Upgrade from GeForce7800GT 256MB to Geforce8800 320 MB - or not
Bjorn Simonsen
GPU: GeForce7800GT 256MB
Mobo: MSI MS-7125 (K8N Neo4 Platinum)
CPU: AMD64 3500+
RAM 1024MB DDR
OS: WIN-XP PRO
Will my system profit from upgrading to a Geforce 8800 GTS, or is
my cpu/ram/mobo to slow to notice any gain compared to the 7800
GT card I have? Current motherboard can take up to a Athlon 64 X2
Dual-Core 4800+ CPU, if that would help. Would it?
Or is money better saved for a new system?
Background: Feel the need for an upgrade, or some other fix -
since I've been playing FairCry in the past with a few annoying
problems from time to time (game freeze at some scenes for 5-10
seconds before it continues). Could live with that, but now, its
become even more of a problem when I tried a moe recent game -
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The game freeze for at times up to 20 seconds
before it continues. Even with most ingame- settings set to the
lowest quality w/static lightning, and after having enlarged the
swapfile on my system to twice its initial setting, there has
been no change in said gameplay experience. Also tried upgrading
with latest NVIDIA drivers (Forceware 162.18, until recently I
used 91.31). I don't play that often, but from time to time I do
- as I find it quite relaxing when stressed out by more worldy
issues. But there is no relaxation to gain if the game experience
only keeps annoying me due to full stopp/freeze in the gameplay
over and over :-/
TIA
All the best,
Bjorn S.
DaveW
wants to ideally reserve 768 MB of RAM for the OS's use alone. It will get
by on less, but when you load large game files, such as in Far Cry, that
slows the system down. Newer games even more so. Time for another 1 GB of
RAM, I believe.
--
---------------------
DaveW
---------------------
"Bjorn Simonsen" <bsus...@broadpark.no> wrote in message
news:9913e3heko7ttm3ej...@4ax.com...
Augustus
"DaveW" <not...@bot.org> wrote in message
news:ovWdnUboru5ZRXzb...@comcast.com...
> Your system is being more choked by only having 1 GB of system RAM. XP
> wants to ideally reserve 768 MB of RAM for the OS's use alone. It will
> get by on less, but when you load large game files, such as in Far Cry,
> that slows the system down. Newer games even more so. Time for another 1
> GB of RAM, I believe.
I don't know where you're getting your info about XP's maximum real world
memory footprint, but it's way off base. Even the most bloated XP installs
with no pruning of tasks and processes or systray apps typically don't
exceed a 350Mb physical RAM footprint. Usually it's far less. Mine's in the
250Mb range but I manage services and don't run a whack of systray applets.
You're not understanding how the reserved System Cache memory allocated by
XP actually is allocated by the OS when other memory demands are encountered
by the OS.
This may help...
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-6346_11-5071997.html
As for the OP, an XP Box with a 7800GT, an dual core 4800+ and 1 gig of RAM
should be able to run FarCry at any res with max settings without hiccups.
As for S.T.A.L.K.E.R this pretty well explains how to get decent play with
your existing system.
http://www.digital-daily.com/video/stalker_test/
Benjamin Gawert
> Your system is being more choked by only having 1 GB of system RAM. XP
> wants to ideally reserve 768 MB of RAM for the OS's use alone.
And again you make yourself a clueless idiot by spreading your BS. Will
you ever get a clue? Probably not. You just again prove that you just
don't know shit about Windowsxp or how Windows memory management works.
Get lost.
Benjamin
Benjamin Gawert
> I don't know where you're getting your info about
Forget DaveW, he has a very strong and well deserved reputation as
bullshitter already. I'd recommend to just ignore that retard.
Benjamin
Benjamin Gawert
> Question about my system and upgrade option/need:
>
> GPU: GeForce7800GT 256MB
> Mobo: MSI MS-7125 (K8N Neo4 Platinum)
> CPU: AMD64 3500+
> RAM 1024MB DDR
> OS: WIN-XP PRO
>
> Will my system profit from upgrading to a Geforce 8800 GTS,
For games: yes, you will see a profit.
> or is
> my cpu/ram/mobo to slow to notice any gain compared to the 7800
> GT card I have? Current motherboard can take up to a Athlon 64 X2
> Dual-Core 4800+ CPU, if that would help. Would it?
Well, most games are GPU-limited today, and run just fine with an
Athlon64 3500+. Of course current games like Bioshock or STALKER benefit
from two CPU cores.
> Or is money better saved for a new system?
What for? Your system is still pretty good. And even when what DaveW
wrote is just plain BS I'd add another GB or memory since it helps to
increase performance in current games.
> Background: Feel the need for an upgrade, or some other fix -
> since I've been playing FairCry in the past with a few annoying
> problems from time to time (game freeze at some scenes for 5-10
> seconds before it continues). Could live with that, but now, its
> become even more of a problem when I tried a moe recent game -
> S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The game freeze for at times up to 20 seconds
> before it continues.
Nothing of what you describe is a limitation of your hardware. I
experience a similar problem (game freezes for a few second every two
minutes or so) with STALKER, and I have a high end system with 32GB
memory. Others suffer from that problem, too, and I remember I read that
there is a way to fix that by fiddling around in the config files but I
can't remember where I read that or what setting it was (if someone
knows a fix I'd be glad to hear it!). Remember that STALKER is a _very_
buggy game, even with the latest patch.
As to FarCry, well this game is quite old now and when it came out it
ran fine on much slower hardware than what you have. FarCry should run
just fine on your system.
> Even with most ingame- settings set to the
> lowest quality w/static lightning, and after having enlarged the
> swapfile on my system to twice its initial setting, there has
> been no change in said gameplay experience.
Which points to the fact that this is not because of a lack of
performance of your hardware. It's very likely that there's something
wrong with your hardware.
I'd check CPU and GPU temperature, and the case temperature, too (it's
possible that there is something overheating). Are all fans working
(especially the fans that cool the chipset)? I'd also remove all gfx and
chipset drivers completely(!) and install the latest drivers just to
avoid a driver problem.
Benjamin
emaila...@insightbb.com
> I'd check CPU and GPU temperature,
Bingo! Pauses in games indicate a video card overheating (or when
overclocking, possible temporary undervoltage per stability)
condition.
If the system had insufficient memory there would be clear indication
of massive paging or file loading activity seen by drive access LED on
the case. If it were chipset there would be more severe errors and
probably a crash. If it were CPU it would turn off, err or throttle
down not just pausing.
While upgrading to a new video card would improve performance some,
the performance isn't the immediate problem. The resolution could be
as simple as cleaning dust out of the video card heatsink, or the fan
may be failing and needs lubed with thick oil if a sleeve bearing
type, or replaced if it doesn't respond well to lubing or if a ball
bearing type. Since many fans are now proprietary, it could require
getting the replacement fan through the manufacturer if card is under
wattanty still, or buying a whole aftermarket heatsink (preferribly
with a standardized fan so this situation isn't repeated again as
video card fans are notoriously unreliable in most cases of thin high
RPM fans).
Bjorn Simonsen
<ovWdnUboru5ZRXzb...@comcast.com>:
> Time for another 1 GB of RAM, I believe.
Will try. Thank you.
Bjorn Simonsen
<5kevkhF...@mid.individual.net>:
> > GPU: GeForce7800GT 256MB
> > Mobo: MSI MS-7125 (K8N Neo4 Platinum)
> > CPU: AMD64 3500+
> > RAM 1024MB DDR
> > OS: WIN-XP PRO
> >
> > Will my system profit from upgrading to a Geforce 8800 GTS,
>
> For games: yes, you will see a profit.
Thank you. I will proably upgrade then. You also said that most
games are GPU-limited today. Good to know, as I was wondering if
games are CPU intenstive or not, or how much, or if they offload
most or all their work to the GPU, as you suggest.
> > Or is money better saved for a new system?
>
> What for? Your system is still pretty good. And even when what DaveW
> wrote is just plain BS I'd add another GB or memory since it helps to
> increase performance in current games.
Noted, will do, thanks.
> > Background: Feel the need for an upgrade, or some other fix -
> > since I've been playing FairCry in the past with a few annoying
> > problems from time to time (game freeze at some scenes for 5-10
> > seconds before it continues). Could live with that, but now, its
> > become even more of a problem when I tried a moe recent game -
> > S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The game freeze for at times up to 20 seconds
> > before it continues.
>
> Nothing of what you describe is a limitation of your hardware. I
> experience a similar problem (game freezes for a few second every two
> minutes or so) with STALKER, and I have a high end system with 32GB
> memory.
Sorry to hear, but "good" to learn I'm not the only one....
> Others suffer from that problem, too, and I remember I read that
> there is a way to fix that by fiddling around in the config files but I
> can't remember where I read that or what setting it was (if someone
> knows a fix I'd be glad to hear it!). Remember that STALKER is a _very_
> buggy game, even with the latest patch.
Could be a buggy game then, not necessary my hardware (if not
both :).
> As to FarCry, well this game is quite old now and when it came out it
> ran fine on much slower hardware than what you have. FarCry should run
> just fine on your system.
>
> > Even with most ingame- settings set to the
> > lowest quality w/static lightning, and after having enlarged the
> > swapfile on my system to twice its initial setting, there has
> > been no change in said gameplay experience.
>
> Which points to the fact that this is not because of a lack of
> performance of your hardware. It's very likely that there's something
> wrong with your hardware.
I see...
> I'd check CPU and GPU temperature, and the case temperature, too (it's
> possible that there is something overheating). Are all fans working
> (especially the fans that cool the chipset)? I'd also remove all gfx and
> chipset drivers completely(!) and install the latest drivers just to
> avoid a driver problem.
GPU 38c and CPU 40c after one hour of game play. So it seems ok.
Will try the latest chipsetdrivers.
Thanks for you input, much appreciated.
Bjorn Simonsen
wrote in
<1189344929....@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com>:
> Bingo! Pauses in games indicate a video card overheating (or when
> overclocking, possible temporary undervoltage per stability)
> condition.
GPU 38C and CPU 40C after one hour of gameplay.
Bjorn Simonsen
<uMmEi.24819$bO6.9647@edtnps89>:
> As for the OP, an XP Box with a 7800GT, an dual core 4800+ and 1 gig of RAM
> should be able to run FarCry at any res with max settings without hiccups.
CPU: AMD64 3500+. The dual core mentioned in my post (4800+) is
the max upgrade path I can take with my current mobo. Wondering
if a CPU upgrade is worth it in this case? A new GPU I can move
to the next plattform (in 6 months time), a CPU probably not.
> As for S.T.A.L.K.E.R this pretty well explains how to get decent play with
> your existing system.
> http://www.digital-daily.com/video/stalker_test/
Thanks! Quoting from the article: "Hence, we arrive at the
conclusion that the computational part in the "full dynamic
lighting" mode is entrusted mainly to the CPU, whereas the
capabilities of video accelerators in this sense are scarcely
used."
Thus in this game - the CPU speed IS very relevant after all, but
only when Full Dynamic Lighting is applied.
All the best,
Bjorn S.
All the best,
Bjørn S.
Bjorn Simonsen
<uMmEi.24819$bO6.9647@edtnps89>:
> As for S.T.A.L.K.E.R this pretty well explains how to get decent play with
> your existing system.
> http://www.digital-daily.com/video/stalker_test/
While reading about the Geforce 8800 series I came across this
S.T.A.L.K.E.R benchmark and comments
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce8-roundup_16.html#sect0
Bjorn Simonsen
<9913e3heko7ttm3ej...@4ax.com>:
> Question about my system and upgrade option/need:
>
> GPU: GeForce7800GT 256MB
> Mobo: MSI MS-7125 (K8N Neo4 Platinum)
> CPU: AMD64 3500+
> RAM 1024MB DDR
> OS: WIN-XP PRO
>
> Will my system profit from upgrading to a Geforce 8800 GTS, or is
> my cpu/ram/mobo to slow to notice any gain compared to the 7800
> GT card I have?
Upgraded with 1Gb additional system memory (total 2gb)) and with
a new Gainward Geforce (Bliss) 8800GTS w/320Mb. After the upgrade
I noticed only slight improvement(smoothness when running) when
playing the game STALKER, although the screen image seems a tad
sharper/more detailed. I guess the reason is STALKER is both more
buggy AND more CPU-demanding than other games. Haven't gotten
around to try so many of my older games, but FarCry runs without
a hitch now, and I also installed and ran BioShock without a
problem.
In an ideal world I guess would first have performed a benchmark
with my old 7800GT card and 1GB system memory in place, then add
1GB system memory and perform a new benchmark. Then add the new
8800GTS card and do another benchmark. But I don't live in a such
a world, time is limited, and also since the systemmeory I first
received did not work, I installed the new GPU first, then added
1GB system memory later, with no time to download/install and run
any benchmarking software during the process.
Thanks to all for your input.
All the best,
Bjorn S
occasional gamer