What's left to get? How to further improve??

[BoboKatt]

Man I am just bummed. What do I need to get things to run better? I know this sounds like another stupid? what is better.. what should I get, totally open ended type question but I am really getting fed up with nothing really working how I want it.

Here?s the deal and I think I have the right to ask this of current computer technology.
I don?t want to reboot all the time? that is why I have winXp!! I want to leave my 5 applications running or when I am working on 3 spreadsheets, 2 documents, 3 diagrams in Paint Shop pro, and audio files, emails I am working on or was working on and have not finished as I need for reference. I want to be able to leave stuff open and play games. I don?t want to start shutting down taskbar icons? just to use or run what I should be able to run. I want to leave my Virus checking running, I want to listen to MUSIC from my vast collection of MP3s that I have bought or ripped without using my Ipod.. I don?t want to turn my stereo on. I want to be able to listen to my favourite radio station streamed on the Internet and I want to be able to burn some of my work as I do it.

I am running an AMD X2 3800+ Oc?ed to 2400 (4800+ speed). I have 2 Gigs of OCZ RAM running in sync. I have 3 SATA drives (not raptors but decent). I have a PCI audio card (Audigy..not FX yet). I have an ATI X1900XT with the latest CCC drivers (maybe that?s my problem LOL). I have Xp SP2. I check for viruses, spyware almost daily. I don?t have a zillion stupid taskbar things running and normally check all the time to see what is starting with my system and what is running in the background. And I still run out of memory. HOW?? I get crashes when I start playing some games as essentially my physical RAM gets all used up (WOW or EQ mostly and that's when I run two instances of them -- 2 accountslike)

I tried going to 4 DIMMS (4 gigs total) and that just screwed it up worse? my mobo/CPU just does not like 4 DIMMS of anything? runs flaky and still XP SP2 wont recognize more than what? 3.5 GIG or so and my mobo/CPU again wont really recognize more than 3 effectively unless I do that Mmio memory hole in the bios and not sure what that really does. I have to slow the RAM down and go to T2 speed.. yuck. Anyhow my point is that with 2 gigs or RAM and 4 gig swap file.. what am I doing wrong? I thought this was the whole point of a dual core.. to be able to prevent or at least reduce the times it crawls because you are running too many things.. and lets not even mention XP which was the whole point of being better at managing memory, crashes, reboots etc.

So? do I need to switch to XP64? Do I need to find a board or CPU that can handle 4 GIGS or ram (does Intel Core duo/2 boards and such support 4 DIMMS with less hassle than my current DFI with 939 AMD x2 cpu??). DO I need SCSI or even RAID SATA? Would RAID help me in this (using SATA --not sure I want to go SCSI)? I don?t understand when I crash, programs crash and I get some direct X error or at times telling me I am out of memory or that this or that has crashed and I might have lost info.. and to debug. The thing is these programs or games NEVER crash if I am just running them alone. Not sure it it?s RAM all the time even though I monitor my usage and many times the whole 2 GIGS are used? there is none left but that?s what swap file is for no?? blehh

I have run Memtest for days.. Prime95 for days.. all good, no errors so I don?t think I have faulty hardware. I guess I want the world

 

[slatr]

You need to build/buy a core 2 based system.

I have been using amd and intel for years and I am starting to see a pattern.

You want a more stable system, you are going to have to use intel.

I actually think this has more to do with the intel chipset motheboards than any problem with amd cpus themselves. I had sound card issues with my athlon xp and then my opteron.

 

[vatek]

So you want to run 2 instances of EQ2 or WoW at the same time AND leave a bunch of crap running in the background?

2 gigs of RAM is not going to cut it. Also, your single video card is not going to handle running 2 WoWs or EQ2's at the same time. Of course you're going to get errors and crashes running two instances of either one. It's simply too much for your hardware to handle. My copy of WoW uses around 1.2-1.5 gigs of RAM running by itself. It's also going to run both CPU cores close to 100% usage, which leaves no room for anything else. Dual core doesn't automatically mean you can run 20 million things at once, as much as the advertising would like you to believe.

Frankly, I don't think what you want is going to happen to your satisfaction on one box. It's simply too much for one PC.

Also, the swap file is crap. It's nowhere near as capable as physical RAM.

And, a quick comment about XP..imo, it doesn't manage memory very well. Sure, you CAN leave it running but rebooting every now and then is a good idea.

Your expectations of what your computer is capable of are just too high. (From a gaming perspective. For the office stuff you should be fine.) If you want to run 2 accounts on either EQ2 or WoW, your best bet is to build another PC for the second copy.Given how CPU intensive these games are, and how much memory they consume, running two on one machine is simply not feasible unless you have the PC from hell.

 

[BoboKatt]

Last post.. probably the best I needed to read. Yeah you are right.. I expect way too much. I think you hit it on the head.. instead of driving myself nuts.. just build a crap 2nd system... and have at it. Would probably be easier to off load much of my crap stuff like email and burning on that. Yup.. gona do that. Bingo.

 

[vatek]

You would be better offloading one of the the instances of your MMOs to the 2nd one.

You should be able to run one instance and a whole bunch of other stuff on one box, and the 2nd instance on the other. I run one instance of WoW, Winamp, MSN, and Firefox with a whole bunch of tabs open on my single core CPU all the time.


Try putting together a fairly cheap system using one of the new Core 2 Duo processors...E6300 or E6400 would work very well, and they overclock like mad. Throw in a decent video card like an X1600 or 7600GT and you've got a very capable system.