the 4gb. You may want to check the OS as you'll need the 64-bit version to use 4+ gigs.

I also thought ram was more important than the cpu.

it's not even that good the 32-bit versions can only use about 3.2GB of the 4GB you might have installed that's the max they can handle so the 800MB or so remains idle

Post #8 on the link below may help you.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?p=3069681&highlight=fm09+specification#post3069681

it's not even that good the 32-bit versions can only use about 3.2GB of the 4GB you might have installed that's the max they can handle so the 800MB or so remains idle

Not actually true. When a 32 bit OS detects the full 4GB it substracts a certain amount to reserve for fundamental functions. It is not idle - it's just not available for the user's applications. Any more than 4GB would be pointless though.

32-bit Windows has a 2gb per process limit anyway, so no individual application can use more than 2gb (I know about the large address aware hack, but that means fiddling with boot options etc). And anyway, increasing RAM will only speed up Football Manager if the total amount of memory FM is using is higher that your free system memory. In this case, Windows will be continually swapping stuff in and out of virtual memory, slowing down your game. Basically, once you get past the point where FM is entirely in system RAM, adding additional RAM makes no real difference.

32-bit Windows has a 2gb per process limit anyway, so no individual application can use more than 2gb (I know about the large address aware hack, but that means fiddling with boot options etc). And anyway, increasing RAM will only speed up Football Manager if the total amount of memory FM is using is higher that your free system memory. In this case, Windows will be continually swapping stuff in and out of virtual memory, slowing down your game. Basically, once you get past the point where FM is entirely in system RAM, adding additional RAM makes no real difference.

You are correct that there is 2GB limit per PROCESS but wrong that this means there is a 2GB limit per APPLICATION. It is extremely unlikely that an application runs a single 2GB process - aplications run multiple processes so this limit does not figure in a real world situation.

I'm pretty sure FM does run as a single process (check task manager). It has multiple threads running, but these are all sharing the same address sapce, so the 2BG limit applies. Other games have fallen foul of the the 2GB limit (Supreme Commander for one), it's an increasingly common problem.

If an application is using a single 2GB process it is rank bad programming - I would be astonished if FM was running on a single process. I've watched the game using more than 2GB so I'm as close to certain as possible that this is not the case. It is not feasible in my opinion.

It's not rank bad programming, it's common practice. Splitting an application into separate processes is significantly more complicated that splitting into multiple threads. Communication between separate processes is significantly more difficult (you have to rely on something like windows messages or sockets). For a game like FM where every single part of the game is interconnected, making the communication between compenents either slower or more complicated is an absolute no-no. And anyway, check task manager, it's running as a single process. Personally, I have never seen the memory usage get anywhere near 2gb (running a large database, lots of leagues and the 3d match engine). But anyway, I'd be wary of reading too much into the memory usage quoted by Task Manager, it's notoriously unreliable.

The processes are dependent on the OS. It is not the case that software runs independently - it is running in conjuction with the OS. Task manager alone will tell you that fm.exe is running but the amount of processes involved is much more.

Believe what you like, I haven't got either the time or inclination to argue. But look at the fm.exe process in any tool (I've just looked with ProcessExplorer) and it's a single process with multiple threads, as are the vast majority of Windows programs.

Well thanks guys for all the answers, now i know it wont matter that much. And seeing im on a 32 bit Vista it wont be neccesary to update my ram to 8gb. FM will be running the same as always and with my CPU a large DB with all leagues selected works like a charm or at least it works fine.

Another question popped in my head today and thats one about the proccessor. Ive heared somewhere that for a example a Quad-Core is faster than a Duo Core but still not used by either games or Vista. Will this make a bigger impact? Cause i have a Quad Core 2.40 Ghz en it would be great if a game as FM would use it. Anyone who can fill me in on some info?