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| Celtic Radio Community > Retro Computers > Computer Problems |
| Posted by: dragonboy3611 19-Dec-2004, 11:23 AM |
| I was wondering if anyone can solve this little problem of mine, I know there is a seperate post topic for this kind of stuff, but I was hopeing it would get answered faster on here. From what I know, I have a Pentium 2504MHZ. My HD space is C: 80.598GB, currently. From what I understand, that's a ton of space. Yet my RAM just seemed to suddenly be very low, 504MB, while most games I play/try to load are at least 512MB. My 3D Accelerator is Intel 845G, My questions are: How is my RAM so low, and what is the difference between RAM and memory space? I mean, I have a huge amount of memory space...yet so little RAM for my games it seems! How do I change that? Or at least get more RAM? Also, is the 3D Accelerator I currently have out of date, good, or what? I have no idea, I just saw what it was from a Game Loading. I really hope you can answer my questions, and will really appreciate it! |
| Posted by: Aaediwen 19-Dec-2004, 01:25 PM |
| Your ammount of RAM is low to average for today's machines. You shouldn't have much problem with games that would need 512 to run well. If you want more though, you'd need to go buy it, there is no magic cure for getting more RAM. Just make sure nothing else is running when you launch your game and maybe a reboot to be certain. If you do a lot of gaming, and you're running something later than Windows ME (or even another platform) THen go buy another 512 MB stick of RAM and plug it in along side what you'ge already got. That'll bump you up to a GB and should have you set there. Also, that Video card is not one I'd recommend for any real gaming either. It'll be fine for office applications, browsing here, stuff of that sort. Load a game on it and it'll crawl. Get yourself a decent NVidia or ATI card. Most modern games really strain my little old GeForce 4, but they are playable (unless your picky on framerate. Pirates gets choppy on occasion) As for drive space, 80 GB should serve you fairly well. Next wildcard is CPU speed which sounds like you've got fairly well covered. I'd recommend get yourself another 512 MB of RAM and a decent video card. Now as far as the differences. Your hard drive, and RAM, are both types of memory. the Hard Drive, however, is a whole lot slower, while RAM gets erased every time you power the machine off. RAM is where the computer stores what it's working on at the time, the Hard Drive is generally for storage. I can go into a lot more detail if you'd like on HDD/RAM/L2 Cache/L1 Cache/Swap space. |
| Posted by: Şen Ğragon 19-Dec-2004, 02:36 PM |
| If you're running Windows XP you save a lot of RAM if you turn of certain Tasks of Windows. I'm running my computer on german so I don't know the english words for this stuff. Go to your computer-management and there click on services and [...], and again on services. You've to look for a list of the Tasks you don't need anymore and set them to disabled. It's a nice trick and Windows starts faster. |
| Posted by: maisky 19-Dec-2004, 04:41 PM |
| Since you use your computer on the internet, you may want to install a spy-killer program. If you don't have one, you may have spy programs tying up RAM. Such is the price of life on the web. |
| Posted by: dragonboy3611 19-Dec-2004, 05:11 PM | ||
OK, another question I forgot to ask. If I buy another 512MB of Ram and a decent video card like the one you said, what will that roughly cost? |
| Posted by: Aaediwen 19-Dec-2004, 10:05 PM |
| As for the RAM, it depends on what your motherboard supports as to what you get, but looks like 512 MB of RAM can be had for $50 - $60 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_memory.asp On the video card front, how high end do you want to go? Mine is an old card, I'll pull up various prices for you: A card like I currently run can be had for $20 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=1087 Some of the GeForce FX cards can be had for $50, and although they are a better card than the GeForce 4, I hear they really fall short of an ATI card of the same generation. From what I hear, the 6800 is where NVidia is getting back on their feet from screwing up on the FX 5x00 series. The 6800 is top of the line right now, and if you get one, plan on spending in the 4-500 range on the hardware.  Now, I'm an NVidia fan, but I'm not above acknowledging the competition, and I will admit that ATI has a good product, although I'm not quite as knowledgeable as I should be about their product line. They have required an extra power connector for quite some time, which may be one caviat with them. Might want to make sure you have a power supply that can handle it (soon to be a fact of life in either camp). That said, here's some prices: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=1088 Total cost, spend $100 on your box and you should be alright  Might not have bragging rights, but you'll be able to keep up without much trouble.One more thing on the Video cards before I forget. You might check and make sure you do, indeed have an AGP slot avaliable. Some, perticularly MicroATX boards, actually don't have one for some strange reason (My mom's machine doesn't). If by some off chance you don't, you'll need to use the PCI links at the bottom of those pages. You won't find as high end of cards, but you should be able to find some decent ones at least. You probably will have an AGP slot that you can use though. |
| Posted by: dragonboy3611 20-Dec-2004, 08:39 AM |
| Would this be a good video card? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?page=4&CatId=1088 And this for 512MB Ram? Ultra 512MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory? What is DDR when they talk about RAM chips?  |
| Posted by: maisky 20-Dec-2004, 10:10 AM |
| JaneyMae has been having some ISP problems. Her ISP tech. dude sent this: http://www.d25.k12.id.us/network/status.html |
| Posted by: Şen Ğragon 20-Dec-2004, 10:19 AM |
| DDR means Double Data Rate the different is, that ddr-ram reads the segments faster (2x) than SDRAM- modules. Because they "send" the bytes at rising up and down of the signal flank (I'm sorry, but I don't know the english words for this stuff, so I translated them free from German) The Radeon 9250 is nice. I'm using a Radeon 9600. At the newest games like farcry or doom II I'm at the limit (But I haven't as much Ram as you). So for "normal" games it will be ok. |
| Posted by: Şen Ğragon 20-Dec-2004, 10:21 AM | ||
Sorry: Doom III |
| Posted by: Aragorn 20-Dec-2004, 10:49 AM |
| The one red flag that I see come up is the 845G chipset. The 845 Chipsets have a banking limitation which means you can add a single sided 512MB module to what you already have but you can not use a doublesided module. Single sided means there are black components on one side. Yes, I would recommend buying another 512MB module and the video card, which is onboard, is a piece of junk so get a new one, preferably one with 128MBs of memory. What type of computer do you have and if it is a name brand please post the make and model. |
| Posted by: Aaediwen 20-Dec-2004, 08:17 PM | ||
I'd say that'dd be a good combo, as for the hardware itself. Only thing to ensure is that your system can handle 3200. It'll probably be safe, but always a good idea to check the specs on your motherboard's chipset. As I recall, you can put slower RAM in a faster board, but may get issues adding faster RAM to a slower board.. Again, you'll probably be OK, but might check the specs to be sure. |
| Posted by: dragonboy3611 21-Dec-2004, 08:34 AM |
| Wow I hate to keep asking questions...but I hate to spend $160 on the wrong stuff! So some other questions for anyone that can answer: Aaediwen, you mentioned about checking the specs on my motherboards chipset to see if it can handle the ram I'm adding. How in the world would I be able to check it? Also, when I buy the things, how would I find out how to install them? And if I have no idea, would it be safer to hire someone to do it, if than, how much would that also cost! One more question about my computer. This has happened to me acouple times. After a day of long playing, and after I shutdown my computer and go to bed. The next day I try to turn the computer on, it makes noise like it tries to start up, but than stops! The only thing I can think of is that it goes from extreme hot of my playing so much that day, to extreme could in the Tower because it is on the cold tile kitchen floor. Than sending it into shock or something. The first time this happened, we went on vacation for awhile (about 7 days) when we came back, the computer just started up again like nothing happened! Does anyone know why this happens? Could it also be the fan in the tower? Should I get it checked at an auto repair shop? Ahh the questions and breakouts of the computer problems!!!! (Thank you everyone who has helped me, it's ment alot!) P.S. I don't really understand what thing your reffering to in your post Aragorn, the RAM 512MB chip I'm going to put in, or the Video Card. |
| Posted by: Aragorn 21-Dec-2004, 10:10 AM |
| Lets see if I can simplify some of what I said. To find out if the system can handle the memory you are planning on installing you need to make sure what the motherboard model is. To find this out you need to look inbetween the PCI slots(which are the white slots towards the back of the computer. There will be a model number silk screened on the motherboard itself not on any black components. This is important to determine if the system can handle the type of memory you wish to buy. Not all motherboards will handle a 512MB module. You have a chipset on the motherboard which controls a lot of the processes and commands. This chipset has certain limitations which could cause you a lot of problems if you get the wrong memory. If you could find the motherboard model number I can look it up and make sure the memory you are planning on getting will work. No, you do not need to pay anyone to install the new components for you. It is real easy to do. |
| Posted by: bigjimhainey 23-Dec-2004, 12:20 AM |
| http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,22441,00.asp another thing you could try is a program like freeram. it frees up the ram after a program is done with it. that may not be exactly what your looking for but it does help make things run a little faster. freeram is not the only program that helps free up your ram there are others but this is the one i use. just my 3 cents worth (my thoughts are worth more than 2 cents) |
| Posted by: Aaediwen 23-Dec-2004, 08:33 PM | ||
When you open the case to check the model, you'll see. . . The parts you want to upgrade will pretty much just snap into place. Add a screw to secure the video card, and maybe a power connector to it and the hardware is done. The rest is mostly a matter of clicking 'Next' a few times. |