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upgrading an old pc

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kixfan:
While I agree with everyone that you could use some more memory, I do have something else you can check.   If you are trying to run mame, I remember I had a heck of a time getting it to work with my video card.   Mame would default to a video mode that would use the system processor and cause it to run choppy.  I had to fiddle (the technical term) with the drivers to get it to work.

paigeoliver:
Yes, but even 32 bit XP service pack 2 will hit the swap file before it even finishes booting with 512 MB. My el cheapo 4 year old netbook has 1 GB and my 6 year old laptop has 2 GB.


--- Quote from: HaRuMaN on September 04, 2012, 05:46:30 pm ---
--- Quote from: paigeoliver on September 04, 2012, 05:40:56 pm ---You barely have enough ram to boot the system. My 4 year old PC came with 8 GB.

--- End quote ---

64 bit OS.  He's most likely running 32 bit.

--- End quote ---

theonegoku:
My mame did much better when i upgraded my external card as well, but for the the choppiness you definitly gotta upgrade the ram.  Where you go from there is up to you.  My journey led me to a new processor, which led to a new MoBo to prevent bottlenecking...but now...i couldn't be happier :D

lilshawn:

--- Quote from: HaRuMaN on September 04, 2012, 05:46:30 pm ---
--- Quote from: paigeoliver on September 04, 2012, 05:40:56 pm ---You barely have enough ram to boot the system. My 4 year old PC came with 8 GB.

--- End quote ---

64 bit OS.  He's most likely running 32 bit.

--- End quote ---

he means if you have more than 4gb ram you need to use a 64bit OS otherwise with the 32bit OS you only have access to 3.25gb (or some crap number) regardless of how much RAM is installed.


I agree 512MB ram is your dog here. Your puter is wasting all sorts of time swapping info in and out of the cache to deal with it. Increased resolution means need more RAM to place it. The videocard has 4x the ram you system has.  :lol it should be the other way around. Upgrade. Especially since 4gb of ram can be had for about $40 now a days.

next dog in your system is going to be the processor/motherboard. Most gaming now pretty much requires a dual core. You can get by with a single core if it's fast...yours is marginal. 3800+ or a 4000+ can get by okay. 3600+...eghhhhh. I'd suspect the compaq board is running a slow bus which is going to slow things down considerably.

You can build yourself a decent dual core gaming system for $300 since you already have a half decent videocard. just a matter of grabbing a board/dual core processor (maybe an AMD Athlon II X2 260u if you can find them still  :-\) and 4gb ram stick. That computer would be about 4 or 5 times fater than what you have there.

PL1:

--- Quote from: paigeoliver on September 04, 2012, 11:29:09 pm ---Yes, but even 32 bit XP service pack 2 will hit the swap file before it even finishes booting with 512 MB. My el cheapo 4 year old netbook has 1 GB and my 6 year old laptop has 2 GB.


--- Quote from: HaRuMaN on September 04, 2012, 05:46:30 pm ---
--- Quote from: paigeoliver on September 04, 2012, 05:40:56 pm ---You barely have enough ram to boot the system. My 4 year old PC came with 8 GB.

--- End quote ---

64 bit OS.  He's most likely running 32 bit.

--- End quote ---

--- End quote ---

I think Haruman was trying to politely remind you (and OP) of the 32 bit OS/4GB limitation.

We all agree that upgrading the RAM is a good idea. 

The question is how much he needs to buy.

1 GB = might work  :dunno
2 GB = probably work
4 GB = definitely work
8 GB = too much/waste of money for this setup


Scott

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