What are the system requirements?

CPU: AMD 2500 + or above INTEL Pentium 4 – 2.0GHz
memory: 512MB (1GB Recommended)
Cards: 128M memory Nvidia GeForce 5700
ATI Radeon 9200 graphics card or other equivalent
Hard disk space: 3.5GB
DirectX: 9.0c

Actual Required hard disk space: 5.3GB

The problems with the system RAM requirements are manifold. They don’t mention that RoM will only run on Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7. No Windows 98. No OS X. No Linux, or at least not natively. And those issues only scratch the surface, as the two main Windows versions have different hardware requirements of their own. Vista and Windows 7 are similar enough that I’m going to treat them as being essentially identical. I firmly believe that FAI should differentiate between the memory requirements of Windows XP and Windows Vista/Windows 7. Read on to see why.

Let’s begin with the system RAM requirements for WinXP. I’m going to give you fair warning right now: There will be some technical stuff that’s not really easy (even for me) to follow or explain clearly. It’s there for informational purposes, not because it’s hugely important in helping you run RoM. Bear with me.

WinXP will run on as little as 256MB of RAM. It won’t be very happy, but it will run. Microsoft recommended 512MB, but even then that’s not really enough, especially with the dizzying number of programs that Windows can load when it starts up. Most people don’t think about it, but every time they install an anti-virus utility, browser toolbar, search helper, a utility for their keyboard or mouse, and so on, each one of those programs takes up a bit of the available system memory (RAM). And for each one, that means less RAM for the OS itself to use, and less for each application (in this case, the RoM client program) to use. When the WinXP runs out of available RAM, it begins to shift some of its data to the computer’s hard drive, into what’s called a “page file”. If XP needs the data and it’s not in memory, it goes to the page file and pulls it out, and will put other data that it doesn’t need at the moment into the page file. The smaller the amount of available free RAM, the more often XP will do this. Since a hard drive is far slower to access than RAM is, it takes more time to read and write this data.

And if your computer has “integrated graphics”, Bog help you. I’m not going to cover graphics with this post, but integrated graphics will “steal” some of the system RAM in your computer so it can better display, well, graphics. Windows *is* a graphical OS, after all. The more system RAM the graphics subsystem uses for itself, the less “free” RAM you have for applications such as RoM. ‘Nuff said on that.

Frogster’s “system requirement” for RAM is 512MB. What they don’t tell you is that it’s the amount of “free” (available) memory needed *after* the OS and its startup programs have loaded. Obviously, if your computer only has 512MB of RAM, RoM is not going to run very well. It’s going to be slow to respond, especially after you’ve been playing for awhile.

It is my opinion that the *minimum* total system RAM needed to run RoM on Windows XP should be 1042MB (1GB). Period. If your computer doesn’t have at least that amount of RAM, or isn’t able to use that much, you’re not going to enjoy playing RoM. It is also my opinion that the *recommended* total system RAM for playing RoM should be at least 2048 MB (2GB).

Let’s move on to Vista and Windows 7. The hardware requirements for both are similar, and are higher than those for Windows XP. Microsoft recommends a *minimum* of 512MB, but if you haven’t been sleeping continually for the past three years or so, it’s obvious that you need more than that. Extensive studies (by others, and observations made by Yours Truly) have shown that Vista has a “sweet spot” of 2048MB (2GB) total system RAM. More is better, of course.

It’s my opinion that the *minimum* total system RAM needed to run RoM on Vista or Win7 is 2048MB (2GB). It’s my opinion that the *recommended* total system RAM for playing RoM should be at least 4096 MB (4GB).

If you want *more* than 4GB RAM (and who wouldn’t?), you must use a 64-bit version of WinXP, Vista, or Win7. This is due to the absolute amount of RAM that a 32-bit operating system can directly address. Due to technical reasons, a 32-bit OS can really address only about 3.5GB RAM. But a 64-bit OS can address more than a *terabyte* (1000 GB!) of RAM. But even most high-end workstations are limited to having no more than 64(!) GB RAM installed. The average consumer machines can usually handle anywhere from 6GB to 8GB RAM.

Finding out how much RAM is in your machine:

The easiest way to find out how much memory is installed in your computer is to find the My Computer (WinXP) or Computer (Vista & Win7) icon on your desktop. Right-click on it, then select Properties from the context menu.

For WinXP: You will see a window marked “System Properties“. This will tell you which version of Windows XP you have installed (Home or Professional, 32-bit or 64-bit), who the OS is registered to, and which processor and how much system RAM is installed. In my case, for my (t)rusty HP DV6000 notebook, it is running WinXP Home (32-bit), is registered to me, has an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor running at (supposedly) 1.99Ghz and has 1.25GB RAM. (I swear the processor is no faster than 1Ghz, but that could just be my imagination based on the glacial speed at which the poor beastie seems to stumble along.  ) I *do* know that the ATI Mobility 200 graphics controller isn’t supported by RoM, especially with the stingy 32Mb of onboard graphics RAM it has.

For Vista & Win7: You will be shown a window titled “View basic information about your computer“. The area at the top of the window will show you which version of Vista or Win7 is installed. The next area will be marked “System“, and will show the Windows Experience Index (WEI), your processor type and speed, and the amount of system RAM installed and the type of OS installed (32-bit or 64-bit). For example, on my desktop machine I’m running Windows 7 Professional (64-bit), my machine has a WEI of 5.9, has an Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz processor and has 8GB of RAM installed. (It may not be the latest and greatest, but it’s snappy enough for my purposes.)

Finding out what kind of memory your computer has and how much can be installed:

For that information, you need to look in the manuals that came with your computer. If you don’t have those available, you can go to the OEM manufacturer’s (OEM–Original Equipment Manufacturer) website and find it there. Usually, that information is found in the “Support” area. You will need to know the model number (or, at least the model *series*) of your computer. Even then, on some sites the information can be a bit difficult to find. What you are looking for is something that looks like “PC800″, “PC2700″”PC3200″, PC5400″, or something very similar. Some memory types are also referred to as “RDRAM” or “SDRAM”. Those stand for “RAMBUS Dynamic RAM” and “Serial Dynamic RAM”. You may also see a term like “DIMM”. That stands for “Dual In-Line Memory Module”. Those latter terms aren’t really important. Just informational.

Once you know the kind of RAM your computer uses and how much can actually be installed in it, do *not* purchase RAM from the OEM. This will cost you much more than if you purchased it elsewhere, even at a big box store like Best Buy or at a smaller, privately-owned local store. If you have a credit card, you’re far better off purchasing RAM and other computer upgrades from a reliable online seller such as NewEgg or TigerDirect.

Maximizing “free” system RAM:

As I said above, many people don’t realize just how many startup programs load along with Windows. If you have a limited amount of system RAM in your computer, you can temporarily disable many of these programs without shutting your computer off or tinkering with a program that Microsoft includes with Windows (msconfig.exe). The easiest way to do this is to look at the righthand side of the Taskbar. Hover your mouse pointer over the icons there, and you should see a tooltip that tells you what program that icon represents. Most of the time, you can right-click on the icon and select “Close”, “Exit”, or “Cancel” from the context menu that pops up. What you should *not* shut off are anti-virus programs or programs that control your keyboard. Leave those running. The only drawback to this trick is that after you’re finished playing RoM, you will probably have to restart your computer in order to allow the programs you’ve shut down to restart.

Using msconfig.exe:

You *can* use the msconfig.exe program to *permanently* keep some or most of the startup programs from loading, but you shouldn’t try this unless you’re comfortable with messing with the computer’s configuration.

For those using WinXP: Open the Start menu, then select “Run”. In the text box, type “msconfig” (without the quotes) and press Enter. This will run the configuration program.

For those using Vista or Win7: Open the Start menu and in the search box, type “msconfig” (without the quotes). Select (left-click) “msconfig.exe” from the program list.

For both: You will see a series of tabs at the top of the msconfig window. Click on “Startup” to display all of the startup programs that load with Windows. Each heading can be “stretched”, so move your pointer between the headings marked “Startup Item” and “Manufacturer” until it turns into a vertical bar. The heading “Startup Item” should be highlighted. Grab the bar and move it to the right, so you can see the full names of the items in that list.

Note that all (or almost all) of the items will have a checked box next to them. Without actually looking at what *you* have in your list, I cannot tell you all of the items that can be shut off. I *can* give you a list which I *know* are safe to shut down, though, based on what I actually have running on my Win7 machine. These include, but are not limited to:

Sun Java Updater
ATI Customer Care
Catalyst Control Center
Directory Opus
Adobe Reader
Curse Client

To shut off any of your startup programs, uncheck them from the Startup Item list. Then click “Apply”. In order to make sure they’re shut of, you *must* restart your computer. It may not make a huge amount of system RAM available, but every little bit can help.

Warning: If you’re using Vista or Win7, do *not* uncheck any items marked “Microsoft Windows Operating System”!!!

 Founder of GamertechTV, and EIC, executive editor of GamertechTV Read more from this author

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