Computer Question

kaz67 · Post by **kaz67** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 8:19 pm

Technophobe here again ... I've seen it mentioned on the board a few times and occassionally I experience problems myself ... Is there an optimum or recommended memory size that will cope with the large levels and prevent the "jerky" effect.

My profile says I have 256MB of RAM (??

) .. is that quite small ?

Would appreciate some advice before I go shopping for a replacement

Thanks in advance

Kazza

Willwonka4442 · Post by **Willwonka4442** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 8:23 pm

Hmm might need to think about this 1. ill do sum research.

Lutz · Post by **Lutz** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:07 pm

Hi Kaz, my computer has 512MB RAM, but there's still some jerking when playing large levels.
But maybe it's not the computer RAM at all, but the RAM of your graphics card??? I'm no expert

the cat · Post by **the cat** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:07 pm

you need 512MB for all the games

the cat · Post by **the cat** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:12 pm

Sorry Mr Lutz we both posted at the same time.
Great minds work a like.

Post by **Midnight Synergy** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:18 pm

Wonderland can actually be run on as little as 64MB - but it does get very jerky then. I've found, in general, that the two best "upgrades" for existing computers are (for 3D games, specifically) (a) more RAM, and (b) a better video card. Esp. a good quality video card can make a real difference - a really fast computer with lots of Ram but a cheap video card will still run games very inefficiently.

Bearsland · Post by **Bearsland** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:20 pm

the cat wrote:you need 512MB for all the games

Not quite sure where you got that info from.

The minimum system requirements for all 3 games (according to Patrick) are:

System Requirements
===================

Pentium 200 Mhz+
Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP
32 MB RAM or more
25 MB drivespace or more
Direct X 7.0 or higher
Direct 3D compatible Video Card with at least 8MB
Sound Card recommended

Note that performance is primarily dependant on your
video card. Wonderland will run smoothly on a lower
end Pentium with a recent/fast video card, but will
require a faster processor if your video card is less
recent.

I have 1 gigabyte (1024MB) of RAM in my computer and a 256MB graphics card and even I get the occasional jump or flicker.

***EDIT***

Looks like Patrick beat me to it.

Post by **Midnight Synergy** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:26 pm

Yup, even with a great machine (and Bear's sound much more powerful than my own) you can get some slowdowns - esp. with the custom levels, since they are not "optimized" - adding a lot of trees, a lot of houses, a lot of coins and monsters, etc, will probably bog down any machine for some years to come.

kaz67 · Post by **kaz67** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:27 pm

Thanks for the prompt responses guys ... I'm afraid you might find me a bit tiresome or dense ... or both

but .. what's a video card ? Is that in-built or something I can buy separately ?

Believe me, i'd rather be embarrassed here than in the shop

(please don't set me up

)

Ta muchly

Klueless Kazza

Lutz · Post by **Lutz** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:45 pm

Hi Kaz,

a video card is that part of your computer where you plug your screen into.
Usually it can be changed really simple.
But before you run to the next computer shop on monday for buying the best card money can get, make sure, a new video card will fit to the rest of your computer.
So you probably will have to ask in the shop. And don't worry: they are used to stupid questions

And now I finally understand why you are the queen of 14x14-levels

the cat · Post by **the cat** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:49 pm

No set up dear.

kaz67 · Post by **kaz67** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:54 pm

Lutz wrote: And don't worry: they are used to stupid questions

Were you there when I bought this one ?? And I tried SO HARD to sound like I knew what I was talking about

I've still got a party pack of blank CDs and floppy thingummy-jigs gathering dust. Cast your mind back a few weeks and ask yourself which girlie didn't have a digital camera ?

I'll do my best when I go shopping but trying to look intelligent whilst explaining I need something to stop Stinky, Loof, 57 mushrooms and an army of z-bots being jerky will be some mean feat !!

Wish me luck !!

and thanks again

Kazza

Willwonka4442 · Post by **Willwonka4442** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:56 pm

I've got pretty new equipment. I can play pretty much everything without it going frame by frame or that memory acsess violation that happened on my old pc.

Bearsland · Post by **Bearsland** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 11:01 pm

kaz67 wrote:Believe me, i'd rather be embarrassed here than in the shop

Before you go buying one and getting more than you need, it might help to know what you have in your box first.

I'm assuming you are using Windows XP.

If you right-click My Computer; left click Properties ---> Hardware tab ---> Device Manager, you will see a list of all the hardware installed on your PC.

About 3 or 4 items down the 'tree' there should be a listing called 'Display adapters'; either double click it or click on the little cross to the left of it. It will then show the actual model name of your Graphics/Video card. Tell us what your card is. You might actually find that you have a more than suitable card and going and upgrading might just be a waste of money.

As for memory, 256MB is usually more than enough for most people. Unless you are using any real memory intensive programs (Video or Photo editing, 3D modelling, etc...) or playing the newest video intensive games, you'll probably find that 256MB is more than enough.

ann3120 · Post by **ann3120** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 1:42 am

kaz67 wrote:I'll do my best when I go shopping but trying to look intelligent whilst explaining I need something to stop Stinky, Loof, 57 mushrooms and an army of z-bots being jerky will be some mean feat !!

You are so-o-o funny - I would love to be a fly on the wall - in fact, that might almost qualify for Candid Camera

kaz67 · Post by **kaz67** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 8:01 am

Thanks Bear .. think I've found what you mean ...

Intel(R) 82845G/GL Graphics Controller

Any good ?

Kazza

Bearsland · Post by **Bearsland** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:09 am

kaz67 wrote:Thanks Bear .. think I've found what you mean ...

Intel(R) 82845G/GL Graphics Controller

Any good ?

Kazza

I reckon that's an 'integrated' graphics chip you have there. Integrated means it's actually built into the motherboard, as opposed to an actual separate card that's installed to either a PCI slot or more usually the AGP slot. The two main drawbacks with integrated graphics are:

i) They actually share your system's memory, (eg. if you have 256MB of RAM, your graphics card could be using 32 or 64 of this). So you wouldn't really be getting the use of all 256MB your system tells you you have.
ii) To replace it, you would have to get a new separate card; enter the BIOS of your PC; disable the onboard graphics; then install the new card into the box and then install the drivers.

oh... and iii) If you are using a laptop and not, as I am assuming, a PC, forget it... you can't change the graphics without replacing the whole laptop or laptop mother board.

Tell me when I start getting silly and too technical for you.

Anyway, if you are not doing anything too fancy with your machine and this card has, say 64MB of memory on it, I reckon it's probably just fine.

Just out of interest, what make/model is your computer? (Something tells me it's a Dell)

Also, when you right click My Computer and click Properties what info does the General tab give about your PC? Don't post your serial, etc.. just what it says at the bottom of that tab,( ie. Computer: Name of chip , amount of RAM).

kaz67 · Post by **kaz67** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:23 am

Thank goodness you're back Bear - you really know your stuff !

Here you go - it's all swahili to me ..

eMachines 370
Celeron (R) CPU 1.80 GHz
1.75GHz
256 MB of RAM

---

I used to use it for all sorts of things but got rid of a load of stuff, games particularly, when I discovered u-know-what

It's no computer anymore - just a "Wonderland Machine" with Microsoft Outlook attached

Kazza

popo · Post by **popo** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 12:10 pm

I've got an emachines 350 1.3 GHz with 384MB ram (I had extra put in when certain games kept crashing and it would tell me I was running low on virtual memory - I now have 572MB of virtual memory)

I have an inbuilt Intel Graphics controller too that's so old it no longer has support for it. I really ought to get a proper graphics card installed.

When I bought it, I only used it for accounts and the occasional game of cards so I didn't need a good video card. I get a lot of jerkiness with larger, more content containing custom levels. All my other games run fine.

It won't be long before I will be looking for another one with more hard disk space. Mine only has 40GB, which is titchy now, and the AC3D and Paint Shop Pro stuff takes a lot of space.

popo · Post by **popo** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 12:20 pm

I have a question I hope someone can answer.

Is there something peculiar to CD-RW's that make them behave not quite right when they are being read when blank?

I have been having problems getting my E drive (CD ROM and rewriter) to acknowledge that there is a blank CD-RW in the drive when trying to write to it. The drive works fine with CD-R's, and with CD-RW's once they have something on them.

I also have a DVD ROM drive that reads them once they have something on them.

If it's not the CD's that are peculiar, it must be my drive. It does say Rewritable on it btw.

SharonM · Post by **SharonM** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 1:05 pm

Hi Popo, I know with my old CD-writer, I had to be careful of the brand of blank CDR I used. It wouldn't recognize some of them. Some of them it would recognize and start writing to it and then quit in the middle. Very frustrating!

Bearsland · Post by **Bearsland** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 3:47 pm

kaz67 wrote:Thank goodness you're back Bear - you really know your stuff !

Here you go - it's all swahili to me ..

eMachines 370
Celeron (R) CPU 1.80 GHz
1.75GHz
256 MB of RAM

---

I used to use it for all sorts of things but got rid of a load of stuff, games particularly, when I discovered u-know-what

It's no computer anymore - just a "Wonderland Machine" with Microsoft Outlook attached

Kazza

Karen,
I wouldn't do anything to that since you're not using it for high-end stuff. If i was going to upgrade it, I'd stick in some more memory; other than that, I'd leave it. For more info about your machine look here: http://www.emachines.com/support/view_f ... 1004986892

Pauline.

Sharon could be right about it being the media you are using. Some (older) CD writers won't read certain media. It's quite common.

To find out which media will definitely work with your CD/DVD burners, check out the lists here: http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters

This site has all sorts of info on CD and DVD burners/writers. Just look up your model and you'll see what media the sites users have tested on each. The videohelp.com site has all sorts of excellent info; you guys should check it out.

popo · Post by **popo** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 5:22 pm

Thanks Bear, I'll check it out.

They are Packard Bell 12x speed ones if that's significant.

kaz67 · Post by **kaz67** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 5:44 pm

Thanks Bear - you're a star

Kazza

popo · Post by **popo** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 5:46 pm

The site doesn't have my models on as they are 'discontinued', but on the Samsung site I was able to download the user manuals so I can see if they say anything about what typed of CD's should be used.

The models are DVD/CDROM Samsung SW-224B and CD-RW Combo Samsung SD-616T. They are both built in to the computer.

I think it may be time for an upgrade.

laura n. · Post by **laura n.** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:02 am

kaz67 wrote:Believe me, i'd rather be embarrassed here than in the shop (please don't set me up )

Oh, Kaza, you make me laugh... only because I'm laughing at myself, I', sooo "technology challenged"

I guess we're rowing in the same boat.

This topic was very interesting & informative, I'm glad I read the entire thing. I've been thinking about buying a new puter lately, (this one is about 4 years old) but I'm so lost when I walk into the stores I don't want to embarrase myself in front of these young "techy" kids. I figure when the time comes I'll come here for a little education first. Thanks all.