slow gaming, needs help bad I recently purchased a computer in January, a Dell processor: intel celeron d processor (2.66 ghz) memory: 256 mb hard drive: 80 gb ultra ATA100 7200 rpm OS: windows xp home video: integrated intel extreme graphics 2 sound: intergrated audio my problem is while playing, going to community lot or if 4 sims are in the same area the game freezes and also it takes forever to load. I'm new to pc gaming and I have been seeing a lot of posting about video cards and graphics. In order to play this game to it capacity i need to know if I need to upgrade anything and exactly what i need to do. Also i disable my virus scanner and shut down background apps and processes. any help would be appreciated, I loved the sims on xbox and want to love them more
You need more memory. I have 512M and am planning to go to 1G. Memory and graphics card mem seem to be key. And they both should be much higher than the box specs say are minimum. First: Try cleaning up old files, closing background tasks that are not system processes (Task manager -never the system files!), disable anti-virus programs and defrag. your hard drive. If still slow (and with 256M mem it will still be...) then up your memory! Also make sure you have a compatible graphics card with at least 64M (if not 128+M) memory. Good luck. PS -- I notice I have to defrag more often since installing and playing it sooooo often and long. I can't remember how to rearrange my programs on the drive to minimize this so if anyone does know, please share. (Using Norton Utilities to speed up programs... at the end/beginning of the drive? Leave space for system use?)
As mentioned, you need more memory first and foremost, closely followed by a real video card. 256mb simply is NOT sufficient to run today's games; I have some games (e.g. WoW) that eat up to 300mb of RAM alone. We have 2 computers in the house, one with 768mb and one with 256mb. The difference is STAGGERING, even though the 256mb rig has the faster processor. Integrated video cards simply cannot hold a candle to the power of a real, separate video card, which has become expected of any gaming computer. There is a wealth of information on the forums to help decide what/what not to get, so look around if you plan on upgrading.
As the others have mentioned, your specs are at the bottom of ability to run the game. It would be a good idea to upgrade both your RAM and your video card. But you have a Dell, and that can be problematic. Sometimes they have things arranged so that you can only use their upgrades (proprietory interfaces.) You didn't say which model you bought but it sounds like it's one like the Dimensions 2400 which isn't easy to upgrade because it only has PCI (not PCX aka PCI Express) slots. The only cards that work for that one are only one step up from the integrated ones: PCI FX 5200 and PCI Radeon 9200. Some of the later ones actually give you some pretty good options (such as the 4700 which is pretty upgradable albeit expensive because it's PCI Express slotted), although the 4700c is not easily upgradable because of its compact nature.)
