a performance question

[Desperado]

Well, I've decided to upgrade my PC JUST to play planetside (I do believe I'm an addict).

Anyway, My cash is limited, I will just tell you my specs

512MB DDR
GeForce4 MX 440 64MB
Pentium4
DSL connect

Well, I have heard of people getting crap framerates with all different kinds of specs, and I'm just wondering if this will boost my performance by a lot. (upgrading wouldn't hurt anyway :) )

just wondering if anyone has the specs of 1gig ram, 128 mb vid card, I'm sure it would help in some way

Discuss. :groovy:

[Foxd1e]

1 gig of ram and a nice graphics card do help, all goes to pot when your in a zerg battle, i doubt any computer can run a zerg with good fps, id say focus on getting ALOT of ram more than a Gig if your comp allows it, planetside is all ram and hard-disc, graphics card isnt a major factor to the performance. (edit: that doesnt mean get a shitty card :doh: )

[Eldanesh]

Before I upgraded to 2 gig of ram I got good fps with 1 gig + my 9800 pro 128. IIRC i would get mid-80's normally and 40's in zerg.

EDIT: check out www.pricewatch.com they have great prices on ram. I got 1 gig for 100 bucks about 2-3 months ago.

[Veteran]

It's easy to 'run a zerg' with good FPS.

Here is my modest computer:

p4 2.4 GHz w/ 533MHz FSB
ATI Radeon 9800
1.5gb pc2700 RAM
1.5Gb DSL

I never drop below 50 or so FPS even in thick zergs.

I don't recommend upgrading. If you must spend more than $250 upgrading, save your money and wait until you can buy a new system.

If a single aspect of your computer bottlenecks, each other component is reduced by a terrific amount.

edit: also check your task list (ctrl-alt-dlt) against this list: http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm and if you see any bad processes, eliminate them. Background task clutter can kill your FPS like Mao could kill a haircut.

[Strygun]

I'm moving this to the tech forum =)

[Rbstr]

FYI the amount of Video Memory has little to no impact on performance IE 256mb of memory is a waste


Get yourselft another 512 of memory and a New ATI pardy 9600 or FX5700

[Jimbo]

I recently built a new PC:

2.4G Pentium 4 800 FSB
Asus P4P800 Deluxe MB
1 G dual channel RAM

I used my old video card (ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128) until I can get a better one. The fan is broken on it so it gets really hot (it's at 53 C right now!) which affects my performance. I bought a nice fan for it but I found it doesn't fit on the dang thing. Going to buy a new one as soon as I can.

With this system, I get good framerate so far.

[Rbstr]

dude you need to get some good cooling and Overclock that 2.4, you could get it runnin 1000mhz FSB with ddr500 it would be sweet. the 2.4ghz P4c is the best OCer of realy any new CPU.

[Jimbo]

dude you need to get some good cooling and Overclock that 2.4, you could get it runnin 1000mhz FSB with ddr500 it would be sweet. the 2.4ghz P4c is the best OCer of realy any new CPU.

That's next on my list :)

I've never overclocked before so I am going to take it one step at a time.

[Rbstr]

also you have the same motherboard i do, if you enable Memory Acceleration in the chipset menu in the bios you can enable PAT, that is only suposed to be on 875 boards


It very simple with the p4p too

[Ait'al]

Which 2.4 is the c? the celron? It cant oc as well as the prescott. Theres no way.

Edit: Oh they made a 90nm 2.4. But its the 2.4a. Whats the 2.4c?

[Jimbo]

The 2.4C is the 800 MHz FSB P4.

[Rbstr]

ok yet again current P4 naming conventions!!!

C (2.4ghz P4c) denotes the C revision of the P4, using a Northwood core w/ 800mhz FSB, 512 kilobyte l2 cashe, and HT, this is the one most people have, and it performs well. Decent OC capabilites(the 2.4 and 2.8 however are very good ocers)

E (lowest it comes in is 2.8ghz, 2.8ghz P4e) donotes the New E revision or the Presscot, it also has 800mhz FSB, 1megabyte l2 cashe, and new better HT, this is the New one, it's basicaly beat in everything except Workstation things right now by the C version. Can OC to over 4ghz at wich point windows will actualy ready the Speed incorectly.(se INQ article) however it is EXTREAMLY HOT and you need Compressor cooling or WCing to keep it cool.

the EE (3.2EE or 3.4EE) is the supe high end P4, it is actualy based of the Gallatin core used on the Xeon CPU, has 800mhz FBS yet again, 512 kilobyte L2 cashe and an extra 2mb L3 cashe(the reason is so good), and regular HT, the thing costs 1k for the 3.2 and is a bit overkill if you ask me

The only Cellerons avalible for the 478 socket are based on the Northwood core of teh P3c, they have a 400mhz FSB, 256kilobyte L2 cashe, no HT. These generaly suck

[Ait'al]

They made a P4 2.4a which is .90nm. And as atleast one site called it, a prescott.

Edit:http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-178&catalog=343&depa=1 I think theyre saying its time to jump on the Prescott express ;) 1mb cache too. And SSE3

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-157&catalog=343&depa=1 2.4c I didnt see it last time i looked on here. Is it really better than the 2.4 Prescott?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-139&catalog=343&depa=1 2.4B This has got to be a record for Intel. Maybe not this proeccesor alone, but for the whole setup.

Whats the differnce between the 2.4B and C. One hyperthreading and one w/o. Im guessing the 2.4a has HT even though it doesnt mention it. Or does it?

I think we can expect on hell of a distribution spree from intel and associates when 775 launches :scared: or should i say :bouncy: I have a feeling were going to see a variety of products like weve never seen before.

[NoSurrender]

ok. that 2.4a is like one of the first cpus to use the 533mhz bus. it ain't prescot. it can't be prescott. they wont make the cores that low and the FSB is too low to be a prescott. Newegg is wrong on that.Second, prescott is slower than the current p4s.(just read new maximum pc) gah i can't think of what the b is. damn julius ceasar!!!(im thinking bout the stupid book)the c is the cpu using the 800mhz FSB.

[Rbstr]

that gould be a miss marked Presscot Celleron, those are going to have a 533mhz FSB
but the L2 cashe is suposed to be 512k

I left some out there is also the 533mhz FSB one that came before the C, i think it was called the b, and the one before that with a 400mhz FSB(rambus P4) that may be an A

also the slowest Presscot (including the Cel versions) will be 2.8ghz

[Desperado]

well, I've bought an extra 1gig of ram for about $130, thanks for all your input :)

[Ait'al]

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80645 They have the same thing. It has the SSE3 too. I think they just released this a few weaks ago to redo there smaller processor selection. Corsair and others are doing the same before hte 775 and PCI- EX come out so they have more to sell on the lower end or somehting, in one form or another. Ill get a product link from Intel too.

Edit: The 2.8 is still a little high for some people, so maybe they released a smaller one hoping people would buy them to OC.

Still getting Intels info...

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=483 the list :brow: I told you theyve been popping out versions like theres no tommorrow.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/details.asp?sSpec=SL7E8&ProcFam=483&PkgType=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&CorSpd=ALL the Product. Is that a prescott? Its 90nm.

http://www.intel.com/design/Pentium4/documentation.htm and an extra little fun page.

The first link is in the Product information thing on the right side of the page and is called Proccessor specs. Then the last one is a redirected link from Updated Specs link just below the first link on the P4 processor page on intels sight http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/processors/pentium4/index.htm?iid=ipp_desk_proc+prod_p4p& the last link is actually the technical documentation page. the second link is obviosly the Hypelink to the 90nm 2.4 from the first link.

The 2.8A/E are just the lowest Prescotts/90nms coming out on the 800 mhz bus. Not overall.

[Rbstr]

Intel hates OCing you fool, they don't want people to buy cheaper ones and OC them to the perfomance of more expensive ones, thats one of the stupidest things i've ever heard.

those look to be the presscot cels, even if they are not cels there POS only fools would get those, the presscots worse than teh P4 with an 800mhz with a 533mhz FSB it would be even worse

I honestly don't know WTF a P4a is then buts its crap so why keep persisting about it?

also you never said anyting about poping out versions like theres no tomarrow, they are called stepings, minor acitecture revisions

[Electrofreak]

A tip on video cards.

If you want the fastest video card for PlanetSide, get a fairly new GeForce, like a 5900. These cards run Direct X 8 applications better than ATI cards do, resulting in higher FPS.

However if you are planning on playing any other games in the near future, I'd suggest a Radeon 9000 series card, especially the 9800. These cards are Direct X 9 compatible, and will run games like Half-Life 2 at literally twice the FPS as a GeForce card.

GeForce is playing catch-up right now to ATI, and in order to maintain what foothold they have, they've made their cards very good at running Direct X 8 games like PlanetSide. So again, its your choice. If you are planning on upgrading your card in a half year or so anyways, get a GeForce, it'll run PlanetSide best. If you want a card that is a bit more future-proofed, and will run the upcoming Direct X 9 PC games much better, ATI would be the prime choice.

Hope that helped any.

[Rbstr]

I'm preaty sure PS uses some DX9 parts. It need DX9 installed to run last time i checked

I don't relay liek the AMD Athlon ^4's righ tnow as they have bad driver suport and stuff rifht now but the 939 socket and things make it more appeling, and Win XP 64.

[Phaelon]

It uses DX9 only to a degree. It uses in-herrent commands but does not take FULL use of the shadow texture settings.

Personally, I am an Intel man as well. Speed is not as important as reliability and stability for me as a person. However in the server market of 4 processors or more, I like the Opterons better because of thier architecture.

[Electrofreak]

Yeah Rbstr it uses some Direct X 9 ELEMENTS, but the engine is Direct X 8 based.

[Electrofreak]

As for the AMD 64 having bad drivers? Plenty of nice driver supportage for us AMD 64ers. (http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html)

If you were referring to XP 64, yeah theres not a ton of drivers out right now for it but they are slowly leaking through. If I can dig up an old hard drive somewhere I'll install it on my system. It seems that there are 64-bit drivers for all of my hardware out right now.