7800GS & EQ 2

[Flask]

So, if you look at my specs at the bottom of my sig, you can see that I do NOT have a bad computer whatsoever.

My BIGGEST question right now is....WTF is wrong with this card?

The reviews I read etc look great, but yet, in EQ 2 etc, I run like ******.

So far, I have tested Age 3 to see if maybe it was the fact that the connection I am on was causing such lag in EQ 2, but it was shakie as hell in Age 3.

Do I need an upgrade of ram? Is this card a runt of the litter? Am I just seeing things?

-Flask

 

[Powermoloch]

How does your system performed with other game titles other than EQ2? I'm curious of your 3dmark05 scores too, just curious.

 

[Flask]

Have not done 3Dmark at all yet.

As for other games. FarCry ran fine on all max settings, HL 2, CS:Source, BF 2.

Age of Empires 3 / EQ 2 - are the only ones where I have a setback for some reason.

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: Flask
Have not done 3Dmark at all yet.

As for other games. FarCry ran fine on all max settings, HL 2, CS:Source, BF 2.

Age of Empires 3 / EQ 2 - are the only ones where I have a setback for some reason.

Well, what I do know that EQ2 is a demanding game. Not sure how demanding it was on a 7800GS. And what resolution you're planning to use on the game?

 

[Flask]

1024x768 or 1280x1024

 

[hooflung]

Your card only has 16 pipes... its not much different than a 6800Ultra. I suspect that is why EQ2 is having some problems. EQ2 is a very intensive game from what I hear. I think you'd have problems with SWG too as even my 7800GT PCI-E on my dualcore amd and 2gig cas 2 has problems at 1280x1024 that is ALL engine related lag and how they load the world dynamically too and from memory.

 

[dfloyd]

Sorry man but if you did not do the research you got had by Nvidias misnaming and marketing. The 7800GS is a crappy card for the cost, a X800 series or 6800 series would have been a way better choice for the price. Like the above stated its like a 6800 Ultra at best, sometimes its beat by the 6800 GT and by the X800 series cards so for the price its a very bad card, if you can return it I would suggest doing so friend.

 

[Flask]

Originally posted by: dfloyd
Sorry man but if you did not do the research you got had by Nvidias misnaming and marketing. The 7800GS is a crappy card for the cost, a X800 series or 6800 series would have been a way better choice for the price. Like the above stated its like a 6800 Ultra at best, sometimes its beat by the 6800 GT and by the X800 series cards so for the price its a very bad card, if you can return it I would suggest doing so friend.

Actually, I did research, and quite a bit actually.

My WTF on this card comes from the millions of reviews and tests that I have ran through on forums etc and seeing how good this card produces. I hear from both sides on the whole "6800 U > 7800GS" and the "7800GS > 6800 U" theories.

This does not mean I cannot return the card, and it has crossed my mind a few times tonight so far.

I have just put on order another 2 gig's of Corsair XMS LowLat ram, and I will take out the 2x256 Patriots and slap those in for 3. Might be overkill, but worth a shot.

I hear of no complaints except for a few dead cards here and there upon getting their shipment.

I am just trying to debug the fact that maybe it's not the card, but my computer itself.

 

[daveybrat]

You really need to run 3dMark05 before we can really give you any help. Not that 3Dmark is a great program by any means, but we at least need something to gauge your card's relative performance to other 7800GS users and see if your score is on par or underperforming badly.

 

[nitromullet]

EQ2 doesn't even run that well on my system IMO, and my card is definitely a better performer than a 7800GS. I also never could get AA to work in EQ2, so the game was jaggy and still not very smooth. This was the Trial of the Isle, so maybe the full version is better. From what I read on all the EQ2 forums I ended up on is that EQ2 is very resource intensive, and it just might not play to your liking with the eye candy turned on. I never did really mess with it much though because my MMO friends all rolled new chars in WoW on a PVP server, so I decided to play with them instead. If you like MMO's and haven't played WoW I would definitely recommend it, and it would play awesome on your rig (one of my friends plays it on a 15" Powerbook G4 with a 9700 gpu).

 

[Flask]

Hehe, thanks for the info guys. I will look up the 3Dmark and get some specs for you.

As far as WoW, I have played it since release, and well, I just recently quit because it just got to tedious and boring for me.

 

[Flask]

Bah, extra post. Sorry.

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: Flask
Hehe, thanks for the info guys. I will look up the 3Dmark and get some specs for you.

As far as WoW, I have played it since release, and well, I just recently quit because it just got to tedious and boring for me.

Try come back as soon as possible :thumbsup:

 

[Yreka]

Eq2 should play ok with that card, assuming you arent too aggressive with your settings. This game gives you drastic control over your display options. If they are cranked up too high it can bring even todays high end systems to their knees.

For your system, I would reccomend the balanced default, then turn shadows and flora off as a starting point. That should net you decent performance, and you can start tweaking up from there.

Decent, albiet old tweaking guide

Like Oblivion, EQ2 has several visual enhancements turned off by default to * I assume* keep your average user from killing their systems. AA seems to be one of these settings.

To turn AA on, you will need to create a file with notepad called eq2.ini. Put the line
r_aa_blit 1

in the file and save it in the EQ II folder. Once that is done, simply set your desired level of AA in the driver. Also, for ATI users, the AA fix doesn't currently work with Catalyst AI active, so make sure to turn it off.

 

[Flask]

Originally posted by: Yreka
Eq2 should play ok with that card, assuming you arent too aggressive with your settings. This game gives you drastic control over your display options. If they are cranked up too high it can bring even todays high end systems to their knees.

For your system, I would reccomend the balanced default, then turn shadows and flora off as a starting point. That should net you decent performance, and you can start tweaking up from there.

Decent, albiet old tweaking guide

Like Oblivion, EQ2 has several visual enhancements turned off by default to * I assume* keep your average user from killing their systems. AA seems to be one of these settings.

To turn AA on, you will need to create a file with notepad called eq2.ini. Put the line
r_aa_blit 1

in the file and save it in the EQ II folder. Once that is done, simply set your desired level of AA in the driver. Also, for ATI users, the AA fix doesn't currently work with Catalyst AI active, so make sure to turn it off.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

I just ordered another 2 gig's of ram as stated above, and I think this should add some extra perfomance.

Thanks again.

Flask

 

[Flask]

Just a small update for you guys.

I have yet to run 3Dmark, but I did use FRAPS to check my FPS ingame.

I went through quite a few games and this is what I have.

EQ 2 - 20 FPS on High Prof.
Battlefield 2 - 60 FPS with everything maxed, but when I turn and see a battle with tanks etc, it goes to barely 8 FPS.
Half Life 2 - 34 FPS with everything maxed, stuttering when I turn etc.
FarCry - 32 FPS with constant stuttering and everything to the max.
Age of Empires 3 - 28 FPS average with everything on max and lots of stuttering.
Counterstrike Source: - 34 FPS all maxed, with stuttering.

This bothers me because of the fact that my ATI Radeon 9800PRO 128 did better than this card. I am at a loss atm, but we will see what 3Dmark has to say. I am starting to wondering it is something else and not my card.

My HDD's are on Raid 0 attached to a Promise Fastrak TX1002, wondering if that is my problem. My HDD has been sounding as if it is skipping/beeping from time to time, and it makes me wonder if maybe that is what it is. Though I have had experiance with computers and dieing HDD's, usually it is that obvious scratching sound, but this is more like the sound of something reseting, then a beep.

Also, I do not think the ram that came with this computer is the same latency, the 2x512 Corsair XMS's are 2 cache and I think the 2x256 Patriots are 2.5.

=

 

[Flask]

I downloaded a diagnostics tool from Western Digital to test the sectors on my HDD's.

About 2 to 3 minutes in, I get the good ol' Blue Screen of Death.

Hmm.

 

[Acanthus]

AGP + Raid card = oversaturated PCI bus?

 

[Skott]

The 7800GS isnt a crappy card so unless yours has a individual problem of itself you should get decent play. The fact that you only got 512Mb RAM is part of the problem. 512 RAM is subpar nowadays. 1GB is a necessity anymore with today's games. BF2 alone needs 2Gb RAM from what many users and reviews reccomend. Going to 2Gb will certainly help but if you want to really play games at max settings you need to go way beyond AGP technology IMO. The frame rates you posted are not unusual considering you are maxxing the games out. Gotta remember even though the 7800GS is a good card its still just a AGP card. AGP doesnt = running everything at max. You need to set you game settings more to a medium setting IMO. That and get more RAM ASAP.

 

[Flask]

I have 1.5 gig's of ram btw, and I ordered 2 gig's of Corsair XMS low latency. That will put me at 3 gig's total of the Coraisr XMS, same latency etc. I have 2x512 Corsair XMS's and 2x256 Patriots.

 

[Skott]

I only saw the 2x256 in your rig sig. Hence my response about 512Mb. Mixxing RAM will work but it isnt considered ideally efficient. I think your biggest problem is that you are trying to run the games at max settings and it just isnt going to go well no matter how good the AGP card is. You need to either scale back to milder settings or upgrade to PCIe with a better card. Some of the newer games grind down even the bigger/badder PCIe systems in framerates.

 

[Flask]

I ran 3DMark06, and my final 3DMark was 3121.

Trying to compare, and this doesn't sound right at all.

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: Flask
I ran 3DMark06, and my final 3DMark was 3121.

Trying to compare, and this doesn't sound right at all.

It's sound right to me, especially it has only 16 pixel pipelines available to begin with vs 20/24 on pci-e card variants.

 

[Flask]

Yeah, unsure on some of these things.

Another issue I am having is during a game, my screen goes black and the music etc stops and the monitor light goes orange.

The CPU and the PSU is still running etc...no clue..