why do one version of games require more gbs of ram than other versions?

for exmaple,
pc games need 1 - 4 gb of ram for the games

mac games need 2 - 8 gb of ram for teh games

in the PC vs Mac area it is likely the difference between DirectX and OpenGL (DirectX is MS exclusive, heck they make the thing, and it is pretty much the backbone of any PC + 360 game) So it is the tools and avaiable pipelines for the games that make that difference.

Another is the OS itself.

Lastly is that a game that gets a GOTY edition and such has been worked on since launch, and likely gotten some expansions an DLC, which can drive RAM usage up or down depending.

Wait, are you talking about Hard drive space memory? Or random access memory?

in the PC vs Mac area it is likely the difference between DirectX and OpenGL (DirectX is MS exclusive, heck they make the thing, and it is pretty much the backbone of any PC + 360 game) So it is the tools and avaiable pipelines for the games that make that difference.

Another is the OS itself.

Lastly is that a game that gets a GOTY edition and such has been worked on since launch, and likely gotten some expansions an DLC, which can drive RAM usage up or down depending.

Maddie_Larkin

Okay so where to start. Direct x is exclusive to MS but openGL runs just fine in windows. The API used doesn't have much to to with ram usage. Its more about the complexity of the game engine itself and how much is going on inside the engine at any given point in time. Also ram usage wont go up just because they they added DLC. That just means more hardrive space will be taken to hold that extra content but the ram usage in game will likely stay the same unless the made changes to the engine with the DLC.

IDK much about mac games but if they do require more ram its likely because of differences in OS mem usage between windows and Mac.

I've only briefly ever used a MAC and it wasn't for games. My guess would be that it's something to do with the OS and how the game is run on it.

[QUOTE="Maddie_Larkin"]

in the PC vs Mac area it is likely the difference between DirectX and OpenGL (DirectX is MS exclusive, heck they make the thing, and it is pretty much the backbone of any PC + 360 game) So it is the tools and avaiable pipelines for the games that make that difference.

Another is the OS itself.

Lastly is that a game that gets a GOTY edition and such has been worked on since launch, and likely gotten some expansions an DLC, which can drive RAM usage up or down depending.

Gen007

Okay so where to start. Direct x is exclusive to MS but openGL runs just fine in windows. The API used doesn't have much to to with ram usage. Its more about the complexity of the game engine itself and how much is going on inside the engine at any given point in time. Also ram usage wont go up just because they they added DLC. That just means more hardrive space will be taken to hold that extra content but the ram usage in game will likely stay the same unless the made changes to the engine with the DLC.

IDK much about mac games but if they do require more ram its likely because of differences in OS mem usage between windows and Mac.

Okay so where to start. He asked for why the requirements were different from a Windows and a Mac, for identical games games, the ansawer in alot of cases is that the API is different, sure Opengl can be used in windows, but most use Directx, so in a game like portal, which were coded in directx for Windows, were redone in Opengl on Mac (whis does NOT have access to directx) but required different specs due to that. If the games are exactly the same, it tend to have something to do with this in alot of cases. And not the OS in itself.

As for DLCs and expansions the specs might go up or down depending, If an expansion upps the graphics ram WILL go up, if textures gets redone (which they tend to do from time to time) overall ram usage will go up, likewise if patches fixes alot of the basic code, in order to make expansions or dlc work, th specs might go down. It is nearly a given that the basic game gets tweaked the more it is worked on, and expansions and DLC more often then not require the patches predating them (not to mention they tend to be expected in later additions).

Also worth pointing out that drivers make a huge differnece, the PC tends to get more driverupdates more frequently.

Nothing compared to consoles.

I still can't get over how unreasonable the system requirements for GTAIV were...