More Ram Better?

I have a Gateway PC with a Celeron 400 processor, I have put in two cards of 128 Ram with a total of 256. I have a Flight Simulator game that lags when I set the realism high. Would I see any improvement if I put in more memory? Like taking out one 128 card and putting in a 256 one? Is more memory better or do I need a bigger proceesor?
Thanks!
John

 

 
I hate being the bearer of bad news, but you have probably pushed that Celeron to its max. You could upgrade the processor ( http://www.evertech.com ), but in my opinion, more memory would make little or no difference.

More important, what about your vid card?

 

Hi Airplane2001.

Flight Simulator ought to run fairly nicely on a Celeron 400 with 256Megs of memory. I think Abraxas hit it right on the nose. When you increased the realism to high it probably increased the graphics and your graphic card won't handle that volume of bits at a good speed. See if you can find out how much memory is on your graphic card and whether it is PCI or AGP or built in on the motherboard. You can pick up some pretty nice graphic cards with 32 or 64Megs of memory at some very low prices. For low cost check out the Jaton ones. I run an AGP SIS315 with 128Megs onboard. If you have an AGP port, go for an AGP. This may not be right, it depends on the specs on your current graphic card.

 

Thanks guys on your reply, I I have a ATI AGP for a video card. Does this mean I have a AGP port in my PC and what would it look like? Im still learning, I put a second hard drive in in December. How hard would it be to do this?

Thanks Again!
John

 

Hi.

We need to know the model number of that ATI card. Then we can track down how much memory it has. ATI cards are very good. Yep, you have an AGP port.

Also, see if you can determine if you have DirectX installed. What version of Windows are you running. 400MHz isn't a speed freak but it isn't that darn slow either.

 

Some onboard graphics are designated as AGP, in which case you may not have an AGP slot. But since you have an ATI, chances are you do. Just look at the mb where your monitor connects---the slot resembles a PCI slot.

My 64 meg ATI cost me $30 on Ebay and works fine on XP.

What about the most recent drivers? As giles says, if you know what card it is, we can be of more help.

 

Im not sure where to find the model #, is it on the card itself?? Here is my system ID. Video-RAGE 128 VR ( English)(800X600), 16 Bit . Display - ATI Tech. - Enhanced RAGE 128 VR (English) Is the AGP port in the inside, I don't have any avialable port's open except for a serial port. Thanks for the feedback so far!!, Im sorry to be such a bother, I know you have a lot pf other questions to answer. I apprieciate the help so far!!

Thanks
John

 

Hi.

Thats a good card. It should run Flight SImulator like gang busters. It is supposed to be matched to Directx 6.0 but I suppose any Directx 6.0 and later will work fine. If not, you can get it at Microsoft free.

Abraxas was probably right the first time. Your system may have hit it's peak on that program with less graphics. Be sure to shut down as many background programs as you can, Norton, other virus checkers, etc. They may be taking up your memory and processor time. You might consider downloading a program to tell you how much memory you have available. They are usually free and sit in the tray, etc. See how low it gets as you run various programs. I uploaded one for you. It's at:

http://home.earthlink.net/~jpnewton/freemem.exe

Latest drivers, DirectX 6.0 or later, and shutdown as many background programs as you can. Use the memory checker to see if you run out of memory. Other than that go here and turn your sound up and click on the horses after they load.

http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf

 

All of giles' suggestions are good ones.
Also, go here and get the latest Rage 128 driver for Win98:
http://mirror.ati.com/support/driver.html

 

Thanks for all the help!!!!!! I am really amazed how fast you get back to me. This is a really neat site for anyone wanting to find answers!
Thanks Alot!!!
John