RAM bottleneck?

[markeez]

Hello, 

First of all here are my specs

CPU- AMD A8-6600k Apu 3.9Ghz overclocked to 4.4 Ghz

GPU- AMD Radeon R7 250 1 ddr4 vram

Motherboard - ASRock FM2A88M Extreme4+

RAM - 2x4 gb DDR3 Kingston Ram single channel 1600MHz.

 

So here is my problem I think it is? I have gotten into the valorant beta and my friend that has a significantly weaker pc runs it at the same framerate I do. Which is quite low  around 50-80 fps. So I thought it was a cpu bottleneck but my cpu didn't go at max speed. So I've been doing a bunch of tests. Firstly, I ran MSI Afterburner in game to check my usage. GPU usage in an online game was very low around 30-50%. So again I thought it was a cpu bottleneck so I decided to overclock it. And I did and the game became only a bit smoother but no fps increase. Cpu usage dropped so I counted that out. I started doing BurninTests. I ran the benchmark test on all my assets. The CPU,GPU,RAM...etc. While I was doing that I ran the MSI again and even though I set in the program my GPU usage to be 100% it was only 50% running around avarage 35fps in the Asteroids video. So I thought my GPU had a temp throttle. I ran the fans at 100% and ran the test again still 50% usage. Then I ran the gpu test all byitself and to my suprise the gpu usage was around 95-100%. Then I figured it wasn't the temp. Then I slowly started adding the other tests to the stress test. And one by one everything worked fine, but as soon as I added the ram test. The gpu usage dropped down to 40-50% usage. So I figured it was also happening in game. When I'm in single player like in practice range I don't require as much memory as in an online game. So my fps in practice range was around 200 but as soon I enter an online game it drops to 50-70fps. Can it be that my ram is bottlenecking my gpu? Sorry if this is kinda long I am not very techy experienced and I want to be sure about my next steps as I want to play this game really badly.

It took me almost 2 weeks to diagnose this haha. Also you can recommend me what to do next as my ram can't be overclock I already tried that.

Thanks for the help.

EDIT: also the gpu usage in the practice range was around 70-100% 

[FloRolf]

Well what is your ram utilization like in the game? 

If the ram is completely full it will write that data to the hard drive, which is orders of magnitude slower than ram, so yes, that could cause slow downs. 

 

Do you have the chance to borrow (or just buy?) another 8gb? They go quite cheap on the used market as it's only ddr3

[markeez]

1 minute ago, FloRolf said:

Well what is your ram utilization like in the game? 

If the ram is completely full it will write that data to the hard drive, which is orders of magnitude slower than ram, so yes, that could cause slow downs. 

 

Do you have the chance to borrow (or just buy?) another 8gb? They go quite cheap on the used market as it's only ddr3

My utilization was quite high I think around 7gb. I was thinking about buying an additional 4gb of ddr3 but I want to be 100% sure. 

[FloRolf]

4 minutes ago, markeez said:

My utilization was quite high I think around 7gb. I was thinking about buying an additional 4gb of ddr3 but I want to be 100% sure. 

Well I can't give you a 100% answer. Only what I just said. 

 

Honestly though, more ram is always good, so don't hesitate. I just took a look and found even used 16gb kits for as low as 30€.

That's ideally what you should do. 2x4gb would be the next option. Only adding another 4gb stick isn't the best way to do it. 

Maybe you can borrow from your friend first to make sure that's the issue. What hardware does he use exactly? 

[markeez]

1 hour ago, FloRolf said:

Well I can't give you a 100% answer. Only what I just said. 

 

Honestly though, more ram is always good, so don't hesitate. I just took a look and found even used 16gb kits for as low as 30€.

That's ideally what you should do. 2x4gb would be the next option. Only adding another 4gb stick isn't the best way to do it. 

Maybe you can borrow from your friend first to make sure that's the issue. What hardware does he use exactly? 

I mean 16gb for 30 euro is pretty awesome. I hope I will find a deal like that. I can't borrow his ram he is in an other country he only comes here during the summer but can I test my theory with my friends ddr4 ram? See it will do any better?

[markeez]

Update!

Borrowed 8 gigs of ddr3 from a friend and tried it out. 

No improvement whatsoever!

Any other ideas?

 

[Guest]

You'd save and spend the money on a new video card.

1gb of vram was yesteryears specs. 

Time for upgrade.

[markeez]

19 hours ago, ShrimpBrime said:

You'd save and spend the money on a new video card.

1gb of vram was yesteryears specs. 

Time for upgrade.

Yeah I didn't post to get an answer I already have. If I wanted to do that I wouldn't have posted this.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, markeez said:

Yeah I didn't post to get an answer I already have. If I wanted to do that I wouldn't have posted this.

To directly answer your question, the ram would bottle neck if all 8gb was used up.

If not all used up, like all 8gb, then No the memory isn't causing a bottle neck.

 

Theres nothing wrong with the memory that I can tell. Speed is ok. Ddr3 is a little dated, but doesnt really render much. I think the gpu and cpu would be most directly responsible for frame rates.

 

And the video card you have is great for watching videos on a workstation desktop. Can hardly call it a gaming card.

 

Sorry if this is not the answer you are looking for..... Lifes a bitch.