RAM problem?

[achilles714]

I play games with high performance demands, (Starcraft, Wow, diablo, ect) I always experience a lot of lag in high population areas (down to 0.1fps before crash).. I would hit 30fps in normal terms (lower pop areas) so i bought a new vid card, boosted it to about 60fps.. same problem tho in higher pop areas.. here is my specs.

ASUS P4SD-LA Up to 3.2 GHz mobo
Pentium 4 / 2.80 GHz
ATI Radeon HD 4670 (new card has shader graphics ect.)
RAM 512 MB (2 x 256)

I've heard a lot that u don't really need more then 2.0ghz CPU for these games, it would be nice but this isn't the source of my problems.. I'm guessing its the RAM since its so low, Motherboard maximum is 4 GB (4 x 1 GB), but maximum HP recommended memory is 2 GB (4 x 512 MB).. I found perfect 1GB cards but, I really don't want to drop the money if it wont work.. Anyone want to help me on this? Also, Whats the difference in getting 4 512mb cards and 2 1GB? of course 4 1GB cards would be the board max, but do i really want to go further then the HP recommended max of 2GB??

[PCguy]

Welcome to PC Tech Forums!

Sounds like it could be a RAM issue. I must say, 512 isn't much RAM these days. Win XP could use that much alone. I wouldn't advise going beyone 2GB however, XP doesn't use anymore than that unless it's 64 bit.

I would make sure you update your video drivers as well.

Having said all that, as far as I can tell, they haven't made a Pentium 4 2.80 Ghz since 2005. So you are running on 6 year old technology.

Windows 7 and a new CPU will give you the best results.

[achilles714]

Thx! i always have alot of tech questions, and pretty soon ill be building my own comp, just want to get the most out of this before i junk this one haha. anyways i looked up the board and it says 64/72 bit, is that good for 4GB?

[PCguy]

72bit memory is ECC memory. The ECC is for error correcting. If you want to spend the extra money for ECC, it's up to you. Personally, I would only buy just enough of what I need to get the job done while I wait to get the new system up and running.

[Horace]

Memory would be the cheapest upgrade and you should notice a difference. I haven't seen 512k on a machine in a while. Even 1gb RAM would be good but I would go ahead and get 2gb.

[jack4436]

yup... its the ram problem, this ram hardly drive the operating system, how do you manage to play games with this?

[achilles714]

haha im not sure how some of the games played.. especially world of warcraft lol i was going to get 4g but you guys are right, ill stick with 2g, if it doesn't work ill buy more lol, or hurry my ass up on getting my motherboard for my new system haha! thx guys! great forum!

[liljim]

Theres 2 different versions of that board, called Oxford and Yale. 1 has only 2 memory slots and supports up to 2 gigs, the other is 4 slots and takes up to 4 gigs. I dont know why hp would "recommend" anything really.





I agree with the rest though, if you are planning a new build 2 gigs will be enough to hold you till new rig is running.

[PcTestCard.com]

RAM is the first issue and the CPU is the next concern.

Use the 4 x 1GB RAM will improve the performance especially for gaming.
P4 2.8 is that a single or dual cored CPU?

If single cored, it is reasonable to affect the peak graphic performance a little.

hope this helps.
Bill
Tech Manager