Very disapointed

**batemonkey** · 03-04-2009, 20:09

i really didn't want to post this i've really been looking forward to playing this game for well, ages.

So i've loaded the game, and it's really laggy. I'm only geting a couple of frames per second and thats on low. The game suggests i play everything on high. To be honest i see no improvement on the demo. it seems to be only using one of my cores

i've got:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+ 2.8mghz
Radeon X1550 Series 512mb
2gig ram

i've defraged since i installed it. installed all the new drivers the other day in preperation.

Has anyone got any suggestions?

**crazyviking03** · 03-04-2009, 20:14

Sorry mate, but it looks like your rig is due for an upgrade, atleast for this game anyways. It sucks i know, I had to upgrade my stuff, but i am just that big if a Total War user lol.

**Maleficus** · 03-04-2009, 20:18

Not that I want to make you feel any worse about it, batemonkey, but my graphics card is only 256MB and it seems to be working perfectly well on low and still pretty well on normal.

Maybe it's because your's is Radeon? I'm not sure why that should make a difference, but I think it sometimes does.

**caravel** · 03-04-2009, 20:31

Originally Posted by Maleficus

Not that I want to make you feel any worse about it, batemonkey, but my graphics card is only 256MB and it seems to be working perfectly well on low and still pretty well on normal.

Memory isn't everything, in fact budget cards are often "bulked" up with more video ram to make them more attractive. In reality the memory/core speed among other factors are much more important than the amount of memory on the card. Which card do you have?

-Edit: And what he said^^^

**batemonkey** · 03-04-2009, 20:46

So i just wacked it on totally low and whilst not all pretty, it at least worked well and i could play it, i can live with that (for a bit)

it'll be good when it looks all nice and sparkly, but i play TW games for a different reason

**caravel** · 03-04-2009, 20:17

The X1550 is pretty much a rebranded X1300. It's an entry level budget graphics card. You will probably need to run the game on lower settings with such a card. Disabling shadows and vegitation always makes the most performance difference in TW games. If it's still laggy then it may be that your OS is bogged down running unnecessary processes?. Some antivirus scanners are horrible resource hogs so if you've one of the running in the background actively scanning all file operations then don't expect good perfomance in games.

**batemonkey** · 03-04-2009, 20:29

Originally Posted by Asai Nagamasa

The X1550 is pretty much a rebranded X1300. It's an entry level budget graphics card. You will probably need to run the game on lower settings with such a card. Disabling shadows and vegitation always makes the most performance difference in TW games.

Cheers for the responses guys,

i've got some more and better ram on the way anyway, think i'll hunt for a better graphics card.

anyone got any suggestions for card with good bangs for the buck?

**Lemur** · 03-04-2009, 20:31

ATI 4850. Best value for the money on the market right now.

-edit-

Asai Nagamasa, you are hereby found guilty guilty of skimming. 40 lashes with a wet noodle!

**JeromeBaker** · 03-04-2009, 20:37

Batemonkey, I played the Demo on a computer using a Geforce 9600 GT and it seemed to work very well. I have heard from other people on the forums that use that paticular GPU and all are pleased with it. On newegg.com they run from 90 to 150. The specific one I used was the BFG Geforce 9600 GT OC.

**JeromeBaker** · 03-04-2009, 20:40

Of course, there are much better GPUs than the 9600, but I seemed to notice a price jump when I went to more updated GPUs. I also have heard from a lot of people to stick with an nVidia card since it seems to have less issues with the game than competitor brands.

**Lemur** · 03-04-2009, 20:43

Originally Posted by JeromeBaker

On newegg.com they run from 90 to 150. The specific one I used was the BFG Geforce 9600 GT OC.

Just going to point out that the 4850 I linked to (which is a much more powerful card than any 9600) is going to set you back $120 after rebates. If that's not a good deal, I'm the queen of Norway.

-edit-

And how did ATI get such a bad rap over drivers? I've used both Nvidia cards and ATI cards in my time, and have found the occasional problems with both. Ever since I moved to a 1900, and now a 4870, I've had no problems at all. Seems to me that driver support has gotten better in the last couple of years.

**caravel** · 03-04-2009, 20:47

Originally Posted by Lemur

And how did ATI get such a bad rap over drivers? I've used both Nvidia cards and ATI cards in my time, and have found the occasional problems with both. Ever since I moved to a 1900, and now a 4870, I've had no problems at all. Seems to me that driver support has gotten better in the last couple of years.

Back in the days of the Rage and early Radeon models, the ATI drivers really were horrendous. Nowadays they're not, it's as simple as that.