Slow Alt-tabbing (in and out of games)

[Eureka]

So right now I have a relatively strong system for the games I run, Athlon x2 @ 3.2ghz, 4gb ram @ 1000mhz, and AMD 4890. However, with some games I'm still seeing delay in alt-tabbing in and out of games. The source games in particular show this, where there is an amount of "black screen" time. Counter-Strike source, Half Life 2, etc.

Is this an issue with the amount of RAM I have? With memory so cheap I figure I could pick up another pair of 4gb DDR2 for $25.

 

[vj8usa]

That's inherent to some games; it's not because your system is slow/weak. I play TF2 a lot (also Source engine), and it can be noticeably slow to alt tab in to/out of, and sometimes gets messed up when i alt tab back in (missing shaders, purple water, etc.).

Other games may crash/fail to load completely when you try to alt tab, or can take a VERY long time (like Mass Effect, which took me 30+ seconds sometimes to switch back into).

 

[GaryJohnson]

If a game is running at a different resolution/refresh rate/color depth than your windows desktop there can be a delay when alt-tabing because it's changing resolutions.

 

[dguy6789]

Originally posted by: vj8usa
That's inherent to some games; it's not because your system is slow/weak. I play TF2 a lot (also Source engine), and it can be noticeably slow to alt tab in to/out of, and sometimes gets messed up when i alt tab back in (missing shaders, purple water, etc.).

Other games may crash/fail to load completely when you try to alt tab, or can take a VERY long time (like Mass Effect, which took me 30+ seconds sometimes to switch back into).

QFT.

It's more about the game than your hardware. My computer with 8GB of ram doesn't alt tab instantly out of every game, some can take a little bit of time.

 

[Eureka]

Originally posted by: GaryJohnson
If a game is running at a different resolution/refresh rate/color depth than your windows desktop there can be a delay when alt-tabing because it's changing resolutions.

It's definitely not that, I try to run at native resolution.

The funny thing about all this is that Half Life 2 (the original, 5+ year old game) still takes a good 20 seconds of black screening, while Crysis alt-tabs instantly.

At least Crytek knows how to optimize a game.

To dguy6789, do you feel like having that 8 gb of ram is worth it for gaming? Or should I stick with 4gb?

The most hardware intensive thing I do is DVDShrink or Nero burning, and then gaming. Will having an extra 4 gb of ram help with DVD encoding/copying?

Or should I wait until quad-cores drop some more in price and pick up one later?

 

[dguy6789]

I feel like it's nice to have. Superfetch takes full advantage of it and caches even more stuff to memory so general system usage is more snappy. 64 bit programs like Photoshop CS4 can take full advantage of all of the memory too if that's your cup of tea.

DDR2 prices right now are absurdly good, I seriously doubt they will ever be this good again. As DDR3 becomes mainstream and DDR2 becomes old, DDR2 prices will go up and DDR3 prices will go down just like DDR1 and DDR2 did. If you can afford it, might as well take the plunge imo.

 

[Slugbait]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
The most hardware intensive thing I do is DVDShrink or Nero burning, and then gaming. Will having an extra 4 gb of ram help with DVD encoding/copying?

No. Transcoding speed depends on the proc. Ripping speed depends on the optical drive.

At least Crytek knows how to optimize a game.

There are more than a few people who would probably argue this with you...

And 4 gigs is more than enough for gaming.

 

[vj8usa]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
At least Crytek knows how to optimize a game.

How quickly something alt tabs isn't due to just the optimization of the game. The Source engine is generally very well optimized - look how easily it runs even on GPUs that are several generations old. Conversely, Crysis's CryEngine2 brings damn near everything to its knees.

 

[haffey]

Just FYI: if you get invisible players after alt-tabbing in TF2, record a demo and stop it

 

[Eureka]

Originally posted by: vj8usa

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
At least Crytek knows how to optimize a game.

How quickly something alt tabs isn't due to just the optimization of the game. The Source engine is generally very well optimized - look how easily it runs even on GPUs that are several generations old. Conversely, Crysis's CryEngine2 brings damn near everything to its knees.

Actually, I'd have to disagree on that. In my opinion, it scales very well graphically. Sure if you turn up all the settings every system gets knocked over like nobody's business, but if you turn down the settings it still runs amazingly well. My old x850xt back from '04 would still pull out Crysis on low settings, and it was still an amazing experience.

 

[0roo0roo]

win xp?

ouch..
it was never good at alt tabbing out of games.

 

[Eureka]

I've switched to Vista 64bit now.

 

[SonicIce]

Originally posted by: Eureka
The funny thing about all this is that Half Life 2 (the original, 5+ year old game) still takes a good 20 seconds of black screening, while Crysis alt-tabs instantly.

thats seems too long for that game.. cant say why though

 

[Absolution75]

When you alt tab out of source engine games, the engine basically (while not exactly. . .) pauses while you alt tab out. When you alt tab in, the CPU must process all the old data along with the current data, hense the delay.