Smuggler Archive

x850 is waaay overrated. You can get a much cheaper card that will do the trick with out any realy quality loss.

Based on that article that was quoted - Id say if you ahve a decent processor for MMORPGs (P4 2.8 - 3+) then you will really be ok with the x800XL or the x700 to save even more.

i run SWG With a Radeon 9200 64mb, AMD Athlon 1800 and 1.2 GB ram, my HDD is ancient, and I can load between travels in 15 seconds.

i alsmo make sure any settings I dont need are turned off. Non-collidable flora is just for show - u dont need it, dont use it.

My view distance is about 4/5th of the way full, so things start loading well before I get there. My only real problem with the game video wise is space - where there is a large nebula. But thats really just my video card not being able to handle it. I have good quality textures, and my character detail is still high, so the people still look good. The terrain detail is low cause I dont give a crap, and I am usually running at 20-30fps even on kashyyyk at 1600x1400.

Dont know what else I changed settings wise - but one day I explored all the video settings in and out of game and I have things to a place where they run very nicely, on a very mediocre computer.

Now my laptop on the other hand, a P4 3GHz, 512MB pc2700 ram, 80 gb HDD (5400 RPM I think), and an nVidia GeForce GO FX 5200 128 mb ram (non-shared). It takes about 30-60 seconds to load between travels and my fps drops very fast on it in player-rich centres like dantooine MO or Theed, etc... I'm sure I need to get more RAM for it, but SODIMMs in 1GB are expensive. Any my detail settings are set as low as they can go. Except my resolution, I wont sacrifice that - its at 1280x1024.

If anyone has any other ideas for the laptop(other than was mentionned in the article) i could use them too.

I don't buy from Nvidia anymore, not since the GF4 debacle and a run of benchmarks they misrepresented during the 5000-series days that made the cards look quite a bit better than they were. Not happy at all am I.

Currently, I'm running:

AthlonXP 2700+
1GB RAM
Radeon 9550 256MB <---Very surprised at how good this card is, esp. for the price
7200RPM 8MB SATA150 HDD

I run at pretty much maxxed detail all the time, and it only slogs down in the worst parts of Kashyyyk (The treehouse in Kachiro when on upper levels, and the Wroshyr Canopy).

Ariko's running:

Duron(With Athlon core) 1.7 GHz
1 GB RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
Some kind of halfway-decent ATA166 HDD

And she seems to get good framerates out of almost everywhere, too.

So looking at your stats... I'm thinking you need a better videocard(especially since the 5000-series nVidia cards were one of the company's definite lows, IMO), and maybe a Faster HDD if you can manage one of those. The rest seems pretty aces to me.

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Sparkalot wrote:

This is kind of off topic for the forum, but since I feel like this forum is kinda my home away from home, was wondering if I could get some help. I just came into some money today and I'm looking to do some upgrades on my machine. My current rig is a 2.8 P4 with 1.5 gigs (room for another 512)of RAM running a BFG NVIDIA GeForce 5500 OC. My connection is cable, so at this point I'm just looking for help getting my fps up to something decent on Kashyyyk. I currently average about 5 to 7 fps on that rock with my rig the way it is.

If I can get some help from all you smugglers with where you think I should make the improvements and possibly what you are running with avg fps and such. Going to buy my stuff after work today, in like 7 hours, so any quick replies would be appretiated. Thanks ahead of time for the help all.

Message Edited by Sparkalot on 06-10-2005 08:57 AM

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I haven't even read a single response after reading your original post here. This is almost too easy, especially if you're looking for a very solid quick fix. Add that other 512mb of DDR400 RAM for 2GB total and throw in a new ATi Radeon x800 Pro and toss that nVidia crap right into the toilet.

I not like ones who post with out reading-- think they have ansers that everyone else could not come up with.. and dont even spend te time to see.plus just the statement that Nvidia was crap is enough torender any advice he has as uncreditable.. just like if i had said Nvidia is the greatist anyway one may be better then the other but they gotta be close so close that the fx card buying community cannot deside a clear victor

well when i first log on im getting it done in 2-3 min but it seems when i hit launch like around 45 secs to travel anywere off planet.. may get out watch to see.. I meanonly 20 sec diff here but 20secs is twice as fast.. if I could get it down to say 30 secs then only a 10sec launch ... hey that is less then the chat lag on ahazi and if we could get loads down to five secounds..well they wouldnt need a loading screen just a blank frame durring the switch

Tybolt_Begheera wrote:

stuff.

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I've tested both brands extensively from low end to mid and high end. ATi has been smoking nVidia (a role reversal over previous years) for almost 36 months now, thanks. As for not reading the other posts, my context was more to imply that the root question was relatively simple to answer (on my part only). Meaning, it was a nice, easy response on my part that didn't require me scouring the entire thread (add ram, add better video card...which is exactly what everyone said anyway after I posted and THEN read the responses). Again, thank you, I do actually enjoy another person's perspective despite what my tone may sound like here and now, no worries.

Message Edited by Katalepsis on 06-10-2005 12:46 PM

Problem with buying a new video card these days is the coming of PCI-express. Sure, you could get a nice new AGP video card (and probably should, really...), but then if/when you upgrade your mobo, either you have to find a ghetto AGP board or you have to get a new vid card anyway to handle the PCI-E slot.

I don't know how much money you've come into, but the upgrade that I've been eyeing for my rig has been a new mobo, proc, RAM and PCI-E card. I'm an AMD guy, so the low-end Athlon 64 with 2GB of RAM and a ~200 dollar PCI-E card (I was looking at the nVidia 6600GT 128MB) was what I was looking at, for about 600 bucks total from www.mwave.com.

But then... I don't know the details of your mobo... if you just got it recently and it's just running an older proc, I wouldn't want to upgrade everything. On the other hand, if it's a 2-yr old mobo, it's about time to upgrade, anyway. /shrug

Alright, well at this point I'm looking at the extra 512 megs of ram and now kinda split between the ATI x800 or the BFG 6800. May come down to which I can talk them into discounting more at this point, since everyone seems pretty torn between the two. But thanks for so much help so far, not sure if i'll get a chance to take another peek before I actually go get the stuff or not. either way, I'll let everyone know how it turned out.

Thanks everyone for all the help. Final verdict was I went with the ATI X800 XL 256MB AGP. Didn't grab the memory, just to see the preformance enhancement without it and if it didn't work, then I'd go back to the store and get the memory. Well, after running around in what used to be lag world for me(Kashyyyk), thanks to everyone's help and that new graphics card, I run wide open, with full shadows at a steady 29-30 fps anywhere. Still get a slight hicup right at load and not sure if I should, but other wise preformance is awesome. This is one smuggler that won't be killed because of lag anymore! Thanks again to everyone and the pie and beer is on me untill the server reset at 4 AM!

/passes the pie

swet choice in vid card. SMuggler dj has worked hard on his boat and just bought a amd64 3500+,a gig of uber ram, an Sli motherboard, and a big sexy 6800gt.
Let the good times roll

Ok knowing you will check up on this matter to see if I flew a flame, I must say I would enjoy seeing the results of your test. though even extensive testing proves very little and opinions on such matterare as deep as amd/intel or on a broader non technecal field ford/chevy and years change the leader,and when someone gets sold they are sold as long as theydont get alemon, even then they may call fluke and get another whatever.

My Officail stance is I prefer Nvidia cause I always like the ease of haveing one driver for my 440 and my 5700 and I like what i see out of the 6*** and will be buying one soon or atleast by christmas if there isnt some shift in the wind, and the only install will be hardware and the standerd upgrades that come with every change of windows or direct x. My brother he runs Ati he is very pleased with the cost/performance and I do admit it runs as good, but mine is not crap by no means.

But the statment about not reading others to say ram and video, that got me Mad, wasnt exactly the fact that you didnt read it was you dismissed others and didnt view thier opinion as vailed (even as if it was the same as yours) cause of your extensive test and superior knowledge.

computers for a 1000 alex

More Ram

What will increase the speed and preformance of most system functions on a Mainstream computer