Troubleshooting I have one questions and one problem

I have one questions and one problem

o.k here are my system specs
microsoft xp
dell
process 4 cpu 2.53 ghz
memory 256mb
dixrects 9.0c
praghics card RAGE 128 por untral gl apg


first of all it will not allow me to change my graphics was so ever... it runs in 800x600 it is slow and lagging big time



but i got it from thia land when i was there could that be the problem??:(

 

one more thing i am not a computer person really and i don't understand alot of the lingo... so if you could help me can you dumb it down a bit

thank you

 

I don't know much about computers but it sounds like your processor is powerful enough.

Your RAM however is inadequate. I know the box says 256 but it lies. I had 512 and my game was laggy. I now have 1 GB of high speed RAM and that helped my game performance a lot.

I've never heard of your graphics card so I can't help you there.

How big is your hard drive? That could make a big difference. The game is a space hog. I used to have 800 MB and it was a joke. My new 165 GB HD is much much better.

 

Hi Clint, that graphics card is from the last millenium. Sorry about that but there it is. You need a new one. Some more RAM would also help a lot.

If you want more help feel free to ask again but please alos post a detailed system specifications (see here for my 'how to' do that)

 

o.k so if i download those drivers it will update my card??? or do i just gotta buy a new card I found some on e-bay for like 60$... but then once again i am not smart in computers i will probaly buy the wrong one LOL

 

You could try new drivers, since that's free, but unfortunately, if your video card is indeed "from the last century" you will probably need to buy a new one. I have a 6600 GeForce card by Invidia, and that works great. They go up to 7600 or something like that now but with more power you pay more $$$.

Tom's Hardware is a site that (I believe) offers comparisons as to how well your game will run using different pieces of hardware. You could probably buy something less expensive than mine and still run the game OK ... I've found that I always want more, more, more, so paying a little more up front might save you money if you're anything like me. (You won't have to turn around and upgrade it in six months ...)

I can't remember what I spent for mine. It wasn't super cheap. I got it on Newegg, which is a good site for buying hardware. They are very reliable and have good prices. I think I spent around $180 USD but don't quote me on that.

And, you will want to make sure you get the right kind of card. It sounds like you have a pentium machine, so be careful not to buy a card that isn't for a pentium.

 

Everything that SBW said plus this: getting new drivers will enable your card to do a better job though (annoyingly) the difference is sometimes hard to see and (very rarely) appears to be worse than before ... though it is easy enough to roll-back to a previous driver with Windows.

My real point is that sometimes you have to face up to hard economic realities. Sure you can spend money upgrading your present computer but ask yourself this question. If you had inherited a rusty old wrecker of a car from your grandpa and it was worth 200 bucks (mostly as a breaker for spare parts) would spend $5000 on a new engine for it or take that 5K and go look for a more modern "runner" (bear in mind that Grandpa's wrecker is never gonna be a classic or a collectors' anything and it'll eventually need new shocks, new tires, new brakes, new ... heck, the key looks alright but that's about it. :(

 

wow thank you for your help... I am gonna try and talk my boyfriend in updating everything!!! now when i try to play my game it crashes allll the time.... hheheh i am a big sims fan and i all i want is to play my game LOL... so o.k what is a driver acually??? like if i download it will it take more ram space??

 

It shouldn't, because you've already got drivers in place so it should just replace the ones you've got. Plus, it's more of a HD than a RAM issue ... correct me if I'm wrong, Mirelly. I'm a hardware newbie.

I agree with Mirelly. I started over and built my own computer after I realized the "rusty junker" I'd gotten for free just wasn't going to cut it anymore.

I had help. If your boyfriend knows about these things, ask him for help.

I got an AMD motherboard with room to expand. I never buy top of the line because you pay through the nose and it's outdated in a week anyway, but I did get a fairly nice one. There's no way you can keep up with the Joneses unless you're rolling in dough, so you just have to pick a price you can live with and try to get something that will work for that price.

And then upgrade as needed.

Lather, rinse, repeat ...

And, oh, a driver is a little piece of code that tells your computer what kind of video card, or whatever, you've got. They're usually free, or pretty cheap.

 

"new ... heck, the key looks alright but that's about it. :("

Mirelly you had me laughing with that line so hard I almost spit tea all over my screen! The sad thing is that with technology these days it's getting to the point where if you replace too much on that old car the key probably wouldn't work anymore. LOL

Ruth

 

o.k cool me and my bf are buying a new card ya!!! and he said he wants to make the computer run off of the t.v no clue how he is gonna do that but at least I can relax on the couch and play instead of this hard old computer chair LOL


so thank you sooo much for all of you advice and help.... if I could I would give you all a hug
thanks again