OK so now I want a ram drive

[JohnGabriel]

So much talk about performance RAM drives that now I want one, but having trouble finding RAM.

I currently have DDR3 1600 RAM but I only have 4 slots, and most of the 64GB kits require 8 slots. But I found this on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Technology-64-PC3-12800-KVR16R11D4K4/dp/B0088SSV6G/

I don't like how it says "Value" in the title like its cheap instead of high performance, but NewEgg didn't have anything. So would I be happy with that RAM???

This is my motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128506
And this is my processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070
And this is my current RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220609

[JohnGabriel]

I did find more on NewEgg under server memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007952%20600336949&IsNodeId=1&name=64GB%20%284%20x%2016GB%29

[MiRai]

Your motherboard only supports 32GB of RAM; and if you're 10-boxing, then 32GB will be cutting it close (too close for me) -- 20GB for your WoW folder leaves you with 12GB for 1GB per client and 2GB for the OS.

[heyaz]

I use 27GB of RAM just for the disk, this is the minimum to fit all of WoW's MPQ files.

Each WoW client takes up near 800-1GB. As I type this I'm running 10 clients and using 38.5GB system ram totel. I figure you're going to need 48-64GB ram to make it work without troubles.

I went with a Corsair set - DDR3 1866Mhz 8x8GB for about $415 on newegg. There are 8 slots in the x79 mobo I have, quad channel, maximum memory is 64GB. I couldn't find 16GB consumer grade RAM anywhere so 128GB or 64GB with only 4 slots was not happening.

I'm not really sold on 2100+ RAM at the moment given its cost and reviews I've read about how little difference it made in anything other than benchmarks and I'm not a benchmarker, I'm a multiboxer. So that being said, RAM is RAM is it's going to be 10x faster than your SSDs in Raid either way and considerably faster than an HDD. My raptor 10k runs like molasses compared to the SSDs, but it's for larger storage.

You can do what some have done is find the files that WoW hits the most and make a smaller RAM drive for those only, 8-16GB or so just to take some of the load off. I don't know how well this works though.

[MiRai]

I use 27GB of RAM just for the disk, this is the minimum to fit all of WoW's MPQ files.
How is your Data folder ~5GB larger than mine?

863

[heyaz]

That's a good question! I don't know if there are some older update files, or if there is a WoW cleanup thingy... I guess it's 25.1GB now that I checked. Not 27GB.

I don't think you need to include *all* of the MPQs, I know one 10 boxer was doing it with 24GB RAM and checked disk access for the files WoW pegs the most, and just symlinked those one by one. Sounds complicated but he said there was a performance increase.

I tried again, without synthetic benchmarks or just "it seems faster" (placebo effect) - I logged on with 10 toons in the middle of Shrine on Illidan, then moved 5 toons out to Vale to do dallies. Started choking quite a bit (there are tons of people in both areas on that server). One client crashed. Restarted with the RAM drive and it was nice and smooth.

For me, I don't want to worry about going to certain areas or engaging in a 40x40 BG and having my machine choke at the worst time. I think the RAM drive is the difference here. CPU/GPU usage wasn't anywhere near maxed out when I was in areas where I/O utilization was too much.

Under light load, you won't notice a difference. If you're in the old world, doing old BGs, in an area without a lot of pandas, the SSD will probably suffice. When you're in Shrine/Vale/Org or 10 boxing in a big BG, it is the difference between the machine choking and a client or two crashing, and things running smoothly. I don't want to have face toons straight down or drop below 10fps or stare at a wall in Undercity to keep it playable.

I need to run some more performance monitoring tools. Could there be other bottlenecks somwhere? ISBoxer even? Who knows. Maybe I could put 32GB worth of crap in the RAM drive and forget about I/O bottlenecks forever.

[JohnGabriel]

Hey MiRai can you post what MB/CPU/RAM you have now, or what you would buy now if you were upgrading?

[MiRai]

Hey MiRai can you post what MB/CPU/RAM you have now, or what you would buy now if you were upgrading?
Sorry for getting back to this late, but I have pretty much the same setup as you except I have 32GB of RAM. As for upgrading, I don't think I'd buy anything that the market has to offer at the moment because I'd have to spend over $1,000 for a minimal increase in performance, or $3,000+ for a full overhaul.