benchmarking video performance?

[bagggi]

ok....here goes

after playing a lot of unreal tournament (2004, 05, 06)and winning, i invested into "counter strike: source". suddenly the computer's started to feel the stress of the game. the game started to pause at irregular intervals. not that the game stopped working. the game works but always pauses in flashes at the begining of the game. i did the "video stress test" through the game. the result said that the "frame rate is 59.94fps "

is that bad?

and can it be improved?

i am using

windows xp pro
amd 64 3400+
2.2ghz
1 gb ram
ati graphics card 9600/9700 (64mb)
80 gb hhd
directx 9c

2mb broadband (the basic supplied)

the game requirements
os: 98/me/2000/xp
processor: 1.2 ghz
memory: 256 mb
hhd: 4.5 gb
dvd: 8 speed
video card: directx 7.0

[Arkimedes]

I don't know, but I would say max out the amount of RAM you can possibly have. When it comes to RAM, there is no such thing as "too much"

You may want to do some anti-malware scans on your computer too, defrag the hard drive, etc. etc. etc.

[bagggi]

done all that.

isnt there some setting or something i could change to improve it
so far i reduced the resolution of the screen to 16 mb from 32 mb
the catalyst contol for ati, am shifting it to max performance.

lets see how it works

[bagggi]

nope,

infact it reduced...came down to 59.54

[phishphreek]

You didn't mention if you've tried different video drivers. Did this problem occur after an update of drivers? I had this problem before and rolling back the driver fixed it.

If the problem happens during very graphic intense video games and not through normal use, I would guess you need to upgrade your video card.

64mb video cards are pretty weak for todays games. I would recommend at least 256. If you have the extra cash... 512 is even better. Its not just about the memory, you have to have a decent GPU.

I've always worked with video cards in the nvidia geforce series. However, I'm currently working with ATI's top of the line card. The 512mb X1900 Crossfire. http://www.ati.com/products/RadeonX1900/index.html

[nihil]

I will go with phishphreek80 on this one. That is not a "top end gaming card", and seems a little out of balance with the rest of your specs from a gaming viewpoint. This system is somewhat similar to yours, and has an ATi Radeon with 64Mb. It only has a single core 32bit Intel processor (2.26GHz) and I would consider that to be a more balanced build.

In your Windows advanced properties please check that you are giving priority to "Applications" and that you have a decent sized page file (although with 1Gb of RAM, that generally isn't an issue).

I cannot think of any tweaks that would immediately help. This is a Win 2000 box that is 4 years old. I ran WinASO Regdefrag 1.2, and the registry defragmenter from Sysinternals, and they found nothing to do, even after that amount of time! So I don't think that will help. XP is even better than Win 2000 in that department AFAIK. I only think it might help if you had experienced some sort of "event" and had to repair the Registry?

This is a good Windows tweaking site: http://www.x9k.net/

phish~ has forgotten more about gaming than I shall ever know, but from my limited knowledge of the hardware aspects, I would say that a new video card is the solution. He does have a good point about the drivers though.................ATi don't have the best reputation in that area

You will probably be tempted to overclock your video card. If you do, please follow these suggestions:

1. Replace the thermal paste with a silver based compound.
2. Give it a better fan.
3. Look for heatsinks for the memory chips.
4. Upgrade the case cooling.

Good Luck

EDIT: Is this a laptop we are talking about?

[The Duck]

Yes, Counter Strike Source requires at LEAST an ati 9800 pro for decent graphics and overall smoothness, though I would recommend the nvidia 6600gt above the 9800 pro hands down...

[bagggi]

sorry guys, forgot to mention that its a laptop.

and yes its the same machine i have in the profile. its a year old. costed me a fortune then. its come down to almost half the price since.

that time 128 mb graphics cards where the highest and was not available when i picked this one up.

laptops have a lot of advantages like,

1) they can ba carried anywhere
2) they are lan-friendly. so if you are with friends and such, all you need is a router or a switch. keep beer on the side, start game, place bets, and shoot everything that walks.
then drink some more

am competing against two sony vios with almost the same specs as mine but less on ram(512) and a compac with 64 mb intel( we upgraded his ram and shared some with his graphics card to make to 128)

all this makes my laptop the weakest

these games are designed to work with the min spesc printed on the cover because they target the larger market.

had read in a magzine about benchmarking, where it does the tests and gives you results, then you change some settings and the performace improves. there are other tricks like removing some game options -ingame chats and such.

[bagggi]

alright...

after changing some game settings i came up to 61.64 fps



found this in www.gamespot.com

on a 1024x768 res the ati9600 shows 60fps

this also shows that if i reduce the res more, i can go as high as 91fps. now thats what we are talking about.

also from the 3rd page

If you're paranoid about staying competitive with other Counter-Strike: Source players, there's a good chance the card you have right now will be sufficient. The Radeon 9800 Pro and 9600 XT performed very well in our CPU-limited Dust benchmark, and the even older GeForce4 MX440 and Ti4600 cards also put up decent numbers by falling back to a previous DirectX version. If image quality is a concern, then you'll likely need to upgrade to a DX9-capable card to gain access to the higher-quality effects, but note that GeForce FX-series cards currently use the DX8 path for Counter-Strike: Source.

[phishphreek]

It being a laptop is most of the problem. Most laptops were not built with gamers in mind. They were built with the business person/student in mind. People who will be working in many different places and need portability. They'll throw in a couple of multimedia functions (music and dvds), but you don't get much as far as gaming is concerned.

I have a laptop too. But I only use it on the go. I use my desktops for gaming.

Now, some manufacturers have been building some laptops with gamers in mind. (alienware/dell) But, is that really the best choice? You're going to run into the same problem 1-2 years from now and be stuck all over again.

When gaming, its really best to have a desktop and upgrade when you specs fall behind.