Upgrade for DC universe online/random game upgrade

adamknox

adamknox

adamknox

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11 Jun 2009
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Bridgwater, Somerset, UK
its been a 7 months since my last upgrade... and i have 'the' itch.. nope not crabs, i have the upgrade itch! I love playing games set out to High (or max) and having no slow downs etc. Now i would count my system as very powerful, but theres a game coming out soon called DC universe online(tho im more excited about the star wars one). I really want to be able to run this game with out any hitchs, or many slow downs i exsperience with games like AOC, champions online and even lord of the rings Online etc.. All of these games have random slow downs &/or stutters. Nothing puts me off playing a game than stutters/slow downs. I have been told that while its partial the servers and the way its coded, An upgrade would help these problems. So which would be the best upgrade?? THis is my full system at the moment.

CPU: phenom 955 overclocked to 3.71Ghz

CPU cooler: Corsair h50

GPU: sapphire 5870 slightly overclocked (with the CCC Auto overclock feature)

RAM: OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10666 Gold Dual Channel CL 9-9-9-26

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P 790FX Socket AM3 DDR3 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard

PSU: OCZ stealthXstream 700W

CASE: antec 1200

Monitor: (oldish but still okay) Samsung T240, 24Inch 1920x1200, 5ms, contrast 20,0000

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Now i have two options in mind..

1: Upgrade to an i7 920 and overclock to 4Ghz Along with a new motherboard (and stay with the duel ram for now as i cant afford it really) that would come to around £450

2:Get a second 5870 and crossfire them (and get a 1Kw psu) approx cost £450

3: Another 4Gb of ram..

4: SSD.. not sure if this would help an online game? But i guarentee some one would have tryed to sell me one by the end of this thread lol.


Thanks for ANY help - Adam :)
 
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yeah an SSD is always a good upgrade to a decent system.

even if its just for better boot times/slightly faster loading of games.

althou if the game access the disc a lot, then they can also improve performance there

just for games, option 3 is pointless, i dont know of any game that needs more than 4gb of ram, 8-12gb is generally a waste if all you do is play games.

6gb is a good number thou, gives plenty for all games allowing some extra spare as well.

also, the 700w might be fine for CF, i know u can run them on a 750W.

as for another suggestion, how about a new monitor?
might improve the picture abit, then u can run dual monitors.


also, if the stutters on an online game is down to lag, then any amount of upgrade wont make a difference, unfortuatlly it'll be difficult to determine if its lag or your system thats causing the slow down until u do the upgrade.

playing at 1920x1200, then i doubt CF 5870 would make much of a difference, the single one should be able to handle most if not all games just fine
 
i dont think the upgrade to i7920/930 would be worth it (read justified). In fact I'm sure it wouldnt be, its just too much in terms of performance vs cost. An SSD will help in all parts of your Operating system and I suppose when transitioning areas of the MMO world.

I think you may be ok to crossfire/sli with 700w. Do a system power requirement check online, there are plenty that will say whether your 700w PSU is up to it.

I'm not certain Ram will help a great deal at the moment. It seems to me that most games still dont use more than 4gb. Remember a game such as an MMO makes its money from the masses, so its not going to make the requirements soooo massive that only ppl with elite machines can subscribe.

Ultimately you wont know what will be the most benefit until the games you want to play are released. Some rely on tons of Memory, others CPU and yep you guessed it others on Graphics cards.
 
I understand what some of you say about My pc should be able to run the games..but it simply not.. well it is but with minor problems/low fps on high, i have checked to make sure the gpu, ram and cpu are ALL fine so i know its not the comp :( just felt an upgrade would be the best thing.
Im still not sure about the SSD all it seems to do is boot the game up faster/Os up faster rather than giving a FPS boost. Ive heard how ever fallout 3 does benifit from the ssd fast read times, which inturn increases fps.. so many MMO's would?... im stuck >< lol

P.s my psu is strong enough to run a crossfire set up.. but i dont have enough pcie connecters. Ive heard using the molex adapters can really underpower the gpu -_- so i think id have to get a new psu :(
 
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an SSD's improve in game depends on the game.

if you get stutters because the game is always reading from the disc, then an SSD would help.

memory can also help to some extent here, as sometimes its because you dont have enough ram, so it has to use virtual memory, or read directly from disk.

both will be solved by an SSD.
however, a memory upgrade might not solve either, depends if the game is actually using all the ram you have.

a few simple checks u can do, one is to check the memory usage while playing a game, having 2 monitors really helps here as u can have task manager running on the 2nd monitor. If you using more ram, or close to maxing your ram, then a ram upgrade will help

also, reduce the resolution ur running at, if theres a noticable improvement, a gpu upgrade will help, if its still the same, then ur not gpu limited, and a new GPU wont make a difference.

u could also try to underclock the CPU and see how the game performance, this could determine if a new CPU upgrade will actually make a difference.

if none of this seems to make a difference, then your only options would be to either stick with it, wait for a patch that will hopefully fix it, or try to improve your latency (althou usually little you can do about it)
 
Cycrow said:
u could also try to underclock the CPU and see how the game performance, this could determine if a new CPU upgrade will actually make a difference.
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WOW ty so much :D Ill try all the above. Least this way i can somewhat narrow down whats going wrong! Ill try the above..but im a bit confused. how will underclocking determin if i need a new cpu upgrade? ty again uve really helped!
 
Cycrow said:
an SSD's improve in game depends on the game.

if you get stutters because the game is always reading from the disc, then an SSD would help.

memory can also help to some extent here, as sometimes its because you dont have enough ram, so it has to use virtual memory, or read directly from disk.

both will be solved by an SSD.
however, a memory upgrade might not solve either, depends if the game is actually using all the ram you have.

a few simple checks u can do, one is to check the memory usage while playing a game, having 2 monitors really helps here as u can have task manager running on the 2nd monitor. If you using more ram, or close to maxing your ram, then a ram upgrade will help

also, reduce the resolution ur running at, if theres a noticable improvement, a gpu upgrade will help, if its still the same, then ur not gpu limited, and a new GPU wont make a difference.

u could also try to underclock the CPU and see how the game performance, this could determine if a new CPU upgrade will actually make a difference.

if none of this seems to make a difference, then your only options would be to either stick with it, wait for a patch that will hopefully fix it, or try to improve your latency (althou usually little you can do about it)
Click to expand...

Okay just done some checks that you suggested (got my 2nd monitor out) The ram got upto around 70% and hoverd around there While i was playing/running about and the CPU got upto around 42% (someplaces when upto 50-60% but only for a second or two) Ive noticed the judders come when you turn around suddenly.
(i have also noticed that the servers are SH.. well you get the idea. When you cast it takes a good 1-2 seconds to actully cast) So its either my internet or there servers.
 
does sound like lag to me.

the memory and cpu usage shows that ur not close to maxing them out, so increasing them will make little difference.

only thing i can see helping is an SSD, but its debatable even if that would make a difference.

how are you connected to the internet, if you can reduce ur latency at your end as much as possible then it might help, but if its there servers, then theres little you can do
 
Cycrow said:
does sound like lag to me.

the memory and cpu usage shows that ur not close to maxing them out, so increasing them will make little difference.

only thing i can see helping is an SSD, but its debatable even if that would make a difference.

how are you connected to the internet, if you can reduce ur latency at your end as much as possible then it might help, but if its there servers, then theres little you can do
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through a router with sky broadband (with ethernet). I know NOTHING about latancy :( Isnt it how far from the server you are?

(just went on aoc and hoverd over latency.. it went from 66 to 100ms then to 133, then to 216, then to 333(ish. then back down to 100 then 68 then 216.. then 333.. Thats bad isnt it? it was all over the place :( altho the latency bar stayed green which apprently means there isnt a problem :(
 
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its not too bad, althou its not the best.

latancy is how long it takes messages to messages to and from the server.

so 500ms means it takes 1/2 second for your commands to reach the server.

basically means it'll take 1 second for any commands to work, 500ms to get to the server, and 500ms for the movement to get back to you

< 100ms is perfectly acceptable

personally i dont like playing when i have more than 200ms latency, u can get noticable stutters.


latency is more than just distance really, theres lots that can effect it, number of hops to destination being the main one. But if any of the hops are slow, or overloaded, the latency can increase.

doing a traceroute can find out the latency between hops.
doubt theres much u can do tbh thou, as ur directly connected to the router, ur latency to the router would be minimal
 
Cycrow said:
its not too bad, althou its not the best.

latancy is how long it takes messages to messages to and from the server.

so 500ms means it takes 1/2 second for your commands to reach the server.

basically means it'll take 1 second for any commands to work, 500ms to get to the server, and 500ms for the movement to get back to you

< 100ms is perfectly acceptable

personally i dont like playing when i have more than 200ms latency, u can get noticable stutters.


latency is more than just distance really, theres lots that can effect it, number of hops to destination being the main one. But if any of the hops are slow, or overloaded, the latency can increase.

doing a traceroute can find out the latency between hops.
doubt theres much u can do tbh thou, as ur directly connected to the router, ur latency to the router would be minimal
Click to expand...

Just done the test you suggested and got this..



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

... only 8 hops is good right?..


i Also added some stuff into the registery that helps with latency (found it on youtube) and it has helped it never went above 220 this time but even when its hovering around 80-100ms it was still stuttering..so i guess its there servers?
 
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Dropped packets maybe? I'm no expert but request timed out doesnt seem like a good thing. go to speedtest.net and Pingtest.net and do their checks. It will rate your internet connection. If you get dropped packets this could be the source of your problem.

This is how it looks for my connection through o2:

and


Then I think its down to firewalls/ routers/ ISP settings/ physical line condition. The first two are for you to try and sort out, the last two you will have to attempt to find an improvement through either your ISP provider or BT, which frankly can be a PITA because they usually try to pass the buck.
 
JimboJet said:
Dropped packets maybe? I'm no expert but request timed out doesnt seem like a good thing. go to speedtest.net and Pingtest.net and do their checks. It will rate your internet connection. If you get dropped packets this could be the source of your problem.

This is how it looks for my connection through o2:

and


Then I think its down to firewalls/ routers/ ISP settings/ physical line condition. The first two are for you to try and sort out, the last two you will have to attempt to find an improvement through either your ISP provider or BT, which frankly can be a PITA because they usually try to pass the buck.
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cheers ill tyr them sites :D Apprently the timed out is normal on that test once you get 3-4 means its got to the end of the line..apprently (never used it before tonight so had to do a quick research)
Just did the test and this is my score :D cant be my net then PHEW!

and net speed

Just been on and asked a few ppl in AOC and apprently every one gets spikes on AOC :( So i guess its just the servers. Once again a BIG ty spesh to CYCROW, for taking the time out to help me out! I Really do appricate it :)
 
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JimboJet said:
oh well you'll just have to look fwd to ditching your current game and keep your fingers crossed that the new ones have decent servers!
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lmao some how..i have a feeling dc universe will have the worst servers of them all! It seems a bit of a half hearted ateempt at an MMO :( I have a feeling ill be resubscribing to WOW anyday soon lol
 
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