Question about what to improve on my PC

[Faelen]

Heyas, every one!

So, other than trying to turn down all of my settings on AoC really low, I was wondering if any one had an idea (or is familiar with) different computer elements, and if my problem (slower loading, eventual freeze/lockup) is caused by my graphics card, processor, etc.

To start with, my computer is one of those Dell XPS's, so it's 'designed' more or less in focus for games, right? *chuckles*

Any way, my processor is an Intel Core2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13GHz...

My graphics card is an NVIDIA Geforce 7900 GS...

And beyond that, I'm not sure where I track down things like video memory, RAM, etc.

So ANY help offered would be much appreciated! :D

[Karkarov]

You will be ok to play at those specs on low, maybe even medium with bad frames. I would advise a better gfx card and if you dont have 4 gig ram do that. Go for a 8800 GS G92 version. They are vairly cheap like 170, and have solid specs.

[Faelen]

Well what happens (for example, while I'm in Tortage is that eventually the frames won't load as well, and then when I'm doin' something (persay turning in a quest, or walking too fast before stuff loads) the screen will just lock up, can't move, can't do anything. Music is still playing, mouse moves around, but I have no control over the game, and so I have to do a manual shutoff at that point. Sucks. :P That's why I'm looking into getting upgraded items, mostly. To find out what I need in order for this problem to end.

Also, how do I find out my RAM?

[Karkarov]

Says how much ram you have in startup at the bios, also you should see it in pc properties, or device manager.

[Ryoku]

Your RAM I think is in the systems menu... Unless you're running vista which is different. Karkarov probably knows better than I.

I also second getting a new gfx card, most likely.

[Yusegar]

I'm curious. I got a mac, I'll be getting windows XP on boot camps so I can play this, which will be costly (unless anybody knows a cheap way). I'm also nervous about these bugs because my machine isn't top of the line and being an iMac, it can't be upgraded.

So, here's what I think I got. Will I survive?

2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
320GB Serial ATA Drive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory

[Faelen]

haha! I think I only have 1gig of RAM... that'd explain why I'm getting such crappy response time from the game, right?

[Dreadbeard]

1 Gig is pretty low. In my opinion, I would upgrade RAM first then start looking for a graphics card. If you bought a new Graphics card you will still have issues with 1 Gig of RAM.

2 Gigs seems to be the minimum recommended for newer games. If I could afford it, I would max out the RAM for my board. This is just my opinion of course.

On another note, you can upgrade iMacs.

[Faelen]

So since my PC is a Dell, I went on their site, and for my PC they sell only up to a gig of RAM. How would I go about finding RAM that's compatible for my PC, and in general, how the hell am I to install it? Is it easy? *smirks*

[Dreadbeard]

I will confess that replacing RAM is quite easy. However I am not comfortable guiding your hand via forums.

These sites have some pictures of a RAM upgrade being done and details how to select RAM. There are also you tube movies of the simple procedure. :D

http://www.ehow.com/how_895_install-ram.html

http://www.computermemoryupgrade.net/adding-more-memory.html

[Karkarov]

you want 4 gig of ram. I just bought that myself was only like 100 dollars not horrid deal there.

as for Yusegar....

I dont know ati cards that well but otherwise you should be able to run at decent settings with those specs.

[Akuje]

With some savy buys, you can build a very nice machine off ebay...
Ive got a
AMD 64 Athlon(tm) x2, Dual core Processor 4200+(its 2.2ghz)
4 gb ram
ATI x1800i 512mb

And I spent, $310 I think, salvage your hard drives and such from your current build, and have a very nice gaming unit for little money... I just can't buy a prebuilt anymore!

[Faelen]

So, this is what my XPS owners manual says about my PC specs:

"Memory:

Type: 533-, and 667-MHz DDR2 unbuffered SDRAM
Memory connectors: four
Memory capacities: 512 MB, 1GB, or 2GB non-ECC
Minimum memory: 1GB
Maximum memory: 8GB

And in further reading my manual specs, it says in using a 32-bit operating system like Windows XP, my PC only supports a maximum of 4GB memory. It also says that with installing more RAM, I should do it in pairs of matched memory size and speed.

So.

What now? XD

[Karkarov]

hmmmmm...... take your current ram out of the pc and check it's label. Look for something like PC 6400 or something similar. That will tell you what 'standard' your memory is. Once you know that you can go on newegg and look for that standard and buy a 4 gig set of it and install it in your pc.

[Faelen]

I went to Best Buy today and got 2 Gigs of RAM. Turns out I had two extra slots for RAM, too, so now I have 3 Gigs total, which is two more gigs than I had before. Sweet stuff! Maybe if I get some extra money in the near future I'll buy another two gigs and swap out my PC's original 512mb x 2's. (And as a note... HOLY CRAP does that RAM make a difference!)

So, the next thing to improve seems to be my processor... the game recommends, in minimum, an Intel Pentium 4, 3Ghz or equivalent. I currently have an Intel Core 2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13 Ghz... is this also something I should invest upgrading, and will it help with making AoC go faster?

[Daly]

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

I love this site.

edit: I guess I should have explained it. It basically stress tests your machine for the requirements of specific games. It then offeres advice on what you need to improve to run said game.