You are the weakest link!

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Lasses and Gents,

 

Here is my dilemma. I love playing OFF, imagining myself as a young and intrepid "knight of the sky" during the Great War, and tinkering with such things as the DM and the FM for the various planes. However, playing OFF, and especially the campaign, has become increasingly frustrating since upgrading to the HITR expansion. Here is the problem: with my current computer setup, I can either fly a full mission with barely adequate frame rates and the occasional slide show, or I can overclock the CPU or video card by 5-10% and get better frame rates but not be able to complete the mission because I invariably get dumped to desktop. I already run with my sliders set at 3-2-1-5-2 and ground density and air activity set to the lowest settings.

 

I know the problem is my current setup and is not OFF's fault. My question is what part or parts should I upgrade on a very limited budget right now? Here are my current system specs:

 

Socket 939 AMD X2 4200+ 2.33 GHz CPU with stock cooler

Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT 256 Mb video card

400 Watt power supply

 

The most likely candidate for an upgrade is the video card, of course. Do the newish cards still fit on 939 MB's? If I have to upgrade my CPU, I will basically have to build a new computer since they don't make CPU's for Socket 939 boards anymore. This is not an option for me financially right now. Perhaps a new cooling solution would allow me to overclock a little better with more stability? Finally, is a 400W power supply enough these days? I only run one SATA hard drive with a CD drive and a DVD drive. If you were me, what component do you think you would try to upgrade first? Which component would you leave alone or wait to upgrade last?

 

Thanks in advance for any ideas and suggestions. I really want to experience OFF in all its glory--but on a budget!

[Hellshade 110]

How much memory is on your system board? Perhaps a little extra RAM might help things too. Otherwise, what kind of video card slot does your 939 MB use? Is it AGP?

Let me know what a realistic budget is and I will do a little research for you sir.

 

In the meantime here are a few free things to try.

 

In the 3d video settings for your Nvida card, try changing the texture filtering quality to High Performance.

Turn off AntiAliasing (you will get some jaggies)

bump your CFS3 resolution down a bit too. Maybe 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768.

 

Also, depending on how much system RAM you have, make sure that your taskbar tray has as few applications as possible running before you launch OFF.

 

Hellshade

[Olham 164]

Your CPU is a bit slow. I had the sim running fine on these system specs:

 

ATI RADEON 1950 Graphic Card

Intel Dual Core CPU with 2,88 GHz, clocked up to 3,2 GHz

 

I could run it with settings 5, 3, 2, 4, 3

 

I think, the CPU is the weak spot.

[Fortiesboy 3]

Chris

 

sorry the budget is limited. This sim likes the cpu to be as fast as possible. However, imho the answer is not to reduce the resolution to get more FPS- CFS3, and therefore OFF, is unique in that the higher the resolution the faster the sim runs.

 

However, the real answer is a faster processor which , unfortunately, means a newer computer. In fact a more expensive graphics card could be a waste of money. If the processor is the bottleneck, a more powerful graphics card will be a waste.

 

Hope you get it sorted.

 

cheers

 

FB

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

 

I built the computer about two years before I heard about phase 3. When P3 came out, the system was just adequate to run the game. I'm afraid HITR took it over the brink.

 

That said, the main frustration is the drops to desktop. I'll be going along fine, with fps in the low 30's, when the game just stops and sends me back to the OFF manager. Seems to happen particularly after a long flight followed by a furball. Short flights or those without furballs seem to go better. Makes me wonder if a better cooling solution will help. Right now, I can only overclock the CPU a maximum of about 5-8%. This also has the advantage of being cheap. But will it improve anything? Perhaps a combo of cooling solution and new power supply?

 

Olham mentioned my CPU as the bottleneck and that upgrading my video card would be pointless. Good cards are cheap these days--is getting a new one worth a shot?

 

Memory and video card should be "adequate" right now, with 3 GB's of Corsair memory on an XP system and a PCI-E graphics card.

[Olham 164]

HPW: ...the main frustration is the drops to desktop. I'll be going along fine, with fps in the low 30's, when the game just stops and sends me back to the OFF manager.

Seems to happen particularly after a long flight followed by a furball. Short flights or those without furballs seem to go better.

I have that too, but rather only recently - I wonder what it is?

I will try to remember to go complete offline (unplug from Modem), and then switch off Anti-Virus Prptection.

Perhaps that may help.

Edited October 21, 2010 by Olham

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

BTW, I try to end as many running programs as possible with Alacrity or End it All, but they don't seem to have any effect on the drops to desktop.

 

Another thought: with my DM and Fm editing, I have several extra files lying about in my installation. Might be time to clean some of those out.

[Olham 164]

It can be a broken DDR-Ram or a cable loose.

I recently got those crashes to desktop too. I got warnings from Photoshop, saying that a cable might be loose,

or the DDR-Ram partly broken or the harddrive partly damaged - it wouldn't always save my works correct.

[carrick58 23]

Lasses and Gents,

 

Here is my dilemma. I love playing OFF, imagining myself as a young and intrepid "knight of the sky" during the Great War, and tinkering with such things as the DM and the FM for the various planes. However, playing OFF, and especially the campaign, has become increasingly frustrating since upgrading to the HITR expansion. Here is the problem: with my current computer setup, I can either fly a full mission with barely adequate frame rates and the occasional slide show, or I can overclock the CPU or video card by 5-10% and get better frame rates but not be able to complete the mission because I invariably get dumped to desktop. I already run with my sliders set at 3-2-1-5-2 and ground density and air activity set to the lowest settings.

 

I know the problem is my current setup and is not OFF's fault. My question is what part or parts should I upgrade on a very limited budget right now? Here are my current system specs:

 

Socket 939 AMD X2 4200+ 2.33 GHz CPU with stock cooler

Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT 256 Mb video card

400 Watt power supply

 

The most likely candidate for an upgrade is the video card, of course. Do the newish cards still fit on 939 MB's? If I have to upgrade my CPU, I will basically have to build a new computer since they don't make CPU's for Socket 939 boards anymore. This is not an option for me financially right now. Perhaps a new cooling solution would allow me to overclock a little better with more stability? Finally, is a 400W power supply enough these days? I only run one SATA hard drive with a CD drive and a DVD drive. If you were me, what component do you think you would try to upgrade first? Which component would you leave alone or wait to upgrade last?

 

Thanks in advance for any ideas and suggestions. I really want to experience OFF in all its glory--but on a budget!

 

I had problems too, My solution was to retrograde to the P-3 format and keep the Extension HITR for another day. This was after experimenting with my wife's hand me down . Its a 3.0 signal core with a Nvida 7300 Le card PCI E 16 pin with 512 Mbs. Cpu is intell pentium 4. I ended up going back to my old system a 2.0 dual core 2 Gigs ram witjh a Nvida 7600 GS 256 mb card PCI E 16 pin The Cpu is AMD 64x2 3800 with a 939 socket. The sliders for the game are Graphics 3 . 5 3 3 3. Frame rate generally are 30-40 but with heavey A/A settings and a lot of planes milling around drops to 24. In conclusion, we cant always have our cake and ice cream at the same time for me I still have another 3 months till I can get a new computer or try to build one.

[Flyby PC 23]

I was once advised that 400W power supply was marginal, but probably enough, provided the unit was actually kicking out 400W. It might be the case it's performance has declined, especially if it's a bit long in the tooth. Even with a new unit, there's no garuantee what it says on the label is what you actually get. I'd feel guilty advising you to buy a new one, because if everything works, it might not help and you've wasted your money. I'm no expert as you can probably guess, but if you're over clocking etc, it might help.

[Parky 8]

If that PCI-e slot on your motherboard is 16x (and chances are it is) I've got a suggestion for you. First of all check to see if the PCI-e slot is in fact 16x capable. If it is, take a look around for a Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5670 1Gig card. You should find one for under 100 bucks quite easily. This card draws it's power straight from the PCI-e slot. No supplemental power cables requred. Your 400 Watt PSU should be able to handle it without a problem. I don't think your CPU is the first bottleneck right now, and neither is your RAM. It's that POS Nvidia 8600. Those cards run like a broke-dick dog. Basically, they're a pile of crap.....regardless of the surrounding hardware. Not sure if the card upgrade will solve you CTD issues....that problem could be a result of something elsewhere in your system. Nonetheless.....I can assure you this upgrade will put an end to your pissy frame-rates.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Interesting information, Parky. I'm 95% positive my PCi-E slot is 16X-1, so I will be on the look out for that video card. I may also upgrade my power supply, since I can always use the new PS in any future system upgrades.

[Cameljockey 3]

HPW, check this out! Since my 780i mobo fried and I had to revert back to a 680i which my GTX280 wasn't compatible with, I've been using my 8800 GTX. It is a couple of years old but still an awesome card. Here's a listing on Ebay....

http://cgi.ebay.com/...9#ht_500wt_1156

 

An aftermarket cooler may be helpful, but not necessary.

 

The only drawback for you though is the power supply. This card is power hungry. Two 6 pin PCIe power connections.

 

CJ

Edited October 24, 2010 by Cameljockey