Which PC is better!!!

[RobUK]

I have been over to a mates house today and played a few games, some games i have and so was supprised when his pc ran the games much smoother. Here are our systems:

My system
AMD K6/2 450
64Mb SDRAM
Voodoo 3 3ooo AGP
Als100 Sound blaster compatiable
2.6G (Primary) and 1.1G (Slave)Hard disks
44x UDMA33 CD-ROM

Mates System
AMD k6/2 500
128Mb SDRAM
ATI Rage (2D) with Voodoo2 (3D)
Sound Blaster Not sure which one
1.1G (Primary) and 4.0G (Secondary) Hard Disks
40x IDE CD-ROM

So as i see it i have the faster and better video card, so is it the fact he has 64mb SDRAM more than me and the extra 50MHz that makes his V2 run better than my V3 3000???
Also my V3 is AGP and the V2 is only PCI!!

So is more ram really the leading factor to better graphics? ,even if you have a good Video card?

Please let me know
Cheers - Rob

[qball]

The difference in AGP and PCI is not as large as most people expect, so that is not the major effect (only ~5fps, at most).

The rest is highly game dependent.

Twice the RAM, will certainly give some type of boost as the less VMA, the better. Additionally, where the swap file exists and how much rooom is on that drive could be an issue. How the drives are partitioned could also be a factor.

50Mhz, will certainly show a difference, again dependent on the game. What are the FSBs running at? If he is at 100Mhz and your at 66Mhz, big difference.

I'm assuming both are using a winders OS. Better yet, why don't you do some benchmarking and you should easily find the differences between the two boxes.

[RobUK]

I run a 100Mhz FSB the same as my friend. I use Win98 and he uses Win98 SE.

So more ram would make my V3 run fater???

Rob

[qball]

Absolutely, I was actually gonna edit my response to give more credit to the RAM difference. It will load the game faster, process the game faster (especially if you cut out VMA) and make the graphics faster as the CPU will process its stuff faster. Slap an extra 64Mb and see if you catch up.

Good luck.

[Dputiger]

I disagree with qball, potentially. Which games were these?

[Warthog]

My last comp had 400mhz Celery, 64mb RAM, 4mb onboard. I ran Rogue Spear "ok" - as in, it ran but not that smoothly. If the action heated up or I saw more than one terrorist at a time, it would slow down. That was a major disability. I bought a 128mb stick to make a total of 192mb. The game ran SUPER smooth. I could have dozens of guys on the screen at the same time and it would still go pretty smooth.

It's the RAM. 64 is quite skimpy when it comes to FPS games (if that's what you're talking about).

Warthog

[RobUK]

We were playing such games as Unreal Taurnament, Half Life, Opposing Forces and Driver.

Although half life run alot smoother on my pc than his. The effects looked more crisp and real. His kept juttering on the into and during the game.

But Unreal Taurnament run in 16bit Colour with maximum effects on his and only 16bit colour with normal effects on mine.
I mean normal effects with a V3 3000 Agp compaired to a V2 PCI!!!
I ask you, why???

Thanx - Rob

[Dputiger]

Ok, then it probably IS your RAM.

Half-Life is a Quake II-engine game, so it would run quite nicely on 64 Meg of RAM. (It looks great without really sucking down the resources).

But UT, Driver, and Opposing Forces both want a lot more horsepower. If you can, borrow a stick of RAM from your friend and test your machine just to make sure.

Also, if you know how to, make sure your BIOS is optimized and fully updated, but DON'T do it if you don't know how--ask for help first.

[Missing the point]

That was the mistake I had (actually, the people that installed my EQ).

I have had this system since January, and I got it upgraded with a new motherboard, Processor and 128 Megs of Ram. Just about a week and a half ago, I looked in the BIOS, and I realized that it was DISABLED above 64 megs!!!!


DOH!!!!!!!!

I was pretty pissed actually, that they would do that........

[Axel]

Your mates system undoubtedly has more potential.

I'm willing to put money on the fact that his 4 GB drive is faster than any other drive on the list.

I'd swap the 1 for the 4 and put the OS on the 4 and rebuild the system.

RAM does matter in that range. Your mate has the better system.

The only thing you have going for you really is a faster CD-ROM. On those games with a lot of video pulled right off the CD - you're going to get to it faster, but your RAM will slow you down. For games that load completely to the hard drive - and those are few these days - your mate has the better system.

So - buy a faster hard drive (Quantum 10.2GB 7200 RPM w/ a 2MB on-board CACHE ) - about $90 - FRYS, and more faster RAM and you'll have the better system until he upgrades.

[RobUK]

Ok so its the RAM. I also think i have the V3 going for my system too, not just the CD-ROM!!!
I have 64Mb SDRAM (DIMM PC100) already installed in my pc. I also have 32Mb EDO RAM (SIMMS 2x16Mb PC66). So i put it in my system the game speed on unreal Taurnament and Driver increased nicely.
One question, is it safe to put the simms in with dimms as its running at 100Mhz not 66MHz???
I have already ordered a 128Mb Dimm stick and am waiting for delivery. I was going to get a Geforce2 but need ram more. Can i also keep my 64Mb Dimm and run it along side the 128Mb Dimm?? As simms have to be paired??

Thanx everyone - Rob http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Warthog]

I know that you can run two dimms at the same time. You will have a total of 192mb that will greatly increase your speed in games. As for the simms: I don't know http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Warthog

[Ultima]

No,

those simms will probably not run on 100Mhz.

Pull them out, you'd probably get an error anyway, sayong that ya can't use dimm slot x along side simm slots x and x.

I have never seen simms that pulled a 100Mhz fsb, simply because they were not designed to do so, and there was nothing else that did at that time, so it couldn't be a worse version of the 100Mhz parts.

Pim

[skywalker[TSG]]

the dimms are running at 66mhz

the SIMM banks are the primary memory bank
and will determine the speed of all memory installed

also mixing DIMMS and SIMMs is not a good idea pull those old EDO modules out right now

[Ygor]

In principle, simms and dimms should run together, but in actuality most simms run at 5 volts, dimms at 3 or 3.3. 3 volt simms can be ordered, but is rarely worth the hassle.
Some motherboard manufacturers addressed this and put in a jumper to select simm/dimm/both but they were in the minority. I don't know if any put in an auto-sense circuit to provide both voltages.
I'd say that unless you know for sure your board provides both voltages, stick with the dimms only. Otherwise it's likely that all the ram is running at 5v and the dimms will burn out.