Why does AoE3 stutter on my setup??

[halluc1nati0n]

My system setup:
AMD 64 3200+ (skt 939)
ASUS A8V-VM SE
1GB DDR RAM
XFX GeForce 6600 Vanilla PCIE (256 MB)
Windows XP Pro SP2

I've tried running AOE3 and even before the opening sequel comes up ..
That is, the Dice gets thrown with Microsoft studios written, the PC lags..
That is, sound comes up first and then video..
Even in-game, there seems to be a lag. It's an irittating snag...
I don't know why this should happen ? -> Game is run @ bare 800 * 600 resolution and even in this resolution .. this snag?

My friends 1 yr old rig -> P4 Intergrated GPU (1 GD RAM) plays the game pretty nice.
Why then - my rig ???
Is my CPU bottlenecked?

 

[ch33zw1z]

What type of RAM do you have? What other software do you have installed and running while playing? What HDD are you using? What drivers are you using for your components?

What's the rest of the specs on your friends PC? Which P4, integrated video does he have?

It could be any number of things.

 

[halluc1nati0n]

1 GB DDR 400 RAM Transcend...
Um .. No other software other than the game whilst running .. only Win XP host processes ..
Hdd - WD 160GB Ultra IDE
Latest nvidia drivers..
How do I check if my Vid card is being used rather than the integrated GPU? I'm beginning to think its the integrated GPU which is being used .. I could be totally wrong though...

 

[ch33zw1z]

Look in Device Manager under Display Adapters and see which one is installed.

 

[imported_Zeke]

Originally posted by: halluc1nati0n
1 GB DDR 400 RAM Transcend...
Um .. No other software other than the game whilst running .. only Win XP host processes ..
Hdd - WD 160GB Ultra IDE
Latest nvidia drivers..
How do I check if my Vid card is being used rather than the integrated GPU? I'm beginning to think its the integrated GPU which is being used .. I could be totally wrong though...

Is your monitor plugged into your video card?

 

[Firsttime]

Just right click, go to properties, then settings. It should tell you what it is. On a side note I was able to play AoE3 at 800x600 with lots of details with a FPS of about 25 on a 9600pro with a Sempron oc'ed to 2.2ghz and a gig of RAM. So you should have no problems with your setup.

 

[oynaz]

"How do I check if my Vid card is being used rather than the integrated GPU? I'm beginning to think its the integrated GPU which is being used .. I could be totally wrong though.."

Well, is your monitor plugged into the right card?

 

[halluc1nati0n]

Yes the monitor is plugged into the card all right....
Right Click -> Properties -> Settings ...
All right?
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/1899/6600vk0.jpg

 

[oynaz]

Yes, that seems right. Why are your desktop resolution so low? And why 16-bit? You are aware that your desktop detail settings (normally) have no effect on your game, right?

 

[halluc1nati0n]

Originally posted by: oynaz
Yes, that seems right. Why are your desktop resolution so low? And why 16-bit? You are aware that your desktop detail settings (normally) have no effect on your game, right?

Oh .. didn't know that..
Well .. anyway this confirms that my display adapter is the 6600...
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/3066/6600propvh4.jpg

 

[oynaz]

Yes, it does. And take a look on the game settings.

 

[halluc1nati0n]

Uh .. Game settings stutter at bare minimum - default settings..
What else could I do in the settings dept.. ?
IS there any 3D benchmarking s/w other than 3D mark ??

Uh .. I forgot to mention this ..
Otherwise should this matter? ?
I bent a pin on my AMD64 chip while assembling, but set it back and there were no problems..
Could that be an issue?

 

[VashHT]

If it was an issue your chip wouldn't work at all, it wouldn't cause stuttering in AOE3. Maybe its something with your sound. You could try disabling sound alltogether and see if the game stutters less.

 

[halluc1nati0n]

Originally posted by: VashHT
If it was an issue your chip wouldn't work at all, it wouldn't cause stuttering in AOE3. Maybe its something with your sound. You could try disabling sound alltogether and see if the game stutters less.

Oh .. The sound angle.. I didn't think about it at all!
OK.. I'll try it..
and yeah Realtek's HD sound driver is known to be faulty right?
I'll disable and check.
Thanks for the insight...