Yet another "Can my PC handle this game?" post! =D

Hello everyone!

I'm getting psyched up over the imminent release of GW, and I would like to set up a LAN at home for two player GW goodness. However, both PCs are not created equal. One I'm sure can run the game perfectly; AMD 3200+ Processor, Radeon 9800 Pro, 512 megs of RAM etc etc.

The other... well. Playing the BWE on that was kinda... painful. It's an older beast sporting a 1.2 GHz processor, 256 megs of RAM and a GeForce 3 Ti 200 card.
It was an upgrade I got to play WarCraft III

I know this second PC needs a boost, and the general consensus I seem to be getting is that RAM may be the big issue. As this is a secondary PC, I don't want to dump a lot into it, money wise. Would another 256 megs of RAM make a huuuge difference, or do I need a better video card?

Also... I have long since lost the documentation for this older system, and I really don't remember much about the motherboard or anything. Is there any way I can tell what kind of RAM it supports, and what kind of RAM I have in there?

Thanks in advance!

In my humble opinion you need both.

The ram if you are using windows xp.

The vid because a much better card is very cheap.

You could spend $200 on that machine and it will do quite well. For some time to come.

http://www.sisoftware.net/

Yes, ..

You NEED 512 meg of ram and at least a geforce 4 ..... I have the Geforce Ti 4200 in the wifes comp that I play on and I've had no trouble.

Mss Drzzt, Loviatar, geez all we need is Lansing Kai Don and this is like when I first came to this board.

Priestofthevoid, which 1.2 ghz processor is it sporting? Do you know anything about the motherboard? Would 3dmark identify this stuff for him?

*Edit* The reason I asked is because I squeezed 200 mhz more out of this one and when you are below 1.5 ghz every bit you can counts. If it's an Intel i might be able to help him....do an "enzyte" on the processor so to speak. No I will not whistle that background toon!

*Edit* oh well nothing I can do here.

CPU-Z would identify his hardware if he doesn't know, or typing in "msinfo32" into "RUN" (In the start menu) could also give us some information. It is likely the 1.2GHz will run it, however I would like to say, I feel nearly every part can potentially be a bottleneck of performance. If you get more RAM and a better video card, the processor could hold the two down as well, so nothing fancy. I would say the cheap GeForce FX5200 or later Ti model (If you were looking for a cheap video card. Very cheap) and 256MB of extra RAM should do the computer some justice and make it run it a little better. But the processor is not so lenient. It's not that high above the recommended requirements, and knowing the make of the processor (And therefore how good it is) will help us address the problem more.

Wow, thanks for the prompt responses guys!

I have a Duron 1.2Ghz, pretty sure it's an AMD.

As for the rest, I'll have to wait until I get a chance to get on the old computer and try out the shiney toys you've suggested.

http://www.lavalys.com/products/down...ng=en&pageid=3

This program will tell us everything about your computer.

cpu=model
ram=type and speed
mb=type and model

I mean everything.

It truly is a great program.

Hi

I have run the game on a 1Ghz, with a 32mb GF2, and 256MB ram it was a bit ropey but playabe. I think a 1,2Ghz with a GF3 should be fine but don't expect the best graphics.

One thing I recommend is use windows 2000, on machines less than 2Ghz it will improve the performance of your system about 10%.

gabby

What, did someone mention my name ? I agree with SSE4, a cheap upgrade will do you best... I don't think you need 512MB as Darkmane told... but you will see a definite PC performance boost. The calculations are in another thread. If your patient (which can be frustrating when release is 3 DAYS AWAY!!!!!!) , you should be able to get both of these (especially if it is SDRAM) for under 100 dollars. I wouldn't spend anymore as you said it is a secondary PC. IF it was me, I'd play guild wars on it... THEN decide whether or not purchasing an upgrade would be worth it (i.e. how much your going to be using it or friends using it and how well it plays). Remember, we can only offer suggestions... which at the maximum you should take into account as 10 percent... the other 90 percent is what you view you need.

Lansing Kai Don

On a secondary note, you are roughly running at maybe 800-900MHz PIII (For processing power with the Duron) therefore your processor will roughly beat the requirements by a very small margin.

Hold on please. So his duron is like having my celeron 1.3 ghz right? so I'd really say he needs graphics card and ram to 512. Radeon 9600XT or nvidia 5200 FX (since they are cheap and arena.net has the 5XXX fix posted). Just so long as the guy uses third party drivers or nvidia version 61.77 he should be fine (I installed the later drivers and they are more buggy.). I am speaking from the experience of currently being and playing this game on a comparable system of that era to what he has. So long as he doesn't mind 1024 x 768 res on the second system, he should be fine. I get no lag so I can't even think he would.

That's my Celeron 1.3 ghz, 512 meg ram, 5200 FX input

Actuall if he is using sdram i can give him some for freee.

I have many sticks just laying around. somewhere

Yes, the FX 5200 isn't actually too bad of a card and can still play games decent. Since Guild Wars doesn't seem too hardware-intensive, I don't doubt that the settings should be playable at least, but I certainly don't think a big boost of performance can be attained through more memory and a new VGA. But that's just personal opinion, I don't know everything about why they gave it the minimum requirements they did and the load it will put on the processor.

Well, I finally got around to using that Everest program suggested earlier. Thanks again by the way!It was somewhat confusing though. At bootup, I see that my RAM speed is supposedly 266 MHz, which makes sense since I have PC2100 RAM which is supposed to be 266 MHz from what I can gather.
In most of the RAM related stuff in Everest, I see this, for example:


Module Size 256 MB (2 rows, 4 banks)
Memory Speed PC2100 (133 MHz)

Memory Timings
@ 133 MHz 2.5-3-3-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 100 MHz 2.0-2-2-5 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

Does this mean I somehow have.. PC2100... 133?? Or am I for some reason underclocking the RAM?? Mind you, I see something about "effective clock" being 267. So... I dunno.

My main concern, however, is mixing RAM speeds. Getting PC2100 these days isn't that easy, and I can probably buy some of the 366 or 400MHz stuff for the same or a lower price anyway. Will my computer explode if I have, say, one PC2100 and one PC3200? Or will it just run at 266? I looked into my mobo and I'm pretty sure the highest it can support is 266MHz anyway. So, thanks again for the help and I hope you can answer my questions.

Don't mix ram, it will run at the slower speed or not even boot.Your system should should handle PC2700 without a problem.

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING GOOD AND CLEAN READ THE MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUREMENTS!!! If you meet them, it will run.

Oh

Em

Gyee

Hey, try reading my bloody post; I was asking what would best help me meet the requirements and some technical questions about RAM. Thanks for the useless post Enix.

Very nice proggy. Thanks for the heads up.

Oh...

As per OP question. I'd personally go for more RAM first and video card second. Try TigerDirect.com, they can have some great deals.

Good luck.