Project Reality Forums

I found my old computer that I bought in 2005 or 2006. It was top notch then so I thought I would upgrade it a little. So, I bought a new graphics card to replace the old Geforce 6600GT 128Mb DDR3.

So here are the specs:
ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE
Pentium 4 3,4Ghz 550 LGA775, 1Mb cache, 1066/800 MHz FSB
Sapphire HD6870 1Gb GDDR5
Western Digital 32Gb 10000rpm Hard drive
2Gb DDR2 533Mhz Un-buffered Non-ECC memory
Full HD 24" inch screen.

My laptop:
MacBook Pro (2,93Ghz one, which has a Geforce 9600M GT) (XP uses 2,73Gb of RAM)

Running 32bit XP SP3 on both machines

I ran PR with medium graphics and 2x AA on both machines.

My MacBookPro gives me 53/19 FPS with renderer.drawfps 1 -command
My old rig with the P4 CPU gives me 21/40
My old rig with the 6600GT gave me pretty much the same FPS 21/40 or so

I know BF2 game engine does not support dual 2 core or other multi processors, so the bottle neck has to be the memory amount/speed right? most likely the speed because the amount what XP uses with the old rig is 2Gb and with my MacBookPro it is 2,73Gb?

I just can't believe 0,73Gb of faster memory can do so much.

Could it help if I added more memory and changed the OS to Windows 7 or is that DDR2 533/400 Un-buffered memory just too slow? And the biggest question, what kind of a super computer some people had in 2005 to be able to run BF2 with max graphics settings =) ?

You need more ram/better ram.

You need to get yourself some decent 800/1066 RAM. They come real cheap these days i bet you could find 3GB for 20 - 15 euros. I know I did.

mxlinus wrote:I just can't believe 0,73Gb of faster memory can do so much.

Could it help if I added more memory and changed the OS to Windows 7 or is that DDR2 533/400 Un-buffered memory just too slow? And the biggest question, what kind of a super computer some people had in 2005 to be able to run BF2 with max graphics settings =) ?

It depends how much your OS is using memory. My bf2 uses 900-1400 MB. So make sure you have at least 1,4GB free when you start bf2.
If you dont and game needs all that 1,4G, your computer begins to swap things from memory to harddrive and this is slow process which could cause lagging/stuggering.

PR has bring bf2 engine to its limits, if you try vanilla it could work just fine.

Pentium 4 3,4Ghz 550 LGA775, 1Mb cache, 1066/800 MHz FSB
Sapphire HD6870 1Gb GDDR5

eeeh better buy a new processor that GPU is prolly getting bottlenecked buy your processor (its single core right?)
you usually have specs on which is the minimum processor you need for a certain GPU (minimum isnt good by any means).

Western Digital 32Gb 10000rpm Hard drive

buy a second bigger HDD 500GB or something

more ram
well actually you need an entire new PC because once you change your processor you need a new Mobo most of the time (especially if your going for intel)

karambaitos wrote:eeeh better buy a new processor that GPU is prolly getting bottlenecked buy your processor (its single core right?)
you usually have specs on which is the minimum processor you need for a certain GPU (minimum isnt good by any means).

So very wrong. GPU speed doesn't depend on the CPU. They work independent of each other to lighten each others workload. Think before you write something that makes no sense.

karambaitos wrote: buy a second bigger HDD 500GB or something

Some people might not have that kind of money. He might not have S-ATA connector on his MB. 32GB is fine as long you have 2-3 GB free at any time. I have 80GB and I don't have any problem with any game.

karambaitos wrote: well actually you need an entire new PC because once you change your processor you need a new Mobo most of the time (especially if your going for intel)

Not true. His processor is the best of its class and might be useful for another 2 years with that graphics card.

You only need to upgrade your RAM mate. 3 gigs should do just fine. Although 4 won't hurt so you don't have any problems with lag or CTD.

Write something constructive instead of guessing. Don't write if you don't have a knowledge in hardware.

I cannot buy any faster RAM because the motherboard does not support other than dual channel DDR2 533Mhz Un-buffered Non-ECC. If I upgrade to W7 and ad 2Gbs of RAM, will that DDR2 533Mhz be fast enough?

I can't even run vanilla on high graphs without getting bad FPS

and please don't tell me to buy a new HDD =) this is just what happens when people get smart as soon as they can register on a forum hehe...

Buy a new computer?

L4gi wrote:Buy a new computer?

I was actually thinking about that already, but like I said, if BF2 engine does not really support dual 2 core etc. why spend all that money on a new MB ja CPU when I already have the most powerfull CPU still at the market (well, almost) for Battlefield engine

Well, I ordered some more RAM, it cost me like 35 ? let see if it makes the difference.
Now fingers crossed that it's not the speed of the RAM that counts so much.

and a correction: I can run vanilla on all high pretty well ... 44 FPS

mxlinus wrote:I found my old computer that I bought in 2005 or 2006. It was top notch then so I thought I would upgrade it a little. So, I bought a new graphics card to replace the old Geforce 6600GT 128Mb DDR3.

So here are the specs:
ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE
Pentium 4 3,4Ghz 550 LGA775, 1Mb cache, 1066/800 MHz FSB
Sapphire HD6870 1Gb GDDR5
Western Digital 32Gb 10000rpm Hard drive
2Gb DDR2 533Mhz Un-buffered Non-ECC memory
Full HD 24" inch screen.

My laptop:
MacBook Pro (2,93Ghz one, which has a Geforce 9600M GT) (XP uses 2,73Gb of RAM)

Running 32bit XP SP3 on both machines

I ran PR with medium graphics and 2x AA on both machines.

My MacBookPro gives me 53/19 FPS with renderer.drawfps 1 -command
My old rig with the P4 CPU gives me 21/40
My old rig with the 6600GT gave me pretty much the same FPS 21/40 or so

I know BF2 game engine does not support dual 2 core or other multi processors, so the bottle neck has to be the memory amount/speed right? most likely the speed because the amount what XP uses with the old rig is 2Gb and with my MacBookPro it is 2,73Gb?

I just can't believe 0,73Gb of faster memory can do so much.

Could it help if I added more memory and changed the OS to Windows 7 or is that DDR2 533/400 Un-buffered memory just too slow? And the biggest question, what kind of a super computer some people had in 2005 to be able to run BF2 with max graphics settings =) ?

It's your CPU for sure.

I've been using an 8600 GTS for about 4 years now, but when I upgraded from a P4 CPU to a Phenom II 965, I could suddenly run BF2 on max settings with x8 AA at 50-100 fps. (Before I couldn't even run PR on low/medium settings)

TheComedian wrote:So very wrong. GPU speed doesn't depend on the CPU. They work independent of each other to lighten each others workload. Think before you write something that makes no sense.

yep sorry
got mixed up with some of this shiz AMD Radeon? HD 6870 graphics

and if you have money for a 6870 you have money for a 500 HDD.

still for win7 +software a 32gb HDD wont cut it.

i remember a guy had a problem with a 6950 being bottle necked by a q6600 he needed to overclock.

its not just the MHz thats important in a CPU.

It is most definitely that pentium processor.

Cpl.Pocket wrote:It's your CPU for sure.

I've been using an 8600 GTS for about 4 years now, but when I upgraded from a P4 CPU to a Phenom II 965, I could suddenly run BF2 on max settings with x8 AA at 50-100 fps. (Before I couldn't even run PR on low/medium settings)

This is true..
Had an old Amd X2 4400 cpu and a 8600GT but bougth a new 9800GTX thinking i would run maxed settings. Not so..
Upgraded to AMD X2 6000 and another 2GB RAM.
That made FPS go from 30-40 on low/medium to 60-80 on all high on a map like Al Basrah

Cpl.Pocket wrote:It's your CPU for sure.

I've been using an 8600 GTS for about 4 years now, but when I upgraded from a P4 CPU to a Phenom II 965, I could suddenly run BF2 on max settings with x8 AA at 50-100 fps. (Before I couldn't even run PR on low/medium settings)

What was the speed of your P4 CPU and the PII 965?

karambaitos wrote:
if you have money for a 6870 you have money for a 500 HDD.

still for win7 +software a 32gb HDD wont cut it.

its not just the MHz thats important in a CPU.

Why would I need a 500Gb HDD? I already have like 10 terabytes of hard drives laying around.

Look you need to understand, I use this machine just to play PR and FH. I will most likely manage with a 32Gb disk. The disk size does not make it better. It just needs to have a couple of Gigabytes of free space.
I only need the space for BF (which is around 11Gb now) and the stripped down OS. How big is W7 anyway? 20Gb??

and I know it's not just the Mhz, but let me hear u say what is so bad with the CPU? PIV 1066/800 MHz FSB?? it even has 1MB L2 cache?!

CPU is not the problem. CPU is rarely a factor in performance of video games. In fact, his CPU is great.

We are neglecting the state of his OS here. He might have a very fragmented HDD. His HDD might have faulty/corrupted sectors that cause performance issues when the game reads from them.

Your motherboard DOES support 800/1066 RAM.

from ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE Review - Page 1/17 | techPowerUp

ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE
Processor
Intel Pentium 4 LGA775

FSB 533 MHz / 800 MHz / 1066 MHz
Chipset Intel 925XE/ICH6R
Memory 4x 240 Pin DDR2, up to 4 GB

You can buy 4GB 1066 RAM so you use the full potential of both the CPU and the RAM. Currently, your RAM and CPU are working at 1/2 their maximum speed.

TheComedian wrote:CPU is not the problem. CPU is rarely a factor in performance of video games. In fact, his CPU is great.

We are neglecting the state of his OS here. He might have a very fragmented HDD.

This is what I thought. I just made a fresh installation of my OS so I think this is not the case.

TheComedian wrote: Your motherboard DOES support 800/1066 RAM.


from ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE Review - Page 1/17 | techPowerUp


ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE
Processor
Intel Pentium 4 LGA775

FSB 533 MHz / 800 MHz / 1066 MHz
Chipset Intel 925XE/ICH6R
Memory 4x 240 Pin DDR2, up to 4 GB

Actually, I just got confirmation on this. The MB supports only 533Mhz memory.
CPU can be 533/800 or 1066.

Even though BF2 doesn't support multiple CPUs (As far as I know), upgrading from a 2.8GHz AMD FX-57 (single core) to a 2.66GHz i7 920 made a BIG difference. So even though that is a fast single core you have, I would advise you to upgrade your CPU/Motherboard and get some new RAM while you're at it.

The new i5 2500k is just insane. My dad has one in his flight sim pc, and it is overclocked to 4.5GHz!!!

Your GPU is basically the fastest you can buy.

Oh, and Windows 7 takes up a lot of space. My 30GB SSD is full, with only Windows (really stripped down), and PR (Of Course!).

Hope this helped!
Declan

declan54321 wrote:Even though BF2 doesn't support multiple CPUs (As far as I know), upgrading from a 2.8GHz AMD FX-57 (single core) to a 2.66GHz i7 920 made a BIG difference. So even though that is a fast single core you have, I would advise you to upgrade your CPU/Motherboard and get some new RAM while you're at it.

The new i5 2500k is just insane. My dad has one in his flight sim pc, and it is overclocked to 4.5GHz!!!

Your GPU is basically the fastest you can buy.

Oh, and Windows 7 takes up a lot of space. My 30GB SSD is full, with only Windows (really stripped down), and PR (Of Course!).

Hope this helped!
Declan

Thanks for the aswer.

Hopefully I can fit W7 and BF2+PR on the 32Gb drive because the WD drive is pretty fast.

I guess the CPU has to make the difference here too, because, like I said in the first post, my MacBookPro with a worse GPU kicks my desktops *** any day. I guess this is just not one of those cheap hobbies

Keep the opinions coming. I'll do some more tests and let you know how it affects FPS when I ad more RAM...

adding another 1gb of RAM could do wonders, a few weeks back i was cleaning the inside of my PC(hadn't done this in almost 3 years...) and forgot to put in one of my RAM sticks. I was down from 3 GB to 2 GB of RAM. I was shocked at how bad PR suddenly ran.

I run a E6600 ; 3GB RAM ; 8800GTS on Vista. (everything high, but textures medium)

Since RAM is dirt cheap, your best bet is to get a Gig of that and see what happens. If it doesn't help, you still haven't spent more than 10-15 Euros.

edit: oh yeah after that I'd definetly go for another cpu/mobo