NEED HELP WITH SYSTEM for BF2

[PCGAMERsince84]

Alright, I have been playing BF2 since the day it was released, and I have always had to play with very low framerates.

I started out playing it with :

socket 478 P4 2.0 GHZ
1.0 gb ram
AGP Radeon x700 PRO 256 mb ddr3
Compaq motherboard with agp4x support

With this system I had anywhere from 15-30 fps.

After I came to the conclusion my system was becoming more and more obsolete, I decided to upgrade slowly. First I bought a new motherboard, and a new stick of ram. So now i was running this:

socket 478 P4 2.0 GHZ
1.5 gb ram
AGP Radeon x700 PRO 256 mb ddr3
Sytnax motherboard with AGP4x support and P4 HT support

With this system I got very few extra FPS, ranging 20-30, but then I realized that I could overclock my processor through my BIOS, so i overclocked to a P4 2.6 GHZ and got anywhere between 15-45 FPS.

on the downside, overclocking my processor that extra 600 mhz made the system very unstable, and I could only play 1 map of BF2, as soon as the game ended and the next map was about to load, the system would go blue screen of death and lock up.

The highest overclock i could get to run stable was 2.2 GHZ, which gave me an fps of around 15-35. At this point im thinking its time for a new video card. I go down to a local PC shop and pick up a Radeon x800 PRO, supposedly a nice step up from the x700 pro. Now with the X800 in my system and 1.5 gb ram and 2.2 ghz processor i think i should be able to run at least a decent framerate.

I got about 15-40.

Im now getting frustrated because I have been upgrading the system for over 9 months now and am just flushing hundreds away. Now, in a last desperate attempt to get a nice fps I go all out and buy a socket 478 P43.06 GHZ with HT support, the really nice and expensive one, cost about $200.

Now with this processor im sure to get a good fps i think, but when i run bf2 i get anywhere from 20-50 fps (mostly in the high 20's low 30's, depending on how much action is going on around me.)



Throughout this entire escapade I have been running BF2 on the lowest setting for everything (until 1.3, then to get all settings on low I had to enable the lighting to medium)

Im right now getting high 20's low 30's. My cousin in running an athlion 64 (with windows 64 bit edition) 1.5 GB, and a radeon 9800XT and getting about 50-70 FPS.

So after all this, is it just that I need to give up this p4 with HT at 3.06 GHZ and buy an athlon 64? Could it be that its is simply not enough video card? I just cant bear to waste more money on chance and im hoping that someone, anyone can tell me the quickest route to getting a decent framerate, I want a framerate of at least 60.

 

[Eaglez]

Well since u updated everything in ur pc, it might just be ur video card(sorry I dont know ATI cards and how good each one is)

 

[Trotter]

A 64-bit processor will make a difference, and the AMD CPU's are about to be price cut to keep up with the Core 2 Duo release.

If you decide to go that route, go with a PCI-E motherboard. Look for a decently rated one on NewEgg from Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, DFI, or Foxconn.

Don't worry, plenty of people on here will be glad to help you pick your components as well as offer advice and guidance on putting it together (but it sounds like you've got that part under control).

 

[HAVOC]

BF2 is a well known resource hog. Especially memory! Basically the system you are running BF2 on now is close to the bare minimum required. I wouldn't expect you to get any higher frames then you are getting. Also, patch 1.3 didn't actually help anymore, it actually hurt even more. There has been a bug reported with reduction of FPS due to 1.3... I know i've suffered with it. I've gone from 95-100 FPS to 65-70. (which still isn't bad) yet I know what I got "Pre-1.3".

If you are interested in building or buying a new gaming PC. Just post a budget and we can help you find something that is right for your needs.

 

[Vybuni]

I would say the main problem in your system right now is the video card and interface. A 3GHz P4 should be fine for BF2, but an ATI x700 will NOT cut it. You need to get a new motherboard with PCI-express and a good card, at least a Nvidia 6600 or better. 1.5GB of RAM should be plenty.

 

[harley3344]

what is the code in bf2 for the frame rate? i know u do it through console but just dont know the code, thanks (not meaning to steal the thread)

 

[TheDiceman]

If you wanted to make a small step up and stick with an ATI card you shoud have gotten at least an 850xt, it is at least capible of a dcent BF2 performance.

 

[PP Mguire]

You can easily pull off high settings on a 9800XT and a 2600+ w/ 1.5gig of ram. What yall are missing is what are you running in the background and how many processes do you have? You have the memory now whats hogging it. Im guessing you dont have alot of free ram for this game. Also your next downfall was getting an X800pro of all cards. THat card is crap, worthless. Junk. Interface has nothing to do w/ it and 64bit processing has nothing to do w/ it either.
A) PCI-E bandwidth is not used yet so AGP is just fine. Trust me i know.
B) 64-bit processing only works in a 64 bit environment w/ a program capable of running it. Im guessing your using 32bit XP pro. So no go on that.
I suggest getting something of 6600GT-7800GS on AGP and getting a full 2gig of DDR capable of running in dual channel mode. THat should make your frames increase a bit.