BF2 & backround programs

[RampantAndroid]

So I have a 7800GT, and when I see places like hardOCP saying that with the BFG 7800GT OC (my card is my own OCed eVGA 7800GT 460core/1070 mem...I plan to up mem next) they say the max palyable setting is 1600x1200 with 4xAA, 16xAS...

I have a nice 17" LCD limited to 1280x1024....but I get short "lag spikes" where I get a minor freeze. Its enough to annoy me, and I only get it when I turn settings up....I can run 2xAA and 16xAS fine, but I can't hit 4X....

So, first, my rig
Athlon FX53
1 GB 2-3-3-6 DDR400
eVGA 7800GT
BFG nForce 4 Ultra
81.85 video and 6.53 mobo drivers.

So, since everyone else seems to hit higher than me, and higher resolutions......is it backround programs? Backround programs I run:

Microsoft Antispyware
Diskeeper Pro9
AOL IM
Norton Systemworks 05 (w/ antivirus...worm protection enabled)
Plextools Premium
Teamspeak 2
Then just all the default windows crap.

Anything in there that would do it??

Thanks, RA.

 

[rmed64]

 

[rmed64]

You need more than 1GB RAM to run on high settings with no hiccups. BF2 is ram hungry.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Ummm...blank post?

 

[RampantAndroid]

The test rig HardOCP used had only 1 GB of RAM, and no hiccups.

 

[zizo]

my BF2 uses 1.6GB of ram at high settings. I have about 400mb of ram used at start up.

 

[dfloyd]

Well like others have stated it sounds like a ram issue and yes background programs can make a big dent in your ram. The less you have running the more free ram you have when Battlefield starts. When you notice those hiccups if you will look down at your hard drive light its probably on. Whats appears to be happening is your memory is feeling up and its going to the hard drive to swap. So like many have stated with BF II the more memory the better. So first I would personally try and unload every loaded program I could. There are some instant messengers out there that can take up over a hundred MB of memory on their own. So definatly unload everything you can and you should have a much smoother experience. That or if you have the money toss in another gb of memory and you should be fine even with the extra programs running then, but I personally would still try to unload most of them.

Good luck though.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: RampantAndroid
The test rig HardOCP used had only 1 GB of RAM, and no hiccups.

Yeah, but are they running all that crap in the background? (Okay, maybe 'crap' is a little harsh, but that could easily be eating up a few hundred megs of RAM, and BF2 can come close to -- or exceed -- 1GB of usage by itself).

If you want to check your RAM usage, hit ctrl-alt-del and leave Task Manager running while you play your game. On the 'performance' tab, the 'Commit Charge' readout indicates how much RAM is being allocated by all your programs. If the 'Peak' value is greater than the amount of phsyical RAM you have, your system was swapping to disk at some point.

 

[gac009]

shut some of those programs down and find out.

 

[Woofmeister]

Examine your running Processes in Windows Task Manager, not just your Applications. A number of your processes are optional when running BF2 and one or more could be causing the "hitching" of which you speak. Not all the processes are "default windows crap," many of them are optional programs that run at start up but don't show up as Applications.

Not only do those processes compete with BF2 for RAM, some of them can have dramatic effects on how data is processed in RAM. You can get a pretty good idea which processes can safely be shut down by clicking on the "User Name" menu heading in the "Processes" tab. You will likely be able to shut down any running process that associates with your user name (as opposed to "System") and still be able to run BF2. Experiment and see if a single process is the culprit.

I would pay particular attention to any windows-based overclocking program running in processes as a likely suspect.

I had the identical problem with BF2 and adding an additional GIG of RAM didn't fix it. Turned out that the latest version of ASUS AI Overclocker was causing the problem. I uninstalled and reverted back to an older version and voila, problem solved. I never would have figured this out if hadn't examined my running processes.