Is too much RAM a waste...? (DW20Pack)

[Catfather12]

I am not super computer savvy and I want to maximize performance on the heavily-modded DW20 pack. I'm on a Alienware m17x with possible 12g ram (also nice processor and video card). Seems as though no matter how much RAM I allocate in the launcher, I still am only running about 10-15 FPS with the default graphics setting. Instead I'm turning most stuff off and setting distance to tiny (and will get up to 40 fps). My laptop is not running any any other programs.

And this is in single player!

I have to be doing something wrong.

Here are my two questions:
1. is there any amount RAM that becomes redundant, e.g. more than 4g is a waste?
2. what the hell am I doing wrong?

Also, I've put Eyamaz's JVM arguments in the launcher as well (didn't seem to change performance)
Also-Also, I use soartex fanver, but have the same problems without a resource pack

Thank you for your help

 

[InThayne]

Make sure your java process is set to use your graphics card and not the integrated graphics of the CPU.

 

[Catfather12]

Thanks, InThayne....how do I do that?

 

[kittle]

mc is single threaded. So no matter how many cores/threads you have, it will only use 1.
Since your doing single-player, then all the rendering AND the server calculations are running on one single core.

One thing that will help performance is to setup a local server and connect to that. It sounds like your PC has enough power to do this, so give it a whirl and see what happens. I dont have a link handy, but there are threads on this site on how to setup a local server.

And yes, after a point too much ram will cause issues with lag and freeze-ups. The amount depends on what your doing. I also have 12g of ram on my PC, so I run with 2-2.5g of ram on my client with no issues. Attempts at adding more (3g+) had no visible performance gain.

 

[Tristam Izumi]

Yes. Java is like a kid in a candy store with RAM. If given too much it won't know how to use it all properly, so it will gobble it all down even when it shouldn't. You probably shouldn't give it more than 2-2.5GB of memory allocation, and 256MB Permgen.

 

[Catfather12]

Holy Crap, InThayne...I found a tutorial on how to set my NVIDIA card for java, and I'm running 70 FPS with the graphics maxed. THANK YOU!

 

[InThayne]

There will be an option in the NVidia or AMD control panel of which programs are to used with which graphics processor, let java and javaw have your powerhouse.
Also make sure you have the 64-bit version of Java 1.0.7_45, as it sounds like you are severely crippled.

Edit: ooops, ninja'd by the OP, glad to be of help!