will ram do the trick?

[datac0re]

Hey guys,

I have my cabinet up and running with an older computer, but games like Time Killers, MK, Altered Beast, Neo-Geo games, and side scrolling shooters are practically unplayable because they're so jerky. Here's the PC's specs:

PII @ 400 Mhz
128 Megs SDRAM
64 Meg GeForce 2 Pro
20 GB Hard drive
Windows XP

Besides tweaking some of the MAME settings in the .ini file (which I've already done), would adding more ram (like another 128 Megs) solve the problem?

Thanks!

[grueinthebox]

First thing I'd do is drop Windows XP and run 98 on it.  XP is going to run pretty crappy on a PII 400 regardless of how much RAM you put in it. 

That said, 128mb is insufficient for any system, regardless of CPU, running XP.  256mb is the minimum you want to have, 512 is better.

[DrewKaree]

For the record, Win98 has memory (addressing?) issues above 512, so for a 98 box, you shouldn't go through any undue efforts to increase it above 512

Make sure you're running the MAME version optimized for your system, that'll help as well

Look for anything running in the background that may be stealing cycles from you

[datac0re]

Actually XP itself is snappy as hell on the PC by itself. MAME is the only thing suffering. I've already disabled all the non-critical services as well. Since XP runs so well, that's why I wanted to know if my MAME problems were just RAM related.

[mnm1200]

There's a whole lot of services in XP running in the background. Have you already disabled most of them that you dont use?

You could also try http://nuhi.msfn.org/ first before getting more RAM. It helps optimize XP.

With this, you should get a good boost of available RAM and may not have to purchase more

[datac0re]

There's a whole lot of services in XP running in the background. Have you already disabled most of them that you dont use?

You could also try http://nuhi.msfn.org/ first before getting more RAM. It helps optimize XP.

With this, you should get a good boost of available RAM and may not have to purchase more

I'd be leary of using something like this, as who knows what kind of hacks it's going through to do what it says. Also, I can't see how it'd be any better than just disabling the appropriate services.

[subzero23]

No one really answered his question but no, ram will not help
it's all about processor speed
upgrade the processor

my computer with 866mhz and 512mb of ram can't run those games either

[mnm1200]

There's a whole lot of services in XP running in the background. Have you already disabled most of them that you dont use?

You could also try http://nuhi.msfn.org/ first before getting more RAM. It helps optimize XP.

With this, you should get a good boost of available RAM and may not have to purchase more

I'd be leary of using something like this, as who knows what kind of hacks it's going through to do what it says. Also, I can't see how it'd be any better than just disabling the appropriate services.

It just does what you could do if you had the time and skill... It not only does services but other deeply embedded Windows functions. I use a pay version of this and it really helps cut down on proc usage, RAM usage, and HDD space