Pengy's hardware related question

[Pengy]

Hello forum users,

Pengy have a problem/question for anyone who could help. It's about Pengy's computers:

Computer1 have GeForce 460 something, PhenomII Quad-core. It runs Saint's Row 3 and all games perfectly. 8 Gb DDR3 memory installed.

Computer2 have Radeon HD 5800 something, Athlon X2 Dual-core. It does not run SR3 or Tomb Raider Underworld or Sacred 2 perfectly. 6 Gb DD2 memory installed.

Both computers run on Windows XP x32 Professional, SP3, fully updated with latest security stuff. So both computers only can use 3.25 something RAM memory. Using Avast free Antivirus software. Of course, Pengy have latest updates for the video drivers.

Problem for computer2:

The problem is that in Tomb Raider Underworld, the place just before the Kraken, lags when looking at the wall (slows down during
screen movement).

In Sacred 2, the entire game is unplayable, as it slows down massively.

Saint's Row 3 is also very choppy, taking time to load stuff. Just turning around causes a slight loaing.

Does anyone know what causes this or what can be done to remedy this situation?

[fleet]

I don't have SR3, and TR Underworld is not loaded. This may sound weird, but try updating the drivers for your sound chip (or sound card). Also, check to see if there are any updated drivers available for your motherboard, and if so update them.

[Pengy]

Pengy will check for more updates. The sound card is integrated (Realtek ALC888 HD Audio CODEC with 8-Channel).

Pengy will test, thanks Fleet.

[Jac]

32-bit versions of Windows can only see about 3 gigs of RAM, Pengy. If you want to utilize all of your RAM, you'll need a 64-bit version of Windows or maybe Linux running Wine. The reason for this is how Windows addresses memory: in the 32-bit version, it only has enough addresses for 3 gigs. However, in the 64-bit version, it can go above 16 gigs I think. The only functional difference between the two is that you don't want to install any games into the Program Files (x86) folder because Windows will refuse to give them the disc and system access that they need to run.

As for your problem, if what Fleet suggested doesn't work, try:

1. Closing all unnecessary background programs like Avast!
2. Defraging all of your hard drives. Or, at least the one your OS is on and the one your games are on.
3. Lower the video/audio settings in your games if possible.

I don't know what your financial situation is like, but if you can afford it, I highly recommend upgrading to Windows 7 64-bit for the computer with the GeForce 460 in it. That way you'll be able to utilize all 8 gigs of your RAM. The other computer might see a performance increase, but only being a dual-core, it might not. I hope you get your problems sorted out.

[Pengy]

Pengy knows this. Pengy have Win7 x64 but not installed due some problems (flickering and hardware related). Pengy will re-install Win7 x64 sometime though. But the problem Pengy have is with Computer2. Jac think it's because Computer1 is Quad and Computer2 is Dual? They are clocked 3,0 GHz, both of them. Only difference is the amount of cores. But still, Pengy thought it would be a graphics card issue and not a CPU issue... sniff sniff...

[neildarkstar]

It likely is a Graphics thing, Pengy. Radeon sometimes has issues with 3d, especially if you have anti-aliasing turned on. You should have an interface for the card where you can adjust anti-aliasing, and that might might fix it. Also there are choices you can make that give you options of performance vs quality that can be set. I'm not sure if you can take control of those settings from your games though, they often manage resources themselves.

[Symon]

"The sound card is integrated (Realtek ALC888 HD Audio CODEC with 8-Channel)."

My immediate suspicion is this. Integrated sound chips are often horrible and place outrageous demands on your actual CPU(s). For example, ages ago, I substituted a real (but cheap) Sound Card for an integrated sound chip and went from average 10- to average 20+ fps in Morrowind/Balmora. Massive improvement just by having some sound functions now provided by dedicated hardware!

Does the other machine have a real sound card?
The other option might be Hard Disk. Is it any good?

People tend to think CPU and graphics cards when looking at a machine spec, but a machine is only as good as its weakest component. Having poor hard disks and sound will wipe away the benefit of decent CPU/GPU/memory.

[Jac]

What Symon said. That's the reason why I don't like integrated graphics and sound. The CPU is busy enough dealing with Windows and my games, I don't need it to deal with graphics and sound on top of that.

[Elaura]

One way to find out if it is a CPU issue is to open Task Manager and look at performance. If any of your cores are maxed, then you have a CPU bottleneck. I don't know if those games utilize hyper-threading, I'm pretty sure they do, because of their age. If any single core is maxed, you might try spreading out the processes and changing the priority of your games. Number of cores has to make some difference, otherwise why would people use a quad core over a dual?


One way to test the sound issue is by turning it off in the game. One way to test the GPU is by reducing all the graphics settings to their lowest setting. If neither of those things help, then sound and grphics cards may not be the problem.

[jaxawier]

Avast can be set to exclude directories too,might be worth a shot.

As for affinities,you could use windows taskmanager but that isn´t optimal for it,have used prifinitty2 for xp my self,it sticks better
http://edgemeal.110mb.com/PriFinitty/index.htm

Not that I belive it does miracles it might help,sometimes,depends,it helped me but it wasn´t game-related for my part then.
With the others in that a dedicated soundcard is a great idea,integrated usually sucks even if some mb´s have creative cards for example,and msi had an audiophile-mb with very good sound once upon a time they are rare