Performance mystery

[Sllutmonkey69]

Re: Performance mystery

I'm running a 3000+ 1 gig of ram and a 6600GT. I play at setting medium with 100% distance. Zero lag or performance issues.

This game has some serious problems and there doesn't seem to be any easy solutions. The only real problem vs solution that I have seen is those people that HAVE HT turned on experience problems. I assume the new patch will fix some of these.

One last thing you could try is clean install of windows and the game with all the latest drivers for the video card and the chipset for your motherboard is important. I have heard a bunch of people say this has fixed some problems for them.

[signa]

Re: Performance mystery

This seems to occur only when i'm on a server with a bunch of people or when running a local game with bots.

this seems to suggest maybe the cpu is the bottleneck. obviously the vidcard isnt the problem unless its some weird driver issue. depending on your cpu and mobo models, you might be able to overclock. is your chip a northwood?

[vidh]

Re: Performance mystery

I would imagine its all about how well your system is tuned and tweaked

I guess so. I´m currently reading the XP Tweaking Companion from www.tweakguides.com. Hope I can find some tips there to improve my performance

Thanks for all the replys guys!

[Shamus]

Re: Performance mystery

I guess so. I´m currently reading the XP Tweaking Companion from www.tweakguides.com. Hope I can find some tips there to improve my performance

Thanks for all the replys guys!

I use that guide and I feel confident it will help you too.

[Valorum]

Re: Performance mystery

this seems to suggest maybe the cpu is the bottleneck. obviously the vidcard isnt the problem unless its some weird driver issue. depending on your cpu and mobo models, you might be able to overclock. is your chip a northwood?

I'm starting to think the same thing. I'm not sure i have a Northwood. How can i tell? My CPU is one of these:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/scr...+on+selections
I supposedly have a stepping 4 model. Not sure which one out of the list it is and if it matters...?

I'm also wondering if the mainboard is the bottleneck, since it's not dual channel apparently. It's the Intel 845EBT. I may try a 865PE chipset board; they're relatively cheap and seem to be a much better performer, and will allow my CPU & RAM for stretch their legs a little more for not a whole lot of money. But then i may need to get matched RAM modules to get DDR? Which would be another $80-$100... Ugh.. might just as well start looking at getting a nice AMD+mobo+RAM combo then... Just to play a friggin game! :)

[Valorum]

Re: Performance mystery

I would imagine its all about how well your system is tuned and tweaked.

I like to think my system is pretty well tweaked. I've gone through full system tune-ups in the past on several occasions and tend to keep my system in good shape with no unnecessary crap running etc.

I'll check out that guide that was mentioned here and go through it. I may discover a few things i hadn't touched yet.

[Valorum]

Re: Performance mystery

I bought an Audigy 2 ZS (yeah, bad timing with the new X-Fi stuff coming out ) and after i installed it my FPS seemed to have gone up some. My old sound card was a SB 16 PCI. I was expecting an improvement, since the old card was doing all the EAX stuff etc in software, while the new one does it all in hardware. So score an improvement there.

At the same time though, i found that my XP firewall was still up and running, so i turned that sucker off. So i'm not entirely sure if that contributed to the improvement as well.

Yet even with the better FPS (still nothing stellar) it drops down into the 20s and below farily often after a while.

I've started to wonder if perhaps i need more than 1GB of RAM. Reason i'm thinking about this is... when i used to have 512MB of RAM, and i'd exit a big game, my computer would do a LOT of HD activity and slowly "recover", indicating a lot had been swapped out to make room for the game etc. When i went to 1GB, a lot of that went away and my computer was much more responsive. Now when i exit BF2 i get that same "recovering" behavior again, indicating lots of swapfile activity. So i'm kind of suspecting i'm low on available RAM. So that might mean i need to up my RAM to more than 1GB. Unfortunately my current mobo only has 2 slots and i already have 'm filled up with 2x512MB. Add to that my mobo is non-dual channel capable. So i'd have to up my mobo to something better (865PE chipset probably), get more / new memory... It's starting to get expensive

[signa]

Re: Performance mystery

I'm starting to think the same thing. I'm not sure i have a Northwood. How can i tell?

download and run CPUZ. it will tell you your cpu / mobo / ram model numbers and a ton of other stuff..

http://www.cpuid.org/download/cpu-z-130.zip

[ChopperKill]

Re: Performance mystery

Ok firstly BF2 is not CPU limited. This has been shown in a fairly rigourous test on a respected site that I can't remember right now but could maybe find if I hunted but I haven't got time right now. Anyway trust me the difference between the minimum CPU and an FX55 was about 3 frames per second.

Dual channel RAM will also give you a very minimal performance boost about 5% at very best. So if you're getting 20 frames you will get 21 with dual channel. Dual channel is overrated. Nice if you can take it but no where near what some people make it out to be. Again there are many, many good tests and benchmarks that show this.

BF2 is HIGHLY ram dependant. This keeps coming up time and time again on here. Why does it stutter? Why low frame rates? Why can't I run on high etc etc. Most of the people with these problems have 512MB-1GB RAM. BF2 needs 1.5GB-2GB to run properly and you DEFINATLEY need it to run with high textures especially if everything else is on high with AA. I went from 1GB to 1.5GB and it cured my stutters and allowed me to run on high textures but I still come within 50MB of hitting the swap file.

When you play on an empty server or a small map no where near as many resources are being used or loaded by your PC so you will get much better frames. Think about it. The PC isn't having to render and handle all those other player models and the vehicles and the effects and explosions and physics and chat etc etc etc.

The problem is you said you get the same results on low settings. This is very strange and I can't really put that down to RAM. I have a 6800GT 1.5GB RAM and an XP3200. I run everything on high 1280x1024 with 16AF and 4AA and I get about 25-30fps. Smooth enough for gameplay and no real stutters so it's good for me. To be fair it sounds like what you're getting is about right for high settings but I would expect them to get better when you turn stuff down.

[Shamus]

Re: Performance mystery

I've started to wonder if perhaps i need more than 1GB of RAM.

Valorum, there is no single fix in your situation because you have an excellent vid card, a decent CPU but low memory bandwidth. BF2 consumes not only large amounts of system RAM but it also uses large amounts of memory bandwith. Because you are running your memory at 333Mhz in single channel through the frontside bus its just not going to be able to keep pace with a comparible system using dual channel memory and AMDs onchip memory controller.

In essence, I suggest that you need more memory bandwidth than memory capacity. You can save about 350MB just by turning off the background menu movies and switching to english only voices.

[Valorum]

Re: Performance mystery

Thanks for the feedback.

To be fair it sounds like what you're getting is about right for high settings but I would expect them to get better when you turn stuff down.

That's the kicker indeed. I would be fine with it if it turned out to be i'm trying to crank up stuff too much and simply should step down some to get better FPS. But that's not the case here strangely enough. Of ocurse there's -some- difference between 1280x1024 @ High vs 800x600 @ Low, but nothing earth shattering, more like maybe on the scale or 10FPS or so.

I suspect the RAM, the CPU and the mainboard. The RAM reasoning makes sense. I think the pattern i see is that people with more than 1GB don't have these problems. As for the CPU... 2.53GHz should be ok for most stuff i would hope! Leaves the mobo... which -could- contribute some.. it's at the very least limiting how much data my CPU can move around, so upgrading it a bit to allow my CPU to breathe would make some sense. The APG slot is also "only" 4x, although i don't think i've had anybody say that you must have 8x, rather that 4x and 8x don't really make much if any of a diff.

So i could look at replacing my 2x512MB with 2x1GB, and perhaps at the same time up replace my mobo... but then i'm getting close to where i'm thinking i should just get a good Athlon 64+mobo+new RAM combo

[Valorum]

Re: Performance mystery

Valorum, there is no single fix in your situation because you have an excellent vid card, a decent CPU but low memory bandwidth.

I've started to think it's indeed not just a "replace this one thing and you're good to go" kinda deal. The mobo+CPU+RAM interaction asks for a good balance between the components, and it looks like mine is not ideal. I guess i have to decide how i want to address that (if at all). Thanks for the feedback.

[Shamus]

Re: Performance mystery

Thanks for the feedback.

So i could look at replacing my 2x512MB with 2x1GB, and perhaps at the same time up replace my mobo... but then i'm getting close to where i'm thinking i should just get a good Athlon 64+mobo+new RAM combo

It sucks to have to upgrade hardware just to play a game. But you are answering your own question I think.

If you upgrade only the board and RAM you will extend the life of your box by about a year. By spending an extra dollar and adding an AMD 64 S939 CPU, you will extend the life of your rig by at least two years.


EDIT
I want to add that you don't need expensive, super-duper fancy RAM for AMD 64 to shine because the dual channel memory controller makes up for any latency concerns unlike systems with a traditional front side bus.

[Valorum]

Re: Performance mystery

Do you have any suggestions on decent cpu + mobo + ram perhaps?

[Shamus]

Re: Performance mystery

A venice core 3500+ would be great but most any of the 3500+ cores OC to 2.5 easily. I have the ASUS A8V Deluxe Rev. 2 motherboard using a VIA chipset but most prefer the NF2 chipset. So long as it has a working AGP/PCI lock and voltage adjustments for RAM DIMMS and CPU you can consider the board a good overclocker and performer. For RAM, most find that the name brand value priced modules work perfectly.