Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Technical Support => Topic started by: FupDuck on April 11, 2022, 07:13:00 PM
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I am running a i7-4770, 3.40 gig 2gig of RAM with a Nvidia GeForce GT640 video card. I have fibre to the house which delivers 980 meg and at my computer used for Aces High 3 I am getting 99 meg. I run 50 to 60 FPS on various test sites. I can see my FPS drop to around 13 as soon as I connect to the game. Can somebody steer me in a direction that might help me get better frame rates? Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks.
:bhead
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Right off the bat your 2 issues will be the video card and RAM. Is 2gb a typo? I'd assume your system RAM is between 4-16gb. If you have 8ish that should be sufficient. Curious as it seems low for RAM unless that is a 2GB GT640 card.
Regardless, the card might be struggling a bit as it is now 10 years old. Sadly, it is not a great time to buy a video card although they are coming down in price all around.
Video card may be swappable depending on brand of computer
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Right off the bat your 2 issues will be the video card and RAM. Is 2gb a typo? I'd assume your system RAM is between 4-16gb. If you have 8ish that should be sufficient. Curious as it seems low for RAM unless that is a 2GB GT640 card.
Regardless, the card might be struggling a bit as it is now 10 years old. Sadly, it is not a great time to buy a video card although they are coming down in price all around.
Video card may be swappable depending on brand of computer
Sorry, it is a typo. I have 20gb of RAM.
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Right off the bat your 2 issues will be the video card and RAM. Is 2gb a typo? I'd assume your system RAM is between 4-16gb. If you have 8ish that should be sufficient. Curious as it seems low for RAM unless that is a 2GB GT640 card.
Regardless, the card might be struggling a bit as it is now 10 years old. Sadly, it is not a great time to buy a video card although they are coming down in price all around.
Video card may be swappable depending on brand of computer
The video card is actually a 4GB GT640.
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the Nvidia ##40 series are their lowest end video cards and it's already quite a bit old. FYI the "tens" tell the performance level compared to others sharing the same "hundreds". Agreed, it's much better than the minimum requirement but it's still not much. You can't expect it to run AH3 with all the bells and whistles enabled.
That said, you should be able to get better than 13 fps. Start by disabling all enhancements and set all video sliders to their minimum. Anti-alias and environment mapping are the biggest resource hogs. Mark the performance, then enable one feature and see if the performance drops. Disable that, enable another. When you find those that don't hurt too much, try two at a time. It's tedious but there's no shortcuts. Then again, none of the features are required in a fight!
I've been using https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html (https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html) as a reference, comparing the G3D rating of my card (whose performance in AH I know for sure) to others. Back in the day when AH3 was new I came to the conclusion that cards above 3000 marks should give 60 fps in most situations on a 1920x1080 screen. See how your card compares with the minimum and the recommended minimum cards:
(https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=405083.0;attach=35298)
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20gb of RAM is a really odd number suggesting you have mismatched sticks just plugged in. If so, that isn't helping you. I don't know how you'd come up with 20 actually. It's usually multiples of 8.
Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
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20gb of RAM is a really odd number suggesting you have mismatched sticks just plugged in. If so, that isn't helping you. I don't know how you'd come up with 20 actually. It's usually multiples of 8.
Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
Caught my eye as well. But it's doable by 2x8gb+2x2gb sticks which would maintain the benefit of dual channeling.
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2gb sticks? 1990 called, they want their RAM back!
Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
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Drano, note that the computer dates back to 2014 and runs DDR3. It's highly possible that it has been sold with a whopping 4 GB (2x2). As the largest supported RAM in that kind of a system is 8 GB it'd be natural to assume that the biggest possible sticks have been installed as an inexpensive upgrade. And because more is more, the original sticks haven't been removed.
Not knowing the history of that machine all this is pure speculation. But upgrade options like that have been asked about in this forum as well as elsewhere. And truth to be said, for $50 adding 2x8gb RAM is most likely the cheapest upgrade. An SSD might have given more startup speed but for running heavier programs RAM is better.
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20gb of RAM is a really odd number suggesting you have mismatched sticks just plugged in. If so, that isn't helping you. I don't know how you'd come up with 20 actually. It's usually multiples of 8.
Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
It came with 16. 2 8GB. MOBO has 4 slots. I added 2 2GB sticks.
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Haha, the other way around than to what I thought!
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Oh that might be your problem or at least it isn't helping you. Take those other two out and see if it helps.
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Why would the 2 2GB sticks cause problems?
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Because all memory sticks aren't alike. They run at different speeds. There's a lot more to the timings than just say, PC3600. So using mismatched sticks isn't a great idea. PCs don't like that! If your 16gb sticks were a kit of two 8gb matched sticks, just go with them for now and see if things get better.
How much better it might get is debatable as your specs are pretty low to begin with but it's worth a try.
Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
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Why would the 2 2GB sticks cause problems?
The most likely scenario is that the 2gb stics simply don't match with the specs of the 8gb sticks. Their speed rating may be lower, their CAS latency higher, their voltage different... There's quite a many variables. Your computer does a decent job in trying automatically find the settings that work for both sets. Usually that means that the slower options are chosen as almost anything can be safely underclocked.
Here's some down to earth reading about adding or mixing RAM: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/myths-misconceptions-about-ram/ (https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/myths-misconceptions-about-ram/). As you've noticed, mixing RAM sticks works in a way and for some tasks more is more even if it's slower. For other tasks speed is more important than capacity. The article verifies both your experience and Drano's comments.
That said, I still believe that your video card is the main culprit. Cards below a G3D Mark of 3000 can't run AH3 at a solid 60 fps at default settings. At least that's my experience.
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what they are saying is just like in the marines, we only run as fast as the slowest guy. so your 2g sticks will make your faster stick's run lower. also your vc is on the low end. get rid of the 2 g sticks and try to get a better vc and your fps will improve. also removing some of the eye candy will help.
sep
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Your computer case and power supply might limit your video card upgrade possibilities
Eagler
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Thanks all for your help. Some things I hadn't thought about. I appreciate all the tips.
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Removing the mismatched memory is a good idea. It won't fix the problem but it may improve the PC performance.
60 FPS is your monitor limit so you should see that on anything that doesn't stress the video card.
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60 FPS is your monitor limit so you should see that on anything that doesn't stress the video card.
My in game on screen info registers over at least 240 fps on my 60fps monitor.
Is that correct?
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Removing the mismatched memory is a good idea. It won't fix the problem but it may improve the PC performance.
60 FPS is your monitor limit so you should see that on anything that doesn't stress the video card.
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60 FPS is your monitor limit so you should see that on anything that doesn't stress the video card.
My in game on screen info registers over at least 240 fps on my 60fps monitor.
Is that correct?
you have vsync off, it should only be used for testing. turn it on, the max showing should be what your monitor can display.
semp
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you have vsync off, it should only be used for testing. turn it on, the max showing should be what your monitor can display.
semp
Thanks semp :salute
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60 FPS is your monitor limit so you should see that on anything that doesn't stress the video card.
My in game on screen info registers over at least 240 fps on my 60fps monitor.
Is that correct?
What Semp said is correct.
But if you see a constant 240+ with Vsync off, you might consider getting a faster monitor. A 32" 2560x1440 @ 144 Hz doesn't cost too much (about 300) but it can make your games even more life like as you'd see that 144 frames per second. VR is another option for a powerful enough system.