Computer 10 years old

[King Faticus]

Im confused:confused: the first computer I installed cotn on is 10 years old
it runs windows 95, it has never been upgraded, it is lovingly cared for, and it is WAY below minimal requirments.... And yet it works with little to no lag:eek:
I don't know alot about computers, but, this seems strange.
Can sombody please explain why or even how it works??:confused:

Especially since I am currently using a 2 year-old computer that lags ALOT during the game:mad:

Ps: I didn't really think much of it until I read threads about new computers that can't play the game:D

[Keith]

Im confused:confused: the first computer I installed cotn on is 10 years old
it runs windows 95, it has never been upgraded, it is lovingly cared for, and it is WAY below minimal requirments.... And yet it works with little to no lag:eek:
I don't know alot about computers, but, this seems strange.
Can sombody please explain why or even how it works??:confused:

Especially since I am currently using a 2 year-old computer that lags ALOT during the game:mad:

Ps: I didn't really think much of it until I read threads about new computers that can't play the game:D

You probably have lots of other things going on in the background of the newer machine. Either that or its infested with spyware or a virus.

[King Faticus]

You probably have lots of other things going on in the background of the newer machine

One the newer computers we always have large firewall programs, antivirus programs, and other security features I know nothing about :confused: in the background. Im also not allowed to turn them off.... so maybe thats what is doing it.

Either that or its infested with spyware or a virus.
Naw we keep our computers up very well (which explains our 10 year old computer affectionataly dubbed ol' faithful)
Also we flush all of them every two months.

[wodinoneeye]

Im confused:confused: the first computer I installed cotn on is 10 years old
it runs windows 95, it has never been upgraded, it is lovingly cared for, and it is WAY below minimal requirments.... And yet it works with little to no lag:eek:
I don't know alot about computers, but, this seems strange.
Can sombody please explain why or even how it works??:confused:

Especially since I am currently using a 2 year-old computer that lags ALOT during the game:mad:

Ps: I didn't really think much of it until I read threads about new computers that can't play the game:D


Its more dependant on the graphics card. If you have an older computer but have a fairly fast graphics card (you upgraded more recently then 10 years ago??) it may run OK at lower quality settings.

Have you yet run it with a large city?? The more stuff on the map the slower it will go (and it will start lagging behind your view shifting commands and start to drive you crazy)..

[arcan]

Take into account that Windows XP requires a lot of RAM and other resources just to run in the background. Win95 wasn't that hungry! (although it required quite a lot already...) :rolleyes:

[King Faticus]

I can't give you the specs for the older system because my brother tried to set the resolution too high in cotn.... and the moniter burned out:( all the other moniters in the house aren't compatible:( :(

as for the newer system keith was right there were many programs on the toolbar that were slowing the game (I turned most of them off exept zone alarm)
my brother always tells me not to, but, he won't be home until x-mas.
He will never know (insert evil laughter here) :)

[wodinoneeye]

There are alot of other things (services) that can be turned off (Microsoft leaves so many on when they arent needed by most people) on ME and XP.

Unfortunately you have to know what you are doing when turning them off.

I run XP with only 70meg used (with no other windows/apps running) even though Im on a Laptop with 512meg.

Microsofts next Bloatware OS product 'Vista' is going to need 1 gig of memory for normal operation....

[Iskandar]

also, it does matter what graphics card you have, and what setting you run the game at, and how much RAM you have. 256 megs of RAM and a graphics card from the passed 2 or 3 years should be more than sufficient to run the game at a low to medium settings fairly lag free, even if the computer is 10 years old (though, I imagine anything less than a Pentium II or K6 II 300 to cause problems). conversely, 256 megs and a 2 year old video card CAN cause even a brand spanking new machine to lag like crazy if you jack the settings to a high level. add in the fact that XP straight out of the box is slowed down by all the user friendly pretty crap, yeah.

(side note: Win XP is the better OS, IF you are willing to sit down and TURN OFF all the stupid user friendly crap that was included with it. Start>Settings>Control Panel>System. Go to the Advanced tab, click the Performance button, adjust to best performance. also, turn off the firewall that Microsoft included, it's a joke and if you have Zone Alarm, you don't need it. that ALONE is usually good for a good 20-30% speed boost :).

that is not to say that Windows 98 (or Win 95,though it won't handle some of the newer hardware) doesn't have its place, especially if you are running any software more than 4 or so years old, or programs from the DOS era.)

[Iskandar]

i've noticed that the "minimum required specs" on most games to be crap, more often than not. the only spec worth noting is the video card specs, anything beyond that nowadays can be ignored. as a rule of thumb, if you have 512 megs of memory (or more, this is one area where $100 or less can REALLY improve your gaming experience) and a decent video card (IE not onboard, and made in the last year or two), you can run 95% of the games out there w/o a problem, regardless of the rest of your system specs.

it is worth noting, too, if you decide to upgrade your system, upgrade your memory first, then your video card. memory is cheap, and you can easily get 1 Gig of memory for about $100. the video card is not, unfortunately. here is one area where you truly get what you pay for. buy what you can afford, making sure to match the card with the type of slot on your motherboard (agp most likely, but PCI is possible with an older board, or PCI-Express for newer ones). $150 - $200 is about right, but it can go as high as you can afford.

as for the cpu? if it is 800 Mhz or higher, don't worry about it. unless you play a lot of FPS games, you REALLY won't notice much difference between a low end cpu and a high end cpu if the rest of your computer is more or less up to date.

(side note: I'm a computer technician. I build, maintain and troubleshoot computers for a living. despite all the hype, it REALLY isn't that hard to build a decent gaming computer, or that expensive either. you can probably get by with about $600 dollars, or maybe a little more, not including monitor or OS. of course, the sky is the limit. I estimate that if I had unlimited funds, I could spend as much as 4 or even 5 grand or more, which happens to be more than my car costs. which also happens is one of the reasons I haven't.)

[King Faticus]

"Spare me your space-age techno babble Atilla the hun :cool: :D "
Seriously though, I don't understand most of what you guys are saying:confused:
I get the jist of it, but nothing more...