Sorry about the subject, but its actually about my girlfriend's computer.

My g/f has a Compaq Presario desktop computer with an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 2.13GHz processor, and 256 MB of RAM.
She is using a DSL internet connection.

Her problem is that when she tries to play GW, it takes forever to load, and when her character finally does appear, the lag is so terrible, that its not worth playing. we both click on the same monster (my character and hers) and ive killed it (using just weapon, no skills) before she runs up to the monster to start attacking. I hope that makes sense.

Anyway, after much discussion, we have decided to get more memory for her computer. Is that the only thing we need to do? or is there something else we need to upgrade? Her video card prolly isnt very good, but that might be a little too expensive to change right now. Is there anything else we can do that is cheap?

Thanks for your help and input. My g/f and I look forward to playing GW normally. :)

residentgood

256 RAM is the minimum requirement. Here's my thinking...

- What type of video board to you have?
- Is your girlfriend's computer optimized? (Spyware? Useless Background Programs?)

__________________
Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

Ok ty for replying, photics. My g/f's video card is a Compaq FP5315 Flat Panel Monitor on S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR.

Her computer is optimized, no unnecessary items running in the background, or spyware.

Anything else you need? :) and ty for helping.


residentgood

PS...she also wants to know "what a J2SE Runtime Environment is....the little coffee cup thingie. It looks like its using a lot of space". lol :P

That sounds like Sun Java. It makes stuff like this run...

http://games.photics.com/games/WordSearch


Do you know the memory on the Graphics Card? That makes a huge difference.
I play with an Overclocked GeForce 6800... SWEEEEEET! :)

Try playing at lower resolutions and see if that helps.

__________________
Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

How do you tell what kind of graphic card you have?

right click on your desktop and click on properties. then click on display or settings (depending on whether you have windows XP or not, i guess) and then it should say under "display", what card you have.

Now as to figuring out what memory the video card has, how do I find that out? Thanks. And the screen resolutions and all the options are set to low or as low as they can be.

residentgood

PS. how much was that GeForce card you have photics?

Never mind on how to figure out the memory for the video card. I found it. My card is 64MB, I'll have to ask my g/f what hers is.

To find out what memory your video card has, (for those with Windows XP)

right click on desktop
click on properties
click on settings
click on advanced

Now I have tabs that say: General, Adapter, Monitor, Troubleshoot, Color Management, S3Display, S3Gamma Plus, S3Info Plus, and S3Overlay

I found my memory for the video card in the S3Info Plus tab. Your's might say something different, but just look around, and hopefully you will find it. Thanks all. :)

residentgood

It was spendy! :lol:

It better last me a while. HA HA HA.

I took an off-the-shelf demo model computer, which was very cheap, then I threw a great video board into it. My machine performs admirably. The computer was $400. The video board was $300... that was over a year ago. The funny thing was, I bought the video board for my old machine. My 4200 cooked itself to death. Apparently you're supposed to clean out your tower every now and then. HA HA. Soooo... I had this 6800, which was 8x AGP... but my old motherboard could only support 4xAGP. In order to make use of the better video board, I needed a new machine.

See... that's why ArenaNet should make Guild Wars for consoles :)
This stuff can be complicated.

__________________
Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

I agree. I mean, I've taken some computer classes in college, including 5 semesters of Cisco Systems, but its still pretty confusing to me. Of course, its been so long since ive taken any cisco classes, that ive forgotten most of what I learned. Anyhoo. lol

Yeah it would be nice to have a computer specifically designed for optimal performance for GW, and that's also cheap. lol

As for getting a new video card for my g/f's computer, since its a kind of old computer now, a good card might require a better mother board as well...in which case, she'd prolly be better off buying a brand new pc. But anyway for right now, do you think that if she adds more memory, GW will be playable? Thanks again photics and everyone else for all of your help.

residentgood

Maybe... here's how you can tell.

While running Guild Wars, bring up your Task Manager. On the process tab, look at your memory useage. Take a good look at what's going on. Today... for the first time ever... I saw Guild Wars running at 269,000 K. It's usually half that much. Yet, I was standing around in a crowded district.

It depends when the lag happens and why. Your computer is a chain. Any weak link will cause it to fail.... CPU, RAM, Video Board, Mother Board, etc.

__________________
Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com