[G_thompson]

Ive been wondering about my system memory ever since I found out that my onboard video adapter uses the system ram instead of speacialized video ram.

Basically I need to know if adding ram to the system or increasing the swap file manually would keep the computer from crashing when running games. Right now I have 252 mb and windows is controlling the swap file size. For some reason I cant get quake 3 to run under this setup. I would have posted in the game topic but I'm really more concerned with the system capabilites then the game itself.

Im running an Hp brio workstation(I didnt pick the system out) with a pentium III 933mhz.

The video setup is the standard for my model of brio: a specially designed savage4/pro-savage with a guaranteed 8mb ram but it's supposed to be able to go up to 16 with the right configuration.

I'll appreciate any help offered.

 

[yellowduck]

I'd personally recommend getting a new computer... Video cards have VRAM for a reason... so it doesn't task your system--much--when rendering images, it does everything self contained.

As low as Quake 3's specs are to run, for gameplay I'd suggest getting a faster CPU and a new GFX card...

Dunno why you'd have a computer with an 8MB (not even hardware based) videocard on an almost 1 GHz system...

My advice is just shell out like 50 bucks or so for a GeForce 2... I did that on my E Monster 600 (emachines gaming model... *shutter* horrible computer until I upgraded the vid card and ram)

Costwise, go with the Geforce 2 Ti (no extended numbers) unless you have a bit extra, go with a 2 Ti (extended numbers...). Semi old cards, but reliable and highly tweakable ... not to mention they use VRAM =D

Any questions, just post away.

 

[G_thompson]

I dont think Ill be able to buy a new cpu but thanks for the gfx card recommendation I've been scouring the net and posting in alot of forums trying to get good video card recommendations to no avail.

I have another system that I've been wanting to upgrade(1.8 ghz,512ddr,but a 2mb onboard video) and I wanted a real powerful video setup for it but the system doesnt have an agp port, only pci. does the geoforce 2 have a pci model thats worth the money?

 

[yellowduck]

think so... but all PCI versions of anything kinda suck a bit...

If you have a high end system and can spend the cash, I'd try and find a GeF 3 or 4 PCI model (dont think ATI has any good PCI cards... maybe...)

try this site for some cheap goods.