Effect of RAM on performance in Star Citizen?
Effect of RAM on performance in Star Citizen?
Have you encountered any discussions about how system RAM impacts Star Citizen’s performance? With your current setup—i7 4770K @ 4.2 GHz, 8GB DDR3, GTX 1070Ti, and a 2560x1080 display—you’re seeing stable 60fps at full settings. However, in the PC game mode it fluctuates between low and mid 20s, sometimes reaching around 30 and occasionally dropping to 15. Many players have noticed similar swings depending on RAM configuration. You mentioned you’ve tried various amounts of RAM and haven’t seen a clear pattern yet. It seems unclear whether the issue lies with the game itself or your system’s memory limits. You’ve found 8GB usually sufficient, especially when keeping tabs open, but you’re considering an upgrade to 8GB again soon due to rising prices. Your plan to wait for a CPU upgrade is sensible, particularly since moving to DDR4 would require a different RAM type and might not improve performance significantly.
Did you verify the amount of RAM your computer is utilizing during those slowdowns in Task Manager?
It was around the mid-90s, though not exactly at the end of it. This was about two months ago when it launched. I haven’t played since then because of the low frame rate and the terrible distortion on wide screens—it really made me feel sick. I’m hoping the field-of-view issue gets fixed in 3.1 soon.
If your system is running at maximum capacity, adding more RAM—ideally up to 16GB—might help. However, excessive RAM consumption forces the use of swap space, which significantly reduces overall performance.
I wouldn't spend the money; I was checking yesterday and pulled a stick of RAM to test. It seemed more unstable in port olisar, but otherwise it ran smoothly after a while, achieving 60fps in some areas. 8GB works fine, but 16GB just makes the gameplay feel a bit smoother. The server is currently overloaded, so the issues are mainly due to that. Backend optimizations happen regularly, and you'll notice the improvement if you play through multiple patches. A recent AtV post clarifies what's going on.
Sure, I was close but it's around the mid-90s. I think I'll wait and check how 3.1 performs before making any decisions. It would also be useful to know if the stability problems are resolved or if they're related to my installation or hardware.
Star Citizen consistently required at least 16GB of system memory. If you can afford a budget upgrade to match, do it. Contrary to what some claimed, memory speed isn't the main factor affecting performance (that person kept changing frequencies without adjusting timings... Yes... DDR4-2133 is quite slow...). Only in the earliest DFM phases (May/June 2014) would it function well with minimal swapping even on 12GB. Definitely aim for more than 16GB. 24GB or higher is often useful, since roughly every other update/cycle the game needs more than 16GB. (Not as much as people think about leaks, just the need for extra RAM.)
Second, your CPU power seems a bit lacking. All previous models before Kabylake and Coffeelake—even heavily overclocked Skylake—can't handle the game smoothly. Depending on what's happening, performance can jump 2-3 times on a 7700, 8600 or 8700k @ 5.2GHz compared to Haswell @ 4.5GHz, Broadwell @ 4.3GHz, Sandy Bridge @ 5GHz, or Ryzen @ 4GHz. The main difference is IPC and clock speed. Star Citizen is very CPU-dependent, and vehicles mainly add load. Its frame rate grows directly with CPU speed. Overclocking can help; some 4790k units perform well, but an overclocked 8700k will be noticeably faster when many ships appear. (No, 3.1 won't fix this. The real issue is fewer players spawning ships and AI doing the same.) A clear example: a stock i7-5960x versus an i7-7700k @ 5.1GHz. Both with identical specs (32GB DDR4-3000, SLI 1080Ti, separate OS/Game SSD). The 7700k offered double the frame rate (24fps vs 12), while a 5GHz FX-8350 with 16GB DDR3-2400 and GTX-980 on an SSD managed only 5-7fps. That's a big difference! Buy another 8GB cheaply if you need it. The truth is, your 4790k isn't slow until it faces heavy workloads. Real-world examples of performance drops include Star Citizen with ships spawning, Witcher 3 in populated zones, GTA V, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and other titles that demand high FPS. If you want even better results, newer flagship games from last year show a 20-30% boost over previous models, with some up to 40% in certain cases.
I own 32GB of RAM and Star Citizen currently uses up to 14GB as shown in the r_displayinfo 3 command during the game. The dips tend to be mostly severe side issues or if an unexpected event occurs (such as crashing your Cutlass into a station). I've played it at 1080p through 4K and the frame rate changes only slightly.