Video Card and framerates.

[ValiantKnight]

A while ago, I posted wondering if my power supply was good enough for an upgrade to a 7600GT or 7900GS. Well I'm considering getting the GT due to space concerns in the case.

I am hesitant on a few fronts however on how to upgrade the computer, and wanted opinions if anyone still wouldn't mind. The computer is:

Athlon 64 3700 (2.2ghz)
Socket 939 motherboard, SATA150, DDR400, AGP
AGP Geforce 6600 256mb
430W Antec TruepowerII, 17A on two rails I believe.
old as dirt case with no front USB
Kingston 1GB ValueRAM DDR400
Viewsonic 19" VX922, 1280x1024 resolution
I used to have 2gb of kingston, but one stick died.

I am getting some low framerates playing a certain online RPG, when multiple characters are on the screen, then framerates are fine looking at most scenery.

This leads me to believe that either the processor is weak, or the graphics card is weak. I am thinking of upgrading to the 7600GT and adding 1gb of ram. However if I do this, and it does not solve the issue, I will have wasted money for the most part... as there is not much more of an upgrade path beyond that.

The other option, and one I am slightly short on money-wise, is to completely overhaul the system.

4200 Athlon 64 X2
Socket AM2 with DDR2, SATA300, PCIe
PCIe 8600GT
2gb DDR2
new case
500-550W power supply

However I am still short on that much of an upgrade.

My continuing reasons to pause are...

Friends in game, claim very little or no lag with Barton Athlon XP 2500 chips, 1gb ram, and Geforce 6200s/9800s

I have seen many forums which laugh at my posts, and say dude you need to get a 6000 X2 with 8800GTX SLI.. but then look at other topics where someone has a 24inch montior, and they tell him he needs a bigger video card because of the resolution he's running at... something like 1600x1200... that a 7600GS won't cut it, he needs like a 7950 or 8600GTS. I don't give this much stock, because most of the users at hardware forums are complete... well nm, but I am wondering if my 19" monitor at 1280x1024 is a bit much for my little 6600 and maybe the 2-3x power upgrade of a 7600GT would be enough.

Some people say my system looks great and it should run fine.
Worried that maybe the motherboard is bad or powersupply if my system should be running this game "fine".

So, I would love to throw a video card and ram stick at this problem and be fixed for 1-2years for 170$, but at the same time I don't want to do that and have it not fixed, wasting the 170$, but I am a little short of a full upgrade to the newer standards.

Windows XP SP2, and the most straining thing I run on it is this older MMORPG. It isn't oblivion, starcraft 2, or some other highly intense game, but it has been called "poorly coded" and a "memory hog" by many players. I guess that happens when you could originally play the game on a geforce2, when it first came out, but it has been patched for years. The system requirements are the same as they were 3 years ago, but the game has seriously become more demanding since then. The game manufact won't really update their system requirements, so I can't get a clear picture of what is needed.

Thanks for any help in advance, hope I am not bothering too many.

[MecaKane]

Holy crap guy, you're not on TV or anything. If you say the name of the game we're not going to have to pay them royalties or anything. <i>What is it?</i> WoW or FFXI?
How does it play when you turn the graphics and resolution down a bit?

[ValiantKnight]

Well it's an older game,

Everquest, not everquest II

I configure all particles(sparklies) to off, turn all advanced models(how nice the players look) off, and have tried to play at 1024x768 instead of 1280x1024, but it didn't seem to help or I may have been testing it wrong I guess.
Basically no amount of lowering the settings on the card seems to help. I'll try lowering the resolution again.


*edit*
10fps at 1280x1024
/switch video mode to 640x480
10fps at 640x480

Hmm, does that prove that it's not the video card?

Video card scores in line with others of its class on this system type on 3dmark 2005, 2200 if i remember in a range of 1300-4000. 4000 was a core 2 duo I believe with 2gb ddr2 and a PCIe 6600 or 6600GT.

Performance tests as far as I can tell are fine, on disk, memory, and processor.
It has me baffled. Every time I do some kind of diagnostic on it... "working as intended" or the performance is high, or good. Yet in game.. well 10frames per second isn't very good.

[Odaisé Gaelach]

I used to have 2gb of kingston, but one stick died.

Kingston have a Lifetime warranty on ValueRAM sticks. Provided your stick didn't die because you were overclocking it or you damaged it, you should look into returning it and getting a replacement. Having the extra gig of memory again certainly would be nice!

Kingston Technology Company - ValueRAM Support - Lifetime Warranty

I am getting some low framerates playing a certain online RPG, when multiple characters are on the screen, then framerates are fine looking at most scenery.

Hmm... characters on screen in an MMORPG? It sounds like your internet connection is suffering because it's trying to download so much information.

How does your computer perform in an off-line game? Something with huge system requirements like Oblivion?

[Renmiri]

I think he is using PCXs2 right ? 10 fps is all I get with it too. Try their forum, there are people who get over 100 FPS with it

[ValiantKnight]

Internet connection is 5mbit/384kbit Cable.
Don't really have a demanding offline game to test it on, would welcome some suggestions though.

I'll look into the Kingston warranty, but I don't really have a receipt.

I think he is using PCXs2 right ? 10 fps is all I get with it too. Try their forum, there are people who get over 100 FPS with it

PCXs2?

[Darkja]

Save up a bit and get a good overhaul. Get a 8800gts 320mb since you're using a 19", they're all dropping prices now, you'll be able to play almost any current game out there at 1240x780 maxed out. There's are also dirt cheap 20"+ monitors with higher res, but if you get anything 20"+ you'll need a 640mb. But either card will last you alot longer, for only a few 100$ more.
That'll be around 400-600$ for a 8800gts 320 and a decent 20", depending on where you buy your stuff.
An 8600gt will be fine too if you don't wanna spend that cash, and if you're keen on playing the games you already have at high-max.
Definetly get 2x1gb ram.
DDR2 ram is also dirt cheap.
You'll also need a slightly higher psu, but the corsair 450w would be able to handle a single card setup, and its about 70$. Or you can get the Antec Sonata III case w/ 500w psu for about 30-40$ more, both are good.
I'd change the cpu and mobo too..

Check your current card or bring in your pc in to a tech until then, it might be shot.

[Discord]

I think he is using PCXs2 right ? 10 fps is all I get with it too. Try their forum, there are people who get over 100 FPS with it

Those people have Alienware PCs with 4 TB, 4 GB RAM and 4x 3GHz CPUs.

[Odaisé Gaelach]

Internet connection is 5mbit/384kbit Cable.
Don't really have a demanding offline game to test it on, would welcome some suggestions though.

Ah, I see. Well...

Wait a minute, Everquest? The recommended system requirements are a Pentium 200MHz, 64MB of RAM and a 500MB of hard disk space. If you can run Windows XP, your computer won't have any problems running Everquest. Nah, it's not your computer that's underperforming; it's the game servers or other players that are causing the lag.

I'll look into the Kingston warranty, but I don't really have a receipt.

If it's a lifetime warranty, proof of when you bought it won't matter.

[Renmiri]

I think he is using PCXs2 right ? 10 fps is all I get with it too. Try their forum, there are people who get over 100 FPS with it

Those people have Alienware PCs with 4 TB, 4 GB RAM and 4x 3GHz CPUs.

** Dies of envy!! ** :mog:

[ValiantKnight]

Required Specs:

Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP
Pentium® II 400 equivalent or greater
256 MB RAM
ATI Radeon 7500/NVidia GeForce 1 equivalent or greater
DirectX Compatible Sound Card
28.8k + Internet Connection
4X Speed CD-ROM
500MB - 2.6GB Available Hard Drive Space (depending on how many expansions are installed)
DirectX 9.0b
EverQuest Classic and a valid EverQuest account
* Note: All Direct 3D cards not supported.

Recommended Specs:

Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP
Pentium® 4 equivalent or greater
512 MB RAM
NVidia GeForce 3/ATI Radeon 8500 equivalent or greater
DirectX Compatible Sound Card
56.6k + Internet Connection
16X Speed CD-ROM
3.0+ GB Available Hard Drive Space
DirectX 9.0b
EverQuest Classic and a valid EverQuest account
*Note: DirectX 9.0c or greater is required for all Win 98/ME/2000/XP

**edit note**
These requirements have not changed in 4 expansions(2 years), but I believe the graphics and system code have changed quite a bit in those years... introducing a few new models, and updating older areas of the game with the new graphics.

/shrugs... but they won't update their requirements sheet.

I think he is using PCXs2 right ? 10 fps is all I get with it too. Try their forum, there are people who get over 100 FPS with it

Those people have Alienware PCs with 4 TB, 4 GB RAM and 4x 3GHz CPUs.

Alienware PCs with 4 TB, 8-16 GB RAM and 4x 3GHz
If Vista at least.

[Odaisé Gaelach]

Recommended Specs:

Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP
Pentium® 4 equivalent or greater
512 MB RAM
NVidia GeForce 3/ATI Radeon 8500 equivalent or greater
DirectX Compatible Sound Card
56.6k + Internet Connection
16X Speed CD-ROM
3.0+ GB Available Hard Drive Space
DirectX 9.0b
EverQuest Classic and a valid EverQuest account
*Note: DirectX 9.0c or greater is required for all Win 98/ME/2000/XP

**edit note**
These requirements have not changed in 4 expansions(2 years), but I believe the graphics and system code have changed quite a bit in those years... introducing a few new models, and updating older areas of the game with the new graphics.

/shrugs... but they won't update their requirements sheet.

Ah, I see. Even so, you shouldn't be getting a mere 10FPS in it, with recommended requirements that low. I still say that the game servers are causing the slowdown.

[ValiantKnight]

In fear, extraction point SP demo, I get around 19fps to 40fps with 1024x768 medium settings.

[Odaisé Gaelach]

Well, that's pretty good. If you get that performance in FEAR, then I'd say that it's Everquest that's being slow and not your computer.

[Rostum]

Alienware PCs with 4 TB, 8-16 GB RAM and 4x 3GHz
If Vista at least.

If 64-bit, actually. And Alienware suck and are overpriced, there are better ways to get a really good system like that without spending a butt load.