Drunkard's Walk Forums

Getting sick of not being able to go into Grandville without crashing my PC.

So, I currently have two PCs. Here's the specs:

#1: AMD Athlon XP2000+ CPU, 1 gig of RAM, Radeon 9200 (128 meg) graphics card, Windows 2000.

#2: AMD Athlon XP2800+ CPU, 1 gig RAM, Radeon 9550 (256 meg) graphics card, Windows XP.

My budget for parts is... minimal.

Suggestions are welcome.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

Memory is cheap like the budgie and an extra GB of Ram will make a huge difference.

http://www.newegg.com/Pro...aspx?Item=N82E16814102730

an extra gb of ram in the XP machine will make a hueg difference, yes.

you're getting close to 'new computer' time, if you want to keep up with gaming, though..

looks like 60 bucks for a barton to go into your cpu socket on ebay.. not worth it, imo.

http://www.newegg.com/Pro...aspx?Item=N82E16856167031

http://www.newegg.com/Pro...aspx?Item=N82E16819115052

http://www.newegg.com/Pro...aspx?Item=N82E16820146526

comes to about 250$ total, should get you up and into CoH with the quickness - add a real video card later on and you're looking even better (use your old
HDD and CD drive)
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

Mrrrr.

Not sure I give a damn enough to "keep up with gaming" until I'm making quite a bit more money than I am now.

Keeping up with CoH will be keeping up enough for me.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

I'll second the bit about another 1 gig of RAM making all the difference. I dunno how your RAM is configured right now, but however's the most efficient way for you to hit 2 gig or higher - yeah, that should iron out all the problems.
It did for me; going from 512 to 2 gig on my old machine was a world-changer; before that I could barely move in a regular CoV zone, much less Grandville. I think the RAM makes more difference than the video card for CoH/CoV, in terms of running things smoothly. A better video card just lets you run things prettier.
  
-- Acyl

Agreed on the RAM. It helps a LOT.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Thirding the RAM. Quadrupling my ram to 2 Gig did as much as (and maybe more than) the new processor to radically improve my COH experience.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

OK.

Now to figure out what KIND of RAM.

Any suggestions on ways to find this out without ripping the machine apart?

(I believe Funaho, the Win2k box, has 2x512, while Main, the XP box, has 1x1G. But I'm not sure of type.)
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

download and run Everest Home Edition ( http://majorgeeks.com/download4181.html )

and it should provide enough information to determine what kind of memory you have. After that, it's a trip to newegg.com to get some new stuff comin'.

Tonight I'll install Everest and give you a more detailed walkthrough.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

OK, so. PC2100 DDR SDRAM it is.

Ordered 2 1-gig strips. See if I can upgrade both machines and see what happens.

PS -- Thanks, WG.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

So, PC #2 is now at 2 gig of RAM, but when I tried to load the game last night, it was having some difficulty responding.

I'm wondering now if I'm having power supply issues.

I very occasionally get problems with PC #1 spontaneously rebooting when under heavy load, so that may be the same issue...
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

The last time I was having serious PC problems, it was the power supply, and some of the symptoms sound the same... It's certainly worth a shot!
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.