Help Hardware for Pc (run games from around the year 2000)

[SegaDreamscape]

Im going to start of by admitting that I really don't know what I'm talking about with regard to PC gaming but I recently picked up a copy of Medal of Honor Allied Assault amd tried to play it on my only compter I have which is a Dell Studio laptop running Windows 7 and it didn't go to well. It runs sluggish and the fps jumps all over the place. I've googled and found out that some of these older games don't run too well on newer hardware so I was thinking about a gaming pc to play these older games but like I said Im dumb when it comes to this and the details I have from google are pretty confusing.

If I built a computer based on the hardware needed to run Allied Assault smoothly what hardware would I need. I've found some minimum requirements but I really want to get the best out of it.

Can anybody give any good setups that would be useful for this?

[Ziggy]

Well if you want to you could build a older computer using used parts for dirt cheap. Allied Assault will run fine on a Pentium 4 system with a GeForce 4 or better graphics card. I remember running Allied Assault on my 1.5Ghz P4 with 512MB RAM and a GeForce 4 and it ran just fine. But like I said, used parts are dirt cheap so you could build something even better.

Instead of trying to find the specs you want, it might be easier to set a budget and get the best you can. I haven't been keeping an eye on the how much the used Core 2 CPUs go for, but maybe they're cheap enough for you (don't know what you're budget is). One thing I can tell you for sure, if you go with a P4 era, make sure the motherboard doesn't use RD (Rambus) RAM.

[Hobie-wan]

Have you tried compatibility mode? Maybe it will help. Right click on the shortcut and choose properties. Compatibility tab, try setting to XP. You might also try the 'run as admin' at the bottom as well.

[Ziggy]

I figured since he said he googled it, that there's no good way to run the game on 7.

[Hobie-wan]

MS page says both 32 and 64 bit should have no problems.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compat ... &os=32-bit

Maybe give windows update a spin if it hasn't run at all yet? Any drivers that were on the system when it left the box are likely to be more than a month old.

[SegaDreamscape]

I dont think its Windows 7 on its own thats causing problems, the graphics are really bad with unbelievable screentear and it slows down to a crawl at times. I have tried all the compatability modes and changed options in my graphics drivers (ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 ) but nothing works to run it smoothly. Ive also tried to play Dungeon Keeper 2 and cant get it to start.

I dont play recent pc titles, ive a ps3 i use when i want to play something with good graphics which isn't too often.

I think a full build of a new (old) pc to run xp would be best. I remember reading reviews of pc games in the past that allways had the reccomended set up and then details of the set up that the reviewers used. It was allways hardware that was way out of my price range but now not so much. The problem is now I dont have a clue what that hardware was.

[CRTGAMER]

I dont think its Windows 7 on its own thats causing problems

Err if you say so. Every newer operating system has great new features, but at the same time a hog of system resources.

I have swappable boot drives for my wife's PC. Amazing how quickly the Win 98 drive runs in comparison to a newer system. The DOS drive loads as if its almost a cart. A trade off in keeping up to date vs playing that older game.

Maybe go with XP for that older system and use WIN 98/95 compatibility mode for the older games.

[Hatta]

Why not dual boot XP on the same machine? It's probably not your hardware, but the OS.

[Ziggy]

I was gonna say dual boot XP, but that's IF you can. XP is getting dated, so you might not be able to run it on newer machines (if the drivers don't exists). There has to be hardware out there that doesn't have XP drivers. Not to mention that even if there are drivers available that doesn't mean they'll be on the XP install disc, and you'll have to deal with that.

[Erik_Twice]

I would also try XP and see how it runs, 7 is notable for this kind of compatibility problems.