Unimpressive Doom3 performance

[Kaldskryke]

After reading the articles on HardOCP I was confident that my computer would be able to run Doom3 at a level that was at least playable.

However, after I got things going I found that I could only enjoy reasonable framerates if I set Doom to Low quality, 640x480, and turning off the extra effects and specular mapping. Even with things turned down that much things still get very choppy (particularly where there are multiple light sources, or when I'm using the machine gun). I don't know how to get the framerate displayed, but I'm sure it's fairly low (unless I'm in a dark area with few lights :S)

I have
- an AMD AthlonXP 2600+, which should be ample enough
- 512MB of Kingston DDR ram, again should be enough,
- GeForce FX 5200, OC'd to 285/470

I know the card is pretty crappy by today's standards, but I was led to believe by the Doom3 benchmark article that I should be able to get more playability from even weaker cards. Is there anything else that could be causing my gameplay problems, other than the card?

I have about $350 (Canadian) that I could spend on a video card, but I'd rather save it if there's a way to get my framerates up. If it is indeed the card that is my only problem, then what kind of card should I get, 5900 perhaps?

 

[ohgod]

Keep saving and get a GT.

 

[PadanFain]

I got the exact same system (same ram, cpu) except a 5900 xt. I play 1024 768 with high settings no aa... no problem. Started out with medium and it was very fast and smooth

Got to be the card....

 

[The Batman]

Maybe you've got the castrated 64-bit FX5200?

 

[pistola]

has to be your video card, i have a slower processor than you and im avg 30-50fps. Theres times when I hit th cap 60fps. Yea every once and a while I dip below 30fps but that never lasts but more than a second. It runs smooth as ice, with all the settings set at Hight, and AA/AF off.

 

[tergon]

I have an ASUS 9500 Ultra 256 on P4 3.2 with 512 Dual channel RAM I was getting really crappy FPS 10-20 FPS until I uninstalled the driver and flushed the system with RIP destroyer. After reinstalled the 6.77driver and I am getting 50-60 FPS 10x7 High detail. Cheers hope this helps.

 

[milling_hordesman]

try this:

do the seta r_imageCache tweak in your doom config:
(note: i may have the names wrong, but they look a lot like this)

seta image_cacheMegs "256" <-0.5 of system memory
seta image_cacheMinK "2560" <-beats me, but use previous setting, at least *10
image_useCache "1"

then try the bad boy out. beats me as to why, but it sure as heck helped to smooth out my gameplay.
went from:

640x480
Low quality
20-30fps

to:

1024x768
High quality
40-60fps

i don't know how drastically it will help you, if at all. all i know is that it worked like a friggin' miracle for me, despite how speculative i was about it.

and i should note that this won't increase your timedemo scores, but it should your gameplay smoothness/performance.

EDIT: oh, yes, system specs:

Abit AA8-DuraMax
P4 3.4 Prescott LGA775
1gig DDR2 533mhz
PCX 5900

 

[ToyYoda03]

try this:

do the seta r_imageCache tweak in your doom config:
(note: i may have the names wrong, but they look a lot like this)

seta image_cacheMegs "256" <-0.5 of system memory
seta image_cacheMinK "2560" <-beats me, but use previous setting, at least *10
image_useCache "1"

then try the bad boy out. beats me as to why, but it sure as heck helped to smooth out my gameplay.
went from:

640x480
Low quality
20-30fps

to:

1024x768
High quality
40-60fps

i don't know how drastically it will help you, if at all. all i know is that it worked like a friggin' miracle for me, despite how speculative i was about it.

EDIT: oh, yes, system specs:

Abit AA8-DuraMax
P4 3.4 Prescott LGA775
1gig DDR2 533mhz
PCX 5900

holly molly

i think i need more ram for this

 

[milling_hordesman]

i'm not so sure about that. i used 512 instead of 256 for the numbers, since i've got a gig. i'm sure that the extra ram helped.

if your card has 128mb of memory, you could just use 128/1280 instead of 256/2560 for those settings, since high will only use 256 total, anyways; see, i was just saying 256 since half seemed like a nice round number.

 

[Kaldskryke]

I have an ASUS 9500 Ultra 256 on P4 3.2 with 512 Dual channel RAM I was getting really crappy FPS 10-20 FPS until I uninstalled the driver and flushed the system with RIP destroyer. After reinstalled the 6.77driver and I am getting 50-60 FPS 10x7 High detail. Cheers hope this helps.

Drivers!! I totally should have thought of that. I don't even know if my drivers are up to date.

The card is made by Asus. Should I use Asus drivers or nVidia drivers?

 

[deadoralive]

that is one of the worst video cards in history.

 

[Surly]

$350 canadian will get you into a 9800Pro at any of the big chains (future shop, best buy etc) and you could even save a little if you go mail order. A 9800Pro would also be an order of magnitude difference from your 5200).

 

[Kaldskryke]

Well, I certainly will buy a new video card in the future, but it won't be anytime really soon because I just fixed my problem!

I feel so stupid! My video drivers were year-old Asus drivers. I uninstalled them, cleaned them out properly, and installed the newest forceware drivers from nVidia. The difference is fantastic! I haven't tried any high quality settings yet, but now I can run things at medium, 800x600 with very acceptable framerates.

Thanks for all your help and ideas, including milling_hordesman's config ideas (I'll be sure to try those out later) but I really shouldn't have bothered you guys. I was just being stupid =P.

Maybe in a while I'll get a GT.

 

[HRslammR]

so if the default is:
seta image_cacheMinK "200"

and i want to increase performance yet again, i set it to 2000?

 

[milling_hordesman]

seta image_cacheMegs "256" <-0.5 of system memory
seta image_cacheMinK "2560" <-beats me, but use previous setting, at least *10
image_useCache "1"

let me clarify:

seta image_cacheMegs "256" <-0.5 of system memory
seta image_cacheMinK "2560" <-beats me, but use "image_cacheMegs" at least *10
image_useCache "1"