after recently discovering that my brand new spanking pc does not have an AGP (or PCI-E, for that matter), i installed a ATI radeon 9200SE on my old pc. well, it now runs the game. it actually look a lot prettier, as long as i don't move (getting some horrible framerates when fighting with a party). here are the specs of my old clunker:
CPU: intel pentium 3 (800mhz, can be pushed to do 900mhz)
ram: 526 mb
graphics: ati radeon 9200SE
so my question is: will upgrading the CPU greatly improve the performance? i'm running it at 1024x768 resolution and minimum detail.
effect of CPU speed on performance
moriz
Serafita Kayin
You really and truly need a new PC.
If you lived close enough I'd GIVE you one of the P4s that haunt this place.
But honestly, you're scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as what will run GW. The only thing that can help you now is a new PC.
If you lived close enough I'd GIVE you one of the P4s that haunt this place.
But honestly, you're scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as what will run GW. The only thing that can help you now is a new PC.
Blade Rez
You need a new computer. CPUs do not increase game performance DRAMATICALLY. At higher settings sure 1-10 more fps, but gfx cards+RAM are more important for that.
New computer. AMD for gaming. Intel for some gaming+more work
New computer. AMD for gaming. Intel for some gaming+more work
moriz
so the problem is mostly ram and graphics card, not processor. thanks.
anyways, my new pc can run the game with quality set to max, even with an integrated card, so i'm good for now.
anyways, my new pc can run the game with quality set to max, even with an integrated card, so i'm good for now.
swaaye
Processor plays a major part if there are tons of characters on the screen. Battles and towns, for example. Could also be RAM bandwidth. PC3200 vs. 100MHz SDRAM for example, lol.
Blade Rez
Quote:
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Originally Posted by swaaye
Processor plays a major part if there are tons of characters on the screen. Battles and towns, for example. Could also be RAM bandwidth. PC3200 vs. 100MHz SDRAM for example, lol.
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d4nowar
What I want to know is why he bought a new computer without AGP or PCIe...
Blade Rez
Quote:
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Originally Posted by d4nowar
What I want to know is why he bought a new computer without AGP or PCIe...
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whats sad is that my old 3.0ghz computer used the same gfx card as his 800 mhz card >.<. AGP vs PCI tho
swaaye
Well whatever the characters require for calculations from the computer is definitely very, very demanding. The first step though is to make sure you have a beefy video card, cuz without that nothing else really matters.
moriz
Quote:
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Originally Posted by d4nowar
What I want to know is why he bought a new computer without AGP or PCIe...
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and no, those hand-build systems are out of the question, since my parents (who paid for it) insisted on warrenty services.
Ghozer
all components come with ATLEAST a 1 year manufacturers warrantee, and all stores that build them by hand should LEAGALY offer ATLEAST a 3 month no quibble warrantee... so i wouldnt worry about that.
moriz
my parents had some bad experiences with hand-built pc and components. for our first pc, the company went belly-up after a month and the components' warranty tend to be unreliable and downright annoying. so now they insist on branded computers, no matter how crappy they can be.
remember, i live in canada, where life is worth about $25 and people die of of their sicknesses while waiting for hours in emergency rooms.
remember, i live in canada, where life is worth about $25 and people die of of their sicknesses while waiting for hours in emergency rooms.
swaaye
well, as a pc gamer you should take matters into your own hands and learn how to build the PCs yourself and understand the components completely. 
But MAN can you get some wicked deals from Dell, especially if you do some coupon hunting!
My mother is a ER doc. She wastes hours upon hours every day helping people who think they're sick, but are sometimes hypochondriacs or just people with colds. These people take away tons of time that could be spent with the truly injured/sick people. Never mind when she has to deal with stupid criminals or general people who inexplicably hate doctors (people trying to save their lives lol) and spit and swear at them. It's also true that the smarter people in the world don't get themselves hurt/sick as much. It's like late night Walmart shopping; the crowd isn't usually the most intellectually impressive.
But MAN can you get some wicked deals from Dell, especially if you do some coupon hunting!My mother is a ER doc. She wastes hours upon hours every day helping people who think they're sick, but are sometimes hypochondriacs or just people with colds. These people take away tons of time that could be spent with the truly injured/sick people. Never mind when she has to deal with stupid criminals or general people who inexplicably hate doctors (people trying to save their lives lol) and spit and swear at them. It's also true that the smarter people in the world don't get themselves hurt/sick as much. It's like late night Walmart shopping; the crowd isn't usually the most intellectually impressive.
swaaye
Ok, I'm very convinced that CPU bus/memory bandwidth plays a critical role in GW speed. If I'm in a busy town, my beastly 2.4GHz Athlon XP-M Barton-core chip with a Radeon 9700 at low detail @ 800x600 will get roughly 28fps. If I up the resolution to 1360x1024 (a wacky one I know, but I like it), the framerate drops to maybe 20 fps in the same spot. That shows that the video card is hardly a bottleneck. It's such a small drop for going from low res to insane res, even with antialiasing too. At 800x600, if I look away from the crowd, framerate will jump from 30fps to 120fps.
On my Dell Inspiron 9300 notebook, with its Pentium M 2133MHz and GeForce 6800 Go and 2GB PC2-4200 DDR2, I can pull roughtly 35-40fps in the same scenario (same town with lots of people). This notebook is besting a CPU that is ~300MHz faster, but the Pentium M's bus and RAM performance is far superior, and the Pentium-M has a 2MB cache to help too. Again, the difference in framerate between 800x600 and my notebook's max of 1440x900 is insignificant when looking at a town crowd.
CPU most definitely plays a major role in intense situations with many characters and spell effects. These two above examples are of roughly top of the heap CPUs.
On my Dell Inspiron 9300 notebook, with its Pentium M 2133MHz and GeForce 6800 Go and 2GB PC2-4200 DDR2, I can pull roughtly 35-40fps in the same scenario (same town with lots of people). This notebook is besting a CPU that is ~300MHz faster, but the Pentium M's bus and RAM performance is far superior, and the Pentium-M has a 2MB cache to help too. Again, the difference in framerate between 800x600 and my notebook's max of 1440x900 is insignificant when looking at a town crowd.
CPU most definitely plays a major role in intense situations with many characters and spell effects. These two above examples are of roughly top of the heap CPUs.
EF2NYD
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Blade Rez
"Major" no, but it does play a part. Pc3200 vs 100mhz is a significant difference. For a CPU, just buy a AMD 64 chip or an Intel p4. Doesn't need to be 3 ghz or dual core. Just those, since they have an adequate amount of cache on L2 to provide for your gaming needs. GW is not a resource hog. Just don't get a celeron or sempron, that's more of a workstation type of chip
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Alias_X
Sure, every component affects the performance, but not all of them affect it greatly.
You could dish out $230 on a sound card, and scrape 2-3 more frames per second from your games.
Really, you need a new computer, and if you were to build it, I could help you pick out parts if you give me a budget. If that isn't what you want to do, I suggest upgrading your graphics card.
You could dish out $230 on a sound card, and scrape 2-3 more frames per second from your games.
Really, you need a new computer, and if you were to build it, I could help you pick out parts if you give me a budget. If that isn't what you want to do, I suggest upgrading your graphics card.
moriz
thanks for your help. like i said, my new comp (not my old clunker, the new one without an agp slot) WILL run the game. in fact, it runs pretty well even at highest quality. while i do know how to build a computer myself, i do not have the money to buy the parts. my parents have a chokehold on the family purse (which included my scholarship money. grrrr).
by the way, i've recently came across a geforce 256mb FX5500 PCI card. does anyone have an opinion on it?
by the way, i've recently came across a geforce 256mb FX5500 PCI card. does anyone have an opinion on it?
Alias_X
I have a friend with one, and it was an improvement over his integrated graphics, but I don't think it was the best.
I have heard that the ATI Radeon 9250 is the best PCI card, and people can run Half Life 2 with it. I think stores run weekly rebates on it, so it is around 60-90 dollars.
I have heard that the ATI Radeon 9250 is the best PCI card, and people can run Half Life 2 with it. I think stores run weekly rebates on it, so it is around 60-90 dollars.
Josh
Regarding the above, it's around £34 / $60 on eBuyer.
GeCube Radeon 9250 9250 PCI 128MB 64bit Edition
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=91364
GeCube Radeon 9250 9250 PCI 128MB 64bit Edition
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=91364
jimmy_logic
I think GW tends to stress out the Proc and Memory subsystem more than the graphics card. Any modern decent card which can be had for less than $100 should do the trick fine on max settings.
swaaye
I think the graphics card is the most important ingredient. With a Radeon 9200, you could have a liquid nitrogen cooled 3.5GHz dual core Opteron and it would still run poorly.
But the best case situation is both a good CPU and GPU, of course. The game likes both, especially when the action gets hectic.
But the best case situation is both a good CPU and GPU, of course. The game likes both, especially when the action gets hectic.
Janus Anobix
I don't think any of the parts are greatly affected over the others. You just need a system that will run everything in-sync with each other without creating bottlenecks. I can state my near-top system right now, but the fact that I can run at 100+fps at 1280x1024 (max for my LCD) with all settings maxed (including 4x AA, 4x AF) I am plenty happy.
Alias_X
Please state your system.
Mine is
AMD Athlon X2 4400+
2 gigs of ram
7800GT
I run GW on max with 4x AA, and it runs smoother than anything I have ever seen before!
Mine is
AMD Athlon X2 4400+
2 gigs of ram
7800GT
I run GW on max with 4x AA, and it runs smoother than anything I have ever seen before!
Omega X
Quote:
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Originally Posted by jimmy_logic
I think GW tends to stress out the Proc and Memory subsystem more than the graphics card. Any modern decent card which can be had for less than $100 should do the trick fine on max settings.
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I get more cpu usage out of GW than any other game, but it won't stress my video card much at all.
Cottage Pie
I'm running a 2.8GhZ athlon, 512Mb DDr Ram, 128Mb GeForce FX5900, and GW runs off a defragged 10k raptor - completely tweaked all performance settings possible - i get about 50 FpS with 4xAA, which is more than good enough, only problem is at the start of big fights i will lag for 10-13 seconds as everything is loaded up, this only happens the once per area, in in HA, i am completely useless for 10 seconds fighting the zaishen! Lowering AA don't help matters though.
Seriously I would not spend ANY money on upgrading that 800MHz pc...you could build a good PC for the price of a high end graphics card!
Seriously I would not spend ANY money on upgrading that 800MHz pc...you could build a good PC for the price of a high end graphics card!
wahoyaho
If it were me, the first thing I'd upgrade on your computer is the CPU...800mhz is just way below standards.
Akhilleus
what i want to know is why i see my comp as having 100% CPU usage when i have an AMD Athalon(tm) 64 processor 3200+ (runs at 2.01ghz)...
Josh
I have an AMD Athlon 2400 (32-Bit) clocked at 2.0GHz (not even Over-Clocked...), 1GB RAM, ATI Sapphire Radeon 9250 128MB AGP 8x.
And Akhilleus, GW will give anyone 100% CPU, a game like Guild Wars will use as much CPU as it can to perform well, it's normal.
And Akhilleus, GW will give anyone 100% CPU, a game like Guild Wars will use as much CPU as it can to perform well, it's normal.
LiQuId StEeL
Exactly why GW is such an amazing feat of development.
I can run GW at playable fps on integrated video and a 1.9 P4, but it isn't pretty. I can switch to my 3500+ amd, and see the same game, with the same jitters (or lack there-of).
I'm running a 3500+ AMD 64 overclocked as far as aircooling will permit, and am always at 100%.
To the OP: the 5500 will work perfectly fine. I used a 5200pci for the longest time, and it only had problems with NEW NEW NEW games (FEAR, and bf2). GW is based on an older engine, so most cards from at least 2000 will be able to run it.
I can run GW at playable fps on integrated video and a 1.9 P4, but it isn't pretty. I can switch to my 3500+ amd, and see the same game, with the same jitters (or lack there-of).
I'm running a 3500+ AMD 64 overclocked as far as aircooling will permit, and am always at 100%.
To the OP: the 5500 will work perfectly fine. I used a 5200pci for the longest time, and it only had problems with NEW NEW NEW games (FEAR, and bf2). GW is based on an older engine, so most cards from at least 2000 will be able to run it.
Alias_X
With Firefox anda bunch of tabs open, GW on max settings, and tons of background programs, I run at around 52& CPU usage on my AMD Athlon X2 4400+
LiQuId StEeL
There is where the dual core is doing what it should be. Multitasking.
GW on all max + 5tab Firefox + Ventrilo + Winamp + gaim + xfire = 100%... probably 70% on a reasonably priced dual core
GW on all max + 5tab Firefox + Ventrilo + Winamp + gaim + xfire = 100%... probably 70% on a reasonably priced dual core
Alias_X
51% max for that on an overpriced X2, or, the 4400+.
I don't notice any performance decrease, and, some patches even make games run even better on dual cores!
I don't notice any performance decrease, and, some patches even make games run even better on dual cores!
Old Dood
Quote:
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Originally Posted by wahoyaho
If it were me, the first thing I'd upgrade on your computer is the CPU...800mhz is just way below standards.
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If you are not into building a computer (trust me allot of people just don't want to build one) then you might want to look at a Bare Bones system and work up from there. Adding Ram...Vid Card...Hard Drives....etc.
Alias_X
Not always true @ the above post.
CPU isn't as much as a bottleneck as GPU is in gaming. Ram can help load times, etc, but even with my 2gigs of ram, the shadows appear on people when I walk towards them, and disappear when I walk away.
1gig is ok, 2 gigs is sweetspot for ram.
CPU isn't as much as a bottleneck as GPU is in gaming. Ram can help load times, etc, but even with my 2gigs of ram, the shadows appear on people when I walk towards them, and disappear when I walk away.
1gig is ok, 2 gigs is sweetspot for ram.
Teklord
The shadows will disappear when you walk away no matter what your system has. That is simply how the game was programmed. There are no shadow options to say "Always Off" / "Only on when close" / "Always On".
I'm sure Old Dood could confirm that the shadows disappear when he walks away from characters as well, and he has 4GBs.
I'm still not sure where people are determining that 2GBs is the optimal amount of Ram. Maybe when Vista comes out that'll be true... but for now I'm just not seeing it. Unfortunately I can't link the benchmarks that I saw to prove my point, can't find them anymore.
I'm sure Old Dood could confirm that the shadows disappear when he walks away from characters as well, and he has 4GBs.
I'm still not sure where people are determining that 2GBs is the optimal amount of Ram. Maybe when Vista comes out that'll be true... but for now I'm just not seeing it. Unfortunately I can't link the benchmarks that I saw to prove my point, can't find them anymore.