memory or video card or both?

[Casper]

I have 512M ram on a 3ghz HP. It has no video card (except the integrated graphics). It only has standard PCI slots (not -E). XP should will handle 4Gb ram in four slots (paired DIMM 240 pin, standard HP stuff).

So I want to play a few games that really don't cut it on the video end, but otherwise it is fine for what I do. So I'm wondering which will give me the best performance for the money:

upgrade to 2.5GB ram and add middle of the road PCI video card ($100)

upgrade to 4GB ram and be done (~$100)

A few bucks either way is no big deal.

BTW what I am having trouble with is Medieval II in battle mode. Rome was not as demanding and did okay, especially in arcade battles, but it had limits as well.

[Skidmark]

You def need some more ram! I would say upgrade to 2.5, test the game, if needbe pickup a video card then.

[Casper]

[QUOTE=Skidmark]You def need some more ram! I would say upgrade to 2.5, test the game, if needbe pickup a video card then.[/QUOTE]

That's not a bad idea, but I'd like to snag it all from one place in one shot. And the thing is, would a vidcard and 2.5 be that much better than 4G without a card?

[Skidmark]

[QUOTE=Casper]That's not a bad idea, but I'd like to snag it all from one place in one shot. And the thing is, would a vidcard and 2.5 be that much better than 4G without a card?[/QUOTE]

I went from a 64mb to a 512mb video card and I couldn't tell a damn difference within WoW.

RAM alone makes a big difference IMO.

It couldn't hurt to snag them both up, 2.5g of ram should be plenty for most games. At least with a newer video card the PC it won't "struggle" so much.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3445092&CatId=1558

[Casper]

that's pci express.

I think i'll just do 4gb and see what happens.

[Skidmark]

[QUOTE=Casper]that's pci express.

I think i'll just do 4gb and see what happens.[/QUOTE]

Oops... here is a standard PCI card. It has really good reviews.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3301409&CatId=1603

[Casper]

cool. What's up with the funky tabs? Maybe they use the same board for pci and pci-e models?

I'm going to look at their ram, mybe I'll do it all. 4GB and a 256 card.

[Craizie]

You sure you dont have an AGP slot? for that game id think the ram was your main choke point without know what vid card you had.

[32VfromHell]

im pretty sure you should have an AGP slot, unless your computer you are on was made in the mid 90s =)


Let me know if you want to get crushed by my HRE army of doom ;)

[AL P]

I'd almost guarantee that you got an AGp 8X slot with a 3 Ghz processor. Check out newegg, they got lots of AGp cards under $100 that will work good.

I will say that even with a nice card you can't max out the graphics in Medieval II. I've got a 3.2 ghz machine with a 512 mb AGP card in it, tons of RAM and it still bogs down with all that shit on the field.

And don't listen to 32Vfromhell, HRE is for chumps.