Help me find the bottle neck...

[Fjive]

I've just started playing Empire at war, certain areas where there are rains or heavy battles...my machine lags....here's the specs

Sempron 2600+ (Socket A)
1 GB DDR 400
128mb DDR ATI 9550
Seagate 120GB 7200rpm

Another question, how much of a diff will i get if i upgrade my radeon to a 256mb X 1600 pro ?

Edit : woops...forgot that my mobo only has AGP and not PCI-E...anyway i found some cheap 9600XT 256mb...is it worth the upgrade ? how about the GF 6600 128mb ?

 

[notanotheracct]

well if the info from this site holds any water http://www.gameharvest.com/detail178-Star-Wars:-Empire-at-War.html then the only thing i would guess might improve things is a better video card... your CPU should be fine, HD doesn't matter, and if 1gb RAM isn't enough....

i know for empire earth my PC met all the minimum requirements but once the map was full of the max number of units and many buildings things hit a crawl. trying EE on a much better PC later made a HUGE difference, i never saw any form of lag again. the minimum usually doesn't mean too much unfortunately, it's just a teaser of what you can get away with.

just sharing a story, sorry i can't be of help

 

[imported_rod]

The 9600XT isn't much of a step-up from a 9550. Consider getting a 9800Pro/6800GT/7800GS.

RoD

 

[Raduque]

the 6800 series cards are, imo, best Bang/Buck on AGP. 6800NU, especially if you can unlock, if you can find it around $130-150 is a great deal.

 

[Fjive]

Those cards u guys just mentioned...they are way out of my budget...i can only afford a low-mid range card...or prob a high-low range card...only cards i found are 9600XT and the vanilla GF 6600...

 

[imported_rod]

Well, no point buying a card that is only 10% better than your current one. If you sell the 9550, that will give you some more cash won't it. Otherwise, consider waiting 'till you can afford something better, or look for something 2nd hand. You'll find some ppl are selling their 6800Ultra because they 'need' a pair of 7800GTX's.

RoD

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: Fjive
Those cards u guys just mentioned...they are way out of my budget...i can only afford a low-mid range card...or prob a high-low range card...only cards i found are 9600XT and the vanilla GF 6600...

Get a 6600GT.

Then next step up is the 6800NU (then unlock it), or the 6800GS and then the best AGP card is the 7800GS.