particlewave particlewave

getting blood from a stone (or revitalizing an older computer)

▼

getting blood from a stone (or revitalizing an older computer)

from GalCiv2 Forums
Hi everyone. Enjoying the game immensely, but I have a question concerning my now ancient computer(4 + yrs)and any suggestions for upgrading would be very helpful since I cannot afford a new computer for at least another year.
My specs are: AMD T-Bird 1.1 Ghz, 512 mb ram, ATI Radeon 9550 128 mb vid. card.
I am happy with the way GalCivII runs on my machine (although it does chug along in some game scenarios) , and believe it or not it runs other games fairly well such as HL2/CS:S, Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six 3 RavenShield, etc., not bad for an old clunker.
My question is whether adding more RAM (1 Gig.) might help speed things up a bit or is the "bottleneck" really my CPU, and therefore adding more RAM would be a total waste (peformance wise) and money?
I need to squeeze the last little bit of performance out of my machine for the least amount of dollars, otherwise I can live with what I've got for another year I guess. Thanks ... all positive suggestions welcome.
off-topic
48,409 views 29 replies
Reply #26 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I decided a long time ago not to get into the trap of buying the newest and fastest of anything, it just seems to get old faster (performance anxiety/keeping up with the Joneses).
After buying a new comp. every 2 years, I through my hands up in disgust, and just relaxed and enjoyed what I had at the time. I know my next rig certainly won't be "leading edge", most likely a few tiers back from that.

Yea, I totally understand that trap. Unfortunately, when it comes to computer games and other specialized software, they kind of force you into upgrade hell. My wife's computer is pretty old and I don't plan to upgrade it because she only uses it for internet and email. It does that well enough. However, my machine gets the rebuilds because I like to play games on it. Otherwise, it would be the same as my wife's machine.

When it comes to upgrading an older computer, my canned response is, "not worth it, just buy a new one". However, I do rebuild my personal system because I can pick and choose which parts go into it. That's the only reason. It's not to save money because it's actually more expensive build a computer that way. Even so, I don't use "bleeding edge" high end parts. I generally go for the mid to high mid range "current" parts. Generally, the premium price you pay for the high end stuff doesn't justify the not-so-premium gain in real world peformance.

Reply #27 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
My usual upgrade path has been only the parts needed, and everything I already had that I could use, would be used. This minimizes costs.
DeskScapes - Bring your desktop background to life.
Reply #28 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Unfortunately, when it comes to computer games and other specialized software, they kind of force you into upgrade hell.


Well that used to be the case, not anymore! Now since all these new games are comming out that do not allow LAN multiplay at home with 2 computers without buying the game twice, i do not buy games anymore. When i am finally desperate enough to wan't a new game, i will by a console! I will never on pain of death, bend over and cop up the ass any game company dick that thinks it can screw me into bying a game twice just so i can play it with my wife.

My usual upgrade path has been only the parts needed, and everything I already had that I could use, would be used. This minimizes costs.



hehehe you obviously havn't upgraded for a while have you? I say that because you mentioned you use things you already had where possible.... hardware manufacturers have become very efficient these days of stopping exactly that by making everything incompatable. You can still Bring your cd rom if you like! hahahaha
Reply #29 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I got my main system out its perpetual work in progress status several months ago. Where possible is a key phrase. This last upgrade forced me to go PCI-e and DDR2. HDDs, optical drives, case, and FDD are the usual carry over parts, along with keyboard and mouse.

The only upgrade I plan to do to this one, is to go from 4 GB to 8 GB RAM - primarily for Vue 6.5 Infinite 64 bit.