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Simeon Tregarth
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 09 May 2002
Posts: 25
Location: Atlanta |
| My graphic card upgrade experience |
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I have been playing Morrowind for a week now on my admittedly low end system:
Duron 750
256 MB ram
Geforce 2 GTS
While it is somewhat jerky at times I find it quite playable and enjoyable. My frame rates in the first town are as follows:
in town 5 to 10 fps
indoors 20 to 30 fps
outside 6 to 15 fps
This is at 1024x768 with view distance set to max and shadows turned off. I tried various view settings and it didn't make much difference in fps on my system but I like being able to see farther. I also have the most recent drivers from Nvidia (28.32?).
After reading various posts on this forum and seeing the beautiful screenshots (especially the water effects) I decided that I needed to upgrade my system. Not wanting to rebuild my entire computer at this time I had to choose between a new mobo/cpu/ram or a video card upgrade. Based upon the comments here I decided to buy a GeForce4 Ti 4400 figuring that would give me a decent framerate boost.
Well, I installed the new card this evening and excitedly started up Morrowind. Guess what? Leaving all the settings the same, my framerates did not change at all! I repeat, I still get the same fps as before. Admittedly the water now looks beautiful but that is awfully expensive water!
Now I don't consider myself a pc guru but I'm not a complete noob either. Granted there are likely several things I could/should tweak now that I have a faster GPU but for those of you out there with low end systems I think the answer is clear - a video card upgrade by itself will not give you a significant framerate increase. If you already have a faster cpu though, go for it. |
Thu May 09, 2002 11:49 pm |
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Hyperion
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 07 May 2002
Posts: 122
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I'm not surprised. The game is CPU limited. |
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Fri May 10, 2002 12:02 am |
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chrisbeddoes
Guest
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| Dont listen at the previews poster.There still hope ! |
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a) Defrag your hard disk.
b) Replace executable with the non-safedisk one.
c) Shadows to zero if you havent done already.
d) AI at minimum if not already.
e) Make sure virtual memory is set at least at 600 Mbytes
Desperate measures
a) Wipe clean hard disk reinstall windows and before everything else reinstall morrowind.
b)Buy at least 256 more ram. |
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Fri May 10, 2002 12:39 pm |
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Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
Follow Chrisbeddoes advice, but with the followind modifications:
Uninstall Morrowind. Make sure your recycle bin is empty. Speed Disk your Hard Drive to 100% (Defrag if you dont have speed disk). then re-install morrowind.
Set Virtual memory to double your ram 512MB
The main problem I see with your specs is your CPU. That is realy gonna drag down your graphics card. Your nice shiny new GF4 is sitting there waiting for the CPU to feed it data...
I havent heard many posts about memory problems. Does your hard drive run constantly while playing the game? If it does then this will slow down your system significantly and means you need more RAM.
Please check this link:
http://www.rpgdot.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5520&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=105
Read my post at the bottom of page 8 for additional tweaking info. |
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Fri May 10, 2002 12:45 pm |
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Julington Macs
Village Dweller
Joined: 02 May 2002
Posts: 12
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Regarding doubling virtual memory......how is this done? I also have 256mbRam, but am not sure how to reset to 512.
BTW, I have PIII 800, 256, GE4 (upgraded from GE2 for the game). I bought the newer video card, downloaded unofficial patch (I didn't notice any difference), and I updated my drivers (28.32). The game runs very smoothly for me after being nearly unplayable at first. I'd say around 10-15 fps in cities, 15-25 outdoors, and extremely high indoors. Settings maxed out except shadows.
Thanks for any info regarding ram. |
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Fri May 10, 2002 1:08 pm |
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Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
Depends what OS you have.
Windows XP is:
Control Panel-System-Advanced tab-performance-settings-advanced tab-virtual memory-change.
Win9X is very similar just with less steps, follow the above and you should see it. |
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Fri May 10, 2002 1:30 pm |
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Julington Macs
Village Dweller
Joined: 02 May 2002
Posts: 12
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I will try this for even better performance. I am happy with the way it is playing now, but I would have never gotten to this point without kind souls like yourself walking me through this process.
The game is one of the best I've ever played. I'm not crazy about a few things like inventory issues, text conversations, etc., but I can definitely see myself playing multiple characters eventually. |
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Fri May 10, 2002 1:40 pm |
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Simeon Tregarth
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 09 May 2002
Posts: 25
Location: Atlanta |
Thanks for all the advice. I am still playing around with this. Here is some additional info:
1. I do not notice any harddrive activity while playing the game. Defragging the harddrive should only affect load times, not in-game fps.
2. I bumped the resolution up from 1024x758 to 1280x960 and seemed to get a slight improvement in fps. I dare not go any higher because the text is pretty small at this level - 19" monitor plus aging eyes...
3. My virtual memory is set to 512 KB (double my system ram). I am using Win2K Pro.
4. I have FSAA set to application control - I don't know what Morrowind is setting it to. Pixel shading (is that the right term?) is turned on.
5. I tried the no safedisc patch but did not see any improvement.
6. I tried lowering the view distance again to 1/2 and did see a 2-3 fps improvement outdoors but but did not like the reduced image quality so I put it back to full. Tradeoffs...
7. I intend to go ahead and replace my cpu (Duron 750) with whatever is the fasted cpu my mobo will handle. According to the manual that came with the mobo that is a T-bird 1.2 ghz. I am going to check the mobo manufacturer's web site to see if I can get any additional info. Hopefully a faster cpu combined with the GeForce4 Ti 4400 will do the trick.
8. Moving and turning inside the smuggler's cave at Sedya Neen is "silky smooth" whereas in town or outdoors it is rather jerky but playable.
I'll report on the results of the cpu upgrade in a few days. In the meantime I will continue to enjoy playing Morrowind |
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Fri May 10, 2002 2:59 pm |
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Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
Replies:
1. Defraging affects in game FPS. The lower memory you have, the more the OS needs to use the hard drive, thus the more effecient your hard drive is, the less of a resource drain this is going to be each time the game access' the hard drive. However if as you say you dont have ANY activity while playing the game then yes you are correct, this wouldnt make much difference.
2. Some other guy said he tried 1600x1024 and it ran like a dream. I have tried this on my spec and its not so good, I think the GeForce2 is the bottleneck at resolutions like this.
3. I hope you mean MB.
4. Turn it to always off. Unless you have a GeForce4 this is a REAL bad resource drain.
5. Yeah, didnt do anything for me either.
6. View distance doesnt seem to make much difference to me. The shadows will make a big difference since they are relying on CPU time and not GPU. Since you only have a 750CPU, I would turn shadows off completely.
7. Upgrading the CPU sounds like your best bet for the moment. Morrowind is very CPU intensive.
8. Same here, in the wilderness its almost silky smooth. In towns such as Balmora, Pelegaid and Vivec, I get very noticeable slowdown, but no where near bad enough to make it unplayable. |
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Fri May 10, 2002 3:08 pm |
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Simeon Tregarth
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 09 May 2002
Posts: 25
Location: Atlanta |
Thanks Chekote. Yes, I did mean MB. Regarding FSAA, I do have a GeForce4, that is what I just upgraded. When I was using the GeForce2 I tried turning FSAA completely off but did not like the jaggies - tree trunks looked especially bad. I guess what it comes down to is that I am willing to put up with slightly lower frame rates to get better visual quality. By the way, I do have shadows turned completely off. I haven't even tried turning them on - I guess I should do that to see if it adds to the visual experience! |
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Fri May 10, 2002 3:15 pm |
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Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
I guess its a matter of personal taste. But I would rather play with a much higher resolution (e.g. 1600x1024) than with FSAA. To me FSAA seems rather pointless considering most graphics cards nowadays come with a TV-Out feature, so you may as well play it on the TV and get FSAA for free.
Edit: Oooh, I look evil now. muwahahaha
Edit 2: Oh great, looks like they changed the damn ID's, just when I start to look cool too 
Last edited by Chekote on Fri May 10, 2002 5:26 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Fri May 10, 2002 3:20 pm |
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Simeon Tregarth
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 09 May 2002
Posts: 25
Location: Atlanta |
Well, I found out from the mobo manufacturer that if I flash my bios I can install up to an Athalon XP 2000+. I'll still have PC133 ram but I know what I'll be doing tomorrow... |
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Fri May 10, 2002 5:21 pm |
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Hyperion
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 07 May 2002
Posts: 122
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quote:
Originally posted by Simeon Tregarth
7. I intend to go ahead and replace my cpu (Duron 750) with whatever is the fasted cpu my mobo will handle. According to the manual that came with the mobo that is a T-bird 1.2 ghz. I am going to check the mobo manufacturer's web site to see if I can get any additional info. Hopefully a faster cpu combined with the GeForce4 Ti 4400 will do the trick.
Don't necessarily pay attention to your MB manual. Check the manufacture's website and see if the latest BIOS revision supports a higher clock speed. |
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Fri May 10, 2002 5:26 pm |
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Djief
Guest
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quote:
Duron 750
256 MB ram
Geforce 2 GTS
While it is somewhat jerky at times I find it quite playable and enjoyable. My frame rates in the first town are as follows:
in town 5 to 10 fps
indoors 20 to 30 fps
outside 6 to 15 fps
This is at 1024x768 with view distance set to max and shadows turned off
You can play the game with view distance at maximum?
I have a tbird 800, 256 ram and a Voodoo5. I get about the same fps but with view distance set to min. Mouse movement becomes extremely jerky if I set it any higher and fps drop to 1/2 (1 image per 2 second).
I guess the T&L of the geforce is the difference maker here.
So do you guys think that an upgrade of my video card would allow an increase in performance, not necessarily in fps as shown in this post, but at least in the view distance? |
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Fri May 10, 2002 10:47 pm |
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Simeon Tregarth
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 09 May 2002
Posts: 25
Location: Atlanta |
Djief, yeah, I would definitely replace the video card. The game will play more smoothly and definitely look much better. You won't get much fps improvement though unless you also replace the cpu.
I replaced my Duron 750 with an Athlon 1.4 ghz cpu this weekend. I also added an additional 256mb of ram (total 512mb). My fps at least doubled in all areas and movement in town is much smoother. I am very pleased with the result. This game obviously stresses both the cpu and video card. |
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Mon May 13, 2002 12:51 pm |
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