Quick PC Question-Gaming: More RAM?

[biglou]

I bought Halo over the holiday weekend, and it absolutely ROCKS! However, periodically (on rare occasion), it says "Loading. Please Wait" in the upper left corner and the game play halts for maybe a half second. Usually happens when I'm running down a hallway or something similar. I've got a smokin' Dell box, 2.4gig processor, but only 256meg of RAM. It's upgradable to 1gig of RAM. Is the lack of RAM causing this? It's a very minor issue, just thought I'd ask some of you who have more gaming experience with PC's than I do. This is my first PC game, btw. Thanks.

Also, when I shut the game down, I can hear the processor grinding away and the PC is slow to react compared to other times until it gets finished doing whatever it is it does. Then it's back to smokin' fast again. Is this also a RAM issue? Keep in mind, I capture video into huge AVi files and do all my editing on this box and it seems to chug right along, with the occasional stall. RAM? More RAM?!

 

[Treejumper]

More main RAM wont hurt but i believe for gaming you should be more worried about what your graphics card is. 32MB, 64MB, 128MB?

 

[Chili]

I always vote for more RAM since it's a cheap easy upgrade. One thing I always do if I am gaming and want the game to run it's best with no glitches or slowdowns is to shut down absolutely everything running on the PC other than the game, you'd be suprised how much crap is running in the background in Windows taking up system resources.

 

[Okiewan]

the last two replies are spot on.
Graphics card info Lou?

 

[treefinder]

FWIW, what you're likely hearing is the hard drive not the CPU. Halo is prolly cleaning up temp files it created on your hard disk while it was running.

Also, all games have some load time associated with them. Game worlds have too much data (geometry data, textures, animation sequencing, etc) to be all read into memory at once on even today's top of the line PCs. They typically divide the entire world into chunks and load the chunks as you enter that part of the game. Unless you have friends that are playing Halo that do not see this at all, it might just be The Way it Works.

 

[biglou]

Ah, the video card, I forgot to add that. It's the Nvidia64meg G-Force card. I think, if my memory is working this morning... All I remember, is when I was looking at the new Dell back in January, I submitted the specs to Okie for his opinion. He said, "That's a nice box, man." :)

 

[Chili]

I'd use Dell's site to identify the model of GeForce card. They come in several different variations and each offers differing performance levels akin to someone advising they have a Chevrolet which could be a Corvette or a Chevette :)

 

[biglou]

Here's what I have:

Dell Dimension 8250 Series: Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.40GHz w/533MHz front side bus/ 512K L2 Cache
Memory: 256MB PC1066 RDRAM (2X128 modules)
Hard Drives: FREE UPGRADE!120GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive
Monitors: Video Ready w/o Monitor
Video Cards: 64MB DDR NVIDIA­ GeForce4 MX™ Graphics Card with TV-Out
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Digital Sound Card
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Network Interface: Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet
Modem: 56K Telephony Modem for Windows
CD or DVD Drive: 48x Max Variable CD-ROM
Secondary CD or DVD Drive: 40x/10x/40x CD-RW Drive with Roxios Easy CD Creator®
Speakers: Harman Kardon® HK-395 Speakers with Subwoofer
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options: 1 Year Limited Warranty plus 1 Year At-Home Service

 

[zio]

Isn't RAM like closet space? Once you have enough, adding more won't change how well your clothes are hung? Or something like that?

 

[Okiewan]

Check this Lou:

http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce4.html

I upgraded to the GeForce4 Ti 4200 w/ AGP 8X a while ago.... awesome.

 

[biglou]

Heck, I don't know what I'd be looking for with upgrading the card? Seems like I remember the one I have as being the one to have back when I bought it, even above the ATI 128meg card, but I could be wrong. I don't think I know enough about what's going on here to make an informed decision! I'll just live with the little glitch and buy some more RAM anyway!

 

[DahlElama]

Definately add some more RAM. It's cheap right now. XP makes pretty good use of memory but it is still a pig. I consider the minimum reqmnt for XP to be 256MB. You can get another 256mb stick for $29 after rebates right now. The video card does come into play but I think the loading message and delay you are seeing is more related to the system hitting the disk for more info and more RAM can help reduce that problem.

Better yet... Get an XBox Lou. We can get on Ghost Recon LIVE and snipe some bad guys.

 

[Timr]

Originally posted by Okiewan
Check this Lou:

http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce4.html

I upgraded to the GeForce4 Ti 4200 w/ AGP 8X a while ago.... awesome.

I agree with Okie, I too just upgraded to the GeForce 440 MX w/ AGP 8x...and it's great.  This card isn't as fast as the one Okie got, but I got a smokin' deal on it.  $59 bucks!

Check out this place:  http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?page=2&keywords=GeForce

 

[Imho]

Generally, pauses in games that use a lot of 3D graphics are caused by loading the textures etc. associated with the game environment. Your problem sounds a lot like this Lou. There are a few possible solutions:

1. A simple defrag of your hard disk may fix it.
2. Increasing RAM may help by allowing more textures to be cached in RAM.
3. Increasing video RAM will help by allowing more textures to reside on the video card.
4. Upgrading the video card will help, the higher the AGP speed (2X, 4X etc.) the faster you system can get the info to the video card (provided your motherboard is capable of higher AGP speeds). The faster the graphics processor the better it is able to deal with the info.
5. Decreasing the texture or resolution settings in the game's graphics options will almost always solve the problem (at no cost) but may lower the gaming "experience" if lowered too much.

Is there a lot of disk access going on when the game pauses?

If so, defrag your disk first then add more RAM if things aren't better.
If not, the AGP/video processor speed is likely to be the problem. Beware though, upgrading to a video card with a higher AGP speed will only help if your motherboard's AGP port supports the higher speed.

In terms of cost:

1. Decrease graphics settings.
2. Defrag the disk (2nd because it takes longer).
3. Add RAM.
4. Upgrade video card (and motherboard if necessary).

Based on the specs of the PC, I doubt the system itself is the problem. The NVIDIA MX cards are OK but the Ti series cards are MUCH better (but more expensive). My guess would be that it's a disk access issue based on the fact you get a message on the screen say "Loading" but it's hard to be sure from 18000 miles away.

I hope this helps.

Cheers.

 

[dave186]

Lou, we have almost the exact same computer, except mine has DDR ram instead of RDRAM. mine came with 256mb too, and my old unit had 512 and i could tell i needed more when i had photoshop, excel, a bunch of IE windows and outlook running at the same time. I upgraded to 768mb and it made a world of difference.

I say upgrade your ram and graphics card!

 

[MrLuckey]

I consider 512 meg of ram to be the bare minimum for pretty much anything these days.

 

[KelvinKDX]

Originally posted by Okiewan
Check this Lou:

http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce4.html

I upgraded to the GeForce4 Ti 4200 w/ AGP 8X a while ago.... awesome.

I've got the identical card as Okie (MSI version 128MB DDR) - it really does the job!!  This card is now (of course) considered old and slow - so you should be able to pick it or it's equivalent up fairly cheap.  The Ti was always concidered a step up from the MX graphics cards.

Imho had some good ideas to releave the load on your video card.

Get more RAM - 256 or 512 more.  :)

 

[mrmodine]

Lou:

If you give me a call, we can hook up and I'll help you out. New card, new ram...they will both help and we can throw either one in with about 10 minutes of free time.

Christopher

 

[biglou]

Would I actually see a difference with this new video card? Sharper graphics or something? Just curious.

 

[Okiewan]

What you will likely see with a faster/better card is faster/smoother frame rates and better game appearance. You'll be able to use higher resolution and more color. They really don't make much diff in regular applications.

If I can get a screen shot of Max Payne on my machine, I'll post it.

 

[mrmodine]

He's right on Lou...you probably won't notice a thing in regular applications (Unless your current video drivers are crap) but games and video will paginate faster and cleaner.

Like I said, I'd be happy to help.

 

[Okiewan]

This doesn't show a whole lot... but at 1024x768 and 32,000 colors, it's great game play... smoothe as silk.

(reduced to 800x600 and 80% quality to post here)

 

[dirty~d~]

Men and their toys. :| :)

 

[biglou]

Man, my head hurts. Been reading up on all this video card stuff for a couple hours now. Stupid question time again: I notice a bunch of different companies selling this NVIDIA card. Is it like different companies selling motherboards all with the P4 processor? Like, the NVIDIA Ti4 is the killer processor, with different companies using it on their video cards?

If so, is this Click a good deal? Looks like it to me... Thanks.

 

[Okiewan]

That is correct Lou (basically). Nvidia is the chipset designer/mfg. The other card companies make the whole card and licence the chipset from Nvidia. There is a big difference in quality, drivers, etc., between companies tho...

Of course all the gamers will suggest newer cards that cost $400... Max Payne 2 is a brand new game, with some serious horse power required and it runs well with this card.