What can I expect and what can I do?

[SR^Kano]

I've been playing BF2 a while, but have been dissapointed with some time with the FPS I'm getting in the game. My system specs are:

Athlon XP 2500+ Barton CPU (1.89Ghz)
XFX 6600GT AGP (Tweaksrus 77.77 drivers; not overclocked)
768MB of DDR 2800 memory (One 256 MB stick and one 512)
Rather decent but rahter old Gigabyte MOBO (GA-7VY600; not dual channel)
Standard Western Digital 80GB HD
Brand new Antec SmartPower 500W

I get about a max of 40FPS running at medium, and 15FPS flying. This is running at 1024x768x100 with everything on medium, AA off, view distance 100%. The lag is even worse in some maps, getting random lag to the point where its miserable. I've heard some people with the same card as me can get decent FPS and run at all high.

So any tips? What kind of performance and what settings should I run at, and what should I expect to get running at those settings? Should I download new drivers, delete/reinstall stuff? I have defragmented recently, but it seems to make no difference.

I also have about $100 to spend. Although I'd rather save it for a much newer nicer rig, which might take a year...

All-in-all I just want the game to look good and run well, so any help is apreciated.

[xolinlevh]

Re: What can I expect and what can I do?

well in my opinion, more ram.

[Towie]

Re: What can I expect and what can I do?

I found this post very helpful, IMO it should be stickified

[neo265]

Re: What can I expect and what can I do?

The best course to suggest is to play with the in game settings, dropping certain things to low will help greatly. I went from 768 to 1024 of ram and saw only a decrease in loading time and a bit less stuttering in certain places. FPS was hardly affected.

As much as you dont want to drop the settings, it will help and save some money.

[Prince]

Re: What can I expect and what can I do?

If you actually want to upgrade buy a gig of RAM. If not then just drop your settings down a level like neo said.

[SR^Kano]

Re: What can I expect and what can I do?

I'm pretty sure that buying a gig of RAM will mostly only help load times. I think it'd be better just ro save my money. Really I think I should be getting better performance with this system, from what I've heard other people say that have similar systems.