Author Topic: How much should or does a modem affect FPS? (Read 1486 times)

eddiek · « **on:** December 25, 2001, 05:38:00 PM »

I have been running back on my old USR Sportster 56K ISA modem for about 10 days, and the thing only hooked up at 31.2K max, but I had NO stutters or warps to speak of while flying in AH.
Installed another USR WinFaxModem PCI, surfs faster, but in AH, I get lots of mini-freezes, stutters, warps, even tho my net status shows good.
Anyone else think I got a modem problem?

shaunmcl · « **Reply #1 on:** December 25, 2001, 06:47:00 PM »

i come from the other side of the world but i got a 56k and its conected at 26k was 32k at a stage.AH is playable but has the occasional stutter and stuff

BenDover · « **Reply #2 on:** December 25, 2001, 06:51:00 PM »

if it is a modem problem, slot it out,and put it back in, it might just be a bit loose

vatiAH · « **Reply #3 on:** December 25, 2001, 07:53:00 PM »

eddiek,

You connection has very little to do with FPS. In your case, thou, your modem may be effecting your FPS. You old modem was a ISA hardware modem which does not need the help of the CPU to do it's thing. Your new modem is a WIN modem. Win Modems need the CPU to do most of the work that would be normaly done by the hardware on a hardware modem. On a high end system, a win modem does not cause all that much trouble because the CPU is really not being over taxed by AH. In a low end system, The CPU is doing all it can just to run AH. When the CPU has to run AH and do the added task of running the modem to , you will see a hit in FPS. I hope that answers your questions.

Vati

AKSWulfe · « **Reply #4 on:** December 25, 2001, 08:23:00 PM »

When dealing with a dial-up modem, it's best to stick to a modem with on board hardware (as Vati mentioned) and also to stay with ISA.

PCI modems, while faster bus transfer rates, induce mini warps and other strange (undesirable) effects that you really don't want in an online game of any sorts. They are more for surfing the web.

WINmodems are the bottom rung, a cost saving point for many companies building computers trying to save on every dollar they can. Stay away from any modem that has "WIN" in it.

Gaming Modems, while they claim to be better at eliminating unneccesary overhead and creating a much more playable environment, are iffy at best.

I use a ZooM 56K ISA modem, it connects at between 49333bps and 50666bps- AH runs beautifully on it. I suffer warps or squids only when the server itself is having problems or HTC's local provider.
-SW

eddiek · « **Reply #5 on:** December 25, 2001, 08:35:00 PM »

Thanks guys!

So I am not experiencing a brain fart or anything........okay, gonna reinstall the old ISA modem here in a few minutes.
Dying from stupidity in the MA is one thing, dying because the screen goes screwy is another.......cya in a bit!

moose · « **Reply #6 on:** December 26, 2001, 02:47:00 AM »

yep, when I tried to go all pci in my machine (before cable) i couldn't because all the pci modems i could find were of the Win-x type. When trying to play quake2 online (this was years ago) my ping instead of being lower was up around 500, from 200 with the ISA

im surprised that they dont offer a nice PCI modem at this point, because going all PCI elimates the slowdown from the isa bus

moose · « **Reply #7 on:** December 26, 2001, 02:51:00 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by ShaunMcL:
i come from the other side of the world but i got a 56k and its conected at 26k was 32k at a stage.AH is playable but has the occasional stutter and stuff

Hey Shaun

where do ya live in ireland?

my mother's parents lived in county cork before moving to America long ago.

I loved going back a couple years ago, miss it very much

airspro · « **Reply #8 on:** December 27, 2001, 12:49:00 AM »

U.S. Robotics 56K Voice PCI modem

This is a hardware modem .

I connect at only 26400 bps , when airsid was here he said it looked online just like his DSL connect . I get no warps etc. normaly .

I did own a ISA Sportster , worked fine also . New MB don't usually have ISA slot anymore .

popeye · « **Reply #9 on:** December 27, 2001, 04:22:00 AM »

You can also get an external modem that plugs into the serial port. I bought such a modem from USR, supposed to be the best available, to try to squeeze a few more bps out of my pathetic rural phone line. Can't say it really was an improvement over the ISA bus modem, but it works fine.

qts · « **Reply #10 on:** December 27, 2001, 06:14:00 PM »

Having supported modems in one guise or another for nearly 15 years, I have found that external modems are far better than internal ones. It's easier to see what's going on, and easier to set things right when yourt connection jams.

But the simplest speed-up tip is to remove the connection display icon from your System Tray.