Yet another "what should i do" thread - Upgrading Computer

[TFM]

Here is my current rig:

P4 3.0c Processor (Stock)
Soyo SYP4I865PE Plus Dragon 2 mobo
BBATI X850XT AGP Video Card
2x512 Geil Value RAM
WD 160 GB HD
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card
Antec TP-II 480 Blue PSU
Generic / Slightly Modded Case (Modded to add fans)


When i bought the video card last January, it was to be my final upgrade before i went into the PCI-E world which would recquire a new Mobo/CPU/Video Card/RAM (if i went, i'd want to get DDR-2) - which means this would get costly - quickly. Since we have a tight budget, i was hoping that my system would be fine for 2 years and that i could refrain from upgrading until sometime in 2008.

Well, with C2D coming out, and with DX-10, games are being pushed even further. My system can't even handle good graphics are games like F.E.A.R. and Oblivion is somewhat laggy at times AFTER i dumbed down the graphics a bit and turned off seeing things that are at a distance.

I guess my question is this - if i were to nab 1 more GB of RAM, would that increase my production enough that i will be able to hold off for another year and a half and still feel like i can play games getting out of them what the makers wanted me to get out of them (i.e. they don't put the eye candy in for people to have it turned off). Or should i just sit tight - b/c there's no way i can afford a full upgrade (or even ANY upgrade other than <$100 RAM).

As well - i only have 1 RAM slot left on my board. I could pop in a 512 stick very cheaply - and would that net me enough gain that i'd be happy? Is it worth the extra to go from 1.5 gb to 2 gb?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated

Thanks guys,
Chris

 

[polypterus]

An extra gig of RAM isn't going to do anything significant for games.
Your best bet would be to get a better video card. An x1950pro AGP is $230, your x850 still goes for >$100 on eBay, so if you get a good price for you current card you could upgrade to a x1950pro for ~$100, that'd be quite a significant upgrade performance wise.

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: TFM
Here is my current rig:

P4 3.0c Processor (Stock)
Soyo SYP4I865PE Plus Dragon 2 mobo
BBATI X850XT AGP Video Card
2x512 Geil Value RAM
WD 160 GB HD
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card
Antec TP-II 480 Blue PSU
Generic / Slightly Modded Case (Modded to add fans)

P4 3.0c Processor (Stock)
Soyo SYP4I865PE Plus Dragon 2 mobo
=$65

BBATI X850XT AGP Video Card
=$85

2x512 Geil Value RAM
=$70

total from sale: $220

New System:
[FROM PREVIOUS SYSTEM]
Antec TP-II 480 Blue PSU
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card
WD 160 GB HD
Generic / Slightly Modded Case (Modded to add fans)

[TO BUY]
Core2 1.86 GHz - $190
MSI 945 Core2 mobo - $80
1GB DDR2 667 - $100
x1900/7900 class - $150 upto $225 (FS/TR)
total: $595 - $220 = $375

"...amen"

 

[Roguestar]

I agree with FrizQuadrata, get another gig of RAM and a better AGP card (x1950pro) and save your cash towards a complete system overhaul mid-summer. A whole lot more exciting stuff will be out by then, to say the least, and not buying on the rising wave of new releases (wait a couple of weeks for better drivers, revisions etc) is your best bet.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: FrizQuadrata
An extra gig of RAM isn't going to do anything significant for games.
Your best bet would be to get a better video card. An x1950pro AGP is $230, your x850 still goes for >$100 on eBay, so if you get a good price for you current card you could upgrade to a x1950pro for ~$100, that'd be quite a significant upgrade performance wise.

if he is htting the pagefile all the time more ram would help out most definately

i play bf2 and coh @ 1280x1024 and my machine idles @ ~240MB, but when gaming total usage is 1.3-1.6GB

 

[TFM]

I'm sorry - what is meant by "hitting the pagefile"?

And to be honest, $80 (the price of a 1 gig ram stick) is about the max that i would be able to afford, can't even afford $125 to upgrade the video card - really - b.c that assumes the sale of the first one - which i'd rather not sell it and continue to use it in a secondary computer, and also i don't want to be out a video card while i go through the hassle of selling and then buying.

Besides, i don't want another video card upgrade unless i'm going PCI-E (unless i can find another insane deal on the AGP 1950 Pro like i did the X850XT)

So video aside, will the extra gig or 512 ram help me - or should i just sit tight on bad graphics for about a year and then do it all?

Thanks

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: TFM
I'm sorry - what is meant by "hitting the pagefile"?

your computer set aside x amount of hdd space that is kind of virtual ram. when you are using your computer and if you exceeed however much real/physical ram you have then your computer uses the pagefile since you have used all of your real ram. the problem with this is that hdds are so slow compared to ram so if you have 1GB and while gaming you need 1.2GB then your computer is going to get that other 200MB from the hdd and this could cause huge slowdowns. if howerver you are not exceeding the amount of physical ram then you would not benefit from ram

task manager -> performance -> commit charge (K) -> peak

after/during gaming what does this number say? if it is higher than your actual ram then ram will help, if it is lower then no benefit

 

[TFM]

Thanks bob4432

here's what it reads...

Peak - 1433320

Total Physical Memory - 1048044


So if i'm understanding correctly, for me to overcompensate for the peak, 512 more would do me fine...for now. But 1 gig might be best to be on the safe side?

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: TFM
Thanks bob4432

here's what it reads...

Peak - 1433320

Total Physical Memory - 1048044


So if i'm understanding correctly, for me to overcompensate for the peak, 512 more would do me fine...for now. But 1 gig might be best to be on the safe side?

just out of curiosity, are you able to alt-tab out of the game to verify it is using that much when actually playing? the reason is that sometimes during loading of maps the peak will be higher than when gaming. you may want to verify this. i only play a couple of games - bf2 and coh, and the most i have hit is 1.6GB. from what i have read oblvion is mean on computer resources so the 1GB extra may be better.

i know when i switched my rig over to pci-e, even though i could keep it under 1GB with a x800xtpe, the x1800xt pushed it well over 1GB. when i first got my x1800xt it ran like crap (15-20fps) because of it hitting the pagefile all the tiime, but as soon as i moved up to 2GB it was all butter smooth (40fps+ conservative, more likely 60+ on average)

 

[TFM]

Ok - popped in F.E.A.R. and played it for about 3 minutes or so...

Peak - 954968

Didn't try Oblivion out - but with F.E.A.R., that's playing it with fairly low-quality graphics

 

[bob4432]

this is a hard question because you really don't want to spend the $$$ on ram that you can't use in your next build. i know that i could graphic down a bit or lean out my install to keep ram usage under 1.5GB, but i don't play oblvion so i am not sure if you would crest 1.5GB anyway. maybe somebod that play oblvion will chime in and let us know how oblivion is ram wise....

with your current setup, would your gpu allow you to add more to the graphics?