# Jerky games...



## TeeTees (Mar 9, 2006)

Just a quickie for all you computer buffs - I bought a PC a coupla weeks ago. The Hard-drive is 160GB, the RAM is 2 x 256mb, with a Nvidia GeForce 256mb Graphics card.

I bought a few games the weekend : Half-life 2, Broken Sword, and F.E.A.R. They seem to be a little on the jerky side though. Half Life 2 last night was like watching a re-mix at times where the characters were kinda stuttering and the picture wasn't THAT much better 

Why would this happen ? :?

I was playing Broken Sword the other night and all was well - really free-flowing with the graphics and sound, until about 3/4 hour later when it seemed to be a bit jerky again. 

I was told by Dell when I bought the PC that the upgrades I had to the hard-drive and graphics card should be enough for playing games on. Do you think that maybe I need to upgrade more, or is the computer f'ked ? :?

Be gentle with your answers please, as I am pretty useless with computer terminology


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## Guest (Dec 7, 2006)

im no computer techy, but sounds like your computer is working something out 45 mins into your game - this could be a virus check on your pc or something similar.

at the bottom right of your screen, try to close as many things as possible before playing the good graphic games, and check settings of your firewall/virus program to see what schedule it has as this may need to be changed

hope it helps!


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## TeeTees (Mar 9, 2006)

AndyRoo_TT said:


> im no computer techy, but sounds like your computer is working something out 45 mins into your game - this could be a virus check on your pc or something similar.
> 
> at the bottom right of your screen, try to close as many things as possible before playing the good graphic games, and check settings of your firewall/virus program to see what schedule it has as this may need to be changed
> 
> hope it helps!


Ahhhhh.....that makes sense. It does seem like it's running some kinda check. I'll try what you said.

Thanks for that


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## digimeisTTer (Apr 27, 2004)

More RAM i would suggest, 500mb is probably enough to run it with all graphics setting turned down but 1gb will make a big difference.

I'm a BF2 addict and have to have 2Gb to play with all the settings on high with a high end graphics card.


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## citrix20 (Aug 29, 2006)

RAM RAM AND MORE RAM

Modern games you need as much RAM as you can get. Recomended for Windows XP is 512Mb which you have, however you trying to play games aswell. I would recommend atleas another 512Mb.

What graphics setting are you running the game on. In the game option look under Video or Graphics. If they are all on High then try turning them down a bit. ALso in game resoloution, look at that, maybe turn it down.

I have 1Gb of RAM in my PC at home and a 256Mb card, it runs games ok, however have to turn graphics down.

As for playing for 45 min then it jumping, it could either be something starting to run in the background, or PC overheating. Play for a bit then look at temp settings.


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## TeeTees (Mar 9, 2006)

citrix20 said:


> RAM RAM AND MORE RAM
> 
> Modern games you need as much RAM as you can get. Recomended for Windows XP is 512Mb which you have, however you trying to play games aswell. I would recommend atleas another 512Mb.
> 
> ...


I had a look at these RAM card things in PC world the weekend and noticed 512mb cards for about Â£45ish. How do you put these in ? Do you just leave the 256mb ones in there, or do you replace on of the 256's with the 512 ?

I'll try the turning the settings down on the game as well then, and see if that works as I'm just leaving the settings wherever they are at the moment - I'm all new to this PC gaming stuff......I'm more used to sticking the game in the PS2 and clicking on Start 

What will happen when I turn the resolution down on the games - do they just not look as sharp a picture as they would on high ?

Where do I go to check the temp settings on the PC ?

Sorry for all the questions, but I wanna get this sorted and really don't have a clue :?


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

What's the cpu - what's the software running on it - (Bet it's Norton) - what's the graphics card.

You either have a cache problem or it is an operation running in the background. It could however be other things.


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## TeeTees (Mar 9, 2006)

saint said:


> What's the cpu - what's the software running on it - (Bet it's Norton) - what's the graphics card.
> 
> You either have a cache problem or it is an operation running in the background. It could however be other things.


It's a Dell Dimension E520 Celeron Processor 346 (3.06Ghz, 533Mhz FSB, 256k cache)

There is a Norton Ghost thing on it (it's someting like a 90day free trial that tell's me everytime I switch on how many days are left) if that's what you're referring too.

The graphics card is Nvidia Geforce 7300 Turbocache 256MB DVI/VGA output with 1xS-Video Output

Whatever all that means :lol:


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## citrix20 (Aug 29, 2006)

> I had a look at these RAM card things in PC world the weekend and noticed 512mb cards for about Â£45ish. How do you put these in ? Do you just leave the 256mb ones in there, or do you replace on of the 256's with the 512 ?


This is about the easiest upgrade you could possibly do to your PC. Open up your PC case and look for the 13cm long slots, as marked by the word DIMM in the bottom of this pic.










Push the clips down on either end and the module should pop out. I think the best thing to do is then post on here or PM what the module says on it, there should be a sticker saying something like

'246Mb PC2100 DDR'

Then someone can recommend what to buy.

Then plug it back in and when you recieve the new one, push that into a spair slot. When you turn the PC on it should automaticaly pick up the added memory.

I think taking it to 1Gb would be wise, if you can afford more then do it.


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

I would say get some ram ,crucial are foolproof just upped mine to 2 Gig and it makes a BIG difference .Turbo cache cards have very little memory on them and just share the system memory . A new card would make a big difference as well


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## TeeTees (Mar 9, 2006)

citrix20 said:


> > I had a look at these RAM card things in PC world the weekend and noticed 512mb cards for about Â£45ish. How do you put these in ? Do you just leave the 256mb ones in there, or do you replace on of the 256's with the 512 ?
> 
> 
> This is about the easiest upgrade you could possibly do to your PC. Open up your PC case and look for the 13cm long slots, as marked by the word DIMM in the bottom of this pic.
> ...


Cool - thanks for your help (again) 

I'll have a look the weekend as we're out on the office part night out tonight - God save my liver !

I got a spare Â£70 at the moment from flogging the PS2, so it would be a good investment to stick it in the PC.


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=Dimension+E520
there you go take your pick :wink:


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## TeeTees (Mar 9, 2006)

wallsendmag said:


> http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=Dimension+E520
> there you go take your pick :wink:


Wow - thanks for the link.....that looks real good + full off good information (which makes sense to me - haha)


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## citrix20 (Aug 29, 2006)

DDR2 is bet bought in pairs, as then can be used as Dual channel.

So best off getting 2 x 256 or 2 x 512mb etc.


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## citrix20 (Aug 29, 2006)

looking at that link then they are labelled as 'kits'. see how much you can afford and get one of the kits.


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## TeeTees (Mar 9, 2006)

citrix20 said:


> looking at that link then they are labelled as 'kits'. see how much you can afford and get one of the kits.


See the 1GB kit in the middle - it already has a 2 in the quantity box. (this is the one I could probably afford - the next one up is a bit out of my league at the moment).

Does this mean it comes as 2 x 512's ? :?


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## citrix20 (Aug 29, 2006)

> Â£69.99 ex. VAT
> Â£82.24 inc. VAT*
> 1GB kit (512MBx2)
> 
> CT607745 DDR2 PC2-5300 â€¢ CL=5 â€¢ UNBUFFERED â€¢ NON-ECC â€¢ DDR2-667 â€¢ 1.8V â€¢ 64Meg x 64


if you mean this then yeah its is already 2 x 512Mb.


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## TeeTees (Mar 9, 2006)

citrix20 said:


> > Â£69.99 ex. VAT
> > Â£82.24 inc. VAT*
> > 1GB kit (512MBx2)
> >
> ...


 :lol: I was looking at the one at the top - I didn't notice this one at the bottom off the screen......I think I prefer this one now :lol:


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