MJimLay
aka FlexBaud
Premium
join:2004-10-06
Beach Haven
clubs:
 ·Cox HSI
1 edit | reply to Duchess44
Re: Looking to upgrade memory and possibly video card
My uncle just upgraded his Dell Inspiron 530 from 2 GB Ram to 6 GB Ram (will upgrade to 8 GB soon) and noticed a huge improvement.
I am currently running 4 GB ram on my Q6600 and it drags. I play WoW and for the first 10 minutes or so of playing, music skips, game freezes, voices stutters, etc. There is also a ton of hard drive swapping during that 10 minutes or so.
After that 10 minutes, the game runs great on max settings  I will be upgrading to 8 GB once my funds allow it. I'd love to upgrade to 12 GB or 16 GB, but my system won't allow that much memory and 4 GB sticks are just too expensive at this time. Now, if I had 8 slots, would be a different story! |
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longstreet
join:2004-11-14
Plano, TX | Sounds like your problem isn't memory. |
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MJimLay
aka FlexBaud
Premium
join:2004-10-06
Beach Haven
clubs:
·Cox HSI
| said by longstreet  :Sounds like your problem isn't memory. Yep. It is. I've already went as far as rebuilding the entire system. I run a lot of software that uses a lot of memory (VMWare, Virtual Box, DosBox, Virtual PC) |
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longstreet
join:2004-11-14
Plano, TX
4 edits | Fixed :
quote:
Sounds like your problem is memory nt' memory especially if you are running VMWare, Virtual Box, DosBox, Virtual PC
Most people aren't running games over emulation or virtualization software. That's a pretty big undisclosed admission.
Why any serious gamer would do that anyway . . . makes me wonder, unless you had no other choice. |
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ztmike
Mark for moderation
Premium
join:2001-08-02
Michigan City, IN | reply to Duchess44
I wonder what the OP ended up doing.. |
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Gonzo1970
@af.mil | reply to Duchess44
Vista 64 Bit
add 2Gb ram
IF you have a PCI Express 2.0 Slot, a 9800GT
Ram and Card are around $130. Dont know what the upgrade to 64 Bit will look like. |
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ebb0ts
Premium
join:2008-01-14
Tucson, AZ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to Duchess44
I also have a Dell 530 inspiron. And it is now upgraded a bit.
I have 4 gb Ram and a Gforce 9500 with 1 gb onboard memory. I did upgrade the power supply to 400 watt tho.
Didnt want it bumping its head. Overall upgrade costs were well below your budget numbers. Even the power supply was under $40.00...Tigerdirect.com has a sale on the 9500 right now for 64.99. memory cost 125.00 not bad. I do play WOW,COD4 and UT3 full graphics no stutter just great! Love it |
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Pyrion
Liquid Metal Nanomorph
join:2001-12-01
Poway, CA
clubs:
·Verizon BroadbandA..
·Cox HSI
| reply to MJimLay
said by MJimLay :My uncle just upgraded his Dell Inspiron 530 from 2 GB Ram to 6 GB Ram (will upgrade to 8 GB soon) and noticed a huge improvement. Most people typically do, even if they have always looked at it from a "why would I need that much memory? I'm never going to use that much" standpoint, at least as far as Vista is concerned, because even if Task Manager says the memory is going unused, it all depends on your definition of the word "use." SuperFetch just preemptively loads frequently-accessed shit into free system memory, but it's flagged as a cache (the actual term is "standby page"), so it's not viewed as "in use" as it could be freed up at any time. First time I went from 4GB to 8GB I noticed an immediate boost in performance after SuperFetch did its thing (the only problem being SuperFetch loads everything in background idle priority so it appears as if the HD is being thrashed if you're not doing anything else with it), and upgraded again to 12GB in a mostly-new rig with a further improvement, despite the fact that my actual memory "needs" haven't changed any. I'm still "using" only about 2.4-4GB of it.
Though it also helps to have a program like LaaTiDo around for those finicky 32-bit apps that want to use the theoretical maximum for 32-bit apps, but can't cuz their creators are idiots.
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"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." - Bertrand Russell |
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Pyrion
Liquid Metal Nanomorph
join:2001-12-01
Poway, CA
clubs:
·Verizon BroadbandA..
·Cox HSI
| reply to Gonzo1970
said by Gonzo1970 :
Dont know what the upgrade to 64 Bit will look like. A whole lot of heartache if any of your programs or devices use unsigned kernel-mode drivers.
Thankfully, RivaTuner doesn't have that problem anymore.
--
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." - Bertrand Russell |
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Gonzo1970
join:2009-08-03
Belleville, IL
| reply to Gonzo1970
said by Gonzo1970 :Vista 64 Bit add 2Gb ram IF you have a PCI Express 2.0 Slot, a 9800GT Ram and Card are around $130. Dont know what the upgrade to 64 Bit will look like. I concur |
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