Guest JediKnight_114[b] Posted November 26, 2001 Share Posted November 26, 2001 Right now, I have 64MB of RAM on my computer and the factory 3D Accelerator that can barely handle my most advanced game, X-Wing Alliance. Newer games are requireing more RAM than that, so I'll have to upgrade for JKII. So, if I bought a Geforce 2 with 64MB, would that give my computer 128MB, or would I have to buy the extra RAM anyway whether I get the Geforce or not. I know it must be a stupid question, but I have to know. Thanx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormHammer Posted November 26, 2001 Share Posted November 26, 2001 Okay...keeping it simple, your 64Mb of system RAM is used by the whole system. If you are running Windows 98 SE or above, it's probably barely adequate. Any RAM on your graphics card is used by the graphics card to process what you see on the screen. So, upgrading your system RAM should boost overall system performance (allowing more of your program to be loaded into memory, so there is less disk-swapping), whereas upgrading your graphics card to one with 64Mb will allow the graphics card to process more, while the system performance remains pretty much the same. Basically. Hope that helps (although I'm not a tech-head ) [ November 26, 2001: Message edited by: StormHammer ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JediKnight_114[b] Posted November 26, 2001 Share Posted November 26, 2001 That does clear some things up. So, I guess I'll just have to buy the RAM and the card in time for JK II. Plenty of time I think. Now, to begin the hunt for cash. [ November 26, 2001: Message edited by: JediKnight_114 ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainRAVE Posted November 26, 2001 Share Posted November 26, 2001 It wouldnt give you overall computer 128MB. Graphics card ram and System Ram are seperate. Textures and decals will be stored in the graphics card ram (64Mb - this will be plenty for JK2) Things like level Geometry and sound variations etc will be stored in the main memory. More system Ram the better There is ONE exception to the rule........DDR Ram which is Double Data Rate Ram which effectively doubles the vaule of the ram. If you have 64Mb DDR Ram then this is equvilant to 128Mb of normal ram etc... I have 512Mb DDR ram which is the same as 1024Mb of normal ram as it can handle double the number of instruction sets. [ November 26, 2001: Message edited by: CaptainRAVE ] [ November 26, 2001: Message edited by: CaptainRAVE ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormHammer Posted November 26, 2001 Share Posted November 26, 2001 Heh...I hear you. Just an FYI...if I were you I'd try to upgrade the system RAM to 256Mb. System RAM is fairly cheap at the moment (at least over here in the UK). You should see a noticeable improvement in system performance with that. You might even be able to convince someone to get it for you for Christmas. Then save (hard) for the best graphics card you can get just before JK2 is released. I'd be looking at a GeForce 3 for a bit of future proofing, and the prices should have tumbled by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardz Posted November 26, 2001 Share Posted November 26, 2001 Rave, You're a bit of a guru when it comes to PC stuff. If theres any good bits of kit you dont want when you upgrade, give us a shout. wardz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainRAVE Posted November 27, 2001 Share Posted November 27, 2001 lol.......yea in the UK Ram is MEGA cheap.......£21 for 256Mb Dimm 133Mhz......DDR Ram is double the price, but thats still not much more. Ram used to be £280 for 256Mb, lol.....quite a lot cheaper now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwup Posted November 27, 2001 Share Posted November 27, 2001 try http//www.kingston.com that is the cheapest way of buying more RAM. Make sure you get the right kind though, considering the age of your cpu I am guessing it is either 100 or 133. To get 128Mb of RAM right now is like $30, which was $150 a year or two ago, so dont worry about that being pricy. About your video card, just a basic Geforce 2 w/ 4x AGP and 64Mb will cost you about $150. These babies are going to drop in price (guarenteed) by the release of JKII, so dont worry about it until then. Also, dont think about a Geforce 3 unless your CPU is approx. 1gig or above, since your performance will actually be lower than with Geforce 2. hope I got this right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainRAVE Posted November 27, 2001 Share Posted November 27, 2001 Yea, the GeForce 3 GPUs are actually so fast that if you have a slow processor they can actually cause more of a problem due to "traffic"....i.e. to many instructions for you main CPU to handle. The GeForce 2 is plenty to run JK2 though ...and when JK2 actually does come out GeForce 3 Ti's will actually be cheaper, thats what i'll be getting along with JK2 [ November 26, 2001: Message edited by: CaptainRAVE ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JediKnight_114[b] Posted November 27, 2001 Share Posted November 27, 2001 Yeah, RAM's pretty cheap here too. The only problem is I have no idea of how I install it. So, for $20 of RAM, I'd have to pay $30 extra for them to install it, which brings me to $50 for RAM upgrade. This week in Best Buy, there is a GeForce 2 on sale. Usually $150, it has a mail in rebate for $50 bringing it to $100 even. Must...get...money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormHammer Posted November 27, 2001 Share Posted November 27, 2001 Originally posted by CaptainRAVE: Yea, the GeForce 3 GPUs are actually so fast that if you have a slow processor they can actually cause more of a problem due to "traffic"....i.e. to many instructions for you main CPU to handle... Thanks for that, Rave. What if your CPU is o/c'd to 1Ghz, though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acdcfanbill Posted November 27, 2001 Share Posted November 27, 2001 installing RAM is easy, just ground yourself (ie touch the power supply) and plug it in the slot on the Mother Board. you know where it goes by looking at your new RAM and seeing where the old is at... http://www.crucial.com/ is where i bough my RAM at, 2 of the 256Meg DDR PC2100 that is if you have a AMD processor, Intels processors use different boards with different ram... (from what i know, i dont follow Intel's very much) DDR is a little more expensive than SDRAM right now for my motherboard, ECS K7S5A but they were the same when i bought it a couple months back... [ November 27, 2001: Message edited by: acdcfanbill ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Howell1587246488 Posted November 27, 2001 Share Posted November 27, 2001 This summer I build a new compy...my current(good) compy is at Athlon750 w/ 128m SDRAM and Diamond ViperII 32m NEVER buy a ViperII I had the misfortune of buying it right before it went legacy, so now im stuck w/ $H!7. the thing has probs w/ OpenGL, gfx engines newer than QII, probs galore... jh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwup Posted November 28, 2001 Share Posted November 28, 2001 DO NOT HAVE THEM INSTALL RAM!!! $30 is a joke when you can do it yourself in 2 (yes 2) minutes. EDIT: er go to that link if the img is blocked...sry about that ok, see all those cream-ish columns? they dont exactly have to be that color, but 3-5 slots that look the same near eachother are most likely the memory slots. installaton is easy, most likely you will have a free slot, therefore your only job(s) are to: 1) there may be little clips on the sides of the slot, just press them down to open them. 2)put the ram gently into place EVENLY, if it does not go in easily just push on it really hard, but make sure it is even. 3)you know the operation is a success if the clips AUTOMATICALLY close, if they dont then you may need to press the mem stick in harder. 4)finally, when you boot your computer press F1 or F2(to get to system settings) and make sure your RAM has gone up. if it has your done, if it hasn't just repeat the above steps I have never broken one of these sticks, and I am not exactly a mild mannered man if you know what I mean, so dont worry too much. If worse comes to worse you lose 20-30 $$$ just try it, easy as pie [ November 27, 2001: Message edited by: RaoK ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JediKnight_114[b] Posted November 28, 2001 Share Posted November 28, 2001 Holy crap. I had no idea it was that easy. Thanks alot, now RAM doesn't sound that daunting to get ahold of. I'm gonna print your instructions. Thanks, so much. [edit] I just opened my computer and found the slots and stuff. By my estimate, it would take about 5 minutes tops to install it. To think that they would charge $30 bucks for that, almost makes me not want to but the RAM from them. Thanks again for the help. Your monkey shaking his head Sig is sort of fitting for this thread. [ November 27, 2001: Message edited by: JediKnight_114 ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JediKnight_114[b] Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 All right, guys, I got 128MB of RAM today for $12 bucks (after rebates) Thanks to all who helped me and gave instructions to a relative computer newbie. Computers running great now. I had no idea it would make such a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Argath Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 64 MB of DDR RAM is not equal to 128 MB of SDR. "Double data rate" refers to bandwidth, not effective space. It offers more bandwidth than SDR at the same clock, but 64 MB is still 64 MB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Millions o' Monkeys Posted December 2, 2001 Share Posted December 2, 2001 argath is right there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest digl Posted December 2, 2001 Share Posted December 2, 2001 hey Argath looks like "original members" as the other topic says are coming back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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