What is my problem?

[imported_DireIce]

In order for me to play BF2 on my rig I must have the video setting on Low. Why? Where is my problem? CPU? GPU? What?

Here are my system's main specs:

Motherboard: ASUS K8N-E DELUXE Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb ATX
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle 800MHz FSB Socket 754
Memory: 3x DANE-ELEC 512MB 184 DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered
HD: 2x Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8 40GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA133
GPU: XFX PVT40KNDD3 Geforce 6800 128MB DDR AGP

[Sgt.Rock]

Re: What is my problem?

With those specs you should be at least able to run medium. My old rig was a 3200+ Barton with 1GB Corsair XMS (2x512 dual channel) and an eVGA 6800 128MB AGP and I was able to run all medium and some high.

RAM might be the issue, though I'm not personally familiar with the brand you're running.

[imported_DireIce]

Re: What is my problem?

Well, with 1.5gig of ram i wouldn't think it would be the problem. Would it?

My first guess was it might be the video card as others have stated having to run on low settings when playing BF2 from newegg.com reviews concerning the exact card I purchased.

I though the gf6800 128 would pull its weight. Maybe it's the amount of memory on the vidcard? Is there THAT much of a difference between 128 and 256? I have a friend with almost the same specs as I but his gf6800 has 256 and he runs at med reso with no problems.

Or heck do i just bite the bullet and upgrade to the VisionTek XTASY Radeon X850XT PE 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO AGP 4X/8X? My current mobo doesn't support PCI Express I'm considering this AGP version as a potential BF2 saver. I just don't want to waste the $$ when it might be something else.

BTW, I am up to date on all drivers and mobo bios.

[MsgSgt]

Re: What is my problem?

Hey I have the similar to the same problem with my laptop. Inspiron 9300 nVidia 6800 Go 256 (I should have gotten ATI) 1 gig ram pentium m 1.73. It runs on high but has frame rate issues. When on low it is good. I thought it was just the internet connection but even on single player on medium there are some frame rate issues.

My roomate has an acer laptop with ATI x700 128, 2gig ram, pentium m 2.0. He can run on medium with only a few frame rate issues. Also he can select 1400 x whatever resolution and 8x AA in the bf2 option menu and I can't.

What a freaking waste of 3 grand. Any ideals of what can be done or am I just out of luck and out of money?

[imported_DireIce]

Re: What is my problem?

MSG-Sgt, is the memory on your card 128 or 256? I'm really starting to think it might be the 128 on my gf6800.

[Sgt.Rock]

Re: What is my problem?

Like I said, with a 128MB 6800 I didn't have a problem... only other thing I can think of is check and see what processes you have running in th ebackground that may be eating up your RAM.

I pretty much shut down every non-essential task that was running and made sure to keep a couple active spy/adware programs on the machine and run em at least weekly.

MSG-Sgt I can tell you that there is a HUGE difference running 1GB and 2GB of RAM. That alone can help account for a portion of the difference you are experiencing, there's also a noticeable difference in the 2.0 vs. the 1.73 Pentium M's. The 1.73 is roughly a P4 2.8 where the 2.0 has been benchmarked by CNET at close to or slightly faster than a P4 3.2

[OakeyDokey]

Re: What is my problem?

Check if you have Voip and sound hardware excelleration turned on. If so try turning the Voip off and ound to software. Worth a try

[The_Misfit]

Re: What is my problem?

im on all low with a 128mb 5500, heck that card should be at medium easily....

What do you mean by "cant play on anything but low"?

What happens when you bump everything up to medium? And what screen res are you playing on? What monitor?

[imported_DireIce]

Re: What is my problem?

I have VIOP disabled and sound hardware excelleration turned off. I mean by "can't play on anything but low" is that the game is too jumpy with video lag if I try to bump more than 1 or 2 vidoe setting up to medium. If i bump everything up to medium the video lag is so bad that basically I should just change my nick to "Target". I'm playing in 800x600 on a Sony 17" LCD @ 60hz.

Is there a noticable performance difference from a 128m vcard to a 256m vcard?

[imported_DireIce]

Re: What is my problem?

Here is a quick comparison with my system/settings vs my friends:

Friend:GPU GF6800 256 PCIe, 1G RAM, P4 3.8
VideoSettings.setTerrainQuality 3
VideoSettings.setGeometryQuality 3
VideoSettings.setLightingQuality 2
VideoSettings.setDynamicLightingQuality 2
VideoSettings.setDynamicShadowsQuality 2
VideoSettings.setEffectsQuality 3
VideoSettings.setTextureQuality 2
VideoSettings.setTextureFilteringQuality 3
VideoSettings.setResolution 1024x768@60Hz
VideoSettings.setAntialiasing Off
VideoSettings.setViewDistanceScale 1
VideoSettings.setVideoOptionScheme 3

Me: GPU GF6800 128 AGP, 1.5G RAM, AMD 64 3000+
VideoSettings.setTerrainQuality 2
VideoSettings.setGeometryQuality 2
VideoSettings.setLightingQuality 1
VideoSettings.setDynamicLightingQuality 0
VideoSettings.setDynamicShadowsQuality 0
VideoSettings.setEffectsQuality 1
VideoSettings.setTextureQuality 1
VideoSettings.setTextureFilteringQuality 1
VideoSettings.setResolution 800x600@60Hz
VideoSettings.setAntialiasing Off
VideoSettings.setViewDistanceScale 1
VideoSettings.setVideoOptionScheme 3

Why is he able to run at a much higher detail level?

[lcplsickoll]

Re: What is my problem?

Well, the only thing I can see that may be a problem is the 128M of video ram. Although I still think at that resolution you should be able to use higher settings. I'd set the sound options to Sofware/Low/EAX off. Defrag your HD and then make sure you disable any AV software. Do some testing in SP so network lag isn't an issue.

[GreatWhiteShark]

Re: What is my problem?

DireIce some more info plz.

All drivers up to date?
What speed is your cpu running at?
Is your Bios set correctly to run your hardware?
Have you reinstalled BF2 recently?
What effects do you get on med settings?
Have you emptied your "cache" files?
take out one stick of ram and try with the other 2 in there correct slots re your mobo manual this is why 3 sticks or 4 it's the same idea... link.....http://www.totalbf2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29875

[keel]

Re: What is my problem?

In comparison with your friends your machine..

I think I'm right in saying that the 3.8ghz of the P4 will more than likely outperform your 3000 amd64 at the moment, as 64bit is still getting off the ground. That's a helluva lot of power behind your friends machine.

His card is twice your memory capacity, obviously this will allow him to increase his settings compared to that of a machine with 128mb worth of memory. Also, his is PCI-express, considerably faster than AGP. If his motherboard supports PCI-e, it sounds like his is possibly newer, and much more capable of shifting all the information around (this may not be the case though, I'm just taking a stab in the dark).

Ofcourse this wouldn't explain why you can't run yours on medium at least. Yours should be more than capable of taking the job on.

[imported_DireIce]

Re: What is my problem?

All drivers up to date? Yes
What speed is your cpu running at? 2.3ghz
Is your Bios set correctly to run your hardware? Yes but I'm unable to get the vcard running at 8x only 4x.
Have you reinstalled BF2 recently? No
What effects do you get on med settings? Bad video lag/jumpiness
Have you emptied your "cache" files? BF2 cache or windows cache?
take out one stick of ram and try with the other 2 in there correct slots re your mobo manual this is why 3 sticks or 4 it's the same idea... link.....http://www.totalbf2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29875
I have 3 512 sticks in. The memory upgrade (3rd 512 stick) was giving me some issues when i installed it...causing windows to reboot in an endless loop. I upgraded the mobo bios and that seemed to fix it. However, I still get a Memory blue screen once in a while (like once every 2 or 3 days).

[imported_DireIce]

Re: What is my problem?

Ya, that was my though also...i should be able to at least run at a medium setting. Maybe its a memory stick issue. I'll post my exact mems when i get a chance.

Also, what's a good map in SP mode to do my testing with?