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Syststem specs

sacreddaykilsacreddaykil Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 396
in Everquest II

i know there have been some post about this before, but im actually wondering what i should increase to get the game better..because i think im going to buy something (because of the money i got on christmas :P), but i dont know what...i got:

1 gb RAM
2,4 GHz
and im not sure about the graphic card, where can i see how "big" my graphic card is? i saw somewhere i thought it could be, it was named something like this : "connect NVIDIA somethingsomething" and it said i hade 256 mgb, was that the graphic card? is that a "good" graphic card?

and pls say about how much it will cost me

thanks

Comments

  • DarthHoobDarthHoob Member Posts: 108

    It sounds like you've got the same graphics card as me. The easiest way to see what you have installed is this.

    Go to control panel, open up "system". Then go to "Hardware" and open your "Device Manager". Your graphics card will be listed under "Display adaptors".

    I've got a Nvidia GeForce 6200, which isn't brilliant, but ok. I've also got 1gb of ram, and have been told that EQ2 will love it if I upgrade to 2gb of ram. So that's probably the best thing for you too.

    Currently returned to Norrath after disliking Hyboria.

  • FlemFlem Member UncommonPosts: 2,870

    If you had to upgrade something then get another gig of ram, that would make a huge difference.

  • herculeshercules Member UncommonPosts: 4,924

    Just press start>run>type "dxdiag" (no " in text)

    It will tell you all about your system from processor to ram to graphics card to dx type .etc

  • zensaberzensaber Member UncommonPosts: 787
    i would say get up to 2 gigs of ram, doesn't have to be ddr2. Also i know for a cheap good upgrade the new ati x1950 pro is one of the best ati cards out and it's only 200 dollars
  • lomillerlomiller Member Posts: 1,810
    Most 256MB cards are capable of playing EQ2 fairly well, but with the rest of your system specs you are going to need some tuning. If you find out exactly what modle card it is let us know.

     

    You have a fairly slow processor (If I remember correctly that’s a 2.4 GHz P4?) so you are going to want to make sure cloth simulation is off, shadows are turned down and foliage is set conservatively. Those are usually the main culprits processor wise. Some of the water setting like splash, ripples can be a hog as well, but only if you are in water.   

     

    You are also borderline for memory. Make sure you keep texture quality settings to around the middle, the cutoff view distance for high quality textures fairly low. You may want to drop the number of high quality textured characters from the default. You probably also want to reduce the number of low texture characters from 24 to 12.  

     

    The final thing you want to do is defrag and clean up your hard drive, then set your swap file to a fixed 2GB of higher.  Using a fixed size means it isn’t constantly being resized which fragments the swap file and slows down swap operations by a huge amount.  Since Windows can’t resize on it’s own you will crash if you run out of swap space so make sure you set it large enough but not so large that it slows down your system.  Keep decrementing until your swap file is all in one place, you may have to set defrag to run on reboot to do this.  
  • SyriSyri Member UncommonPosts: 230
    if the cpu is an amd 64, then it should be fine. i say this as i use one at 2.4 and it plays great. if it's a pentium 4, it could struggle a bit in high details. if it's a celeron, it really needs replacing as celerons are a bit pants when it comes to games, as the reduced cache and bus speed really slows down shifting essential data around.

    if you can find out the graphics, that'd help rate those. if you right click on 'my computer' and go to properties, then to the hardware tab, there's a button for the device manager. look under display adaptors and it'll have the name of the graphics card, as it's an nvidia, it'll be something like "nvidia geforce 7600GT"

    i'd say if the card is a 7300 or 6200, you'll be looking at the low end of the graphics scale. 6600 or 7600 should get up to medium, and with a 6800 or 7800 you can start knocking it up to high.

    the ram certainly will hold you back a bit. one of my pcs only has 1gb, and that suffers a lot of "out of memory" errors if there's a lot loading in

    hope this helps some

    ------------------------------
    Currently playing: Rift

    former player of: DAoC, Everquest 2, Guild Wars, SWG (pre-NGE), WoW, Warhammer online, LotR:O

  • knightauditknightaudit Member UncommonPosts: 389
    Problem with any upgrade at this time is it may not be a one item fix.

    If your ram is DDR and you want to get more but want DDR2 as it is faster then you need a new board to go with it.

    If your video Card is an AGP then you need a new board as it is hard to find one

    If your CPU needs upgrading then you are looking at a new board.



    Your best bet is get the ram first then look into the options of a new build.



    I know I had to go through all this not that long ago and it does get costly. but I am happy with what came out of it.
  • sacreddaykilsacreddaykil Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 396

    well, i think my grapich card is called: CONNECT 3D RADEON 9600 Series.... does that sound possibel?

    well, to be honest there were alot of things i didnt udnerstand i your guys post, when having in mind that i bhought a used computer and have never upgraded it myself...

    but as i perceived it, i should get another gig of RAM ( wich i kinda was aware of) and maybe a new processor ( dont know if that how its spelled, but i mean the GHz thing) and a new graphic card?

    BUT, i was also wondering if i need to buy them in a certain row, like: i cant have the new kind of RAM's before i upgrade my processor?

    and i also want to state that i got about 415 dollars, just to point out that i cant afford all of them at once :) ( i AM 14 you know )

    and i also wanted to say thanks for your time


    *btw, just realised that i think knightaudit actually answered my "in a row" question
    *and another thing, yeah: i got intel pentium 4 CPU 2,4 GHz processor
    *and a third thing ( i really cant take all of them at once, can i?), i went on the "Device manager tab", and it said "CONNECT 3D RADEON 9600 Series" and under that it said:" CONNECT 3D RADEON 9600 Series- secondary" what does that mean?

  • lomillerlomiller Member Posts: 1,810
    Before you run out and buy memory make sure you know exactly what you need and make sure you have free slots for it. There are actually 3 different types of memory your system could potentially be using RDRAM – fast but very expensive SDRAM slow and probably quite expensive these days because no one uses it much, and DDR fast and still common enough to be relatively inexpensive.  

     

    Your video card is a budget card from several generations back.  It was good value in its day, but isn’t going to handle any newer games very well. It may turn out to be the most cost effective upgrade to your system.  As knightaudit pointed out you will likely need an AGP card, and although not common anymore there are still some options in the $120 range that will perform reasonably well.  

     

    Memory will be as important as far as EQ2 goes, but you need to find out exactly what you need and the graphics card will be a bigger benefit in most other games.  If your system is RDRAM or SDRAM I would not consider any type of a memory upgrade as both are obsolete.  You would need nearly a full system overhaul to convert to a newer memory type, so if your system is using one of these the only upgrade worth looking at is the video card. (Given the Video card I would not be surprised to see SDRAM, which is actually a technology that dates back to the 90’s but was still used in budget machines until a few years ago.)

     

    This is really getting beyond the scope of this site, so I recommend you go to one that specializes in hardware.  This one isn’t as busy as it used to be, but it still has plenty of very knowledgeable and friendly people.





    Most of those are settings you will find in EQ2 under options – performance.  Selecting custom settings generally gives a lot better results then using any of the default levels. 

     

    You can defrag in Windows by rt clicking on your hard disk in My Computer and selecting “properties” then going to the tools tab.  

     

    You can set your swap file size in Windows by going start – run – control panel – system. From there click the “advanced” tab and then click settings in the performance box. This opens the performance options window, click on the advanced tab, and then on the button near the bottom that says “virtual memory”
  • sacreddaykilsacreddaykil Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 396

    Originally posted by lomiller
    Before you run out and buy memory make sure you know exactly what you need and make sure you have free slots for it. There are actually 3 different types of memory your system could potentially be using RDRAM – fast but very expensive SDRAM slow and probably quite expensive these days because no one uses it much, and DDR fast and still common enough to be relatively inexpensive.  
     
    Your video card is a budget card from several generations back.  It was good value in its day, but isn’t going to handle any newer games very well. It may turn out to be the most cost effective upgrade to your system.  As knightaudit pointed out you will likely need an AGP card, and although not common anymore there are still some options in the $120 range that will perform reasonably well.  
     
    Memory will be as important as far as EQ2 goes, but you need to find out exactly what you need and the graphics card will be a bigger benefit in most other games.  If your system is RDRAM or SDRAM I would not consider any type of a memory upgrade as both are obsolete.  You would need nearly a full system overhaul to convert to a newer memory type, so if your system is using one of these the only upgrade worth looking at is the video card. (Given the Video card I would not be surprised to see SDRAM, which is actually a technology that dates back to the 90’s but was still used in budget machines until a few years ago.)
     
    This is really getting beyond the scope of this site, so I recommend you go to one that specializes in hardware.  This one isn’t as busy as it used to be, but it still has plenty of very knowledgeable and friendly people.
    http://www.sharkyforums.com/Most of those are settings you will find in EQ2 under options – performance.  Selecting custom settings generally gives a lot better results then using any of the default levels. 
     
    You can defrag in Windows by rt clicking on your hard disk in My Computer and selecting “properties” then going to the tools tab.  
     
    You can set your swap file size in Windows by going start – run – control panel – system. From there click the “advanced” tab and then click settings in the performance box. This opens the performance options window, click on the advanced tab, and then on the button near the bottom that says “virtual memory”

    i agree, and its also going beyond my "skills" in com puter, so i think i gotta give up, and ask someone that knows something about this subject, and ask him to take a look, and tell me what i need... though your answers were REALLY helpfull, i dont think i can walk out if this with any benefit for myself if i do it myself... so, thanks

  • lomillerlomiller Member Posts: 1,810

    Originally posted by sacreddaykil

     
     
    i agree, and its also going beyond my "skills" in com puter, so i think i gotta give up, and ask someone that knows something about this subject, and ask him to take a look, and tell me what i need... though your answers were REALLY helpfull, i dont think i can walk out if this with any benefit for myself if i do it myself... so, thanks

    Na, you can learn it yourself no problem. In fact, doing your own computer hardware usually gives much better results then buying it or getting help from a friend.

    Even though there are plenty of knowledgeable people here, it’s the type of thing you pick up much faster on a site that specializes in computer hardware.

  • sacreddaykilsacreddaykil Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 396

    Originally posted by lomiller
    Originally posted by sacreddaykil  
     
    i agree, and its also going beyond my "skills" in com puter, so i think i gotta give up, and ask someone that knows something about this subject, and ask him to take a look, and tell me what i need... though your answers were REALLY helpfull, i dont think i can walk out if this with any benefit for myself if i do it myself... so, thanks

    Na, you can learn it yourself no problem. In fact, doing your own computer hardware usually gives much better results then buying it or getting help from a friend.

    Even though there are plenty of knowledgeable people here, it’s the type of thing you pick up much faster on a site that specializes in computer hardware.

    yeah, but why not just ask someone who already have learned it and done it some times? it cant possibly get better results if i do it myself...and, i dont know, but i think id had to start from the begining, cause as i said; this is a used comp, and its already been updated before... thats also one reason why i have no idea of what i should upgrade ( but NOW i do :P)

  • willybongwillybong Member Posts: 32
    Up until about a year ago i didnt know anything about comps, so i took my PC and took the whole thing apart and put it back together and now i have a pretty good understanding of what the parts of a PC do. I also go to a website like legitreviews.com and look at the computer hardware they review, it helps alot and tells you vital things about what you are going to buy. For christmas i built myself a gaming rig with and 8800 GTS** with 2gigs of ram running at 800mhz. I also put a nice nvidia MB with SLI capabilities since DX10 is coming out soon and i also put an intel core 2 duo E6600 which I will upgrade in a few months with a more powerful processor. It runs everquest like a champ and i love it. Peace and good luck.
  • sacreddaykilsacreddaykil Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 396

    Originally posted by willybong
    Up until about a year ago i didnt know anything about comps, so i took my PC and took the whole thing apart and put it back together and now i have a pretty good understanding of what the parts of a PC do. I also go to a website like legitreviews.com and look at the computer hardware they review, it helps alot and tells you vital things about what you are going to buy. For christmas i built myself a gaming rig with and 8800 GTS** with 2gigs of ram running at 800mhz. I also put a nice nvidia MB with SLI capabilities since DX10 is coming out soon and i also put an intel core 2 duo E6600 which I will upgrade in a few months with a more powerful processor. It runs everquest like a champ and i love it. Peace and good luck.

    good idea that about removing all of the parts from your computer, but i cant afford to do something wrong..so i guess this is one of the times i should just wait patiantly for someone to walk by and help me

  • NinixNinix Member Posts: 190
    Originally posted by sacreddaykil


    i know there have been some post about this before, but im actually wondering what i should increase to get the game better..because i think im going to buy something (because of the money i got on christmas :P), but i dont know what...i got:
    1 gb RAM

    2,4 GHz

    and im not sure about the graphic card, where can i see how "big" my graphic card is? i saw somewhere i thought it could be, it was named something like this : "connect NVIDIA somethingsomething" and it said i hade 256 mgb, was that the graphic card? is that a "good" graphic card?
    and pls say about how much it will cost me
    thanks
    the best part 2 upgrade is ur ram... get 1 gig more or 2gig if u can.. since the game is based on how fast ur comp can handle and think... and the more ram u have... the better it does its job :) id say ur graphic card is fine.. and u dont need more ghz.. so get more ram

    image

  • sacreddaykilsacreddaykil Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 396

    Originally posted by Ninix
    Originally posted by sacreddaykil

    i know there have been some post about this before, but im actually wondering what i should increase to get the game better..because i think im going to buy something (because of the money i got on christmas :P), but i dont know what...i got:
    1 gb RAM
    2,4 GHz
    and im not sure about the graphic card, where can i see how "big" my graphic card is? i saw somewhere i thought it could be, it was named something like this : "connect NVIDIA somethingsomething" and it said i hade 256 mgb, was that the graphic card? is that a "good" graphic card?
    and pls say about how much it will cost me
    thanks

    the best part 2 upgrade is ur ram... get 1 gig more or 2gig if u can.. since the game is based on how fast ur comp can handle and think... and the more ram u have... the better it does its job :) id say ur graphic card is fine.. and u dont need more ghz.. so get more ram

    is it possibel to get 4 gig of RAM? i thought the max limit was 2 :S

    *btw, i loved your answer, cause i understood it :P

  • FlemFlem Member UncommonPosts: 2,870
    Yes you can have 4 gig of ram but it wont utilise it unless you are running windows xp pro 64 bit.
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