Is my PC up to snuff for the super mods?

[SubConscious]

Greetings fellow submariners! I am in need of some technical expertise. I’m playing vanilla SH3 (with the 1.4 patch), but I’m eagerly anticipating trying NYGM TW 2.2 and GWX on another installation. I built this PC a while back and I'm not sure if it's up to snuff for these mods.

Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Here are the specs:

CPU: AMD 3200 Barton
MB: ASUS A7N8X-E
RAM: 2GB PC3200
Video: ASUS GEForce FX 5700 256MB
HDDs: WD 36GB Raptor (Applications), WD 200GB SATA (My Documents)

[stabiz]

Yes. (If anything, your graphics card is your bottle neck)

[VonHelsching]

You'll probably have slow framerates when facing large convoys, but the game will not be unplayable. I had a worse system some months ago. Processor and memory are fine, but you may want to consider getting a better graphics card.

[Biggles]

I had the same graphic card, it worked just fine with me! (until, it broke down some months ago so I CAN'T PLAY MY GAMES ON MY OWN COMP.:damn: :damn: :damn: :damn:

[Pants]

I had the exact same card..it works fine apart from the smoke issue, you get white instead of black

[Jimbuna]

Looks cool...cept the graphics card...enjoy :D

[Biggles]

The graphic card SHOULD do fine! It works for stock SHIII right??
How much does the mods upgrade the graphics anyway?

[SubConscious]

Thank you all for the feedback. If you have any recommendations for graphics cards, I'd appreciate hearing them.

It typically takes several minutes for my career to fully load until the point where it will response to keystrokes or mouse clicks. I had assumed that this was a CPU issue.

The hard part is going to be the budget. I'd like to try to keep the graphics card at $300 or below. The ASUS GeForce 7900GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI card comes in at $306 on Newegg, but the reviews aren't good. It looks like the GeForce 6800 512MB GDDR2 AGP card for $166 has pretty good reviews, but I'm not sure about what kind of performance increase I'll see.

Decisions, decisions... Thanks for your help!

<edit> *slaps head* I just realized that my MB has an AGP 8x graphics slot, so that's a limiter. It looks like the 6800 card is the best I can get. I'll do a forum search on this card and see what I can find. In the interim, all opinions are welcome!

[GT182]

Sub, take a look in PriceWatch.com..... http://www.pricewatch.com/video%5Fcards/

Look for the radeon x1600 pro 512mb agp card. Now more affordable than ever. Even the PCIexpress card is too.

Your FX5700 256mb card should be fine, unless it's crapping out on you because of heat or whatever. I have a 5600Ultra 256mb card that plays SHIII just fine.

Heat issues can cause problems it. I just installed a PCI slot fan under the GFX card which has helped with cooling. Thermaltake makes a good one that you can get at RadioShack for 9.99. Also check your CPU temps, you might need a better heatsink. Yes, stock ones can cause problems eventually. Copper is the way to go. Zalman is great, or even a Thermaltake with a copper base is good. And use Artic Silver too. ;)

[Boris]

With a 6800 GT or Ultra you'll see some definite improvements. I have a 6800Ultra 256, which still runs everything very well (I also have a 3800 Athlon 64 though). If you can afford it go even better though... theres still lots of decent AGP cards out there.

[spork542]

You could get a 7600GS, that's a powerful card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150166

Or you could get a 7800GS instead if you have the money for it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130274
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143046

[CruiseTorpedo]

I wouldnt spend too much on the graphics card, look for a good budget card which todays budget card vs what you have will more than double your video power. Save the money for a complete system overhaul later.

Games are loading sooo much info into ram anymore that upgrading your hard drive is also something to consider. The new drives out there are 300mb/s which your most likely using 133mb/s same as I am. I've played the new ghost recon on an identical PC to mine except the other PC had an ati 850 PCI express video card and a sata 300mb/s hard drive and the difference was crazy! The game ran so smooooth, FPS was just the same but there were very few if any stutters where my machine will have little pauses. I'd imagine durring times in SH3 when your running into convoys that are hitting the hard drive it would also smooth it out and be less noticable.

It's something to think about anyway. I just ordered a new hard drive with controller card to get my system up to 300mb/s for about $150 at newegg. If you did that and ordered a little less than top of the line agp card I'm sure you would see an incredible difference. I dont plan on doing an entire system upgrade till next summer, untill then I'm sure the new hard drive will hold me over!

Here's my specs:

p4 2.8
1gig ram
ati 850 agp card
soon to be 300mb/s HD currently 133

Another gig of ram would benefit my system as well but I didnt want to spend the extra money for ram + HD so I decided to buy the hard drive. I'm saving up for that super fast dual core system or whatever happens to be out at the time next summer.

[Gizzmoe]

I just ordered a new hard drive with controller card to get my system up to 300mb/s for about $150 at newegg.
It´s a waste of money to buy a special controller card for 300MB/s drives since normal "consumer" harddrives don´t even come near a transfer rate of 133MB/s. For that you need a 15000 rpm HD. It´s even more waste of money if that card is a 32-bit PCI card, the maximum transfer speed of the PCI Bus is 133MB/s.

The game ran so smooooth, FPS was just the same but there were very few if any stutters where my machine will have little pauses. Your harddrive probably is fragmented, that´s why you had those little pause.

Another gig of ram would benefit my system as well but I didnt want to spend the extra money for ram + HD so I decided to buy the hard drive.
A very bad decision! ;) Except maybe if your old HD was already full.

[CruiseTorpedo]

I know HD dont come close to 133mb/s but that doesnt mean that 300mb/s drives arent a little more than twice as fast! I also know the speed limits of PCI but even the 300mb/s drives wont exceed the PCI bus speeds. My HD wasnt fragmented, even defragged just before running the game I'll get pausing while the other PC didnt skip a beat on the same drivers, same XP system, and even a little more overhead from apps in the background. I'm certain the only difference was the HD speed between the two systems.

If I'm wrong I'm wrong, I'll let ya know in a week! Might be longer, depends if I have time to install it. Hopefully I will !

[SubConscious]

Thank you all for your feedback. To address a few points:

I’ve heard good things about ATI, but I’ve always used NVIDIA cards. Maybe its old age at this point, but I go with what I’m familiar with. I’ll see if Tom’s Hardware Guide has reviews of the higher-end AGP cards recommended by Spork542. Tom’s is a great resource for such things: http://www.tomshardware.com (http://www.tomshardware.com/).

For chipset cooling, I have a good quality Vantec copper CPU cooler (much better than the CoolerMaster Aero 7 I had) with Arctic Silver. The last time I checked, the CPU temperature was typically 113F at idle, though I should probably test this again just to be certain. I also have Vantec copper RAM heatsinks and I went so far as to put little Vantec copper heatsinks on each of the chips on the graphics card. Geeky, to be sure and I wonder about the efficacy of this decision, i.e., if they're really necessary.

GT182 – I like your idea of an extra exhaust fan under the graphics card, so I might try that as a stopgap measure. I built this PC using a Lian Li all aluminum case (2 80mm intake front fans, an 80mm rear exhaust fan and an 80mm exhaust fan on the top of the case – I love Lian Li cases and have built five PCs using them), which tends to be pretty good at helping keep components cool.

CruiseTorpedo – I think I’m ok in the HDD arena, as my applications are loaded on a 10,000 RPM WD Raptor drive. The only problem with the little 36GB drive is the need to keep it defragmented.

I’ve seen several people mentioning Frames Per Second as a metric. Can someone guide me as to how I can assess my FPS in SH3?

Thank you all for your assistance. I feel very fortunate that I found this community.

[GT182]

Best HDDs are the SATAs with data transfer at 155mb/s versus ATA HDDs at 133.

The x1600pro 512mb agp graphics card is just as good as the 7900, and it beats the 6800s for less money. Even the PCIe x1600 512mb card is a steal at pricewatch.

Sub, my Thermaltake case now has 11 fans in it. 7 when it was empty and 2 in the PSU. Now the PCI fan and HDD cooling fan have been added. At idle my CPU runs at 109F, more/less(depends on when I check it). Under load it's around 36C to 38C. MoBo is 81F and HDD is 70F. Get Speedfan 4.29 to check your temps...it's freeware...... http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php and it works great too. As for the ATI 1600, I'm switching to it asap. I've been a loyal nVidia user for the past 6 years. But after reading about ATI's newer cards and drivers, I'm making the switch.

[Gizzmoe]

I know HD dont come close to 133mb/s but that doesnt mean that 300mb/s drives arent a little more than twice as fast!
The interface standard says nothing about the performance of a drive. Speed-wise the harddisks are basically always the same. Take a drive with ATA/133 and a drive of the same exact type with SATA/300 and you´ll see that the read and write transfer rate is the same. Depending on which drive you buy a SATA/300 drive can even be much slower than an ATA/133 drive!

[CruiseTorpedo]

I’ve seen several people mentioning Frames Per Second as a metric. Can someone guide me as to how I can assess my FPS in SH3?


Do a search for FRAPS, it's a simple program that will let you know what your frame rates are in the game.

[HunterICX]

:yep: It will run good,
because I have an lower system then shown by the Topic poster

2.8Ghz Intel pentium 4
512 DDR ram
256 Mb Graphic card geforce FX5700LE (light edition):nope:

and my Framerate is choppy when close to Harbours or large convoys.but that only when running the game under TC , when I have 1TC I dont notice the framerate drop. my average is calculated between 40 - 50 fps

edit: I use GW1.1 by the way

[SubConscious]

GT182 – Thanks for the information on Speedfan. I’m going to check that out. ASUS packaged a utility that monitored case and CPU fans, as well as CPU and MB temperature, but I can’t remember why I opted out of that installation (damn over-40 brain…). I’m going to have to read some reviews on these newer ATI cards. I’ve been using NVIDIA for about 6-8 years myself, but perhaps it’s time for a change. You have 11 fans in your case? Holy smokes! How loud is your PC? I’m hindered by the fact that mine is sitting on top of a filing cabinet about 14” from my left ear, so keeping things quiet has been a top priority. To this end, the Vantec CPU cooler has been a godsend. Hey – I see that you’re from upstate. I used to go camping in the Adirondacks. Ever been to Lake Lila?

CruiseTorpedo – Thank you very much! I have seen “FRAPS” on some of the YouTube clips, but wasn’t sure about it. I’ll definitely have to check that you.

HunterICX – Thanks for the info. It’s good to know that GW will function on a slower machine. Isn’t it time to change that sig? ;)

[stabiz]

Fraps is probably used in every youtube-vid you have seen, but the text only shows in the demo version. If you get the full version you dont have to see the ad + you can record for as long as you want, not just 30 seconds at a time.

[SubConscious]

Fraps is probably used in every youtube-vid you have seen, but the text only shows in the demo version. If you get the full version you dont have to see the ad + you can record for as long as you want, not just 30 seconds at a time.

Thanks! That's good to know. I saw that the price is only $37, which isn't bad if the program works as well as it looks.

[CruiseTorpedo]

I had some time yesterday and finished installing the hard drive. I found out durring the install my PCI slots are capable of 66mhz so it's not limited to 133mb/s but 266mb/s which is a bonus! After installing the drive and controller my little minipauses have vanished but as expected my frame rates didnt improve, just avg fps went up which is all I was after anyway, hate those little stutters with a passion!

Anyone currently running an old IDE drive could do the same as I did to get a little more umph out of their system, and increase storage space at the same time!

[SubConscious]

I had some time yesterday and finished installing the hard drive. I found out durring the install my PCI slots are capable of 66mhz so it's not limited to 133mb/s but 266mb/s which is a bonus! After installing the drive and controller my little minipauses have vanished but as expected my frame rates didnt improve, just avg fps went up which is all I was after anyway, hate those little stutters with a passion!

Anyone currently running an old IDE drive could do the same as I did to get a little more umph out of their system, and increase storage space at the same time!

Thanks for the info & congrats on your success!