Curse

adventchildren · May 02, 2006, 03:30 AM // 03:30

Hi how is everyone?

I have a issue with Factions that really gets on my mind alot. Whenever I am loading up an area for Factions my computer just locks and freezes. I can not move my mouse or access my computer anymore. This mainly happens whenever I select my characters and start to play, but it has been happening whenever I play for about 30 mins and the game just freezes up.

Here are my specs:

Intel Celeron Processor CPU 1.9 GHZ
256 MB DDR Ram
Geforce 4 FX5200 Video card
Running Windows XP

If anyone could help me in any way it would be grealy appreciated.

Thx

Tachyon · May 02, 2006, 03:56 AM // 03:56

It's most probably one of two things!

Your Ram! 256MB just won't cut it these day's. XP alone can eat that amount up just to run! I'd go out and get yourself at least 1GB of RAM to guarantee smooth running. Make it 2GB if you plan on running games such as Battlefield 2 and FEAR.

Overheating! Check to see what temps your CPU and graphics card are at when idle and also when running Guild Wars.

Old Dood · May 02, 2006, 11:15 AM // 11:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by adventchildren

Intel Celeron Processor CPU 1.9 GHZ
256 MB DDR Ram
Geforce 4 FX5200 Video card
Running Windows XP

If anyone could help me in any way it would be grealy appreciated.

Thx

Well you can go to www.crucial.com. There you go to System Checker... That will tell you exactly what you have (Amout of Ram chips and how many slots you have)and then they will recommend what you need.

I swear by this site. Can you find cheaper?...yes. But Crucial will warranty their product for the life of your system.

WinXP needs almost all of your 256Mb of ram to run....so your system is using a "Page File"(swap file) for extra ram that is needed...this is what is slowing you down to a crawl...

adventchildren · May 04, 2006, 06:08 AM // 06:08

ok thx alot for the info.

MCS · May 04, 2006, 08:37 AM // 08:37

You can get 512 more ram for cheap and the difference is astounding.

Arya Nibelrund · May 10, 2006, 09:23 PM // 21:23

Yes.. I have 512mb on my pc and it was running smooth till the last update... then the new added files must have required more memory and the game started being incredibly slow... it took like a minute or so to load an outpost and missions were unplayable... Bought another 512mb rack and things are much better now... Only thing the new rack is not totally compatible with the old one so when i try to do missions i get the dreaded blue screen after 10 mins

Gotta take it back to the shop tomorrow and get a new one, i really can't play anymore with 512mb and that makes me really angry

Lurid · May 11, 2006, 01:53 AM // 01:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Dood

I swear by this site. Can you find cheaper?...yes. But Crucial will warranty their product for the life of your system.

I literally laughed when I read that, Crucial's medium range sticks...I can't say anything about, as i've never used them. Although if they are anything like the other ticking time bombs they like to call their high end stuff, then i'd steer quite clear of anything they sell. This is a proven fact aswell, the IC's they use in this RAM has random sporadic issues, that usually if not always, lead to a full RAM corruption and they must be replaced.

Oh yeah, almost, if not all, especially all the ones worth knowing in regards to RAM have 100% life time warranties. OCZ has the best in the industry warranty though, say you bought some value RAM, thats no longer made.... It craps out on you, and you think, "darn, I doubt they'll help much" what do they do? Send you the next highest thing, if they're out of that or out of what you have, then they send you the highest grade that they have.

IMO for non-overclocking, get the lowest latency memory, preferably 2-2-2-5. On the Intel platforms, this usually is less import, but AMD's love tighter timings.

Lerxst_of_Syrinx · May 11, 2006, 06:54 AM // 06:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lurid

I literally laughed when I read that, Crucial's medium range sticks...I can't say anything about, as i've never used them. Although if they are anything like the other ticking time bombs they like to call their high end stuff, then i'd steer quite clear of anything they sell. This is a proven fact aswell, the IC's they use in this RAM has random sporadic issues, that usually if not always, lead to a full RAM corruption and they must be replaced.

Oh yeah, almost, if not all, especially all the ones worth knowing in regards to RAM have 100% life time warranties. OCZ has the best in the industry warranty though, say you bought some value RAM, thats no longer made.... It craps out on you, and you think, "darn, I doubt they'll help much" what do they do? Send you the next highest thing, if they're out of that or out of what you have, then they send you the highest grade that they have.

IMO for non-overclocking, get the lowest latency memory, preferably 2-2-2-5. On the Intel platforms, this usually is less import, but AMD's love tighter timings.

We're talking about a guy who has a 1.9GHz Celeron and a 5200FX and you're recommending OCZ and 2-2-2-5 timing. Value RAM is all this guy needs.

Even if he bought the good stuff, he'd never be able to use it in a new system because everyone is going to DDR2.

Stick with the cheapest you can find, but buy from a reputable retailer.

Lurid · May 11, 2006, 12:32 PM // 12:32

No, i'm not reccomending 2-2-2-5 timings. I merely said in passing that lowest timings were preferred. Do you really think that all "value ram" is crap? Without people who tested "value ram" BH-5 and TCCD probably would not be known to function aswell as it does. Its all about tweaking, I reccomended lowered timings, because even value ram has its ups and downs. Certain ones are known to contain chips that can be manually tightened, with little effort, to maximize the performance from the upgrade

Also, why not reccomend OCZ? I personally use G.Skill, but they're one of the best in the industry at what they do, both with RAM and PSU's. DDR2 right now is more hype than anything, until AM2 and Conroe are released the extra bandwith is almost useless. I'm curious to see how AM2 will even be able to process that amount of bandwith, and function with such horrendous (sp?) timings.

Yeah, cheap is good, i'm simply saying that he shouldn't take chances with something known to be volatile to save....basically nothing in the long run.

mattrung2 · May 12, 2006, 04:16 PM // 16:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by adventchildren

Hi how is everyone?

I have a issue with Factions that really gets on my mind alot. Whenever I am loading up an area for Factions my computer just locks and freezes. I can not move my mouse or access my computer anymore. This mainly happens whenever I select my characters and start to play, but it has been happening whenever I play for about 30 mins and the game just freezes up.

Here are my specs:

Intel Celeron Processor CPU 1.9 GHZ
256 MB DDR Ram
Geforce 4 FX5200 Video card
Running Windows XP

If anyone could help me in any way it would be grealy appreciated.

Thx

This amount of ram should be capable of sustaining a mostly err =7 free guildwars if you assign at least 200 of it to guildwars. To do this google command line keys and look for the "-cachesize"" " command line.

Lurid · May 12, 2006, 04:35 PM // 16:35

Unless i'm mistaken that particular command has to do more with the cache as in page file size. With 256MB of RAM though, even with a command that was related to the amount of RAM that GW could access wouldn't be something Doze would like much. Hell just sitting here I turned all of my eye candy to minimize w/ the performance tweaks, and 25 processes running, and i'm getting like...200ish MB usage.

Oh yeah, and isn't error=7 related to the internet more than anything else? I could easily be wrong here though, as i'm not all that familular with the errors.

Steel Hero · May 13, 2006, 12:10 AM // 00:10

i would recommend u get at least another 256mb in there. Lowest RAM should have in a PC nowadays is 512mb, especially with Windows Vista comming out in Jan 07 which will require a minimum of 512mb RAM. If possible 1gb would be nice, that will run anything u want on there RAM wise

.

Tachyon · May 13, 2006, 04:52 AM // 04:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steel Hero

If possible 1gb would be nice, that will run anything u want on there RAM wise

.

1GB will run anything? Think again! You try running Battlefield 2 or FEAR at full settings and high resolution and see just how far 1GB will get you.

Battlefield 2 stutters like hell with only 1GB and high settings, 2GB is the sweet spot. FEAR is even worse, totally unplayable at high settings with only 1GB of RAM on board.

As for Vista only needing a minimum of 512MB, that's just the usual 'buy me because you have to' Microsoft spin. In tests at various sites, and people I know running the latest beta code, Vista as been shown to eat at least 800MB on it's own. It's reckoned that to run Vista's 'killer app', Crysis, at full settings at least 4GB of RAM is required.

Lurid · May 13, 2006, 04:21 PM // 16:21

Not to mention the fact that Vista is rumored to required a GPU with 512MB of onboard RAM to use all of its eye candy, alone. Yay for even more of a resource hog!

Cybergasm · May 13, 2006, 05:48 PM // 17:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azagoth

1GB will run anything? Think again! You try running Battlefield 2 or FEAR at full settings and high resolution and see just how far 1GB will get you.

Battlefield 2 stutters like hell with only 1GB and high settings, 2GB is the sweet spot. FEAR is even worse, totally unplayable at high settings with only 1GB of RAM on board.

As for Vista only needing a minimum of 512MB, that's just the usual 'buy me because you have to' Microsoft spin. In tests at various sites, and people I know running the latest beta code, Vista as been shown to eat at least 800MB on it's own. It's reckoned that to run Vista's 'killer app', Crysis, at full settings at least 4GB of RAM is required.

This doesn't mean 1GB can't run everything, it just means it can't beef everything up

A quick comment on the Vista; your friends were fiddling with the BETA. As a developer I can vouch for the fact that system reqs. are one of the last things to be chisled. Imagine how hard it would be to have to code and think about 100% efficency. Its alot easier to get it all done, then from a complete stand-back view to see what can be cut and made better.

Now onto the topic. The TS needs to keep in mind the fact that both his processor and GPU are very old and probably struggling now. Even if they meet min. reqs., we need to account for background processes; firewalls, anti-viruses, mal/spy/adware, chat clients, system kernels and files. More RAM would help alliviate processor dependency, but, considering how overloaded it probably is now, that won't do much overall (meaning, you will see GW play better).

Secondly the GPU is now null and void in this generation. Luckily, GW isn't a graphics heavy game. It is, however, something we still have to keep in mind because a struggling GPU can add to the instability of the system as a whole.

If you want a quick-fix then RAM is definetly the way to go. However, your computer as a whole needs a one time over. Depending on your motherboard, this could mean a simple makeover, or the construction of a completely new computer.

If you do get RAM, get G.Skill. In my years of experience there is no better brand. I have used it in three computers so far. Here is my recommendation;

2 x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231029

Serafita Kayin · May 14, 2006, 02:53 PM // 14:53

I'm gonna recommend G.Skill, and second that the RAM is your issue. Move to at least 512 and you should be fine.

Lord Cooper · May 16, 2006, 09:54 AM // 09:54

while everyone is focusing on the 256MB ram (which by the way is fine for guild wars) im going to say its heat related. when was the last time you opened up the case and took a look inside? remove the heatsink and fan from the cpu and blow all the dust out of it using compressed air ( you can by cans of compressed air at most hardware stores usually called air dusters or similar). clean the base of the heatsink with some isopropyl alcohol and do the same on the ic. reapply a small amount of thermal compound to the ic and then remount the heatsink and fan. clean all the dust out from the case fanse and vents put the case back together and see how it goes.

if its still bad it may spyware thats causing the problem. dl and run spybot, ad-aware and an antivirus of your choice (avg is free and reliable if yoy dont have an antivirus). run all these with the system booted into safe mode. while you are in safe mode run defrag as well.

none of the above will cost you anything so its worth trying it before you pay out on more ram

Tijger · May 16, 2006, 11:37 AM // 11:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lurid

Yeah, cheap is good, i'm simply saying that he shouldn't take chances with something known to be volatile to save....basically nothing in the long run.

Cheap with a lifetime warranty, yeah, that IS good.

As for the amount required, I run GW(F) with 512Mb and it runs just fine, just make sure you kill off any unnecessary programs that might be running in the background, that tends to help a lot as well.

Lurid · May 16, 2006, 12:39 PM // 12:39

Lol...way to snip a sentence out of my reply without reading enough of it to know what I was talking about. I said almost all, if not all major memory manufacturers offer a lifetime warranty, and a value line. Crucial is known to be picky and sometimes have volatile tendencies, that IS NOT a good thing

shadow_kick · May 17, 2006, 01:15 AM // 01:15

With a Celeron and a low end video card, I wouldn't deplete t3h munnies too greatly for ram on a computer obviously doomed to becoming obsolete very soon, if you wish to remain gaming.
I'd just look around newegg for some compatible ram at a reasonable price, and you'll be amazed at the performance increase. However, you could have a heating issue, and if you have an option in your BIOS that alerts you at certain unhealthy temperatures, it could just be a heating problem. Either way, the ram wouldn't hurt, and I recommend a low price purchase, unless you're planning an upgrade in the near future.
For the time being, switch your XP theme to classic mode, turn off all the "fancy" animations and such, and close out any other programs prior to running GW, and that should help a little while you wait on the sticks to magically appear in your mailbox.