Performance Degradation Too Large?

[Ashram]

My comp specs are as follows,

AMD XP @ 2.42 GHz
Asus A7N8X Nforce 2
1.5 GB OCZ PC3500
ATI X850 XT 256 @ 555 Core/ 630 Memory

BF2 Settings: Everything maxed out, 2X AA @ 1024x768

I enjoy creating a local server on a large 64 player map every now and then to practice flying planes and just fool around in general, and I monitor my fps as I do so, it never goes below 70, usually it's close to 100 though.

However, once i play online, or even SP (16 player maps) I see a large degradation in performance. FPS goes way down, fluctuating between the mid 30s to low 40s. I am just wondering if that's normal? 'cause I wouldnt think that I should see anywhere between a 40-60 fps hit even in SP with my setup, I score low 7000 in 3Dmark 05 and close to 13000 in 03.

Any suggestions?

[NoSoup4You]

Re: Performance Degradation Too Large?

My comp specs are as follows,

AMD XP @ 2.42 GHz
Asus A7N8X Nforce 2
1.5 GB OCZ PC3500
ATI X850 XT 256 @ 555 Core/ 630 Memory

BF2 Settings: Everything maxed out, 2X AA @ 1024x768

I enjoy creating a local server on a large 64 player map every now and then to practice flying planes and just fool around in general, and I monitor my fps as I do so, it never goes below 70, usually it's close to 100 though.

However, once i play online, or even SP (16 player maps) I see a large degradation in performance. FPS goes way down, fluctuating between the mid 30s to low 40s. I am just wondering if that's normal? 'cause I wouldnt think that I should see anywhere between a 40-60 fps hit even in SP with my setup, I score low 7000 in 3Dmark 05 and close to 13000 in 03.

Any suggestions?

I find the '05 score hard to believe. I have a p4 3.4 (@3.52 w/1Ghz FSB), 2GB DDR-533, Abit AA8-DuraMAX, X850XT PE and I get ~ 6500.


Despite that, what type of connection do you have?

[Ashram]

Re: Performance Degradation Too Large?

Sorry I meant to say close to 7000, maybe 6500 is about right (I cant remember exactly, but it was definately in the upper range).

My connection is a Sympatico high speed DSL 3 Megabit line.

You have the same video card, and fairly similar specs, what kind of performance do you get, and do you experience the same issue or a large perfomance hit online or in sp?

[NoSoup4You]

Re: Performance Degradation Too Large?

No I do not. I play exclusively online and I have everything maxed out. 1280x1024, All High, 6xAA, 16xAF, 70FPS or so.

I'm guessing that the older processor and chipset may have something to do with it, although I don't know why it would cause the drop. My connection is slightly faster at 5mbps, but theoretically you never reach that speed. Hopefully someone can chime in here.

Also check to make sure all of your drivers are current. I am running Cats 5.11 without problems. Make sure your motherboard drivers and BIOs are all current as well.

[Talus]

Re: Performance Degradation Too Large?

When you're playing online there is a LOT more processing going on.

Your graphics card now how to render each player, vehicle, weapon, bullet etc... and your CPU has to keep track of where everybody is and what they're doing ... and your soundcard now has to play tons of sounds..

I would EXPECT a decrease in FPS while playing online over an EMPTY local server.

If all else fails...update punkbuster manually

[Ashram]

Re: Performance Degradation Too Large?

Thanks for the responses.

I have all current drivers, and bios.

Talus, I realise that going on line will result in a performance drop, or even sp, because the computer has to "work" harder. All I'm saying is the performance hit seems quite significant. Even in SP, why do I experience the same hit as if I am playing on a 64 player server that's fully loaded? My cpu is an XP yes, but according to cpu benchmarks in Sandra, it's similar to a 3.2 GHz Pentium 4 performance-wise.

Plus every other game, seems to run beautifully.

I have also taken your advice about updating PB manually, but it's a no go.

Every benchmark and hardware report I've read claims that BF2 is greatly affected by GPU and Memory upgrades, and my CPU isnt exactly a slouch either. So I dunno, I guess I will keep tinkering, but if you have other suggestions, please send them this way.

[NoSoup4You]

Re: Performance Degradation Too Large?

Do you have any antivirus or firewalls running? If so try disabling them when you run BF2.

[Talus]

Re: Performance Degradation Too Large?

Disable ANYTHING running in the background that you don't need to play BF2.

[Gunny Highway]

Re: Performance Degradation Too Large?

Have you tried lowering your settings in BF2??

HIGH settings aren't all that different from MEDIUM in quailty, but there is a noticable hit in performance if running HIGH.

There's a big difference between LOW and MEDIUM in quality though.

Take a look at the BF2 guide at http://www.tweakguides.com it explains all of the graphics settings and why most can be set to MEDIUM without little loss in quality but great gain in FPS.
You won't notice the difference in quality, especially not while playing and there's a lot of action.