Extremely Low performance(PR and others) - Shader related?

[OkitaMakoto]

Hey all,

Hoping someone has a clue that might clear this up for me. Lately, PR has been running around 15FPS and gets worse, turning to a slideshow stutter. On my same system, I used to get All high settings, AA set to 4x or so, and I got 60+ FPS. Now I have even set to lows and 50% view distance and have crappy online performance. I can test my 4km city map on a local game just me and I get great performance on All high settings, medium textures... which is weird.

My system is getting dated, but even on a low system requirement game, Exception, when I select to "Use Shaders" the performance plummets from silky smooth to a slideshow.

Heres the game in question, Exception
YouTube - Shmup - Exception Full Run on Excess Difficulty: Stage 1

Theres an options menu where I turn everything but "Shaders" on and it runs fine... then shaders on... SLOOOOOOOW chugging.

Could there be something wrong specifically with my "Shaders" portion of my graphics card? Simply time for a new card overall? Maybe just forget it and man up for a whole new system one of these days??

I try to get back into actually "playing" PR but after an hour of 15 frames a second or worse average... its just unbearable. I know there are many who have lowered performance in recent releases of PR, and im sure some of this is related to that... but like I said, even in another game, I dont feel like I am getting the performance I should be getting, even if my system isnt too up to date

dual core 2.8Ghz, Pentium D
ATI x1950GT 512Mb card
250Gb HD
Xtreme Xfi soundcard something or other...

[karambaitos]

have you deleted the shader cache recently in my documents for BF2 usually that's the problem
you could also try reinstalling PR and updating your graphics card drivers
ati drivers sometimes get broken best thing is to update them and keep them regularly updated
or it could be that your card is giving up it is quite old.

[SnipingCoward]

I'd go with hardware failure there too, unless you have recently changed the drivers.
Trying to clear the shader cache is generally a good idea.
It's summer and temperatures are up high again, this puts additional stress on your system's cooling equipment. Have you checked your temps these days, yet?

That option to use shaders is not the best indicator, it could be just driver problem, bad codeing of the game or other incompatibility issues. Its too hard to narrow down due to that, unless you are saying that this game set to this option has worked before.

FYI: Changing BF2 settings (except resolution, AA and AF) have never done any significant performance change as far as I could tell. Did you maybe get a new LCD and double your gaming screen resolution?

[OkitaMakoto]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

That shader option, as far as I can remember, used to be able to be left on. I cant say for 100% certainty, but I am almost positive that I had all options turned on (with it off, theres a noticeable drop in graphical beauty, so I'm pretty sure it was on before)

I'll try clearing my bf2 cache, its possible I'm just blowing out of proportion my PC deficiencies as a result of continued loss of performance while playing PR. PR getting like 10-15FPS when I used to get high 50-70 might be in my mind when other games are not perfect...

Either way, I'm sure its time for an entirely new system... got the CPU when I was a senior in High School... 2005 or so heheh... only added RAM, sound card, and GPU upgrades since...

[OkitaMakoto]

So I just tried running America's Army 3, and aside from it being a terrible game(first impression) I was getting TERRIBLE stuttering on even lowest settings.

I am now in the market for a new graphics card. Any suggestions? I have an ATI x1950Gt 512Mb PCIe card right now running on windows XP 32bit...

Im willing to spend about $200 on a new card... I also dont have a HUGE space in my computer, so if you can suggest a good card but not some monster one in size that'd be great...

any ideas?

Im looking a bit "long term" in the logic that in a year or so when I can hopefully buy a nice new PC I can either swap in this card im buying now, or simply move on with the card that I get put in the new PC... doesnt really make sense reading that over, but I basically want a good card for now and a bit into the future...

[VoXiNaTiOn]

A 5830 should be good but you'll need to stretch your budget at least $20, and check when buying the card, as there's no reference board for the 5830s so some have just been slapped on a 5870 PCB, which is very long.

Or if you're wanting to go under budget slightly, a 5770 should do do quite nicely. If you're willing to, you can always OC it a bit, and if you find yourself in need of more horsepower with a new PC, go down the CrossFire route.


With either card though you will most likely experience a slight bottleneck from the Pentium D.

[FuzzySquirrel]

Well since you don't have a Hugh space, I'd go with the 5770 Vox Suggested, Doesn't use a huge amount of power and is probably about as long as your current card.

[boilerrat]

Just curious, what is your motherboard? Did you make this computer yourself? If not where did you buy it from?

[DesmoLocke]

A clan buddy just got a 5770 and he is really excited about it. According to him, it is performing much better than his old 8800GT's in SLI. It seems like the 5770 is a great buy.

[OkitaMakoto]

Just curious, what is your motherboard? Did you make this computer yourself? If not where did you buy it from?

My dad and I found it at Costco (a big retail store kinda like Walmart but deals more in bulk, youre from michigan so you might know of them) for $1,200 dollars, marked down to 1,000 for the holidays (back in 2005) and then we got another $200 off because it was a display model... $800 dollars almost 5 years ago

It has:
Intel Pentium D Processor 820
Dual core 2.8Ghz
800 Mhz FSB(?)
3~4 gigs of RAM, I forget
I also bought an extreme X-fi soundcard to get the Ultra High in BF2 sound settings... but if these new GPUs are too tall I can always remove the soundcard...


Its a GT5016E model as seen here:
Gateway Support - Specifications

Ill have to measure my available space and get back to you guys

Also Im still in XP... will this keep me from getting certain cards? (DirectX 10 for example) or will my PC just run on DX9 and simply just "not use" the DX10 functionality?

[FuzzySquirrel]

Your PC will work fine with DX10 and DX11 Cards. and 5770 9 Inches long so you should be good for size.

[OkitaMakoto]

I need a single slot card because sadly, my rig only has one PCIe slot :\

So Im looking at this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

What do you think? Its tall, but I have a TALL fan on top of my x1950 currently. I'm maybe worried about it clearing under my heatsink sticking out of my Motherboard/CPU(? whatever its coming off) but my current fan looks like if it were longer that it would just barely make it under... so im hoping the fan on this one isnt gonna be any taller

Wondering if thats a safe assumption... hmm

any ideas about a single-den(slot?) card that doesnt have a HUUUUGE fan? :\ sorry guys, Im getting picky, but its my PC, not me!

[FuzzySquirrel]

Don't do h.i.s trust me, If that thing breaks there's no support to speak of from them, and all the dual slot fan is cooling, you don't need two PCIe slots to run a card with a dual slot cooler, unless your using one of the pcie 1x/pci slots right next door, but even the cards with the single slot design use 2 spaces because the fan hangs out over the second slot.

[OkitaMakoto]

Don't do h.i.s trust me, If that thing breaks there's no support to speak of from them, and all the dual slot fan is cooling, you don't need two PCIe slots to run a card with a dual slot cooler, unless your using one of the pcie 1x/pci slots right next door, but even the cards with the single slot design use 2 spaces because the fan hangs out over the second slot.

Thanks for warning me about HIS

my slots are:

(Random **** against the mother board sticking out in the way)
PCIe
smaller slot
smaller slot

Not sure what the smaller slots are, normal PCI maybe? My soundcard uses one

So the issue my case has is it only has one PCIe slot, but its at the top of all the slots. So when I use that, even if I only need one of the actual slots to "plug the GPU into" I run into the issue of not having enough space above the PCIe slot I will plug into. There is a heatsink for my PC and some plugs and such that are really in the way making it a tight fit...

Maybe I just need to scrap the idea of upgrading and just wait for a new rig altogether

[FuzzySquirrel]

Do you have a Camera to take a picture of it? You shouldn't have any problem with a dual slot cooler, as it still only requires 1 PCIe slot So it'd be

|-----Card----|
|----Cooler---|
|---PCI---|

[OkitaMakoto]

Any cooler I have had has been on the top of my card. When you look at the front of my PC the motherboard etc is on the LEFT side. So I have to open the RIGHT side of the box to insert the GPU. When they plug in, the cooler is on the top, above the GPU itself... ill get a pic up in a second



The issue being, if its JUST the large fan on top, theres no issue. I have that now where the fan sits on top. its a tight fit but since it doesnt need to have a slot to slide along on the back frame, its fine. But when it needs another slot in the back of the computers case... then I dont have one, since my only PCIe slot is on the very top of all slots... and thats the one that will be housing the GPU.. make sense? :\

Thanks for your patience, guys

Something like this:
Newegg.com - POWERCOLOR AX5770 512MD5-H Radeon HD 5770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card
Could work, since it only needs one place to plug in in the back/on the motherboard

[FuzzySquirrel]

ah I see, That case is kinda backwards. Well, You could get a cheaper card like a 9800GT and then start saving for a new computer. or just wait, because I'm not sure a heatsink on one of those Single Slot 5770's would clear your N. Bridge.

[OkitaMakoto]

Yeah I was surprised to hear my friend say his GPU is ABOVE his fan... I was like WTF that's upside down? Then I learned that my PC is pretty backwards...

Ah well... I guess just no PR til I get a job and get time to buy a PC that will be more open to updgrading, heh

Thanks for all the help, Im sure the tech section of the realitymod forums will be where I turn to when I get the funds to build a new computer

[VoXiNaTiOn]

BTX form factor, only really adopted by OEMs and a bit of a bugger haha.


Shout when you've got the cash and we should be able to sort a spec out for you .

[OkitaMakoto]

Ahh interesting, just read up on it on Wikipedia.

Well, if everything goes well and I get a commission in the Marines then I'll be much more steady as far as income goes... of course, I'd be too busy for a number of months to even have time to LOOK for a computer, but Im hoping that once my time frees up a bit and I get stationed at a base or something I can take a look and have the security to put a good bit of money into it

You guys will be the people I call on to make my dream computer a reality