I've got a HP DV8230US laptop computer. it's a monster, 17" screen, core duo, 1 Gb ram, and a Nvidia GO 7400 video with 256MB of dedicated memory.
For the last year it's been kicking ass and taking names; Oblivion on full detail is no problem.
However, I have a confession to make; I like The Sims 2. I like to think that since I bought "The Streets of SimCity" when it came out, It makes me slightly less gay for liking it.
But, anyway, ever since I got the "Seasons" expansion pack, I've been getting CTD's, with the error code being NV4 INFINITE LOOP.
This is weird. and a bummer, as HP hasn't updated the GO 7400 driver since mid 2006. and the stock drivers from Nvidia.com don't work.
So I had to find another fix. I kept a look at memory usage; it looked like the game was blowing through the 256MB dedicated memory on the 7400, and calling up 256MB of swap memory. at the same time that the virtual pool was maxed out.
It may not seem intuitive to you, but due to me seeing this problem before, I knew what the answer was. I turned on the game and after it was running well, put the game to processor affinity with core 1 (not 0).
Fewer CTD's. game runs smoother.
the thing to remember is that 1GB of RAM is not really enough when you are talking about XP (otherwise known as Windows 2000 with PLUS! pack); you have a boatload of not-needed processes running in the background that you don't need, but can't kill. you either need 3GB or better than stock resource allocation.
In a further note: everything runs better on win2k. if you are having problems getting something to run on Win2k, please let me know, i might be able to help.
Of course, I still get CTD's. But that is the Nvidia Driver, not anything I can do.