Will Another 128 MB SDRAM boost my PC?

[Jimbon]

I had a HP Pavilion Desktop with a PIII 500 CPU and 128 MB SDRAM(PC133), I was thinking about to get another 128 MB SDRAM to escalate the machine's performance when I play Red Alert 2, will it work without changing my vedio card(a integrated cheap stuff)?

 

[Daniel]

The ram shouldn't have anything to do with your video card, but if you are still using crappy integrated video for your games you would be much better off just getting a real video card than more ram.

 

[jpelfman]

maybe. If you're running windows 2000. i mostly play unreal and counterstrike in win98. i dont' think an extra 128 would help my system. but then again im limited by my voodoo3.

 

[Taz4158]

It can't hurt and your pretty limited with tweaks you can do to boost performance so why not? I saw a nice boost when I went to 256 from 128.

 

[Ausm]

What operating system you running?

Ausm

 

[xtreme2k]

I will recommend you to add another 128 regardless of what OS you might be running. As they are SO CHEAP and it cannot hurt your performance in anyway.

 

[MichaelD]

The answer to your question is "YES", more ram will make your computer run faster and more stable. HOWEVER (there's always a however) I totally agree with Daniel. Being that you are still using the integrated video, you'd be better off getting a video card. If money is an issue (it always is!) get a Voodoo 3000 PCI. You won't be dissapointed. Hmm. For about $225, you could probably get both the Voodoo and another 128 meg of ram.

If I were you, and I was limited to picking ONLY one, vidcard or ram, at this point, I'd get the vidcard. I speak from experience. My old system (Dell) came with the integrated video. The first PC game I ever played was Half-Life. After getting halfway thru the game, I bought the Voodoo 3000. It looked so good that I started over from the beginning just to see all the detail that I missed! I'm not lying about that either!

VIDCARD VIDCARD VIDCARD VIDCARD VIDCARD VIDCARD VIDCARD VIDCARD VIDCARD VIDCARD VIDCARD VIDCARD

 

[xtreme2k]

Yes
Forget the RAM
Get the video

anything integrated = fvuk up

128MB is not a great amount but it is a good amount. Running Graphics intensive task (even 2D) will slow your WHOLE computer down since the Video memory is usually shared with System Memory and when Vid Ram bandwidth is being used up, whole system slows down.

 

[Yzzim]

Make sure that there's a way to disable the onboard video if you're upgrading the video card! If there isn't then be ready for a huge headache trying to get the new video card to work. Check in the manual to see if there is a jumper or bios setting to disable it.

 

[MichaelD]

Yzzim is right...I just wanted to point something out to you. I'm 99.999% sure you can disable the onboard video. Right click the My Computer icon on the desktop. Click Properties. Click Device Manageer. Double click Display controllers. From there, you'll see something like "Intel 9884 Display adapter" That is your onboard video. You can disable it from there. Dont' do this until you have your new vidcard installed, else you'll have no video! Bad thing, no video, you know. Also, disabling the onboard video was part of the standard instructions that came with my Voodoo 3000. Good luck.

 

[SiliconVandal]

Of course it will boost your performance, the only problem is, if you got a real video card, would it boost performance more? If your main aspect is gaming, I would say the answer is definately yes! If you don't have an AGP port, the V5 4500 PCI or 5500 are very nice cards..my 2 cents

SV

 

[Jimbon]

Thx alot guys, got real help from you.
My vedio card is integrated NVIDIA RIVA TNT graphics with 8 MB SDRAM, with AGP slots, I think I can get a voodoo card.
There's another 2 questions:

1. Some of you suggested voodoo 3000, but I do not play 3D game(maybe will for Combate Flying Similator), the usual game I play is real time strategy(RA2, AOE2, etc), will voodoo 3000 help the details in display? What bothers me currently is that when I build up over 100 units, whole game slows down badly, oh, nightmire.

2. When integrated graphic card is not enough for the game(8MB is full), will it share the memory room in my SDRAM? If so, upgrading RAM theorotically increaces game speed?

BTW, will you guys know where I can get a deal for voodoo?

Thx a million!

 

[Jimbon]

Whould this be an alternative for voodoo 3000?

ATI Radeon 32MB DDR 4X AGP Video Card - No Hyper Z -Powered by the ATI RADEON graphics processing unit (GPU) Featuring ATIs CHARISMA ENGINE, PIXEL TAPESTRY and VIDEO IMMERSION technologies- OEM Version Free Fedex Saver Shipping for $89?

 

[limsandy]

yes, going from 128 to 256 would give you a nice boost. If you play intensive gaming such as quake/UT, I would recommend getting a ATI Radeon 64 MB VIVO or Geforce2 GTS.