3d max problems

[swgomp]

Hey guys, Im trying to run 3d Studio max on my PII 300 w/128megs of ram. But as I increase polygons, my screen goes kinda crazy, the windows wont refresh when minimized, AIM opens funky windows without text boxes, etc. Everything seems to be opening and closing ok, but the video is all screwed up.

Now my question is, if I wanted Max to run better, should I increase my RAM, Video RAM, or CPU? Which would make the greatest impact (with the least amount of money?)

Thanks.
nelson

[coleslaw]

You should upgrade your RAM first. That should be the most cost-effective method. It sounds like your RAM is filling up and it's not able to render some graphics correctly as a result.

[sho.gun]

Agreed, definitely the RAM. You can find very good deals on them nowadays, just use the search feature on the gotdeals page for RAM. After that I'd suggest the vid card because the more powerful your vid card's gpu is, the less instructions your cpu has to handle (graphics are really taxing, especially on older processors). Good luck!

[swgomp]

Cool thanks guys, any hints on how to buy decent memory that wont screw up? How do I know what kinda memory to buy? I think I have SDRam, but does it matter what speed?

[sho.gun]

You can find the type of memory you need in the motherboard manual. Most systems out there uses SDRAM. Kingston, Simple technologies, and crucial makes pretty reliable memory so if you stick with them you shouldn't have a problem, I think they also give lifetime warranty on their sticks.

[coleslaw]

With a PII, you most likely have SRAM, just pick up stick from Crucial (http://www.crucial.com)