I surrender... I need help with my computers.

Factual Questions
1

One of the computers that I use has been having a lot of trouble lately. Anytime I run a program that involves lots of redrawing the screen (in particular games that have a scrolling map screen) it jerks horribly.

My computer has 300+ megs of RAM and is an AMD k-6 processor. It seems to be acting like the video card itself doesn’t have enough memory. When I bought the computer, it said that the computer’s video memory could be changed - up to 16 mb of normal RAM could be dedicated to video. What I don’t understand is how do I do this? Will doing this fix my problem? What else should I try?

My thanks in advance…

2

The above situation is (I believe) the main source of your problem. Generally built in MB based video chipsets that use system RAM for video purposes are at the bottom of the video performance food chain. You can normally allocate video RAM (for built in video chipsets) via the BIOS setup parameters (look at all options carefully and you’ll find it) which you can typically activate with a keystroke(s) at bootup.

Add more RAM (you’ve got plenty to spare) and if that doesn’t solve your problem a good video vard like the Nvidia based TNT2 cards (with 16 to 32 megs RAM) can be had for around 65.00 to 75.00 on various auction sites.

see http://www.onsale.com among others

3

Are you sure you have 300+ megs of RAM? I ask because I don’t know of any commonly sold computer that has that much and also has such a piece of crap for the video. Nor do I think any small local place would do that unless it was a special request.

But yeah, the setting should be in the BIOS.

4

Well, did you set the video accelleration to FULL?

If you did, notch it down until things get better. If not, try FULL.

5

If your computer uses shared memory for the video portion, then it is not sufficient for game playing.

I’d suggest buying a video card for the job. In your case, you probably don’t have an AGP slot, but a PCI card will do almost as well.

-Sam

6

All who have answered have my thanks for your suggestions. However, The BIOS setup screen had no effect (it would not accept a larger number, it already has 16 MB assigned to video)

And yes, I am certain that I have 300+megs of RAM. I installed two 128mb simms myself.

Ah well…

I guess I’ll buy a new video card on my next check.

Thanks again!