slowdown in games

Willetts

n00b
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
11
Hello :)

I've recently upgraded my video card from a X800 256MB to a X1900XT 512MB. When playing games my fps drops quite low when there is alot of open space and busy parts of a map. In Battlefield 2 my fps drops alot in busy areas and I'm not sure what is causing this to happen. I think it may be my CPU but I am not sure. The resolution I play on is 1280x1024 with all the settings turned up.

Here are the System Specs

AMD 64 3200 Venice (2.0Ghz)
GA-K8NMF-9 nForce4
2GB DDR400 (4x512MB)
ATI Radeon X1900XT 512MB
Hiper 525W PSU
Audigy 2 ZS
Windows XP Home
 
How severe are the fps dips that you are talking about? Can you get fraps and test it? Is vsync on or off?
 
That card would most likely be slightly held back by the CPU. Why not give it a little overclocking?


Here is a guide to get started ;)
 
Thanks for the quick replies :)

Vsync is set to Always off.

When there is not much action on screen my fps is around 70fps or more but then in busy areas or very open spaces it can drop to about 30 fps. Thanks for the link quadnad but I don't like overclocking. Do you think a CPU upgrade would resolve this problem?

Thanks for your help
 
Willetts said:
Thanks for the quick replies :)

Vsync is set to Always off.

When there is not much action on screen my fps is around 70fps or more but then in busy areas or very open spaces it can drop to about 30 fps. Thanks for the link quadnad but I don't like overclocking. Do you think a CPU upgrade would resolve this problem?

Thanks for your help

I think it would be a good idea for you to check out your FPS using FRAPS before you consider upgrading your proc. Although this review doesn't show your card, it does show one below (x1800xt 512) and above (x1900xtx) both of which drop to the same 29fps low. They are on much higher image quality settings though. Hardware-wise it's also running a faster proc.
 
Also, compare your performance with other similiar systems. While I don't usualy like 3dmark as a performance indication, it does provide a platform to compare to other systems.

Before you upgrade processors, I would run 3dmark and then check their database to see what kind of scores other people are getting with your same specs.
 
Sorry should of mentioned in my first post, I've had fraps running while playing games to monitor the frame rate and the fps drops in busy areas. Also I've run 3DMark05 and scored 8849, I've looked at other systems similar to mine and they score around the same.
 
Try running the game at a very low resolution with AA/AF off. If the game sill has some slowdown, wouldn't that tell you that the cpu is working too hard? Is my thinking flawed there??
 
Just played battlefield 2 at 800x600 and still get the fps drop in busy areas and in open spaces.
 
Well lucky you, AMD just dropped their prices.

x2 3800 64 is around 150.00 on the egg. :)
 
Cool, don't think I can order from newegg, I'm in the UK. So its definately my CPU causing this? Will a 3800 X2 give me a good increase in performance?

Thanks for all your help :)
 
I can't comment on the difference in performance from a 3200 to x2 3800. I'm sure someone here can though. I think 4200s are going for around 200.00.
 
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