Enough memory?

[Xray]

Hi,
I have a new Dell Dimension 4600 with only 256 MB of ram. .My last
computer had 320 MB. One of the games that my kid plays is Star Wars
Galactic Battlegrounds. It ran fine on out last 500 MHZ computer, but
hesitates in its video. Is this a video problem or a ram problem. This
computer has onboard video with Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 2, but I
don't know how much memory it has. My gut feeling is that I need more ram.
I'm not really impressed with the overall performance of the computer in
general , I guess. Does Win Xp need tons of ram? My last computer had Win
XP and was essentially fine.
Thanks,

John

 

[Haus]

Hello
I think XP is pretty much ram friendly I have no problem running programs in
with XP that I would have to make sure everything was shutdown and sometimes
would have to restart to run with ME, so if you are going to upgrade your
ram just make sure you purchase the same that is already installed just in
case of matching some puters are funny and will only run if matched, don't
know that much about Dell, some say there the best I guess that would be for
a different topic and different newsgroup

 

[WhiteOne]

-----Original Message-----
Hello
I think XP is pretty much ram friendly I have no problem running programs in
with XP that I would have to make sure everything was shutdown and sometimes
would have to restart to run with ME, so if you are going to upgrade your
ram just make sure you purchase the same that is already installed just in
case of matching some puters are funny and will only run if matched, don't
know that much about Dell, some say there the best I guess that would be for
a different topic and different newsgroup

--
Hope this helps
Haus

THE PROBLEM WITH DELL PC'S THAT NORMALLY THEY DONT RUN

GOOD USING DIFFERENT PARTS SUCH AS MEMMORY RAM... MAKE
SURE YOU BUY THAT TO THEM.. AND FOR A BETTER PC THAT
DOESN'T MAKE SO MUCH PROBLEMES GET A GATEWAY...

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

If the onboard graphics card is sharing memory with main system memory, the
problem is most likely the graphics card. Check the system documentation.
If the card is sharing memory, you should invest in another card with its
own onboard memory and since gaming is the issue, probably a card with 128MB
of ram, assuming your Dell has an AGP slot for such a card to be added.

If the graphics card is sharing with main system memory, no matter how much
you increase main system memory, you will have issues such as this with
games, especially graphics intensive games so start with the card. If you
get a card as outlined above and still have some issues, then you might want
to increase main system memory.

 

[Xray]

Thanks for all the input. I think I'm going to check on the onboard video
memorys useage and call Dell to see what they have to say for themselves.
Thanks again to all.
John

 

[skip]

Hi John,
I don't want to sound sarcastic, but since it is a new computer, have
you given Dell a call for assistance?

Dan (Still going in circles)

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Just a note of warning. If they tell you to allocate more memory to the
graphics card, that will not resolve the issue and might make the system
unstable as you would be designating more of the system memory for graphics
but reducing main system memory in the process.