The Commissar Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 Hey guys, I've recently been experimenting with the beautful high res mods being released by all you talented folk out there, and I have to say CM is starting to play like a WW2 slide show. Ive got a few hundred $$$ to spend on upgrading my computer, so Im wondering what you would recommend to solve my problem. My current specs: AMD Athalon 650MHz processor 64RAM 7 gig HD Riva TNT2 video card On the subject of RAM: Some already suggested RAM to me, but there seem to be many different types of RAM. I've heard that if you buy the wrong kind and add it to your original, your computer performance actually slows down. My question is, how the heck to I check what type of RAM I have so I can buy that exact kind? Thanks in advance for your answers and suggestions! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunsmithcat Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 Single best thing: GeForce MX card ($140). Your processor is more than fine, and I believe the new Geforce 2 and MX chips take advantage of the 3dNOW! instructions of the AMD line. Honestly, it is better than upgrading the CPU. If you feel like going whole hog, go for the Geforce 2 GTS boards. about $300, but they are worth it. I have a plain old GeForce, and mine runs significantly faster than it would with just my old TNT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Commissar Posted December 4, 2000 Author Share Posted December 4, 2000 Hmm, thanks for the tip, Gunsmithcat! I never thought my video card could be the problem, seeing as how the TNT2 was considered top notch several months ago. Then again, I forget how fast things change in the computer world! I'll see if I can find a GeForce going for a reasonable price at Pricewatch.com Any other suggestions? ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Clark Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 Commissar, what the heck mods are you using? I've still got my AMD K6-2 380 mhz, 80 mb, Voodoo 2 12 mb With the new building mod, DD's tree mods, and all the vehicle (low-res) mods, my frames remain pretty much the same. It must be the Hi-Res vehicles that really kick the framerate in the can. ------------------ "The truth was that the Germans were losing faster than the Allies could win." - A Bridge Too Far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemo2 Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 With your RAM, do you know what brand name & model motherboard you have? If so, I'd think you could find the needed info from the manufacturers website. (Or better yet, hopefully from the motherboard manual?) I've not found out a perfect solution to checking what type/speed ram you have just by reading the numbers off the chips. Some SDRAM modules have a sticker on them labeled PC100 or PC133. Might be worth a look. I'm just guessing, but I'd say you either have PC100 or PC133 SDRAM. But you do need to find out for sure before adding RAM so you make sure to add the same type/speed. You also need to find out what configuration your existing RAM is. (i.e. - Do you have 4 - 16MB chips, or 2 - 32MB, or 1 - 64MB) Depending on how many slots your motherboard has for memory, may limit what you have to do to upgrade. If you have 4-16MB's, then you most likely will need to replace all those modules with new. If you have 2-32's or 1-64, then you shouldn't have any problems upgrading to at least 128MB. I'd definately recommend getting to 128MB for today's apps/games. With your video card, it appears you already have a card that uses the nVidia TNT2 chip. This ain't exactly a slouch of a card. Certainly there are faster cards now days though. Since you have a TNT2, I'd recommend a GeForce 2 GTS card. You can look at getting a GeForce 2MX, but the performance gain won't be all that much over the TNT2. (At least not what you might expect.) The full GeForce 2 GTS would probably be better but of course costs more. You can find the 32M DDR version for around $200 or even less depending on the manufacturer. As you already know, Pricewatch is a good place to start. I've heard good things about Guillemot, ASUS, and even Creative Labs. I currently have a Guillemot GeForce 256. (Original GeForce) I've been very happy with it. I have 2 other computers running an original Canopus TNT and want to upgrade them. I'm considering an ASUS v7700 GeForce 2 GTS Pure for them, but with holidays, etc., now's not a good time for upgrades for me so I'm waiting. Perhaps once the nv20 (or whatever it'll be called) comes out, the GeForce 2 prices will drop some more and that will get me to upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olle Petersson Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gunsmithcat: Single best thing: GeForce MX card ($140).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>The key thing for large textures is graphics memory. The GeForce2 MX come with 32MB, either SDR or DDR. For this particular GPU SDR is both cheaper and faster! (Most (all?) other GPUs do better with the more expensive DDR...) Cheers Olle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wwb_99 Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 More RAM! I had a very similar setup, and my CM was constantyl paging out to disk in anyhting bigger than the smallest scenarios. I added 128mb and there is a world of difference. Buy PC133. I had 64mb of PC100, and I added PC133 with extreme success. As long as your new RAM is not slower than your old RAM. Most likely (given the your system) you have either one 64mb SIMM or two 32MB SIMMs, so there should be room. Just open up your case and have a look see. Also, check with the spec sheet that came with your machine, it is often listed there. I am preusming you have SDRAM, given the age of your machine. Next, go to www.pricewatch.com and select system memory. Buy the cheapest, no name PC133 SDRAM you can find that will work with AMDs (they are a bit touchier than intels). The reason to go with PC133 is that it will remain useful when bus speeds go 133mhz, and now costs the same as PC100 (which is what you probably have). In any case, pick an amount (either 128mb or 256mb) and order it. It should not cost more than $65/$130 after shipping and handling. Regarding video: GeForce2 MX, the best low end card I have heard of is from Inno3d. Theirs is very good because they use fast RAM (5 ns), so there is very good overclocking potential. Go back to pricewatch and do a search for them, select one and buy. You also may want to think about buying a fan or a heatsink to protect your new investment. But CM-wise, mine runs fine on a very similar setup once I added the RAM. I actually have more processor (800mhz Celeron) and less video (16mb TNT). I would really reccomend adding a hard drive, as 7gb is a bit slim for modern applications. Most games are installing c. 350 MB+ to your hard drive, making a 7gb drive obselete. And 20gb drives are availiable for $120 or so. Good luck and feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions. WWB ------------------ Before battle, my digital soldiers turn to me and say, Ave, Caesar! Morituri te salutamus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medlinke Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The Commissar: My current specs: AMD Athalon 650MHz processor 64RAM 7 gig HD Riva TNT2 video card <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I have similar setup (Intel PIII 700r w/ 128 megs of RAM) In any case, I had the same Video card as you. I couldn't run anything above 800x600 without slowdown. I switched it for a Voodoo5 5500 AGP and I now run the game in 1240x1024 and it's smooth as butter. Everything looks and runs amazingly well, even in the biggest scenarios. However, you only have 64 megs of RAM. Update that first. Go to www.pricewatch.com and click on RAM. You'll find like 128 megs of RAM for around $55 shipped. Then, CompUSA has Voodoo5 5500s for $199.99, a recent $100 price drop that is well worth it. 3dfx is basically coming out with the Voodoo5 6000 or something like that I'm not sure, but it has 128 megs of RAM to it. With those two updates, you should run anything really easily. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Commissar Posted December 4, 2000 Author Share Posted December 4, 2000 Wow, thank you thank you THANK YOU for all the great tips and info, guys! It's good to know that there are so many friendly fellow CM players with loads of info available to help a gamer in need. Thanks again! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Weiss Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 RAM, RAM, RAM, there is not substitute! I have 256 megs, and use some utilities to monitor Windows/applications memory usage. You can watch windows chew up memory like a Snickers bar refusing to give it back. There's more memory holes in Windows than Swiss cheese. All things are important, but the one that most folks seem to pass over is RAM. Don't. The more the better. ------------------ "Gentlemen, you may be sure that of the three courses open to the enemy, he will always choose the fourth." -Field Marshal Count Helmuth von Moltke, (1848-1916) [This message has been edited by Bruno Weiss (edited 12-04-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RokSS Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 RAM,RAM,RAM, the most cost effective upgrade there is! Add more ram and you should see a good performance boost immediately. I am posting because I have an Athlon 600 with a first generation Athlon motherboard and a Geforce256. There are bugs associated with this combo and I've not been able to solve them all so I would caution you about buying a Geforce if your mobo is over 8 months old. Im getting a Voodoo5 5500 tonight to try out for free. I'll get back in a day or 2 and let you know how it compares to the Geforce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kking199 Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by RokSS: I am posting because I have an Athlon 600 with a first generation Athlon motherboard and a Geforce256. There are bugs associated with this combo and I've not been able to solve them all so I would caution you about buying a Geforce if your mobo is over 8 months old. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Hey Rok I have a Athlon 700 w/ an Asus K7M MB, GeForce DDR, 128 ram. With this MB was unable to get AGP 2x working due to immature chipset on MB, and had to stop around 5.13 on Detonator drivers for stability sake. However, system is very stable now. If you have not found it already check out www.amdzone.com great source for help, check in the BBS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AbnAirCav Posted December 5, 2000 Share Posted December 5, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by RokSS: Im getting a Voodoo5 5500 tonight to try out for free. I'll get back in a day or 2 and let you know how it compares to the Geforce. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes, please do, and I'm especially interested in your thoughts on the graphic quality with FSAA enabled (and how much it impacts the speed, too). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RokSS Posted December 5, 2000 Share Posted December 5, 2000 Hey thanks for the tip kking. I'll sift through that site and see if there's any other fixes I haven't tried yet. When I first built this machine the Geforce would freeze constantly until I installed the updated VIA 4in1 drivers and the AGP 2X registry patch. Still it will lockup in CM when playing large scenarios and text in the CM control panel and unit info is usually illegible. I'm running Detonator 6.31 drivers right now. I even salvaged my 2 old voodoo2s from my old machine to run glide apps and they work perfectly. As I said, I'm getting a Voodoo5 to try out and I'm betting it'll solve my CM woes. The best part is that if I like it, my wife will pay for it as an Xmas gift. What a gal! ps- anybody interested in buying a slightly used Geforce and/or 2 heavily used voodoo2 cards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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