For years, I was told “upgrading your RAM won’t help with Java. It’s your CPU”. And they were definitely right. But this upgrade wasn’t to make Java run better..it was for my computer to run better with Java running.
And HELL YEAH has it!! Finally got my RAM upgrade in the mail yesterday. Put on my anti-static band (since my room has a carpet floor) and attached the clip to the case. Installing the two additional sticks to my motherboard… well, let’s just say if you’ve been building computers for years, you would have absolutely NO problem! Me? Something that would had taken the typical computer builder about 5 minutes tops (RAM is one of the easiest things to install)..took 15+.
This was mainly due to;
“OK, I -think- I got both ends in the slot. Now to just gently push…it…IN!!!…. *stick doesn’t want to go in the slot. Takes it out and makes sure it’s facing the right way… it is* did I buy the wrong RAM?! Why don’t it wanna fit?!”
Also, it went like this;
“*pushes one end in. It clicks* Good! Got one end in. Now for the other… *nearly breaks his motherboard in half trying to push, but it refuses to go in. Checks the alignment, and it’s in the slot* seriously?!” It felt like something out of one of those cartoon shows that one end works perfectly, yet the other wants to be a douche to you.
But I FINALLY got the fuckers in and plugged it all up. Feared the worst, thinking I accidentally spat in my case (or bent something on the motherboard I shouldn’t had from all that heavy pushing). Had to update BIOS for my computer to talk to the new RAM. Saw it showed 16GB, which meant I did it right! Installed it right, and got the right RAM sticks.
Booted it up fully, hooked up everything else, checked Windows if the RAM was installed. Showed 16GB. All good. Celebrated I got it working without frying the motherboard (or unplugging something, like the last time I installed RAM).
Tried out the Direwolf20 pack… and wow, did I see a major improvement. Going to the Nether, it takes 10 seconds (compared to 10+ minutes of my computer frozen).
Shutting down FTB, something that would had taken a long time to with my HDD activity light furiously blinking.. is now instant.
Flying around, it’s still a bit jerky. And I found out the cause of that as well. the RAM upgrade definitely didn’t help with Java as a whole. Everytime it jerked, I saw my CPU spiking at 100% usage.
But this is OK! I can definitely deal with this. The constant freezing. The endless loading… all of that is in the past! 😀
Even running Firefox with Steam, Skype, Discord (and Pandora) running all at the same time, it was as if I didn’t have FTB running. It feels like a whole new computer. I LOVE IT!!!
Monitored my memory usage. It’s peaking at 8.98GB. Wow. It WAS using all of my RAM!! But with 16GB, it finally has a buffer to play with.
So yeah. Just wanted to make a celebratory post about installing something that didn’t blow up in my face. It has boosted my confidence. However, if you were to ask me if I’m going to install a new SSD… nah. Ever since what happened many years ago, I rather get someone else to do it for me.
Plus, a professional has the tools needed to do it. I don’t. I doubt a standard kitchen screwdriver would work on such a sensitive piece of machinery. You gotta have steady hands. One wrong move and you can lose a screw, or accidentally jam the screwdriver head into your GPU, CPU, or your motherboard. Yeah. Not happening (by me). 🙂