Will Vista using 2gig of Ram be enough for WAR?

[Slates]

We all know that Vista is a RAM eating , but i have recently tried to upgrade to 4gigs and failed (even tried using the 64bit system), and i was wondering if I will actually need to upgrade to 4gig with WAR...

Will it run okay with 2gig (and perhaps an extra 2gig using Readyboast) or should i downgrade back to XP, a system that isnt soo demanding?

Im not interested in posts from people that just want to about one OS over another and i know offical specs haven't been released yet. I am just interested in knowing if it is something i must add to my to-do(/worries) list or not!

Thank you!! =D

[Ragenrok]

I would be very very surprised if you needed more than 2 gigs of ram with vista. Vista really isn't that bad for ram usage while your gaming its not as good as XP but its not as bad as people make it out to be.

As for you not being able to use 4 gig of ram its probably a problem with your motherboard.

[Umbarg]

If you're talking about the really demanding situations on the highest possible settings, 2 Gb won't cut it. For normal gameplay on normal settings; No, you'll be fine. But I think the really big RvR battles are going to be a monster on the ram, maybe even the most demanding game to date (in for example 200vs200).

[Slates]

Yeah thats what im kinda worried about, i dont want to find myself in a massive fight and suddenly gasping for FPS at a crucial moment.

[Necrotoxin]

I'm going to upgrade to 4 gigs in march vista eats almost 1 gig by it self.

[Lord Tareq]

With the current price for ram (30 euro's for a 2 gig stick where I live) there really is no reason to not max your ram if your system can handle it. That said I'm quite sure 2 gig will be more then enough for WAR, even on Vista.

[SKYeXile]

i run wow on vista, its fine. however i did upgrade to 4g anyway since its so cheap.

[Slates]

Ram is only cheap for new systems!

Yeah if i wanted the latest ram i could get 2 gigs for 30 euros or pounds. But my motherboard is approaching 2 years old now and the ram for that is really quite expensive now (talking 60-70 quid for it).

If you guys know where you can get some decent ram for this motherboard: ABIT AT8, please dont hesitate to let me know lol!

Since they have stop manufacturing the stuff, the elatisicty of demand has shifted the stuff to be worth more then gold!!!

[Ac1dBurns]

Yeah def. get more ram if you can (you have a few months to do so ;)). If not though don't sweat it because I am sure a patch will be released for Vista before WAR is released to address some of the ram issues.

[Bekkr]

With the current price for ram (30 euro's for a 2 gig stick where I live) there really is no reason to not max your ram if your system can handle it. That said I'm quite sure 2 gig will be more then enough for WAR, even on Vista.

Totally agree on both counts. That said, remember than any 32 bit OS will never see anything over about 3.25 GB of RAM (http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm) anyway, so the "second 2 gigs" you buy is actually only one and a bit, and as such is a little more expensive per MB.

If you're running Vista 64 though, then obviously this stuff doesn't apply. Shove as much RAM as will fit in there. :)

[Sarevok]

Not exactly a question on ram, but on something along the same lines.

How big of a graphics card supose I'll need? I've been eyeballing the 8800 nvidia for awhile... be a big upgrade for me (I don't have a graphics card XD except for the built in one. about a 6400 nvidia I think it's set at.)

But... they are kinda expensive.

[oakae]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-004-OK&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=557 these seem to suit your needs. I'm not sure if they are faster or slower than your ram but Vista does run better with over 2 gigs.

[Umbarg]

Not exactly a question on ram, but on something along the same lines.

How big of a graphics card supose I'll need? I've been eyeballing the 8800 nvidia for awhile... be a big upgrade for me (I don't have a graphics card XD except for the built in one. about a 6400 nvidia I think it's set at.)

But... they are kinda expensive.

This applies to the OP's question about more ram too:

If it's just for WAR or if you otherwise can wait... wait. The later you buy the upgrade the more you get for your money. I'm personally waiting until WAR comes out to upgrade my video card (I have a X1950 pro now, which is good.. but I'm not satisfied) and my ram (from 2 gb to 4gb or perhaps more). But if you're going to buy one now the 8800GT is the best buy... But I'd wait for the 9800 series from Nvidia.

[Aristarch]

From what I've heard and read, there is no real advantage in upgrading to 4 GB (from 2 GB). In addition to that, you need a 64bit OS, which brings some problems with driver updates with it.

[PeterPan]

2GB of ram is plunty for Vista, ive yet to have any game use over 70% ram on the cpu/ram gadget meter.

Not to mention you need a 64 bit OS for 4GB... which causes compatiability problems.

[jgame]

Just get 3GB of RAM, 2GB(1GBx2) and 1GB (512MBx2). Thats your best bet. You don't need anymore than that for gaming as of now, and prolly quite a while.

[PeterPan]

I only have 2 ram slots, so that isnt an option for me.

Thats why I stick to 2GB

[Biocide]

While I'm no tech person, while running Crysis and such, I've booted up the PC and the ram will be at 50% ish. I'll then play Crysis for about an hour or so, and when I'm done and look at the ram, it'll be between 25-30%. Vista seems to grab an extra 20% of ram for... who knows really, but gives it up when the system needs it. This is true for both of my machines, one on 32 bit and the other on 64 and both with similar specs. Two gigs of ram should be just fine for WAR, as they've also stated ways in which they're optimizing large combat. I don't know if it's feasible on the tech side, but they could have the option to downgrade graphics settings when the computer hits processing levels it's just not capable of, with a switch toggling the feature of course.

[PeterPan]

Things slowly built up in the ram cache, causing your PC ram usage to gradually go up over time. You should restart your PC once every day or every other day to wipe the ram.

The same is true of servers, thats why WoW is down every tuesday.

[Gundrik Rikbolgisson]

Go all the way. Vista 64 bit w/ 4 gigs. We'll help you troubleshoot. What problems were you having?

[PeterPan]

I don't know about you people but half my programs won't run on a 64 bit OS, I just get dumb errors.

Thats why I stick to 32

[Ho Theos]

I don't know about you people but half my programs won't run on a 64 bit OS, I just get dumb errors.

Thats why I stick to 32

There's a lot of bugs between current game sin the market and the 64bit OS that Vista tends to use. Many of these games (Especially the old ones) require the downloading of a fix from the Microsoft website. Generally these are easy to find, google the game and 64bit fix and the results are usually headed by the Microsoft site.

As to the OP, no-one yet knows the requirements for the game. Due to the current trend to have most games operating with a minimum of 1GB (As we all know, Vista systems with 1GB are hardly useful) and required tend to be 2GB. I would be surprise if THIS YEAR when the game is due for release, that it's recommended requirements surpass the 2GB mark. It is possible that you will have to run it on slightly lower settings, but as I say, we simply do not know enough about the requirements yet.

[Quixilver]

I was actually pondering the same question that the OP had.

I used to play World of Wacraft on the top graphics settings (my graphics card is ATI Radeon Sapphire X1650 Pro) with 1GB of RAM, but it glitched and stuttered a whole lot so I had to resort to using lower settings. Only about 2 weeks ago I bought 2x1GB PC5300 for my PC and then I had 0 problems with running WoW on the highest settings and still being able to toggle between the Interwebs and WoW, also for those of you who know about WoW I didn't have any stuttering in places like Shattrath or Alterac Valley, just slightly lower FPS.

From what I've seen from the screenshots and movies of Warhammer (I haven't been avidly following the game since recently) I've noticed it's not a huge step up in graphic quality than WoW, so if you're able to play WoW on the highest settings at your current PC setup, you'd be able to run Warhammer on low/medium without much trouble.

Also my motherboard only has 2 RAM slots as well and supports just 2GB because it's a 32-bit system (with Vista). Just try and get the 2GB on the fastest RAM speed your motherboard supports (my previous RAM was PC4200 but my motherboard supported PC5300 which is faster so I bought 2x1GB sticks of PC5300 instead of PC4200, and it was only about £3 dearer too so it's definitely worth it).

You also have to keep in mind that if you buy a PC system from a shop ready made (say PC World), the manufacturers will just throw in the cheapest compatible RAM into it, so basically if your PC came with 1GB I could confidently say it is the slowest clock speed of that RAM even though your motherboard supports higher.

Also if anybody is interested in upgrading their RAM but doesn't know how to work out what is best, try downloading the Belarc Advisor which will scan your computer and process a report on almost everything on it. If you'd be able to supply your motherboard name, how many RAM slots you have and the graphics card, I'm sure some of us would be able to help you out. I'm currently studying computer hardware so I'd gladly try and share my knowledge and help out on the technical side of stuff because I'm an avid learner.

This is quite an interesting discussion and will help a lot of people. Keep posting guys.

[PeterPan]

I used CorsairValue Select DDR2

$20 for a 1GB stick... I bought 2 for my pc, works great.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146580

[Gundrik Rikbolgisson]

The only application that I've had trouble running on vista 64bit is CoreTemp, everything else, games, utilities, etc. have worked flawlessly.

[8igdave]

Skim read but here are a few things id give my own advice on:

First off your 4gb not working..

You tried in a 64bit os right? what was happening? was it booting ? blue screenig on boot? blue screenig randomly?

Voltage may be your problem, 4gb requires a bit more voltage sometimes. What make and modle is it?

Second, i wouldn't advice 2x1gb stick and 2x512 stick. With the prices there is no reason not to get 4x1gb and the 2x512 is a waste of money as you would have to throw it away.

Vista 32bit doesn't overly need more then 2gb as no 32bit application can use more then 2gb. However,havign lots of aplications would cause a problem and the OS alone will take up about 600mb i belive on 32bit? (i run 64bit which uses 800).

Supreme comander will use over 4gb i beleive and is a total memeory and cpu power hog. Games are starting to use it, bf2 added in with your os can top out at around 2.3gb i beleive and tahts on vista 32bit. the upgrade is worth it and there are few 64bit problems now, however if you ahve a tv card do make sure you check for vista 64bit drivers, then check for all the problems from them not makign them properly. There haev been some where if you ahve 4gb in your pc it doesn't work, 3gb and it works (in 64bit still).

Graphics card wize i agree the 8800GT is probably the best buy on the market. i would suggest not buying from OCUk as Scan.co.uk and ebuyer.com are generally cheaper along with scan.co.uk giving free delelievery if you have 30 posts and ahve been a memember for about a week on the bit-tech forums.

The nvida 9800s and ATI equivilents will oprobalby come out around June/jully time. So should be good to wait out for if you upgrading for this game as the prices of the 8800s will drop significantly.

My gues on estimated required spec:

Highest settings with AA and AF at 1600x1200 (or what ever that res for a 22" is):

AMD 4400X2+ or core 2 duo at around 2.0ghz.
--You can easly overclock a 40 quid E2180 from 1.8ghz to 3.2ghz. It is very simple and would be happy to help anyone intrested in doing so.

ATI 3850 512mb (easly overclocked using rivatunenr or gainawrd exptert tool to speeds of 3870s)

Or a 8800GT 512mb.

2gb of ram

For medium at 19" resolutions

probably lookign at a amd 3600x2+ or a E2160 1.6ghz.

Infact, a single core may cut the mustard. Im not sure the strain of a MMO on the CPU.

graphical wize a 2600XT or a 8600GT 256mb should be fine as the bus interfaces arnt really big enough to make full use of the 512mb ones. The 8600GT also overclocks really well.

Again i think on any lower then 1.5gb of ram you amy see some problems.

For low i dont really know.

:EDIT:

Holy japamoly that is a long post i think i gona have to cut it down.

[willheal4food]

Skim read but here are a few things id give my own advice on:

First off your 4gb not working..

You tried in a 64bit os right? what was happening? was it booting ? blue screenig on boot? blue screenig randomly?

Voltage may be your problem, 4gb requires a bit more voltage sometimes. What make and modle is it?

Second, i wouldn't advice 2x1gb stick and 2x512 stick. With the prices there is no reason not to get 4x1gb and the 2x512 is a waste of money as you would have to throw it away.

Vista 32bit doesn't overly need more then 2gb as no 32bit application can use more then 2gb. However,havign lots of aplications would cause a problem and the OS alone will take up about 600mb i belive on 32bit? (i run 64bit which uses 800).

Supreme comander will use over 4gb i beleive and is a total memeory and cpu power hog. Games are starting to use it, bf2 added in with your os can top out at around 2.3gb i beleive and tahts on vista 32bit. the upgrade is worth it and there are few 64bit problems now, however if you ahve a tv card do make sure you check for vista 64bit drivers, then check for all the problems from them not makign them properly. There haev been some where if you ahve 4gb in your pc it doesn't work, 3gb and it works (in 64bit still).

Graphics card wize i agree the 8800GT is probably the best buy on the market. i would suggest not buying from OCUk as Scan.co.uk and ebuyer.com are generally cheaper along with scan.co.uk giving free delelievery if you have 30 posts and ahve been a memember for about a week on the bit-tech forums.

The nvida 9800s and ATI equivilents will oprobalby come out around June/jully time. So should be good to wait out for if you upgrading for this game as the prices of the 8800s will drop significantly.

My gues on estimated required spec:

Highest settings with AA and AF at 1600x1200 (or what ever that res for a 22" is):

AMD 4400X2+ or core 2 duo at around 2.0ghz.
--You can easly overclock a 40 quid E2180 from 1.8ghz to 3.2ghz. It is very simple and would be happy to help anyone intrested in doing so.

ATI 3850 512mb (easly overclocked using rivatunenr or gainawrd exptert tool to speeds of 3870s)

Or a 8800GT 512mb.

2gb of ram

For medium at 19" resolutions

probably lookign at a amd 3600x2+ or a E2160 1.6ghz.

Infact, a single core may cut the mustard. Im not sure the strain of a MMO on the CPU.

graphical wize a 2600XT or a 8600GT 256mb should be fine as the bus interfaces arnt really big enough to make full use of the 512mb ones. The 8600GT also overclocks really well.

Again i think on any lower then 1.5gb of ram you amy see some problems.

For low i dont really know.

:EDIT:

Holy japamoly that is a long post i think i gona have to cut it down.


My computer currently is:
Inspiron 531 Athlon 64 x2 5600+ (2.80GHz, 1mx2)
2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU

Now I have no idea what kind of motherboard I have, tried calling Dell and no luck getting the model number but they did say it would support 4GB of RAM if that gives any clues to anyone in the know out there. I am running a 1680x1200 resolution on my 22in widescreen monitor for WoW with no real problems (some white "scratches" on the very outer sides of the screen). Slightly annoying if anyone knows how to get rid of them do tell! :)

My question is should I plan on overclocking my system? Or should I not bother? Also I plan on purchasing a better Video card with the launch of WAR but I am very much unclear on what one that should be. Is my RAM going to cut it? or is 800MHz horribly underpowered??

Thanks for any insight!!

[Quixilver]

My computer currently is:
Inspiron 531 Athlon 64 x2 5600+ (2.80GHz, 1mx2)
2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU

Now I have no idea what kind of motherboard I have, tried calling Dell and no luck getting the model number but they did say it would support 4GB of RAM if that gives any clues to anyone in the know out there. I am running a 1680x1200 resolution on my 22in widescreen monitor for WoW with no real problems (some white "scratches" on the very outer sides of the screen). Slightly annoying if anyone knows how to get rid of them do tell! :)

My question is should I plan on overclocking my system? Or should I not bother? Also I plan on purchasing a better Video card with the launch of WAR but I am very much unclear on what one that should be. Is my RAM going to cut it? or is 800MHz horribly underpowered??

Thanks for any insight!!

Are you sure you're not able to find out what the Model number of your PC is by going to My Computer and looking at the properties? If not, you can try and download Belarc Advisor (http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) and it will probably tell you.

From the specs you've said your computer has, especially the 2GB 800mhz RAM, I'd probably say your PC will be able to run WAR without much problems at medium settings. From what I know of Integrated graphics cards though is that they're included on the main motherboard and you can't remove it (not totally sure on that) so it could be a problem if the graphics card isn't that good.

Although if you were to scan your PC with the Belarc Advisor I'm sure it'd provide you with a lot of information about your PC that you could put here (like model number *not serial*, motherboard, how many RAM slots you have etc).

[8igdave]

My computer currently is:
Inspiron 531 Athlon 64 x2 5600+ (2.80GHz, 1mx2)
2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU

Now I have no idea what kind of motherboard I have, tried calling Dell and no luck getting the model number but they did say it would support 4GB of RAM if that gives any clues to anyone in the know out there. I am running a 1680x1200 resolution on my 22in widescreen monitor for WoW with no real problems (some white "scratches" on the very outer sides of the screen). Slightly annoying if anyone knows how to get rid of them do tell! :)

My question is should I plan on overclocking my system? Or should I not bother? Also I plan on purchasing a better Video card with the launch of WAR but I am very much unclear on what one that should be. Is my RAM going to cut it? or is 800MHz horribly underpowered??

Thanks for any insight!!

Your ram is fine. The difference between 800mhz and 1200mhz isn't huge and is mostly used for those trying to grow their E-Penis in benchmarking. Your next step would be anotehr 2 sticks.

As for your graphics card, now ive not played a MMO before. But im amazed wow plays on a intergrated graphics card, do you ahve everything turned down real low?

For an upgrade it depends on your budget and if your mobo has a AGP or a PCIE-x16 or possibly x8 slot.

This can be found out if you know what to look for in your case or by using software to find out what mobo you got and looking it up.

Second really need a budget on how much tyou can spend on a video card and perhaps any extras as you could need a motherboard to depending on its slots.

Generaly id say the bset bargins are (in order of most expensive to least)

Nvida 8800GT 512mb your looking at around £150 quid but is a beast of a card and a great buy. For any screens under a 24" this is the best buy for your money.

ATI 3870 512mb, these are ati's pritty much wana bee 8800GT's. They are a bit less powerful but are also a bit cheaper to reflect it. The price is a fair price in comparison to the performance difference and if you acnt strech that extra bit is still a great buy.

ATI 3850 512MB - Comig in at around the £100 mark, this is the cut down version. Basicaly underclocked 3870. It can be clocked back up to the 3870 speeds by simply downloading software program which will give you 3 sliders qwhich you just slide up ad your overcvlocking. its dead simple and could help run you through it.

NVIDA 8600 GT 512MB- its alot cheaper series and arnt bad for the buck. Ive gota check up as there could be better offering from the ATI side for the price range as ive been a bit out of the loop and they appear to have brought out another 2 series in that range which i dont know enough about to really comment on performance.

Some websites to help you looking for prices

scan.co.uk
ebuyer.com
overclockers.co.uk

As for the scratchs, do tjhey appear only while gaming? this could be you stressing the video card out and causing it to artifact or mmm i cant remeber the word now. But it can cause annomalys and tearing of the screen. Although usualy youd see it all over and not isolated to the edges.

Overclocking your cpu could be done, however DELL on their lower pcs block overclocking caperbilities i beleive. Also the lower end boards dont always have the optinos to or arnt very stable when overclocked.

Your cpu however is fine and should be for a while to come. Although games like supreme comander will eat all but the highest overclocked duals. But tahts just one game and no reason to upgrade for it.

[willheal4food]

Your ram is fine. The difference between 800mhz and 1200mhz isn't huge and is mostly used for those trying to grow their E-Penis in benchmarking. Your next step would be anotehr 2 sticks.

As for your graphics card, now ive not played a MMO before. But im amazed wow plays on a intergrated graphics card, do you ahve everything turned down real low?

For an upgrade it depends on your budget and if your mobo has a AGP or a PCIE-x16 or possibly x8 slot.

This can be found out if you know what to look for in your case or by using software to find out what mobo you got and looking it up.

Second really need a budget on how much tyou can spend on a video card and perhaps any extras as you could need a motherboard to depending on its slots.

Generaly id say the bset bargins are (in order of most expensive to least)

Nvida 8800GT 512mb your looking at around £150 quid but is a beast of a card and a great buy. For any screens under a 24" this is the best buy for your money.

ATI 3870 512mb, these are ati's pritty much wana bee 8800GT's. They are a bit less powerful but are also a bit cheaper to reflect it. The price is a fair price in comparison to the performance difference and if you acnt strech that extra bit is still a great buy.

ATI 3850 512MB - Comig in at around the £100 mark, this is the cut down version. Basicaly underclocked 3870. It can be clocked back up to the 3870 speeds by simply downloading software program which will give you 3 sliders qwhich you just slide up ad your overcvlocking. its dead simple and could help run you through it.

NVIDA 8600 GT 512MB- its alot cheaper series and arnt bad for the buck. Ive gota check up as there could be better offering from the ATI side for the price range as ive been a bit out of the loop and they appear to have brought out another 2 series in that range which i dont know enough about to really comment on performance.

Some websites to help you looking for prices

scan.co.uk
ebuyer.com
overclockers.co.uk

As for the scratchs, do tjhey appear only while gaming? this could be you stressing the video card out and causing it to artifact or mmm i cant remeber the word now. But it can cause annomalys and tearing of the screen. Although usualy youd see it all over and not isolated to the edges.

Overclocking your cpu could be done, however DELL on their lower pcs block overclocking caperbilities i beleive. Also the lower end boards dont always have the optinos to or arnt very stable when overclocked.

Your cpu however is fine and should be for a while to come. Although games like supreme comander will eat all but the highest overclocked duals. But tahts just one game and no reason to upgrade for it.

I appreciate the response from you and the poster above you, Thanks!

As for the graphics card I have a pci-express 16, no idea if that is good or what not but when I called Dell to find out what model motherboard they put in (they wouldnt or couldnt tell me this) they mentioned I had that setup. Hopefully that will work with some of the better cards. I have been saving and I can drop probably $600 or $700 on the graphics card and RAM but probably not to much more.

I ran the Belarc program and it came back with these numbers for the Main Circuit Board (which I guess is the MoBo)
Board: Dell Inc. 0RY206
Serial Number: ..CN698617AA21CA.
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Inc. 1.0.7 11/09/2007

The scratches aren't as severe as you mentioned and I don't play wow with the settings high but they aren't really low either...atleast I don't think so haha. If you have some settings you know that would be relatively good that I should try and see if that will make my system run poorly. I just don't really have an idea what the names of the settings are or what they mean.

Thanks again.

[Tangerine]

I am currently running vista 32bit with 2 gigs of ram, a nvidia 8800 video card, and a Intel core2 quad.

I can run almost any game full settings but the only problem i get is with crysis cause it eats up all my ram up to 90% then crashes it also happed to me while I was trying out the game Fury.

I can run wow full settings fine but I tend to get lag in populated areas
So will this be a problem in areas with huge amounts of pvp going on or should I be fine?

[Quixilver]

@ willheal4food

I couldn't really find any information on your Motherboard using that number you gave, sorry, but you could probably make a search via Google by typing in your computers' System Model name/number that should be included in the Belarc report as well. I'm not very hot at Operating Systems and the internals of Motherboards so my knowledge at the moment is kind of limited, but from what you've said before about playing WoW with the current system spec I'd think it can still run WAR fine.

Also you said your RAM is running at 800mhz, which to be honest would mean you've got some the best RAM in there, but your bus clock speed is only 200 which would indicate that the RAM you currently have is PC-4200 which is sort of the standard RAM that is in computers that are made now (you can run much better RAM in your PC than what is installed as default, you just have to know what your OS can handle) or if you do have this powerful RAM, your PC isn't using it to the max.

@ Tangerine

I currently have a Vista 32-bit, 2GB PC5300 RAM and a Radeon X1650 Pro graphics card (ain't the best, hoping to upgrade soon) and a Intel Core2 Duo processor and I can run World of Warcraft on the highest settings and run around in the thick of Alterac Valley battles/Shattrath etc without much lag. There is a difference between graphic lag and server lag though and you'd have to figure out which one you're experiencing because with a Nividia 8800 card and the other specs you have that it's unlikely that it will be your PC causing it. Also, it can depend on what resolution you are playing the game on. For example if you are using a 1024*768 resolution you would be getting well over 100fps everywhere, whereas if you use a 1280*1024 or higher resolution this will put a higher cost on the graphic pixelation so therefore it will be tougher on your PC.

Also having background programs open can affect your RAM usage such as having many Internet Explorer/Mozilla windows open, MSN, BitTorrent, Media Player etc although this doesn't affect the graphics card, it will affect your RAM. You should be aware that Windows Vista can eat up to 700MB on it's own so that's why it's recommended for Vista users that want to play games have atleast 2GB of RAM in their computers now, preferrably the fastest you can afford/install. Disabling all the nifty Windows Vista gimmicks can help out, but it doesn't change much.

I would think that because WAR is going to be centred around RvR battles, they will definitely be working on how to lower the stress a massive (say 100v100) fight in the game would put on a system, so yeah I think your PC could handle WAR fine.

[8igdave]

@ willheal4food

Also you said your RAM is running at 800mhz, which to be honest would mean you've got some the best RAM in there, but your bus clock speed is only 200 which would indicate that the RAM you currently have is PC-4200 which is sort of the standard RAM that is in computers that are made now (you can run much better RAM in your PC than what is installed as default, you just have to know what your OS can handle) or if you do have this powerful RAM, your PC isn't using it to the max.


Just because his clock speed is 200 doesn't mean his ram is at 400mhz. Its likely his ram is on a divider of 1:2 and therefore running at 800mhz. However thius coudl be checked by downloading CPUZ.

I am currently running vista 32bit with 2 gigs of ram, a nvidia 8800 video card, and a Intel core2 quad.

I can run almost any game full settings but the only problem i get is with crysis cause it eats up all my ram up to 90% then crashes it also happed to me while I was trying out the game Fury.

I can run wow full settings fine but I tend to get lag in populated areas
So will this be a problem in areas with huge amounts of pvp going on or should I be fine?

Sounds like you could ahve a memory leak problem. Download a program called memtest to check to see if it is working.

this is the direct link to the 32bit download: http://www.memtest86.com/memtest34a.zip

Then run the Bat file first and then the exe.

[8igdave]

I appreciate the response from you and the poster above you, Thanks!

As for the graphics card I have a pci-express 16, no idea if that is good or what not but when I called Dell to find out what model motherboard they put in (they wouldnt or couldnt tell me this) they mentioned I had that setup. Hopefully that will work with some of the better cards. I have been saving and I can drop probably $600 or $700 on the graphics card and RAM but probably not to much more.

I ran the Belarc program and it came back with these numbers for the Main Circuit Board (which I guess is the MoBo)
Board: Dell Inc. 0RY206
Serial Number: ..CN698617AA21CA.
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Inc. 1.0.7 11/09/2007

The scratches aren't as severe as you mentioned and I don't play wow with the settings high but they aren't really low either...atleast I don't think so haha. If you have some settings you know that would be relatively good that I should try and see if that will make my system run poorly. I just don't really have an idea what the names of the settings are or what they mean.

Thanks again.


So your not actually using the onboard graphics?

PCI-E x16 is all you need for any of the most recent garphics cards so your fine on that front.

However, if you ahve that much money saved up. You could go for a system rehall if you wanted. although your cpu should be powerful enough for most games for a while.

If you are going to buy anotehr 2 sticks of ram you nened to make sure they run at the same speeds and timings. I beleive the pc will automaticaly make the new set you buy run at the speed your current set are runnign at though. But you may need to go into the bios and up the voltage a bit.

If you are going to get 4gb of ram you will need a 64bit os as well. Vista 64bit can be bought "OEM" (basicaly comes in a case no fancy retail stuff) for just 55 quid. The retail costs £125. But the OEm can only be installed on one motherboard. If you upgrade it you need to buy vista again. The retail versino can be installed on 3 pcs. Still its cheaper to buy the OEM twice over the Retail and use it twice.

If you have enough money id suggest get the 8800GT 512mb. There are lots of differnt manafactures but they are all the same. All cards are built in the nvida factory and the manafactures put their lables on them and give them a bit of an overclock. You can do this overclock yourself (although the fastest are picked specialy as no overclock is ever garanteed).

[Fiss]

4 gigs of ram is the way to go if you plan on using computer intensive applications such as having music, an image editor, and a game running at the same time and this is double if your running DDR2 800 and not something higher.

[willheal4food]

So your not actually using the onboard graphics?

PCI-E x16 is all you need for any of the most recent garphics cards so your fine on that front.

However, if you ahve that much money saved up. You could go for a system rehall if you wanted. although your cpu should be powerful enough for most games for a while.

If you are going to buy anotehr 2 sticks of ram you nened to make sure they run at the same speeds and timings. I beleive the pc will automaticaly make the new set you buy run at the speed your current set are runnign at though. But you may need to go into the bios and up the voltage a bit.

If you are going to get 4gb of ram you will need a 64bit os as well. Vista 64bit can be bought "OEM" (basicaly comes in a case no fancy retail stuff) for just 55 quid. The retail costs £125. But the OEm can only be installed on one motherboard. If you upgrade it you need to buy vista again. The retail versino can be installed on 3 pcs. Still its cheaper to buy the OEM twice over the Retail and use it twice.

If you have enough money id suggest get the 8800GT 512mb. There are lots of differnt manafactures but they are all the same. All cards are built in the nvida factory and the manafactures put their lables on them and give them a bit of an overclock. You can do this overclock yourself (although the fastest are picked specialy as no overclock is ever garanteed).


I am currently using the onboard Graphics card, but I guess with the PCI E16 I can get a top notch card to take over the graphic duties before WAR comes out. I am going to wait until we hear a definite date before I go buy a card so I can get the best at that time for the $$

Is there any chance that the Vista I got is 64bit already? I purchased the whole PC at the end of Nov/early Dec....I don't know how I feel about buying a new version of Vista just to get 4gb. Also when I called Dell I was informed that for upgrading purposes my computer could support 4gb. Hope that means it is 64bit already.

[willheal4food]

Just because his clock speed is 200 doesn't mean his ram is at 400mhz. Its likely his ram is on a divider of 1:2 and therefore running at 800mhz. However thius coudl be checked by downloading CPUZ.

Should I definitely check this CPUZ before buying more RAM? How does this 1:2 divider impact me/gaming?? For future RAM purchases what MHz should I look into getting?

Thanks!

[8igdave]

Should I definitely check this CPUZ before buying more RAM? How does this 1:2 divider impact me/gaming?? For future RAM purchases what MHz should I look into getting?

Thanks!

Hey yes yous hould download CPUZ. Then go onto the memory tab and take a screenshot of what it says and post it on here. Just crop it down to a sensible size in paint first :)
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

As for the 1:2 divider. This has no impact on you, ill try explain.

Your pc all runs at the same speed which is measured as the Front Side Bus speed, aka FBS. Now this is a number like the 200mhz. Your Cpu then has whats called a multiplyer which times this speed to get a faster clock speed, a 2.4ghz processor would need a multiplyer of 12 ( 12x200=2400)

Your ram is DDR2, this means it doubles the FBS to get its speed. This means 200mhz FBS = 400mhz DDR2 ram. However your motherbord can use whats known as dividers for the ram. This is very much like multiplyers for the cpu.

Basicaly, a divider of 1:2 would double tjhat 200mhz FBS into 400MHZ. Your DDR2 wouild then take this number and multiply it by 2 and taht gives you your 800mhz DDR2 ram.

I hope that may have been understable even though i cannot explain all the reasons behind all these things without goign into to much detail.

[8igdave]

I am currently using the onboard Graphics card, but I guess with the PCI E16 I can get a top notch card to take over the graphic duties before WAR comes out. I am going to wait until we hear a definite date before I go buy a card so I can get the best at that time for the $$

Is there any chance that the Vista I got is 64bit already? I purchased the whole PC at the end of Nov/early Dec....I don't know how I feel about buying a new version of Vista just to get 4gb. Also when I called Dell I was informed that for upgrading purposes my computer could support 4gb. Hope that means it is 64bit already.

Ahh now what they say is true. Your PC does support 4gb in the sence you can plug it in. You will see 3.2gb of ram on a 32bit pc as aposed to up to 128gb of ram on a 64bit pc.

I would doubt you ahve a 64bit vista as 64bit really needs at least 3gb to be effective. Ill try explain this as best i can:

64bit runs slightly faster then 32bit but, as a side catch it needs moer memory. This is because the little data packages being handled by the pc are made bigger so that they can be done faster pritty much there is alot of lingo about the packages and tbh i cant even rember it all off the top of my head anyway. Basicaly this requires more ram useage.

This means that if you were to use only 2gb youd be better off with visat 32bit as vista 64bit would need moer then 2gb to be more effective. However dont worry about this to much, the differances arnt huge. However the step between 2gb and 4gb does make a big difference in gaming performance on games which will make use of 2gb moer (32bit games wont) or games which will use arouind 1.3-2gb as vista 32bit will use around 700mb the total would be 2gb or over which would mnean 2gb+ would help. Not all games need it, some games do.

I havn't played an mmo before so i acnt comment on WAR directly. But people have said taht wow benefits from more then 2gb of ram in big raids.


On the graphics card size. The new gen of graphics cards should be arriving around june time and that will poush prices down. These new cards will cost probably around £400-£500 for the first 3/4 months for the best ones. However in america this would not be $800-1000, it is more likely to be $600-800.

But it will push prices of the 8800s and 8600s and the ati 3870s and 3850s down alot.

[peo]

Most things seems to have been answered but anyway.
I doubt it won't work with even 1gb of mem on vista (slow as syrup but will probably work)

As for the 32/64 bit thing. So far running xp64 for about 1.5 years I've run into problems with something like 2-3 programs. All old as heck. Things like Theme Hospital for example. The reason being they are 16-bit. So if you still run programs from the win95 era they won't work on any 64 bit system as they scrapped the 16-bit emulation.
Haven't run into any other problems what so ever and having the added bonus of lots of worms etc not working on the system more than makes up for the drawback.

[8igdave]

One real bugger with 64bit is tv cards. Some of them claim to support it but have problems where if you ahve 4gb in your pc it doesn't work, take 1 stick out and it does even though your still on 64bit. Crazy things like that which are due to lazy designers. However, not all are like that and almost all software and hardware is now supported by 64bit.

And oooo i love theme park hospital so much!

[Slates]

Forgot all about this thread, I actually brought another 2 gig of ram in the end.. Cos its only getting more expensive to find an exact mach to avoid compatibility issues.

Only running 32bit OS of Vista but it does show 4gig on the Computer Information. I take it that Is a good thing then? =D

[Modairin]

I don't think you'll have any problems though. I run two WoW games on the same computer and Warcraft 3 at the same time. My FPS is around 75 when I have all three running. I don't think WAR massive RVR counters will hurt you too much. I played WoW and there was a Massive raid at Orgrimmar there was probably around 600 people in there at the time not including the Alliance attacking. My FPS was fine and I was playing on 56K too, and I didn't even disconnect. I have about 3 Gigs running on a Quad-Core.

[wicked765]

I'm going to upgrade to 4 gigs in march vista eats almost 1 gig by it self.
It shouldn't do, mine only uses 300mb of RAM, duno where everyone is getting "Oh it eats a gig or near a gig" my performance is better with vista than XP and it uses roughly the same RAM

[Elevon]

We all know that Vista is a RAM eating , but i have recently tried to upgrade to 4gigs and failed (even tried using the 64bit system), and i was wondering if I will actually need to upgrade to 4gig with WAR...

Will it run okay with 2gig (and perhaps an extra 2gig using Readyboast) or should i downgrade back to XP, a system that isnt soo demanding?

Im not interested in posts from people that just want to about one OS over another and i know offical specs haven't been released yet. I am just interested in knowing if it is something i must add to my to-do(/worries) list or not!

Thank you!! =D

You need to read up on how Vista handles ram(its called super prefetch),its efficient and none of it goes to waste,its designed to use all of your ram,think of unused ram as a waste,afteral ram is there to be used ,Vista is also good at freeing up ram when needed for other programs etc...

2GB is ok but I would go 4GB for gaming regardless of OS(infact I was using 4GB on XP, well really only 3.5GB),Vista x64 will let you use all 4GB and beyond unlike the 32 bit versions of Windows.

Ram demand for games has always increased over the years regardless of OS,remember the gaming spec for XP in the early days ie 256mb etc.. things have changed now.

[Elevon]

One real bugger with 64bit is tv cards. Some of them claim to support it but have problems where if you ahve 4gb in your pc it doesn't work, take 1 stick out and it does even though your still on 64bit. Crazy things like that which are due to lazy designers. However, not all are like that and almost all software and hardware is now supported by 64bit.

And oooo i love theme park hospital so much!

I'm using a Leadtek Winfast DTV USB tuner and I must say Leadtek have full Vista x64 bit support for 99% of their products,this is great customer support(infact they released drivers within 5 weeks of Vista's launch so back in Feb 07) unfortunantely a lot of other companies have been very lazy and offer poor customer support,there's really no excuse nowadays when you think Vista is almost 18 months old.

[Elevon]

I don't know about you people but half my programs won't run on a 64 bit OS, I just get dumb errors.

Thats why I stick to 32


No issues with my Vista x64,infact all my freebie XP 32 bit programs run great,85 games installed as well.I installed Firefox 3 the other day which works fine even with my extensions.Infact only had to upgrade one software package ,a very old paint program that was still 16 bit,I upgraded the paint program to the 32 bit version for 10 quid so good a new improved version at the same time.

Its not hard to check for drivers for your hardware or do a search on software compatibility,if one program won't work there's normally software from a competitor that does work.

End of the day 64 bit OS is the future and no worries on ram restriction like a 32 bit OS.

If people think 3GB is going to be limit for gaming they are in for a shock, some games do run better with 4GB etc..

I'm going 8GB on my next upgrade,ram prices have never been so low.

[Engrey-WHA]

Shipping this one off to the Tech Corner

[PeterPan]

There is really nothing 2GB of ram can't handle

[8igdave]

How can you possibly make such bold statements of half your programs wont run on 64bit OS and nothing requires more then 2gb. Rediculas.

First name the half of your programs that dont run. And if they dont run then you can download windows own emulation software, which might i add works very well and usess up hardly any ram. And then you can install any OS you want on it, i have windows 98 on there and can play really old games.

Secondly if something runs in 32bit it usualy runs in 64 bit because they are both using the same 16bit packages, the difference is that when using a 64bit OS it can run 4 16bit data packages at once, as opposed to 32bit which can only run 2. Of corse there are still programs that run on 32bit and not 64bit. But to claim so many is obserd. So feel free to list them. And by feel free i mean list them or stop going around spurting your usual crap.

Things which do not run on 64bit however are quite oftern little programs like rivatuner hasn't paid for some lincence thing to work on 64bit so you ahve to turn the checker off on bootup before you install it on the OS. I dont know if this has changed since because i dont use it i use expert tool.

Also some more specific programs require certain operating systems, progarms to do with ram oftern require 64bit or 32bit optimization to work properly.

As for nothing needs more tjhen 2gb of ram. Mmm well any proof in this? Any tests? Any links to sources saying you dont? Nope you know why? because many games benefit from over 2gb of ram :eek::eek::eek:. And you know what, perhaps sometimes people want to do more then one thing at once. I oftern have music in the background when i play M2TW and ive gone up to about 2.7gb doing that. Yes im on a 64bit OS, but there is not 700mb difference between 32bit and 64bit OS.

Many MMO's are also said to benefit from having just over 2gb in intence battles or places of alot of people. Ive not played them so i cant back this up but others have said it. Even games like BF2 will use over 2gb of ram in total when you add in the OS of even xp i beleive.

Not to mencehn the fact it achually makes the pc run incredibly smoothly if you have 4gb on 64bit OS. its so nice alt and tabbing instantly all day :)

perhaps yous hould actually look up the bennefits of 64bit and 4gb?

http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showpost.php?p=868901&postcount=160

[PeterPan]

I have a magic 8 ball I don't need proof.

[8igdave]

Peterpan fails again.

[PeterPan]

I never fail, success is my middle name.

I know what I state is truth.

[Elevon]

I never fail, success is my middle name.

I know what I state is truth.


One time Bill gates stated 640k was more then enough,but we know better ;),look at gaming history you can see ram demand is going up not down.
I have games like Gothic 3,Supreme Commander that work better with more ram(ie over 2GB).

[PeterPan]

I'm glad for them but thats the fault of the developer for creating such hoggish games. Technology has been moving forward rapidly however 2GB of ram is more than enough for any of todays applications.

I suppose if you run insane 1900x resolutions maybe 2GB wouldn't be enough, but I don't

[8igdave]

I never fail, success is my middle name.

I know what I state is truth.

If only i could find taht quote of you asying that you know more then we will ever know. I love the fact taht uyou have no proof then claim you state truth. Ram isn't effected by the resolution really, tahts GPU ram.

Ans Gothic 3? How on eartyh can you play that peice of crap. jhad usch promis then the devs desided it was better to releace a game taht was totaly broken to the point where you couldn't complete it then abanndon it without patching it asfter we all bought it. jowood should nenver make a game again.

[Gharr]

i plan in building a new pc for WAR, but i cant decide if i should get 8 GB of DDR2 or 4 GB of DDR3. tho i havent tried it yet, i might try out vista too. from what ppl have been telling me, vista is a huge drainer on RAM and one should have at least 3 GB's. tho 8 GB of DDR 3 would certainly rock \m/

[Aeeron]

2gigs will run it, if you run into a HUGE fight its not that hard to lower your settings is it temporarily