Good day to all you forum readers out there. I seek your advice on a problem which has been plaguing my enjoyment of pc gaming for the best part of 18 months. My current gaming loves are Far Cry and, moreso in recent times, BF2.
My Problem: Very stuttery graphics during periods of relative calm and intense action periods during a game. This does not occur constantly throughout a given game but periodically during most games. I have updated my graphics and sound drivers to the latest versions in an attempt to cure this but to no avail. I have added various upgrades to my machine over the last 18 months in a move to play these games at the best resolution and highest detail possible. For example in BF2, I currently have all settings on High and 2 x AA. Resolution at 1280 x 1024 and refresh rate of 75. Even when I turn these settings down to lower resolution and selective Medium settings (AA knocked off), I still get the occasional jerky frame rates.
My PC specs:
Dell Dimension 8400 series machine
CPU: Intel Pentium 4. 3 Ghz (500 series I believe)
Mobo: Intel 925x chipset. Pci express
GPU: Nvidia XFX 7800GTX (Gamers edition - 475 Core clock speed)
Memory: 2 x 1 Gig sticks of Corsair XMS Ram - 667mhz speed (DDR2)
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
Hard Drive: 250 Gig Maxtor (not sure of speed but think 7200 rpm)
PSU: 500 Watt Bluestorm
In addition to the above specs I also have installed Panda Platinum Security product. (This was a must following a particularly nasty double clicker virus contracted which high-jacked my home page).
As you can see from above, the spec has evolved a fair bit from a standard Dell Dimension 8400 machine, though I accept that the Pentium 4 is hardly comparable to a decent AMD chip.
Fraps readings normally show a high position of circa 45 fps (best recored in BF2) at the high settings but a dip to (sometimes) 15 and below. Don't know how to call up average fps ratings!
Questions:
Are my upgrades potentially causing conflict with the unchanged parts of my Dell machine?
Are there known conflict issues with Panda Platinum security and gaming? (I have turned automatic updates off and knocked off the Windows Firewall).
My previous Memory was 1.5 Gig of Dell 533Mhz Ram (DDR2). The original Ram was half a gig of 400mhz Ram. Is my Ram too quick for the Motherboard?
You can tell from my questions that I (openly) know nothing about pc technology. I am trying to build/buy my way past these problems but they still persist. Having invested the price of a half decent AlienWare machine I'm loathe to throw more money at this now, but having said that, I do have some monies left in the slush fund to purchase new kit if it sorts the problem.
I would welcome all ideas - excluding anything to do with overclocking - as that scares the hell out of me! Am I being naive in thinking that my current spec should run these games comfortably at high(ish) settings???
Thanks in advance for any responses.
My Problem: Very stuttery graphics during periods of relative calm and intense action periods during a game. This does not occur constantly throughout a given game but periodically during most games. I have updated my graphics and sound drivers to the latest versions in an attempt to cure this but to no avail. I have added various upgrades to my machine over the last 18 months in a move to play these games at the best resolution and highest detail possible. For example in BF2, I currently have all settings on High and 2 x AA. Resolution at 1280 x 1024 and refresh rate of 75. Even when I turn these settings down to lower resolution and selective Medium settings (AA knocked off), I still get the occasional jerky frame rates.
My PC specs:
Dell Dimension 8400 series machine
CPU: Intel Pentium 4. 3 Ghz (500 series I believe)
Mobo: Intel 925x chipset. Pci express
GPU: Nvidia XFX 7800GTX (Gamers edition - 475 Core clock speed)
Memory: 2 x 1 Gig sticks of Corsair XMS Ram - 667mhz speed (DDR2)
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
Hard Drive: 250 Gig Maxtor (not sure of speed but think 7200 rpm)
PSU: 500 Watt Bluestorm
In addition to the above specs I also have installed Panda Platinum Security product. (This was a must following a particularly nasty double clicker virus contracted which high-jacked my home page).
As you can see from above, the spec has evolved a fair bit from a standard Dell Dimension 8400 machine, though I accept that the Pentium 4 is hardly comparable to a decent AMD chip.
Fraps readings normally show a high position of circa 45 fps (best recored in BF2) at the high settings but a dip to (sometimes) 15 and below. Don't know how to call up average fps ratings!
Questions:
Are my upgrades potentially causing conflict with the unchanged parts of my Dell machine?
Are there known conflict issues with Panda Platinum security and gaming? (I have turned automatic updates off and knocked off the Windows Firewall).
My previous Memory was 1.5 Gig of Dell 533Mhz Ram (DDR2). The original Ram was half a gig of 400mhz Ram. Is my Ram too quick for the Motherboard?
You can tell from my questions that I (openly) know nothing about pc technology. I am trying to build/buy my way past these problems but they still persist. Having invested the price of a half decent AlienWare machine I'm loathe to throw more money at this now, but having said that, I do have some monies left in the slush fund to purchase new kit if it sorts the problem.
I would welcome all ideas - excluding anything to do with overclocking - as that scares the hell out of me! Am I being naive in thinking that my current spec should run these games comfortably at high(ish) settings???
Thanks in advance for any responses.
