Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Toad on January 16, 2007, 08:55:22 PM
-
I've got an old system for AH and I'm not ready to drop major bucks on a replacement just to play the game. It does everything else just fine for my needs.
AH is the only game I play. If there were good fights on good maps every night, I'd drop $2K+ to get a new hot lashup with the latest stuff.
However, the fights just aren't good enough to justify that IMO.
So, since I still like bumping around in EW and MW and LW (if the milkers are dominating EW & MW), what agp card would give me a nice increase in frames (that's my big obstacle right now..frames dropping to the teens when buffs are around or in furballs)?
I would drop maybe $150-$200 if I could get a decent increase.
Right now I have a
Gigabyte GA-7VAX mobo with a gig of ram running an AthlonXP 2800+ (IIRC) and a BFG Asylum GeForce FX5900 O/C 128MB video card. The card is AGP, of course; it's old.
So would some better $150-200 Radeon or GeForce make a significant difference?
I still love the game when there's good fights... I'd drop some $ in this to keep playing but the slide show is starting to get to me.
-
6800 might do well.
If you want to push it a bit (neither of these will be fully utilized with that older CPU) you can get a Ge7600GS (not GT) or an X1600 Pro for just under $150.
A 6800GTX would be a good deal as well, I'd wager. Probably better performance in some cases than the 7600GS. The 7600GT would blow it away, but there's only 1 of those available in AGP and it's perpetually out of stock because of this fact (and $190 because of this fact).
Click here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCompare.asp?Category=38&Nty=1&N=2010380048+1069609639+1295318922&Submit=ENE&Subcategory=48&CompareItemList=N82E16814141026%2CN82E16814133176%2CN82E16814131430)
Let's see if that link comes through properly.
-
Yep i had a reply all typed out then didnt want to post it cause its really hard to tell what that cpu can push and what it cant . He would still get the Anti aliasing benefit of the new cards but i wouldnt want to recommend anything on frame rates . One way to tell if your cpu limited is to overclcok the video card and see if your fps go up or not . If not ur cpu limited , if they do then you could use more card . I saw a 7800gs on newegg for 209 and a 7600gt for 200 . I didnt realize that ATI relased a new AGP card based on their X1950 Pro , looks like it's the new king of AGP. 38
-
I bought a 7600GT apg from Newegg for my system >
3.0 barton , 1 gig 3200 ddr ram , 7200rpm WD HD , Winxp sp2 , 450watt ps
I went from a FX5700LE to a 6600 in Dec. (plane jane card , NO GT or nothing) card and seen some improvement , the game "looked" better plus a few fps differace . I then sold that card to a friend and and got the one I have now three weeks agon .
I really didn't see much improvement at all , I can "NOW" run the my PC one step up from "Best Proformace" with the same FPS that I did before . I tryed 4 aa , and Quality and it really looked NICE ( sobs ) but soon as I got near 4 to 5 planes and ground the fps fell and I could feel (see) the game slow .
I run the game at
1024 by 768 , 1024 textures
I have the box check to preload textures , and don't have ANY of the downloadable skins .
I got 75 to 45 fps with all three video cards , but the 6600 and up looks better .
I am thinking that it's cpu bottlenecked .
I got this question though , why can you see the slow down at over 30 fps ??? Is the game hitting the HD or ? I just notice this in AH , only really happens when you come to ground range .
-
im suprised your in the Teens with that setup ... it sorta points to sumting running in the background (maybe malware or some other bug), a overheating component , or a system that isnt optimized (dialed in) , or due for a format / fresh os install .
i never drop below the 30's on my home gamer in the nasty hugest furballs you can imagine .. (for comparison)
2500+ M barton @ 2.4ghz
asus a7n8x-e dlx
9600pro 128 (crucial card)
1 gig 3200 xms ram
W2K pro ,4.12 omega's .
nothing preloaded in AH, 1024 x 768 , hires pak 1024 tex running ...19in crt @ 85 hz , full distance ,,performance slider almost maxed .
-
Skuzzy's said there is no way to avoid hitches with 1024 texture resolution selected. Not even on the best systems, if I recall his posts on the matter.
Turn it down to 512 and you should get rid of those.
-
I upgraded a while back to an ati x850. I don't remember the exact cost but it was within your price range with shipping, and it's made a world of difference from the 9550 that used to be in there.
I use 512, and max all sliders for detail, with 2x AA and run between 50-60 fps, 60 being the monitor max, pretty much at all times.
Sometimes i get shot down because i'm to busy looking at the skin of the plane i'm fighting.
-
I'd get this one from newegg:
BFG Tech BFGR78256GSOC GeForce 7800GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143046)
$159 after $50 rebate (from $209)
I have the evga version of this card and it is solid
-
You won't come close to getting full performance out of a 7800GS on that CPU, though.
7800GS is the king of AGP. Probably the best AGP card that will ever be made, from what I've heard. That older CPU wouldn't handle it at all.
-
Originally posted by Krusty
You won't come close to getting full performance out of a 7800GS on that CPU, though.
7800GS is the king of AGP. Probably the best AGP card that will ever be made, from what I've heard. That older CPU wouldn't handle it at all.
Ahhh nope the 7800gs WAS the best , the new Ati X1950 Pro is now the king of AGP .
-
Turn it down to 512 and you should get rid of those
I hear ya's , will do .
Thanks
-
Roscoroo
I'm hoping you were addressing my problem.
Here's a shot of the running processes. Before AH, I try to shut down the ones listed as "John". There are a few that return immediately.
Are there others I should be closing?
This systems really chugs around a bomber flight and trees as well. I've had to really reduce the sliders.
Tell me about preloaded textures; I believe I have that checked and it is downloading. Should I stop that?
I can run hijack this and post a shot of that if it would help.
Thanks!
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/875_1169169685_processes.jpg)
-
ill look these up later tonight or tommorrow morn (the Little Roo and I are working on his 1st RC plane )
-
7600GT AGP is your best bang for the buck, imo (I hate fooling with rebates)
7600GT AGP from Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150210)
Newegg is the best place to order components online. Usually no questions asked returns, great shipping, etc.
-
Funny thing about that card on newegg....
That card was (still is?) unatainable. I spent a couple of months waiting for it to be in stock a while ago, and the day it was in stock it would be out of stock within minutes. I waited for it to restock 3 times in a row and I never got the chance to order it. I ended up switching to a PCIe motherboard instead. This was some months ago. There are dozens of different 7600GT brands available in PCIe, only 1 in AGP. It also only costs about $120 for the same card in PCIe.
-
Originally posted by Toad
Roscoroo
I'm hoping you were addressing my problem.
Here's a shot of the running processes. Before AH, I try to shut down the ones listed as "John". There are a few that return immediately.
Are there others I should be closing?
This systems really chugs around a bomber flight and trees as well. I've had to really reduce the sliders.
Tell me about preloaded textures; I believe I have that checked and it is downloading. Should I stop that?
I can run hijack this and post a shot of that if it would help.
Thanks!
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/875_1169169685_processes.jpg)
The google toolbar you can Kill from the list and also that hsdx.exe is not a System Process and is not vital to running your computer so you can also Kill that process, Other than that it all looks normal at what should be running. Also a Hijack this Log never Hurts to take a look at to see if theres any hidden processes running in the background that are not supposed to be there.
-
Originally posted by Krusty
I ended up switching to a PCIe motherboard instead.
I had to do that too :( Made me so mad. I switched back when the 7800 series just came out, the only AGP "high end" card was the ATI x850 series...it was back when there was a severe AGP drought.
Now AGP cards are seemingly falling from the heavens... I liked my old motherboard better too. :cry
-
is hsdx.exe "Hypersnap " ??? its a screen shot program i think .
thats the only one thats questionable on your process list .
i would run hijack this and run the open process manager to dbl check for hiddens ... but besides that it looks clean.
you dont need the google toolbar ... it comes in firefox built in
as its own nav search bar . but i suspect you have it installed in IE thats why its in the list.
the list is pritty clean other wise .(cleaner then mine ..ive got my av , printer,and dvd burner on my processes)
you could upgrade the card ..
Another question is What type of monitor are you running ??? It maybe thats what causing the excessively low frame rates. (some crts / lcds need drivers installed to work correctly )
-
I close the hypersnap and all the other "John" items that will close before I log in to AH.
Monitor is a NEC MultiSync E1100+; big sucker but old. I picked it up used for ~$200 a few years back. I think it's 21". Takes up a lot of desk.
Is preloading textures in AH a good or bad idea? What about the downloaded skins? Use them or skip them?
-
Originally posted by Toad
Monitor is a NEC MultiSync E1100+; big sucker but old. I picked it up used for ~$200 a few years back. I think it's 21". Takes up a lot of desk.
Is preloading textures in AH a good or bad idea? What about the downloaded skins? Use them or skip them?
check nec for drivers if the available my huge 22in crt at work runs 10 times better with the drivers added vs the plug n play ones.
as for preload textures mine are off ,,, skins are on ...
what screen resolution are you at and the refresh hz ??
i ve got a spare 21in crt here at home i could plug in and do a comparison test just to see how much hit my fps takes .
-
I d/l'd NEC 1100+ drivers from NEC and went through the install procedure but my "wizard" felt that the drivers in that folder were not better than what it was using so it would only keep the MS drivers.
Any tricks to this? Do I have to uninstall the monitor and reinstall to use the NEC ones? Or are they the same?
I'm 1024x768 on the desktop and 85 on the refresh.
The game is also set at
1024x768
512 on the max textures
preload is on right now but I'll try it off
Hardware vertex is checked
Optimize objects is checked
Optimize terrain is checked
Max frames is set at 60
-
Hi Toad,
This program (FSAutoStart) will shut down all the progams & services you don't need to run AH, then start AH automatically. When you quit AH, it will restart everything. Mouse over the running programs/services and it will give you a recommendation of what to do for each. If you want it, right click and save this link: Link (http://hells-angels.us/ah/fsav1111.zip)
I've got an ATI 9800 Pro you can have. I ran it with the exact same processor you have, getting a solid 40+ fps in furballs at 1280 x 1024 resolution, 75 Mhz on a 21" monitor. I limited fps in game to 60. There aren't any "drivers" for monitors. It's just an .ini file that sets monitor name, and the resolution and appropriate maximum refresh rate for each resolution. If you want the card, shoot me a PM.
-
up your max frames in game.
yes the ms drivers / ini is fine then .
-
I tried the 512 texures , lower frame rates :(
It did say that anything but the "default" would be lower , as 1024 is my "default" then that made sense . I wonder why it's that high for "default" ???
I tried the game in 1600 by 1200 with the pc set to best proformance and it really looked pretty :) flew ok till more than a few showed up at a base we were trying to take :( I then reset it back to 1024 by 768 and left the pc at best proformance . Works fine no stutters at all .
I do find that FS 2004 works a bit better than with my old card IMO . I do see the delay in bringing up differant stuff and view as I did before . That's a good thing .
I am thinking that AH used cpu more than video , unlike FS 2004 ?
-
Originally posted by airspro
I tried the 512 texures , lower frame rates :(
It did say that anything but the "default" would be lower , as 1024 is my "default" then that made sense . I wonder why it's that high for "default" ???
I tried the game in 1600 by 1200 with the pc set to best proformance and it really looked pretty :) flew ok till more than a few showed up at a base we were trying to take :( I then reset it back to 1024 by 768 and left the pc at best proformance . Works fine no stutters at all .
I do find that FS 2004 works a bit better than with my old card IMO . I do see the delay in bringing up differant stuff and view as I did before . That's a good thing .
I am thinking that AH used cpu more than video , unlike FS 2004 ?
If you were at default, the default texture resolution size is 256. You mentioned you were at 1024 (but this might have been your screen size, not your texture size). If going to 512 made your FPS go down, chances are you were still using 256. If you don't like the rates with 512 textures, go to 256 or the lowest (128) to gain more performance.
This is the "Video settings" option on the main game menu, before you go online. This is the drop-down box that only has "128, 256, 512, 1024" in it. This is not the screen resolution.
-
...
-
It keeps showing 1024 for "default" texture size .
Wonder what file to delete to restart it all again . Tried the video8 one and that wasn't it .