What are your PC specs?
Venusy:
AMD Duron processor, ~1.1GHz
512MB RAM
GeForce MX 440 (64MB memory)
If OFB increases the graphics card requirements again, then either the game will run on such low graphics settings to be unplayable, or just not work.
Hegelian:
Quote from: veilchen on 2005 December 06, 22:33:59
Hegelian, have you checked out this site yet? What do you think abou the product, can something like that really help those with non-updatable computers?
http://www.sci.fi/~borg/rambooster/index.html
Hi veilchen,
It doesn't look to me that this does much that is useful. The Web site claims that "Windows fills up your computer's memory (RAM) little by little and finally RAM is filled with unnecessary data," but this isn't really true. The problem is that Windows doesn't fill up your RAM, but constantly swaps data from the RAM to the paging file on the hard drive even when it is not necessary. In fact, at the default settings, Windows is excessively paranoid about "filling up" your RAM—until I used a custom configuration of Virtual Memory, WinXP wasn't using even half my RAM.
The one thing this program does that might occasionally be useful is recover RAM that is not "freed" when an application closes. What this means is that some poorly-designed programs do not clear themselves and the RAM they use when you close them, so that Windows (and other programs) thinks that the memory is still in use. Fortunately this is not as big a problem as was in the past. The Cacheman program, which I use, allows for memory recovery, but I don't find any use for it.
If you want a program that manages your memory and swap file more efficiently than Windows does on its own, CachemanXP seems to be a better choice than this Rambooster. However, the current version requires you to buy a license before you can do much with it, while the older, free version I have (Cacheman 5.1 or something like that) did allow you to make basic changes to things like the size of the disk cache and some other things. To be honest, I found it more useful for Win98—WinXP's memory management is much better than that in Win98, so there is less to do. But I still use Cacheman because it lets me easily monitor my swap file use (currently at 8 MB, with 563 MB of free RAM).
Now, to be fair, Rambooster appears to the work of a single individual, and is "cardware": instead of money, you send the developer a postcard from where you live; you can also make a donation if you like. So he's not trying to take your money by selling you a worthless program. In fact, a quite excellent "cardware" application is the audio extractor, Exact Audio Copy (MD5summer is another). At the same time, I would be careful about any software program that requires a big notice on its Web page stating that the previous version causes "a CPU Index out of bounds" error. At least Cacheman is a professional product that has been in development for several years and won't mess up your PC.
The bottom line is that there are no software fixes for the shortcomings of your (or my) hardware.
veilchen:
Thank you Hegelian, I had a feeling you would say that :D. As my grandmother used to say: if it sounds to good to be true....
Oh well *sigh*
I have already put extra RAM on my christmas list, that's about the only thing I can do for my old and un-trusty computer. I had a friend look at its insides and he tells me that I can use a 1-dimm GB memory addition if I throw out the 2-dimm 500 MB. I plastered a very knowing and wise look on my face and nodded in agreement. I figure 'dimm' is a computer-people name for 'stick' (looking at the slots that were pointed out to me), and I will definitely ask for that. I'm not going to look at the price, I'll just ask for it, maybe I get lucky.
At least browsing around for free stuff can get you some good things every once in a while, like the audacity program I found. My, that's fun to play around with:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity
Thanks again Hegelian, I really appreciate that for once a computer specialist can manage to explain things to me in a way that makes sense to me instead of the usual:
Well, you need to install the ;akdfjaj and then la;jdfkjal;fj;asjf while lajdfljfldajfdj;a is included in rgfhoriprihvbh[swjf. Incorporating this with woa;lsdjfapj, it will increase your power by ierioqw[94tnpaosfi, and we can install it for a mere $500. :D
Emma:
Here's mine
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 1.80GHz
1.80 GHz, 512 MB of RAM
Windows XP,SP2
DirectX 9.0c
NvidiaGeForce3 Ti200, 64.0 MB (updated drivers several times though)
My pc is nearly 5 years old.
ElviraGoth:
Well, I hate brand names but decided to get a Dell XPS Gen 5 last summer. Have an old Dell at work that's probably 8 or 9 years old, still running Windows 95 and has been trouble-free, so I decided to take a chance and get one, mainly because it had the biggest and best CPU I saw when I was computer shopping. Don't plan on buying another one for quite some time.
DIMENSION XPS GEN 5 Pentium® 4 Processor 670 with HT Technology (3.80GHz, 800 FSB)
Memory 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
Video Cards 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) nVidia GeForce 6800
Hard Drive 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition
CD or DVD Drive Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable
Sound Cards Sound Blaster Audigy™ 2 ZS (D) Card w/Dolby 5.1, IEEE 1394 capability
This is right from the email I got when I ordered the system. Also has a 450 watt power supply and the fan is super quiet.
Compared to a 2.2 GHz system, 512MB RAM, 64MB video card, 40 GB IDE HD, this thing runs anything and everything. The things I looked at most were CPU speed, RAM size and speed and read up on the PCI-E before I decided it had to be the way to go.
I have a slight lag (and I mean SLIGHT lag) when a visitor or carpool comes onto a lot, but community lots are now actually DOABLE, whereas before they were not. I actually have a small store I put in my 'hood that has everything - food, clothes, electronics, etc. - that was kind of slow running on my old system, but is no problem on my new one. Have sent sims downtown only a few times, and the lots are no different in speed than a regular lot, even with a lot of sims running around.
Granted, you don't need a mega machine to run TS2, but if you're going to have to buy a new computer, get the best you can afford. I never used to say this, but technology is getting so much better so fast, I have decided that I'd rather spend more on a system that might last 5 years than to spend a little on what turns out to be old technology and have to constantly put money into it to make it run the software I want to run. My last 'puter cost $500 US and only lasted 3 years, and I was constantly upgrading - more RAM, better video card, bigger power supply to run the better video card, better CD/DVD reader/writer, you name it, I was adding it. Would have spent less in the long run if I had bought a better 'puter to begin with, and probably wouldn't have needed to upgrade now.
So just learn as much as you can about the components that are important for what you need now, and expand on what you need now for what you'll need a year or two from now, then get a system that will handle that and is capable of handling more. Hegelian has some great advice.
Oh, and of course, make sure you have the best drivers for your video card. From what I've read, that may not necessarily be the most recent one.
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