Need Advice: Upgrade or buy a new computer?

[Captain Affenschwanz]

Finally got around to purchasing SH4 and it won't run properly on my four year old system. I've got a Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.00 GHz with 512 MB RAM and a Radion 9600 Pro video card.

What do you think? Should I simply boost the RAM or buy a new computer? Will the Radion 9600 handle SH4?

Thanks...

[Sailor Steve]

I hope the upgrade will work; I'm in the same situation, and your rig is identical to mine.

[AVGWarhawk]

Your pentium has plenty of butt to run the game. What type of interface for your vid card? PCI or AGP? RAM is RAM and is selling very cheaply. Are you ready for Vista and some of it's ills?

[ReallyDedPoet]

Good point regarding Vista, I know some here have gotten it to work with no problems, however I had my current rig built from scratch so I could put in XP and not Vista.

It is Vista capable, however I am staying away from it for the foreseeable future.


RDP

[TDK1044]

If your budget allows, buy a new computer with XP as the OS. The 9600 series is an old generation video card, and you really need to get your RAM to 2 GIGS. If your budget doesn't allow, then upgrade your video card to the fastest card your system can handle and get your RAM to 2 GIGS. :D

By the way, I wouldn't touch Vista with a very long pole. It's going to need a service pack to make it half decent, and even then I'm not convinced.

[swdw]

Only 512MB of RAM is way too low to run SH4 under any flavor of windoze. You need more memory and a better video card. Going to a minimum of 2gb of ram will drastically speed up Windows and cause SH4 to run much smoother.

I know people have run SH4 with the 9800, but don't know about the 9600.

Try the memory first.

As for buying a new computer, if you do, request XP, not Vista with it.

Depending on your system, you should be able to get a 2GB matched pair of memory sticks for just under $100 with good shopping. I got my Super Talent DDR2800 in a matched set from newegg for $79, and this is 4-4-2-8 memory with heat spreaders.

[AVGWarhawk]

In all reality and I did the same, wonder if to upgrade or buy new. I ended up getting a vid card, PSU and upped the RAM to 2 gigs. All told about $250.00. Newegg and Tigerdirect is the way to go for great deals. Research these two sites and get some prices together.

[Rockin Robbins]

These guys have it well stated. Priorities:
1. Get the RAM to 2 gig. There's no way to play SH4 without it.
2. Video card update to at least nVidia 7600GT level. You can buy several cards for under $100 that will run SH4 just fine with graphics settings WFO.

Your processor is great. Those two should fix your trouble for under $200 if necessary and under $300 if you have the cash for a better vid card.:up:

[TDK1044]

Like RR says, I have your exact processor, 2 GIGs of RAM and a 7600GT pci express video card. This game runs like a dream with everything maxed out except volumetric fog which I disabled. I run TM and all the ROW mods. Typical external fps is about 43. :D

[Captain Affenschwanz]

Thanks for the input. I've decided to upgrade. :up:

For what it's worth, this is a GREAT forum!

[AVGWarhawk]

Thanks for the input. I've decided to upgrade. :up:

For what it's worth, this is a GREAT forum!


Good for you!!!! You got a fast pentium. Just need the rest of the computer components to catch up to it.

[scrag]

I had the same issue this december and decided to get a new machine:
1) My Vidoea card was AGP - requiring a new Mother Board - which means a new system. A short term solution is add memory - 512 is very low and you should look at your swap file size and how the computer is managing itself (system restore points and actual programs running in the background. My previous computer was similar to your yours - I used a NVIDEA 6800 card and 1024 memory.
2) Vista will be the only supported OS in the near term - there is a follow on OS coming in 09 or early 10. So like it or not you will be operating Vista at some point. There are growing pains but having undergone XP prior to SP1 and SP2 I will say that this has not been as painful.
3) Vista has run everything very well - no glitches to date on SH III or IV. I suspect that the bulk of the issues are with upgrades or some conflict with Video/Sound and the game. I am currently running 2048 (Vista is a Memory hog) and plan on runing 4096.
Bottomline - I can send you the list of what I have but it is stable, easy to O/C and I am using a single 8800 GT video card - SHIII and SHIV load very quickly and run with zero issues or CTD.
Good luck