FatCigar Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 I apologize for the continued posts on computer game hardware, it does not add much to the star wars gaming community but I need help with this. Right now, i've got: 1.4 AMD Athlon Processor 64mb Geforce II mx 256 DDR SDRAM I'm looking to do some upgrading. My limit is 200 Dollars. Should I: A. Get new Video Card, as expensive as my budget will Allow B. Get more Ram, as much as my budget will Allow C. Get a new video card and some more ram, keeping the price of both combined under 200. If you pick one of the options, could you make a suggestion on what type of ram or video card to get? Thank you very much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tal-N Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 Get more RAM if you want good performance from SWG, around 1gb of the stuff is what everyone who tested it recommends. Graphics cards aren't that much essential as the game itself runs fairly well on nearly anything.. it's just the ram it eats up really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatCigar Posted June 29, 2003 Author Share Posted June 29, 2003 does this go also for other games such as Morrowind, and soon to be World of Warcraft? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abaddon Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 c) because that gf2 probably won't cut it. Get 75-90 dollar GPU (Gf3 ti or gf4 ti) and use the rest on ram (1 x 512mb dimm; 1 x 256mb dimm @105.99 at crucial.com) edit: Hopefully you have 3 dimms on your motherboard, if not only get the 512mb dimm, but i would only buy a 75-100 gpu, save the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomXSquared Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 Some motherboards out right now support up to 3 Gigs of Ram, but they are expensive. Perhaps you should look into spending about 100$ on a new motherboard with 2 gigabyte ram maximum, and then buying a few 512MB DDRAM sticks over the next paychecks for 49.99 a piece at Best Buy. I think they are right, I can tell when games eat up all the ram and this game eats up ALL of it. I think this game might even run better on a Linux system, since that systems doesn't take up NEAR as much as Windows XP(Xp eats 1/4th of your Ram, no matter how much you have). Just be sure you have absolutely nothing running in the background while playing. Also, make sure you remember to reboot your computer every now and again, I immediately could notice the difference from a fresh reboot compared to my 5th kickstart of SWG without rebooting. You would be amazed how many people forget about rebooting their systems and run 100 programs without doing this. I'd go with Ram if you already have atleast a Radeon 9000 Pro. My brother runs this game on that card and it looks absolutely amazing, and I know it looks even better on other computers(perhaps more graphics on REALLY far off land, it looks like M1 Albrums Battle Tank for the Genesis for us when you look across Naboo on the big hill by Theed to see all that land out there. One big green polygon is all we really see.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exar_reborn Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 You could EASILY go with both, a 512 PC3200 ram is only $45 And I know that you can find a Geforce or ATI graphics card for $150 or lower thats very nice. Like a 128 mb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatCigar Posted June 29, 2003 Author Share Posted June 29, 2003 I know i can get another 256 ram for like 50 bucks. So then the question is the video card. What do you guys think of the Radeon 9200 or the Geforce FX 5200? Another question: To install ram, do i just plug it into one of the ram slots, and voila? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exar_reborn Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 For the ram yeah just pop it into an empty slot. As for a graphics card on TigerDirect.com there is a XFX Geforce4 Ti4200 128MB DDR AGP8X TV Out & DVI Video Card for $119.97 I recommend just searching for the best deals because you can update both very nicely under $200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatCigar Posted June 29, 2003 Author Share Posted June 29, 2003 Whats the best ram type? PC100 PC133 PC2100 PC2700 Is it just, higher the number, the better? Sigh, another question. Thank you all for your patience. What is the Difference between DDR RAM and SDRAM? Why does it say on my comp specs print out that my ram is DDR SDRAM? And Finally: I've got 256 DDR SDRAM PC2100 If i'm looking to buy another 256, do i have to buy PC2100? thank you all again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exar_reborn Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 ABSOLUTELY get the same type of Ram, Your going to want to get the DDR SDRAM PC2100 (probably another 256). If you get a different type of Ram it could slow down your processor or create other problems. If you need anything else just ask i'm not getting off for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatCigar Posted June 29, 2003 Author Share Posted June 29, 2003 thank you for the help exar... so is this what i'm looking for? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=U10-1902 It just says DDR RAM, not DDR SDRAM. Whats up with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abaddon Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 Fatciger here is the break down: pc 100 and 133 are SDRAM, normal used on systems build with althon (not XP) and p3 systems and below. pc2100+, are DDR (the full name is DDR SDRAM) DDR stands for Double Data Rate. Basically DDR is normal SDRAM at double the speed. pc-100 is SDRAM running at 100mhz pc-133 is SDRAM running at 133mhz pc-2100 is DDR-SDRAM running at 133mhz x 2 or 266mhz pc-2700 is DDR-SDRAM running at 166mhz x 2 or 333mhz pc-3200 is DDR-SDRAM running at 200mhz x 2 or 400mhz and the list goes on and on... My suggestion is to buy what type of RAM you currently have (PC-2100) because you cannot mix SD and DDR-SD at your motherboard will underclock anything to the lower of the three or two anyway.. (Ex. you could have 1 stick of 256mb DDR (pc-2700) and 1 stick of 256mb DDR (pc-2100), your motherboard will clock both sticks of ram at 133mhzx2 or PC-2100 speeds. Since you have an Althon (not XP) system I highly doubt that you can support PC-2700 or higher anyway. PC-3200 512mb for $45 is bs. you cannot even by a decent-quality pc-2100 512mb for $45. Beware what an AD on pricewatch.com might say. Getting two different types of RAM WILL NOT slow down your CPU... but the RAM, because the bios only can clock your ram at one value for all DIMMs. Another thing, I wouldn't get a FX 5200 because it basically is a value card that supports Directx 9 features (ti x4 AGP series does not) but this doesn't mean it will not run directx 9 but it cannot fully support all directx 9 functions. Don't go to bestbuy to buy RAM they sell third party RAM that can be defective. Buy Crucial or Kingston or some other decent RAM. Crucial.com ~69 USD for pc-2100 512mb DIMM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatCigar Posted June 29, 2003 Author Share Posted June 29, 2003 Thank you very much man. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=U10-1902 This company they are selling is Ultra. Ultra = BS? My other options are Viking, Corsair, K-Byte, and PNY. Any of those alright? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abaddon Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 Hard to say.. I know that Accubyte RAM is total crap. Personally I would go with crucial.com its 36.99 for a 256mb DDR-SDRAM PC-2100 (cheapest model: you don't need ECC or anything) and you get two-day shipping free. Ultra with the deal is cheap, but if you don't get the deal its 39.99 + 9 S&H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatCigar Posted June 29, 2003 Author Share Posted June 29, 2003 alright thanks, i'm just trying to purchase all of my items from one shop. Makes life easier. 184 pin vs 200 pin? whats that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abaddon Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 if you must get everything from tigerdirect.com I would go with the Viking or Corsair RAM. I believe K-byte is third party (so I wouldn't buy them). No comment on PNY, however their GPUs are ok. Almost 100% sure that your motherboard uses 184pin (like mine). You can use crucial.com motherboard analyser (if you know the company and model name of your motherboard) 184pin is the default and its been 184 since the pc-66 SDRAM era. LOL I have a 333mhz Pentium 2 that uses pc-66 (192mb) EDIT: If you want a good reseller to buy everything from, check out: http://www.newegg.com (You must live in the USA) They sell everything from Power Supplies to IDE Cables. (that was random, lol ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatCigar Posted June 29, 2003 Author Share Posted June 29, 2003 Thank you everyone on the help you guys gave me. The Final Decision: Geforce4 Ti 4200 128 mb DDR w/TV Out Video Card Viking 256mb PC2100 DDR Ram 266 mhz Total Cost: $152.98 Yeeha! Thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daneel Posted June 29, 2003 Share Posted June 29, 2003 I'm not quite sure what you meant by 4x AGP Ti Cards not supporting Dx9 - Since I have a Ti4200 card and Dx9 runs fine on it. Now, if you meant those gimped GF4MX cards - I can see what you mean. They are a GF3 with a different label. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abaddon Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Daneel, i meant that x4 AGP ti or below... don't support the functionality of Directx9. This doesn't mean that they won't run on Directx 9, but they do NOT support all or any directx 9 functions. Not really a problem because NO games as of yet really use or require that you use directx 9 functions. Since the card don't support directx 9 they can get away with using directx 8.1 fuctions that are still used in the directx 9 engine (heck i think they still use some directx 7 functions) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enite Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Fatcigar and others in your situation .. I will tell you this .. My brother is using an Athlon T-bird 1.4 with 512 megs of ram and a geforce 4 ti4200 .. and the game still stutters in the city with all details turned down and shadows off .. so don't expect too much with a new upgrade ... I am currently running an athlon t-bred(rev a) 2200+ with 512 megs pc3200 ddr and a radeon 9800 pro .. and with everything turned up at about 75% of max , I get stuttering as well .. but that's also with 4x AA and 16x AF ... looks really nice though .. but keep in mind I just get slight stuttering in the main cities but can't run everything maxed out .. I don't think I gedt higher than 30 FPS .. usually around 28 FPS this game is VERY demanding graphics wise .. but looks really nice too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abaddon Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 they recommend that you turn off AA and AF, of course thats up to u. Hey, enite are you getting any graphical glitches. I hear that people were getting some stripped lines or something with ATi with 512mb or less System RAM. Hopefully I can get 30-50 of max on some settings: AMD XP 1800+ 1024mb of PC-2100 DDR GF4 Ti4600 128mb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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