Poor Planetside Performance...

[Krygor]

Alright, well I bought planetside hoping that my processor upgrade would be a sufficent enough of a change to make PS playable, and it was, that is, until I leave the NC Sanctuary. During fights( even 1 on 1) my fps drops to like 0.25 So, I'm curious, apart from turing the colors to 16 - bit, turning off all the fancy stuff, setting all the textures to low, and setting my res to 800 X 600, are there any more changes I can make that will improve my performance?

My Current System Specs:
Amd Athlon XP 2500+ 333 fsb Barton Core
Kt-600 Soyo Dragon Plus Mobo
256 mb pc 2100 ddr ram <-------------- 0_o
GeForce4 MX420 64 mb ddr pci card

I realize the low amount of memory and the graphics card are certainly anchors, so here real soon i'm gonna make an upgrade so I need to know, which would give me a bigger performance boost? Switching to a 128 mb AGP 8x graphics card, or dropping in a 512mb dimm?

Thanks for any assistance in advance...

[Dynamic]

Its all memory when it comes to PS, you must have at least 512.

[Eyepatch]

512, at least.

[Xgen]

His video card is MAJORLY lacking. Both the extra ram and video would make a HUGE improvement in performance.

[Eyepatch]

His video card is MAJORLY lacking. Both the extra ram and video would make a HUGE improvement in performance.


You know more than us. Let him know which would be more important for performance, upgrade in video card or ram?

[Xgen]

Thats a tough call, like I said he is lacking in both areas. As far as teh video card goes, its a PCI card, which is teh_l0se. PCI cards lag in even older games like Counter-Strike. Even the latest PCI cards like he has (GF4) sucks major balls. Id say a better video card first, ram second, ram is cheap anyway.

If you want a good card at a good value, the Radeon 9600 XT is the one for you. I bought mine about a month and a half ago for 199.00. It gives me about 30-50fps during nice size battles. I have a gig of ram though, but your processor is a heck of alot faster than my 2200+ 266fsb chip.

If you can afford a card and a gig of ram, with your setup, you should be able to run at 1024x768 with all settings turned up. The visual Eye Candy in PS is very nice. Im sure your setup as is, the game looks very blocky and ugly.

Also check this link for some PS Specific Tweaks
http://home.comcast.net/~psconfigs/

[Krygor]

Hrmm well I'm gonna pick up a 512 dimm when i get the cash, and hopefully an Ati Radeon 9800 pro when funds permit. Also, i'm curious. Does PS run more smoothly in windowed mode than full screen. and what should I set my Virtual Memory Start and Max to?

[Xgen]

With the amount of ram that you have, I would let windows handle it on its own. You only want to play with that setting when you have > 512 ram. Also defraging your hard drive periodically helps.

[Krygor]

So You say I should use windowed mode? or are you saying that windowed mode = too memory intensive? defragging hhd rightn now...

[Xgen]

I woudlnt use windowed mode.

[Krygor]

Kk.. Do you guys think PS will be playable once i get another 512 mb dimm for a total 768 mb ddr ram? I hope to have the dim in a few days.

[Eyepatch]

Kk.. Do you guys think PS will be playable once i get another 512 mb dimm for a total 768 mb ddr ram? I hope to have the dim in a few days.


I'll leave the answer to Xgen.

[Xgen]

can't be so sure, like i said your graphics card sucks major balls. I upgraded from a Geforce 4 TI4400 to the radeon 9600xt and it made a huge performance difference. FYI, the GF4 TI4400 was a $250.00 video card when it came out. Your card was a heck of alot lower on the totem pole at the time, and the fact that its pci makes it even worse. Im sure the extra ram will help, but i truly think a better vid card will improve your game even more.

My system Specs.

AMD Athlon XP 2200+
1GB PC2100 ram
Radeon 9600Xt

WHat planetside looks like to me.
http://www.808411.com/~xgen/movie.wmv
http://www.808411.com/~xgen/scatman.wmv
http://www.808411.com/~xgen/libvsac.wmv
http://www.808411.com/~xgen/cloaker.wmv
http://www.808411.com/~xgen/scatnight.wmv
http://www.808411.com/~xgen/gruntwork.wmv

PS: if you plan on getting new ram, be sure to get PC2700 or better to match your processor bus speed. Your processor is running @ 333

PC2700 = 333mhz.

ALso toss the PC2100, it will cause your system to run slower if you get faster ram. Maybe you can sell the ram and get a few extra bucks to put towards the new vid card.

[Krygor]

I worship your mining skills --> http://www.808411.com/~xgen/cloaker.wmv

Now, would you suggest i purchase

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-289&depa=0

Or

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-305&depa=0

hrmm.. then i found this
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-004&depa=0

probally not the best quality, but 52 bux? hrmm..

Also putting a *little* bit of thought towards possibly http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-163-108&depa=0 But 140 bux is a lot when ya don't have a job...