Low FPS in UT2k3 w/ Ti4200

[Growltiger]

I recently upgraded my 32 MB GeForce2 GTS to a 64MB PNY Ti4200 card. I was hoping that I would get some better performance in UT2k3, unfortunately, that isn't the case. My FPS is low, nothing every reaching over 35 or so and on average I get in the mid-20s. Here is my syststem:

950Mhz Athlon
512MB RAM
KT133 motherboard with the latest VIA 4in1 drivers installed and I am using the latest Geforce drivers for Win2000.
(nothing overclocked)

I neither have AA enabled, nor do I have anisotropic filtering enabled. Vertical sync is off, as well. I have everything in the NVDIA drivers tab set to performance, but that doesn't seem to do much for me. I have tried running the game @ lower res, but that doesn't change a lot. I have also played with the settings in the game and I can't see a huge difference either.

Any thoughts? I have a fresh install of Win2000, so I don't know what's up. Is there something in the bios that I should enable/disable to increase performcance or I'm I just seeing the limitations of a slower CPU?

 

[Lonyo]

I would say you're fairly CPU limited. That's about it really

 

[selfbuilt]

Agreed, I'm afraid its your CPU holding you back. UT2K3 is very demanding on it ... I know my son's system with an XP1800+ and GeF2 Ti played it fine, but my daughter's Duron 1.3 (about the same as your Athlon 950) and GeF2 Ti is a bit of struggle.

The Ti4200 is a great card, but it can't make up for the CPU in a game like UT2K3. Lowering the graphics settings won't help, as you've noticed ... in fact, you can probably crank them up for a better visual performance since you are CPU-limited anyway.

On the bright side, you could pick up an XP2000+ or so for about $65 or so ... if your mobo can handle it, that will give you a great boost when paired with the Ti4200.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Add another tickmark to "CPU holding you back" and one to "MB/RAM". Sorry to hear that.

- M4H

 

[Growltiger]

Originally posted by: selfbuilt
Agreed, I'm afraid its your CPU holding you back. UT2K3 is very demanding on it ... I know my son's system with an XP1800+ and GeF2 Ti played it fine, but my daughter's Duron 1.3 (about the same as your Athlon 950) and GeF2 Ti is a bit of struggle. The Ti4200 is a great card, but it can't make up for the CPU in a game like UT2K3. Lowering the graphics settings won't help, as you've noticed ... in fact, you can probably crank them up for a better visual performance since you are CPU-limited anyway. On the bright side, you could pick up an XP2000+ or so for about $65 or so ... if your mobo can handle it, that will give you a great boost when paired with the Ti4200.

Well, I bought this system a few years ago (thanks to the HD forum ) and it wasn't the greatest thing in the world then. Basically, it was a good price and better than what I had, but it has limited potential for upgrades (meaning no XP2000+ for me ).

I figured the CPU was the problem, but I wanted a little confirmation before I shelled out money for a new system. Fortunately, there seem to be good deals on nForce2 boards and processors right now, so I guess I'll keep my eyes open and just upgrade. Thanks for the input!

 

[dguy6789]

yea, ut2k3 needs lots of cpu power, I recomend maybe an athlon 1.4Ghz if your system can handle it, or maybe a cheap athlon xp, like a 1500 or 1600.

 

[Blastman]

I read a review of some graphics cards on a Duron 1.3. A GF4 MX440 got 27fps on the Botmatch, an ATI 9700 pro only got 28fps. UT3 can be very CPU limited. The Flyby scales a little better but it isn?t as representative as real game play because nothing is happening on the screen.

Other games that are more graphic card limited will still see a big jump in frame rates.

 

[Pete]

I'd try to upgrade to a $95 Athlon XP 2500+ (512KB L2 cache) and an nForce2 MB with 512MB memory (start out with one stick of 512MB PC2700, then add another later if you need more RAM or want a slight performance boost).