Do I really need 2 GB memory?

[Fearless]

Originally Posted by Fish40

I'm running the sim with only 1gig, but mind you all other requirements are exceeded. I'm not obsessed with FR, but rather if the game plays decently smooth, that's good enough for me. I have tweaked my rig the best I could by shutting down all background applications, and whatever else I could think of to squeeze an extra ounce of performance out of her.

Keeping your rig in tip top shape will help performance for sure. Defrag regularly, and be sure all your drivers are up to date. To take it one step further, update your BIOS, and Chipset as well. This all helps.


I set the ingame settings at half or better and suffer no major slowdowns, to speak of. Fine tune your rig, and you will be able to run this sim with 1gig of memory.

Is there an easy way to update your BIOS and Chipset 'cos I'm pretty cautious when it comes to touching that kinda stuff? I have a Kocab 18P motherboard and have noticed when starting the comp up it tells me the BIOS is dated 1993:hmm:

[Misfit138]

[OT]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

[edit]: Oh. I wrote KB, didn't I. I meant MB, of course.

I'm such a nerd! I'm still laughing on this. Had get some sleep yesteday because I thought the only reason I found this funny was the lack of sleep but no...
[/OT]

[AVGWarhawk]

Is there an easy way to update your BIOS and Chipset 'cos I'm pretty cautious when it comes to touching that kinda stuff? I have a Kocab 18P motherboard and have noticed when starting the comp up it tells me the BIOS is dated 1993

You need to go to the board makers site for any update on BIOS. A nice program that gives you in formation of your systems is called CPUZ or CPUID. It is free. Tells you your socket and motherboard manufacturer, RAM speed, CPU speed and voltages, etc. As far as BIOS updates, if you can get into the BIOS and have options to change things like speeds and such, this can help you with getting better performance. Changing clocks and things is not for the light at heart. I was able to get a modded BIOS for my AU31 motherboard. The original BIOS was, in short, locked down. With the modded BIOS I could start setting things for better performance and keep a stable system. My computer has never run faster.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuidsdk.php

Link to CPUZ

[Capt. Shark Bait]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Hey! I LIKE my photo album.:p

you're gonna have to stop hitting shift/F11 when you wanna take screenies

[EAGLE_01]

I used to run it on 512 MB RAM pc 133, and it ran ok.. (with an old ATI 1050 series card); got a new machine with Vista Home Premium and 1G RAM and the sim took off. 38-40 fps in port, on the bridge, 70 at sea... went to 2 gigs of ram and even time compression has NO problems. Get 2G if you can, but these men are steering you right! 1G will make you happy.

[Snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by Monica Lewinsky

A FYI:
My gaming rig is 1 gig with XP home edition and I play sh4 on it - it is 6 years old and I refuse to put any more money into it.

Spouse's PC is:
2 gig RAM with Windows Vista on it and I snuck SH4 on it with the 1.3 patch.

HUGE difference in performance

On 1 gig vs. 2 gig RAM, man what a difference! SH4 is SLOW on my 1 gig RAM machine PC crap machine.

you can run it with 1GB RAM but you won't like it... that's all I have to say. I was in your position last month. I finally cracked and decided to get not just 2GB but a new PC. It's coming next Tuesday. From what I hear from the group, the sim will be reborn. Get the extra ram. It's rather cheap right now.

Think of it like this... you spend the money to buy a Corvette but you don't pitch in the cash to get great tires. What's the point?!

I think Sean Connery's character put it best in "The Untouchables"...

"If you're going up against these people Mr. Ness then you must be prepared to go all the way."

Get the RAM. You'll thank me.

[fredbass]

So is 4g of Ram overkill?

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by fredbass

So is 4g of Ram overkill?

Not unless you are tracking the entire naval fleet and keeping tabs on the ICBM solo's in and around the US.

[Snakeeyes]

LOL!

You gotta love this site.

[Lost Nebraskan]

Gentlemen:

I appreciate your advice. I will put a new video card in my machine. I already exceed all the other requirements. I already keep my machine lean and mean. I will update my BIOS, chipset and drivers, if needed.

When I get it all up and running, I will be back for advice on the patches.

Seems like you all will be pretty good shipmates.

Sink 'em all.
Sink 'em all.
The long and the short and the tall.