Recommended specs aren't good enough?

[frenema]

I just got the game and there seems to be a problem with the game speed for me. My Intel processor runs at 2.66GHz and I have 2gig ram with nvidia 6200 512mb video card. They seem to match or exceed the recommended system requirements, but the game still runs rather slow even with the lowest possible graphic settings (hovering around 11 FPS). I mean, the game isn't terribly slow but it just isn't smooth either... Am I missing something or is this 'normal'? Because I feel a bit cheated and don't want to have to consider the possibly of buying a new PC just for the game .

[Effigy]

Originally Posted by frenema

I just got the game and there seems to be a problem with the game speed for me. My Intel processor runs at 2.66GHz and I have 2gig ram with nvidia 6200 512mb video card. They seem to match or exceed the recommended system requirements, but the game still runs rather slow even with the lowest possible graphic settings (hovering around 11 FPS). I mean, the game isn't terribly slow but it just isn't smooth either... Am I missing something or is this 'normal'? Because I feel a bit cheated and don't want to have to consider the possibly of buying a new PC just for the game .

My framerate suffers in IV as well, and I have a decent rig. Specs say I meet and exceed both minimum and recommended, but I beg to differ. I can max 20fps at best when I really tweak around with settings (and kill all the eye candy), and in ideal situations (e.g. completely alone in the middle of the pacific with nothing else around, lol). But even that feels pretty choppy to me, and once I move the view or whatever, just gets worse.

Only suggestion I have for you is maybe try defragmenting the computer. I did recently, not having done it before, and SHIII gained 15-20+ FPS! Not that I need it with SHIII, it already runs really smoothly. Hoping this would have translated over to IV as well, but I did not notice any FPS gains at all there - your mileage may vary though. Bout the only (non co$tly) suggestion I can think up atm. :\

[Task Force]

Make sure your drivers are updated. Also are you runing Vista, If so I dont think 2 gigs of ram are going to cut it(at least three) I have three gigs and am thinking of getting more.

[SteveW1]

I used to run SH4 on a Celeron 3ghz with 2 gig of ram and a 7300gt card and got about 20 to 25 fps even with PE3 on the bridge.

Now I've upgraded to a C2D 2.4 ghz with 3 gig of ram and a ATI Radeon 3850 OC edition card and have nothing under 50fps with everything turned on with PE3 on the bridge.

I've seen a few posts around that say that the 2 most important items for SH4 is the amount of ram you have and a more upmarket graphics card, it is always good to have all your drivers up to date as well.

my 2 cents I hope it helps

[Rockin Robbins]

Guys, the minimum graphics card to run the game with graphics settings WFO would be a GeForce 7600GT. I would HATE to bear the consequences of trying it with any 6000 series card. You might start hewing away at the graphics settings until you get to 640 x 480 16 colors, no special effects and actually run the game. I'm not sure it's worth it.

You're confusing recommended with minimum. Minimum requirements will limp the game along with major problems even then. You will not have fun. Without 2gb of RAM for XP and probably 4 for Vista, you will not have fun. Without at least the above mentioned graphics card, you will not have fun. Since games are supposed to be fun that produces a quandry solvable only by sacrificing some cash. But it's a good investment for your computer in general. Tell the wife it's to make spreadsheets run better!

[Effigy]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

Guys, the minimum graphics card to run the game with graphics settings WFO would be a GeForce 7600GT. I would HATE to bear the consequences of trying it with any 6000 series card. You might start hewing away at the graphics settings until you get to 640 x 480 16 colors, no special effects and actually run the game. I'm not sure it's worth it.

You're confusing recommended with minimum. Minimum requirements will limp the game along with major problems even then. You will not have fun. Without 2gb of RAM for XP and probably 4 for Vista, you will not have fun. Without at least the above mentioned graphics card, you will not have fun. Since games are supposed to be fun that produces a quandry solvable only by sacrificing some cash. But it's a good investment for your computer in general. Tell the wife it's to make spreadsheets run better!

In my case I'm not confusing recommended with minimum (not sure if you were addressing the OP, me, or both). According to "Will it run it", whatever that site is for checking games, it says my setup is good to go on the recommended as well (so I kind of expected to be able to run it with some nice visuals too). 'Course, that site may be iffy (or just can't really interpret unique setups well, I dunno. :P)

I have 4gigs of ram as well, which I thought would help things, but I guess a graphics card update couldn't hurt! So I've decided to give it a go. nVidia 9800 series or something, that I'm looking into. Heard it's a beast; had to measure my case to make sure the thing would even fit (according to some reviews I read). May go to the store later.

Anyway. While SHIV definitely plays okay for me now, I'd sure like some of that eye candy too. And Call of Duty 4 would probably thank me as well. I can play that game just fine with some nice visuals, but oooooo I can imagine how it would be with a new card and being able to crank everything up.

Hope the OP is able to enjoy IV as well at some point, whether that comes from a graphics update or some other means. A whole new computer isn't necessary, I agree with the previous mention - an update in an area or two is usually good enough.

[Richard Zapp]

Originally Posted by frenema

I just got the game and there seems to be a problem with the game speed for me. My Intel processor runs at 2.66GHz and I have 2gig ram with nvidia 6200 512mb video card. They seem to match or exceed the recommended system requirements, but the game still runs rather slow even with the lowest possible graphic settings (hovering around 11 FPS). I mean, the game isn't terribly slow but it just isn't smooth either... Am I missing something or is this 'normal'? Because I feel a bit cheated and don't want to have to consider the possibly of buying a new PC just for the game .

The Nvidia 6200 video card will struggle to play SHIV. I was lucky to get 15 fps on my Nvidia 6600GT video card. I'm running the game with an Nvidia 7900GS card now and I get about 45-55 fps in open ocean with all the eye candy on. This is running Vista Home Premium with 4 gigs of ram and an Athlon X2 4600 processor @ 2.4 ghz.

[Seminole]

I tried it on my 6800 card with a 3.2 processor. Then I put it away until I could get something decent to run it. Human nature tends to blame the game for not running well on their rig rather than the other way around which I think is more realistic. So they end up overtime disliking the game... and I didn't wan to risk that.

Having waited to play is why ,even though I got one of the first copies,I'm just now running around these last couple of months asking stupid questions. Sorry.

[Quillan]

I never had problems on my old card, but it was a 6800 Ultra. The 6200 is anemic, and that's a generous qualification. You can run with 1 gig of memory on XP, but 2 gigs is a significant improvement.

[Orion2012]

Originally Posted by Quillan

I never had problems on my old card, but it was a 6800 Ultra. The 6200 is anemic, and that's a generous qualification. You can run with 1 gig of memory on XP, but 2 gigs is a significant improvement.

In a lot of aspects the 6800 is still a wonderful card. My old rig included 2 SLI 6800 GT. I never had a problem with the framerate.

[swdw]

Originally Posted by frenema

I just got the game and there seems to be a problem with the game speed for me. My Intel processor runs at 2.66GHz and I have 2gig ram with nvidia 6200 512mb video card. They seem to match or exceed the recommended system requirements, but the game still runs rather slow even with the lowest possible graphic settings (hovering around 11 FPS). I mean, the game isn't terribly slow but it just isn't smooth either... Am I missing something or is this 'normal'? Because I feel a bit cheated and don't want to have to consider the possibly of buying a new PC just for the game .

As mentioned earlier, the 6200 is the issue. If you have an AGP slot you can upgrade to a ATi HD 3850, or an Nvidia 7600, depending on your budget. If you can afford a 7600GT over the GS, you'll get better performance. Admittedly, the 6200 being listed as a supported card is kinda misleading, as are a couple of the ATi cards they have listed. It may be supported but they should have given a recommendation of a 7X00 series cardand a 1650 or better for the ATi list.

This next statement isn't meant as a slam, but to encourage you that you don't need a new PC. I have a second computer that's being used as a WinXP HTPC that has an HD 2600 pro in it, 2gb of ram and a 2.1 ghz processor, and I get better framrates than you get with the 6200 (between 22 and 35). And the 2600 is not a good choice for a gaming card.

So, with that being said, you should be able to get much better framrates and playability with just a video card upgrade. If you have Vista, the suggestion of adding at least another gig of ram is a good idea.

If you have PCI-e, you have lot's of great choices.

[kiwi_2005]

Originally Posted by frenema

I just got the game and there seems to be a problem with the game speed for me. My Intel processor runs at 2.66GHz and I have 2gig ram with nvidia 6200 512mb video card. They seem to match or exceed the recommended system requirements, but the game still runs rather slow even with the lowest possible graphic settings (hovering around 11 FPS). I mean, the game isn't terribly slow but it just isn't smooth either... Am I missing something or is this 'normal'? Because I feel a bit cheated and don't want to have to consider the possibly of buying a new PC just for the game .

Like some have said, the 6200 just wont do. I first ran SH4 with a 6600GT with 128mb DDR3 ram and it ran okay well looked nice and ran ok only when in window mode. The 6200 even thou its 512ram is probably DDR2 ram which is pretty crappy for SH4.

Buy a 7600GS or higher

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by kiwi_2005

Like some have said, the 6200 just wont do.

Where were all you guys a month ago? I could have used that advice! Of course I didn't ask, so it's my own fault. My three-year-old computer came with an ATI 9600, but it was only 128 RAM. I didn't want to spend too much so I said "256 RAM is recommended, so that's what I'll get!" So I bought a 6200 and there is no difference that I can tell. At least from your description I'm lucky I didn't spend the extra money for 512.

Still not playing SH4. I do load it up and look at it sometimes, though.

[Effigy]

After many hours of lurking dell forums I discovered I didn't need a new PSU to run my new card, like I'd thought. The 9800 gtx I got works fine with my stock PSU 12v amperage, I just hadn't hooked up the GPU additional power cables correctly, so not enough power was getting to the card simply from that.

I eventually found the right cable coming from the PSU - geeze, it's a fortress of wires and bits n pieces inside my case, very confusing to a non hardware person - and hooked it up.

Rebooted - no more warning from nVidia about cutting the performance...

First thing I did was boot up SHIV to test. This seems to be the most strenuous game I have on my PC at the moment (COD4 as well I guess), so it's a good tester, lol.

Turned on every graphic setting available, and loaded up a mission.

My god

60FPS on the bridge and everywhere else (Think it auto selected vsynch when I set high settings, so it's halting max FPS at my monitor refresh rate). Wow, it's like a whole new game now. I might actually play it again, lol...

Just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration to upgrade, subsimmers.

To the OP again, my processor is not that great. But with just this graphic card improvement, it has made a dramatic difference. I really recommend an upgrade in that department, to whatever you can justify spending on it.

[Quillan]

Different games have different loads for different pieces of hardware. SH4 is far more graphic and memory intensive than CPU. The only time the processor tends to bog down is when there are a lot of ships within the 20nm radius where they get rendered in 3D, because at that point the processor is doing all the assorted detection checks and movement decisions for them.

Probably the most demanding game on the market currently is Crysis, so if you really want to check out that monster card, install that and crank up the settings. I was ecstatic that I could run in 1280x1024 with 4x AA and 8x AF and still get ~40-60 FPS with all the detail sliders maxxed out. I'm running a factory overclocked 8800 GT 512 meg card.