Need Help

[funkb]

I am currently running a Dell Dimension XPS with a P4 3 GHZ w/ HT, 1024 MB of DDR RAM, SB audigy platinum, ATI x800 XT PE 256 mb. I am not getting the performace i should be out of my system in Rome:TW. Does the game not take advantage of the Hyper-Threading? My comp lags at around 8,500-9,000 men on screen fighting. This is with no AA, and everything mainly on Medium. I updated all drivers too.

I was thinking of maybe upgrading my Mobo and CPU and upgrading to 2 GB of RAM? If so what is a really good Mobo and CPU for gaming performance.

Thanks for any help.

[Tomcat]

Hate to possibly disillusion you funkb, as not sure if Dell have changed their form factor from a couple of years back when I originally bought a Dell, but because they were not using a standard form factor, you cannot replace the MB , you need a new PC case first with a standard form factor! This is often a pretty standard and unfortunate problem with all the big "brand name" PCs. They want to "lock you in" to their brand.

Tomcat

[funkb]

Even with the new XPS case?

[fey]

Your hardware looks more than adequate. I don't think you'd gain much by upgrading your MB/processor, even if possible, or by adding more RAM.

If I were you I'd look carefully at Windows -- any spyware, any cycle-hogging junk running in the background, etc. etc.

[funkb]

I'm going to check again for background stuff. Spyware i check for everyday. i'm gonna do some major tweaking too. i hope something corrects it. It's frustrating me.

[Tomcat]

funkb - I cannot help you re the new Dell case. You need to know whether it uses a standard ATX Form Factor if you want to try changing the motherboard. If it does not, and certainly Dell did not used to use a standard form factor, then you cannot change the MB apart from buying if direct from Dell if they sell them separately.

Re tuning. I suggest you visit PC Pitstop http://www.pcpitstop.com/ and carry out a free on-line tune-up check on your PC to see if that identifies any performance issues you may have.

Tomcat

[funkb]

Thanks for the help guys.

[camulos]

That PC should be powerful enough to handle it.

I'm running:
AMD Thunderbird 1.7 GHZ
512 MB DDR
Geforce 5900 XT

One suggestion I would make is to look at the video card drivers. I know with cards using the Nvidia chipset the newest version of the drivers can cause problems with gaming. I usually roll back to the previous version.

[Thrudvang]

Yeah, check drivers, stuff in the background and play with the game settings a bit.

I have 600mhz Pentium 3, GeForceFX5200 128MB, Soundblaster 16, and 512RAM and I can run the game with x4 AA and x8 AS totally flawlessly, with all the settings on atleast Medium.

If you havent, try turning off shadows/reflections (unless you really want them).