Can my game be better if I upgrade my machine?

[Madame Mim]

So, we've previously established that my hardware knowledge is not Awesome. I know just enough to know how little I know.

I have a 3.2Gb dual core CPU with an NVidia GForce 4 6800, 4Gb RAM and S3 up to Ambitions running XP. Usual crashes and freezes occur. Is it possible to throw moderate/not extreme money at my machine and improve its S3 reliability?

[spockblock]

Your specs sound better than mine, and my game runs pretty flawlessly.

Sounds more like data corruption.

[Madame Mim]

My game usually runs well. I get the occassional slow down or freeze in large population worlds and it has been known to throw a complete fit and collapse on rare occassions. I just want to see if it could be better.

[Jeebus]

My game usually runs well. I get the occassional slow down or freeze in large population worlds and it has been known to throw a complete fit and collapse on rare occassions. I just want to see if it could be better.

Well, your graphics card is aging.  You might want to replace it some time soon.

[Madame Mim]

Video card - noted. Should I pay any attention to EA's list of prefered GPU's or go looking for the best card/card combo that I can afford?

[witch]

Make sure the new video card is not overpowered for your machine. No point in buying biggest and best if your hard drives or CPU then become the bottleneck. Also make sure your power supply can hack it and make sure cooling is up to the job.

[Madame Mim]

I'll check the video card choice with a friend who runs a computer shop, but knows nothing of Sims. Trif of Crazy Town is also suggesting an OS upgrade given I run XP 'la ordinaire. Any comments?

[spockblock]

I'll check the video card choice with a friend who runs a computer shop, but knows nothing of Sims. Trif of Crazy Town is also suggesting an OS upgrade given I run XP 'la ordinaire. Any comments?

Yes, it will probably run better under Vista than XP. And even better under 7.

[jolrei]

I'll check the video card choice with a friend who runs a computer shop, but knows nothing of Sims. Trif of Crazy Town is also suggesting an OS upgrade given I run XP 'la ordinaire. Any comments?

Yes, it will probably run better under Vista than XP. And even better under 7.

Why even raise the issue of Vista?  Wasn't 7 released because Vista made people want to hurt themselves and others?

[jezzer]

Yes, it will probably run better under Vista than XP. And even better under 7.

Vista is a RAM hog, so it probably wouldn't run better than XP unless you have a lot of RAM to play with.

[spockblock]

Yes, it will probably run better under Vista than XP. And even better under 7.

Vista is a RAM hog, so it probably wouldn't run better than XP unless you have a lot of RAM to play with.

Yes, but will XP even use anything over 3 GB?

[Madame Mim]

OK, so Windows 7, new video card/s and more RAM - probably in that order.

[witch]

Yes, but will XP even use anything over 3 GB?

About 3.6GB Spock, on my machine, anyway.

Personally, with 4GB, I'd stick to XP. Especially on a slightly older machine.

[Madame Mim]

the problem is that there's no way to quanitify the age of my machine. My floppy disc drive is probably 10 years old but the rest of my machine gets regular upgrades. My MB is younger than my video cards and my RAM is younger again.

[jolrei]

I play just fine with a 3.6Ghz P4 dual core machine, XP pro, 2Gb of RAM, and ATI 3850 video card.  Like witch, I will stick with XP for the older machine.

[Madame Mim]

Right, so keep thinking on the OS. Maybe 7, maybe upgrading to Pro. I like the idea of there being something simple I can do to make the whole Sims thing smoother and more reliable, but there's a lot to be said for not having to break my brain around a whole new OS.

[dramamine]

Do you know what model of motherboard you have in your PC? Looking it up online would allow you to see what kind card your board can handle as well as what your power supply can do. I currently rock SLi 6800s and TS3 doesn't use my second card. I have to disable it to run the game, but I also suffer lag. I've got a similar setup as yourself, but I have XP Pro. I don't see a huge difference, to be fair.

I think upgrading the video card first by a few steps, depending on your power supply's load capacity, and give it a whirl. I don't think you'll be disappointed. The only reason why I haven't done the same is I can't afford a better power supply. I've got the 9600 in front of me, just don't have the juice for it.

[Madame Mim]

Update on PC specs now I have them in front of me
XP Pro Version 2002 SP 3 (no mention of bits so I assume it's not 64)
Core Duo CPU @ 3GHz
3.25GB RAM (obviously what's being utilised of my 4GB)

I don't know what my MB is. It uses nvidia drivers for networking and IDE control. It was made by gigabyte is about all I can say.

[Narmy]

Update on PC specs now I have them in front of me
XP Pro Version 2002 SP 3 (no mention of bits so I assume it's not 64)
Core Duo CPU @ 3GHz
3.25GB RAM (obviously what's being utilised of my 4GB)

I don't know what my MB is. It uses nvidia drivers for networking and IDE control. It was made by gigabyte is about all I can say.

Looks perfectly adequate to play TS3. Only thing I'd say needs upgrading is your video card.

[witch]

Right, so keep thinking on the OS. Maybe 7, maybe upgrading to Pro. I like the idea of there being something simple I can do to make the whole Sims thing smoother and more reliable, but there's a lot to be said for not having to break my brain around a whole new OS.

I understand that the main difference between home edition and pro, is networking capabilities. Perhaps some other bits and pieces. If you're not running a home network or having problems with it, I wouldn't bother upgrading the OS at all. Win7 will run slower on your machine. Promise.

I agree with most posters, a video card and possibly a power supply, and you'd notice the difference.

Oh and look for a serial number on the mobo, you may be able to google that along with 'gigabyte' and find your specs.

[tizerist]

Are you using Large Address Aware? It solves most issues, although not the freezing you've described.

[gamegame]

LAA doesn't work under Windows XP if you didn't boot into 3GB mode. Under normal, 32bit OS mode programs cannot utilize more than 2GB of memory.

My personal experience with memory hogging games and applications is that Windows 7 is much more stable than XP, for the simple fact that programs in 32bit XP loves to crash once they consume near 2GB of ram, while Win 7 (64) allows them to utilize past 2GB without issues.

[tizerist]

LAA doesn't work under Windows XP if you didn't boot into 3GB mode. Under normal, 32bit OS mode programs cannot utilize more than 2GB of memory.

Works fine on 32 bit Vista once you've done the bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 3072 trick, its an urban myth that 32 bit OS cannot utilize more RAM than 2gb. I've been using this trick for a year now, and it's all fine.

[Phthon]

the problem is that there's no way to quanitify the age of my machine. My floppy disc drive is probably 10 years old but the rest of my machine gets regular upgrades. My MB is younger than my video cards and my RAM is younger again.

You still have a floppy disk drive? Wow, this is my second generation machine without one. NOTHING I do will fit on a floppy disk anymore. What about the age of the box? That houses the power supply and if it is really old, it won't support some of the newer hardware.

[Madame Mim]

I have an emotional attachment to the floppy disc drive and, even though I don't use it any more either, it still gets moved to each 'new' machine.

Box is definately getting an upgrade as it is of indeterminate age - 2 upgrades ago my old box was too small and I picked up a 2nd hand box that would fit my power supply and motherboard.