game play is choppy for BF2 and Quake 4 at med settings

[blackrain]

My pc:
abit VT7 mobo (400, 533, and 800 FSB)
2.6ghz Northwood (400 FSB)
evga Geforce 6600 GT (AGP) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130220
G.Skill 2GB 3200 DDR ram timings: 2.5-3-3-6
Seagate 160GB 8mb cache HD
Superflower 350W psu http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/cases/ttgi_350ss_1.html


I had my monitor resolution on 1024x768. I started with Battlefield 2. I don't recall changing the default settings...jsut wanted to get into the play action. Right off the bat I noticed that for every 5 steps there would be a stop. The game seemed to play smoothly so I wasn't sure if it was choppiness or something built into the game.

I loaded up Quake 4 and chose for it to autodetect my settings. It detected me at low settings. I bumped it up to medium settings and I felt the same stop after a few steps during play action. I changed it to low settings and now it played perfectly. No stops at all.

I thought that with a geforce 6600GT and 2GB of CAS 2.5 memory i'de easily get medium settings. I'de be surprised if the 400FSB is limiting me...i've never heard that to be a limiting factor in BF2.

Let me just mention in passing that I just got the geforce card from another user in the FS section. He claims he meant to buy the PCI-E version and since he sent away the UPC code already for a rebate he couldn't return it. I got it for $90 shipped which seems like a great bargain and too good to be true...how do I check t make sure that the video card is performing like it should and that it hasn't had any modifications or been damaged in any way?

I'll also replace my IDE HD with a SATA drive this weekend with the hope of some improvement.

I'de like to run through all of the hardware (especially my video card) and make sure everything is performing the way it should be without problems. Can you help me do that?

 

[Ghouler]

-run Sisandra tests on GPU to see if it performs well against benchmarks.
-turn sound off and see if it gets any better
Good Luck!

 

[Finns14]

Well if its auto detecting you to low settings and you bump them up then yes you will see problems. I have a 7800 and I can't run on all high settings. Also the high the res the lower you settings will have to be.

 

[blackrain]

I forgot to mention that I changed my screen res to 800x600 and still was getting the choppiness. It wasn't until I set it to low settings that I got smooth play. A little disappointing that I can only play low settings smoothly.

 

[imported_rod]

Probably the Video Card. The AGP version of the 6600GT isn't quite as fast as the PCI-E. Also, it run's last-gen games fine, but the newest aren't so forgiving.

Do you have 3DMark05?

I get about 3600 at 1024*768 on 3DMark05.

RoD

 

[Twsmit]

Slow CPU nearly 2 year old video card. Sorry to say it but with those specs you shouldnt expect to run on medium, Quake 4 and BF2 are pretty new games to expect performance like that.

 

[blackrain]

What happened to 6600GT FTW? If I wanted to stay at low settings I would have stuck with the 5200FX and saved $40

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1771957&enterthread=y

I doubt its the cpu...check out the recommended specs:
Recommended Specifications:
CPU: 2.4 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
Video Card with at least 256 MB of RAM

However, I do find it interesting that they recommend 256mb memory. Mine only has 128 mb memory. Could that be it?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Both are bottlenecking you. Cpu isnt exactly high end and neither is the GPU, but then again that does seem a bit low for those specs. Checked to make sure you are getting enough power? That card uses a good deal of power

 

[NaOH]

I had a P4 2.66ghz, 1gb 2.5-3-3-8-2T ddr333, and 6800le agp overclocked that played that game fine on medium settings. Yes it wasn't completely smooth but it ws pretty nice. I occasionally boosted the model textures to high even. Try setting your nvidia drivers for HIGH PERFORMANCE. If that doesn't work then ???. Upgrade?

 

[blackrain]

Originally posted by: AMDUALY
I had a P4 2.66ghz, 1gb 2.5-3-3-8-2T ddr333, and 6800le agp overclocked that played that game fine on medium settings. Yes it wasn't completely smooth but it ws pretty nice. I occasionally boosted the model textures to high even. Try setting your nvidia drivers for HIGH PERFORMANCE. If that doesn't work then ???. Upgrade?

How do I do that? (set nvidia drivers to high performance) I had to save up for this upgrade...upgrading again is not a choice. This was supposed to do the trick. That's why I am investigating hardware problems as opposed to blowing more money.

One thread said 6600GT FTW. Now...everyone is saying its my cpu or my gpu is too old.

 

[blackrain]

Originally posted by: rod
Probably the Video Card. The AGP version of the 6600GT isn't quite as fast as the PCI-E. Also, it run's last-gen games fine, but the newest aren't so forgiving.

Do you have 3DMark05?

I get about 3600 at 1024*768 on 3DMark05.

RoD

I see a free demo version. Will that do the trick?

 

[Cinna696]

yes use the free version

i have an agp 6600gt paired with an athlon 64 3000 with 1gb of ram and it runs smooth at medium settings, that is BF2 @ 1280x1024 @ medium, don't have q4

 

[Maxspeed996]

That does seem wierd , I play it on the system in my sig and it plays fairly well , with the default screen resolution set to 1024x768. In the single player version of the game , i'm able to turn everything to "High". I turned off "dynamic-shadows" and "AA" is set to 4x
My brother has almost the same system as I do , and is running a P4 2.4 , 1-gig of memory , and the same video card ATI x700. and he plays it at the same settings without any slowdowns.
Check your "AA" settings , as setting this too high will definately cause your performance to take a hit.
They say that with this game , you need to make sure to not have a lot of stuff eating up memory in the background.
You say you've kicked things up to Medium.... check the "AA" settings , and try to turn off the dynamic shadows. You'll pick up some good frames by decreasing the settings in both of those options.

 

[Ike0069]

Run 3DMark03 and 05 and post your numbers. That will help us determine if your system is actually performing as it should. Free versions are all that is needed.

 

[m1ldslide1]

I'll also replace my IDE HD with a SATA drive this weekend with the hope of some improvement.

Just wanted to point out that you won't see any improvement by getting the SATA hard drive. Unless you're going raptor, the drive will still spin at 7200rpm and have the same seek times as your current IDE drive (you can verify on newegg). Even if you spend the $300 on a raptor150, which is the fastest non-SCSI hard drive you can get, you won't notice any difference in how the game plays once it's loaded.

Put your cash away and start saving for that new video card...

 

[blackrain]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1

I'll also replace my IDE HD with a SATA drive this weekend with the hope of some improvement.

Just wanted to point out that you won't see any improvement by getting the SATA hard drive. Unless you're going raptor, the drive will still spin at 7200rpm and have the same seek times as your current IDE drive (you can verify on newegg). Even if you spend the $300 on a raptor150, which is the fastest non-SCSI hard drive you can get, you won't notice any difference in how the game plays once it's loaded.

Put your cash away and start saving for that new video card...

I already have the SATA drive in another system. I wasn't going to buy anything new for this system. Just thought that the SATA drive might help, even if by just a litle bit.

i'll be posting my 3dmark results in a few hours

 

[blackrain]

Originally posted by: rod
Probably the Video Card. The AGP version of the 6600GT isn't quite as fast as the PCI-E. Also, it run's last-gen games fine, but the newest aren't so forgiving.

Do you have 3DMark05?

I get about 3600 at 1024*768 on 3DMark05.

RoD

wow, I didn't get 3600 in 3DMark05. Doyou have PCI-E? There's a slight difference between PCI-E and agp.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=190&card2=187

As can be seen above in the gpu comparison, the PCI-E version has a slightly better score.

I got 3147, which isn't too far from the score at gpureview (3281)

So is that a negligible difference?

Do you need to see the details, or is that enough info?

Edit: that was my score at 1024x768

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Your videocard is the biggest bottleneck. Try getting a 7800gt and a better PSU and you will be able to play it on max settings.

 

[l Xes l]

turn off AA and dynamic shadow

 

[blackrain]

Originally posted by: TriggerHappy101
Your videocard is the biggest bottleneck. Try getting a 7800gt and a better PSU and you will be able to play it on max settings.

I don't need to spend more money to get medium settings. Did you read my post? I am not asking about high settings. More importantly, if I had the money don't you think I would have bought a 7800GT?? Wouldn't everyone buy a 7800GT over a 6600GT if they could?? The point is that weeks ago I asked on this forum (see link above) what I need to get medium settings. Almost everyone agreed that 6600GT would do. Now I come back and say im having problems and many of you are saying buy a more expensive card. How ridiculous.

On that note, I took Maxspeed996's advice and turned off dynamic shadowing. Anti-aliasing was already turned off. Seems to play fine at medium settings. I notice a slight pause with change of direction but running in the same direction is smooth. I think the problem is solved.

 

[blackrain]

Originally posted by: AMDUALY
I had a P4 2.66ghz, 1gb 2.5-3-3-8-2T ddr333, and 6800le agp overclocked that played that game fine on medium settings. Yes it wasn't completely smooth but it ws pretty nice. I occasionally boosted the model textures to high even. Try setting your nvidia drivers for HIGH PERFORMANCE. If that doesn't work then ???. Upgrade?

Let me ask this question again...how do you "Try setting your nvidia drivers for HIGH PERFORMANCE'

 

[Cinna696]

right click your desktop, click properties, then the settings tab, then advanced on the bottom, on the new window click 6600gt, then performance and quality settings in a white box that extends from the current window, and then image settigns on the origional window will have a sliding bar, choose high performance


have you tried to defrag your hd, or delete the origional optimization files bf2 creates?

 

[BFG10K]

It's probably your slow CPU holding you back.