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Thread ID: 65994	2006-02-07 11:04:00	Yet another "Graphics Card" upgrade question	meg_h_nz (6960)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
428036	2006-02-07 22:12:00	I only know about the AMD side of the story with ram. If you have 4 ram sticks, you then lose the 1T timing for them, and it drops back to 2T, which is slower (something along those lines). Therefore, 2x1gb is faster than 4x512, even though they are both 2gb. And then, if the apps you use, use less than, or maybe even a tiny bit more than 1gb, that means the 2x512 will be faster than the 4x512. Put it this way, because your apps are only using about 1gb, then if we compare 2 sticks of ram to 4 sticks of ram, it would be 2x512 vs 4x256. When you have more than 2 sticks (in dual channel?) some type of 'timings' have to drop to a slower rate, and so therefore, (more ram +) more ram sticks + you never utilise any more than 1gb = slighty slower Or have I confused myself?	mejobloggs (264)
428037	2006-02-07 22:32:00	Or have I confused myself? I don't know, but you've confused me.	JJJJJ (528)
428038	2006-02-07 22:45:00	heh, I havn't been able to find any info on it either. What I said before is what I found on anandtech forums, then filtered through my head, and then put here. So probably got garbled in translation. Basically, if y....... Nevermind. I will just go and vegetate.	mejobloggs (264)
428039	2006-02-07 22:49:00	The previous-generation games do not actually require a lot of system memory. By adding another gigabyte of RAM into the system we do not really boost the gaming performance. However when there are four 512MB memory modules installed, the performance drops down because of the forced 2T Command Rate setting. The performance drop in this case is about 1-2%. From the link I dropped in earlier.	Metla (12)
428040	2006-02-07 22:55:00	I am not a gamer but do play Sims2 and have found my present card a bit lacking in performance . I have tried up dating the drivers, tried Omega drivers, adjusted settings till the cows came home but still have a few issues with it . (some days it works fine, others I can only play for 10 - 20 minutes before it freezes) I have since read on a review site that it does have a tendency to over heat . I am not familiar with that graphics card but since your machine is a bit newer and gruntier than the one here that plays Sims2 with no problems whatsoever I would have expected your PC to play the game far better . This one is a P4 2 . 4GHz with only 512MB RAM . Whether your graphics card is overheating and causing your problems I wouldn't know but the graphics card on the PC with Sims2 is a GeForce4 Ti4200 with only 64Mb RAM - pretty long in the the tooth these days . As far as I know the game never misses a beat (will check on that though there have been no complaints) . Just thought I would mention that in case you might want to look elsewhere for the problem before rushing out and spending hard-earned dosh for nothing .	FoxyMX (5)
428041	2006-02-07 22:57:00	At present I gave a Radeon X800XL with 256 megs. A $900 Viewsonic monitor, and 2 gigs of low latency ram. Still I am nowhere near happy with my graphics. Still??!! I thought you said the other day when you got your card and monitor you were satisfied at last? :confused:	FoxyMX (5)
428042	2006-02-07 22:58:00	I would imagine if you cranked everything up on Sims2 you would make that G4 break its arse, The game recieved widespread condemnation due to its performance issues, they get by on people thinking 800x600 is good enough. The game also recieved widespread condemnation for breaking the world record on the suckage scale.	Metla (12)
428043	2006-02-07 23:14:00	You want another Gb ram and a better card for $200, that seems not very likely. If you bump your budget up to around 350 that should do the job. A Gb ram cost around 120 and you can spend the rest on a 6600gt or something, much better performance. For only $200 I suggest leaving the ram, 1gb is enough and get a 6600gt as well. Sorry, but you misunderstood me. I do not expect to get a graphics card AND ram for $200. I only want to spend around $200 on graphics because I want to spend other money on ram.	meg_h_nz (6960)
428044	2006-02-07 23:20:00	Well, 1gb is probably enough. I think a 6600gt should be fine, and that is about $250 depending where you get it from. Thanks for that extract Metla.	mejobloggs (264)
428045	2006-02-07 23:34:00	I am not familiar with that graphics card but since your machine is a bit newer and gruntier than the one here that plays Sims2 with no problems whatsoever I would have expected your PC to play the game far better . This one is a P4 2 . 4GHz with only 512MB RAM . Whether your graphics card is overheating and causing your problems I wouldn't know but the graphics card on the PC with Sims2 is a GeForce4 Ti4200 with only 64Mb RAM - pretty long in the the tooth these days . As far as I know the game never misses a beat (will check on that though there have been no complaints) . Just thought I would mention that in case you might want to look elsewhere for the problem before rushing out and spending hard-earned dosh for nothing . Thanks for the info . I too have been surprised that my machine doesn’t run Sims2 better . I made sure when I got it built that it was way over spec for Sims2 (knowing that their minimum specs are often ridiculous) I have tweaked all sorts of things with the game settings and the machine and still no better . I do regular maintenance, defrag, spyware removal, run ccleaner etc but still it is the same . Some days I can play (well build mostly I hardly ever actually "play" the characters) for a few hours without problems and then I will be freezing up every 10 minutes . I have contacted NGs with dedicated players and they haven't been able to offer any solutions so I figured it was my machine and maybe a graphics upgrade would be a good idea .	meg_h_nz (6960)
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