Slight PC Performance problems

[dsx100]

Ok heres the deal. I recently got a new PC and I upgraded it signifanctly so I could run some of the newer games coming out decently. However, I am now worried a little about running some of the newer games avialable this year because some of my older games aren't running quite the way I expected.

Here's my system specs:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 Live DualCore 5000+

RAM: 2GB

HD: 350GB, 200 GB of free space

Graphics: eVGA Nvidia 7300 GS 256MB with HD support

OS: Windows Vista Home Premiem

DirectX: Direct X10

Systemrequirementslab.com says my machine is pretty good and from the numbers I displayed I think its pretty good too.

However, recently I have been having some very slight perfomance issues with some games, games I wouldn't expect my machine to have a problem with. Here are some examples:

Doom 3: The game slows down during some areas in the Hell portion of the game and areas where there are gases or fog. Everything else runs fine. I have it running on high quality at 800x600 resoultion with Vertical Sync and Ant-Aliasing off

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: The game is probably the game that runs the worst on my PC. It slows down quite a bit in very large environmental areas like the Sand Dunes. It also tends to freeze for about a second or two at times during the game. I run the game at 1024x768 at 60 hertz. Anti-Aliasing, Vertical Sync and Soft Shadows are completely off.

Unreal 2004: This game actually runs very, very good. However, when I play some of the Assualt and Onsault maps, the game speed slows down a tiny bit. This really doesn't bother me a lot but I just didn't expect it to happen on my system. I run the game at 1024x768, 16 bit color, everything is on normal except for physics which is on low. I also disabled trilinear filtering.

Fear: This game just perfoms overall kind of poorly. It looks worse than Doom 3 and the framerate seems kind of slow. However, the graphics quality and framerate stay consistant thoughout. I run it at 800x600 with vertical sync and anti-aliasing off.

Call of Duty 2: This game runs really good at 800x600, with anti-aliasing off. However anyting higher and it slows very considerably. This game doesn't look all that great to me so I thought I could run it at higher settings.

Note: Fear was a demo, not the whole game.

Games I have no problems with:

Warcraft 3: Runs excellent through out at 1024x768 with everything at high.

Age of Mythology: Runs excellent as well at 1024x768 with everything on high

Rise of Nations: Runs how expected it to run but not much of difference from my old PC

Half-Life 2: Runs very well at 1024x768 with vertical sync and anti-aliasing off. Never slows down.

Note: Half-life 2 is a demo

Now for every game I listed, systemrequirementslab.com says my system is good enough to go above the recommended requirements. Some more than others.

Also I close running programs, disable some start programs before I play the games.

I also defragment and disk cleanup a lot.

Now that you have the info here are my questions.

Is my system pretty good, bad, crappy, or broken?

Should the games I listed be running better than they are?

Is Vista and Direct X10 causing some of the perforamnce problems?

Did I expect too much out of my machine?

Am I overly ignorant about PC peformance?

and finally the most important question,

Is my system good enough to run some of the newer games that are coming out like Unreal Tournament 3, Quake Wars, and maybe even Crysis?

I know its a lot of reading and a lot of questions but I would really like some help answering them. Any help, if possible, is very, very, very much appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

[Groovemaster303]

The Geforce is your weak point. the 7300 gs is a low-end card which can play most games at average/low settings but for something like Crysis, Quake wars etc it's no good at all.

Upgrading your GPU will give you better framerates and higher resolutions all-round on all the games you mentioned.

Lots of better cards are out there right now for cheap prices. but if you really want to play the likes of Crysis and QW at the best possible quality your pc can handle then you might be better off saving your money for the next wave of DX10 cards to be released.

[dsx100]

Thanks, that was what I was worried about. However, just so you know, I am not really concerned about running those games at the best possible quality. Decent quality would do just fine.

Also, how good are Nvidia Geforce 8500 GT GPUs? This sounds like a good card and it is within my price range.

[erik212]

I have an nVidia 7900 GS, and it can run MOST of those games on high quality fine. I'd go with a 8500/8600(I forget which one...) or a 8800 because graphics will only get better and to me my 7900 is reaching its limit(basically guaranteed it won't be able to run Crytek on high.). Beware however, because those card are big, and you should make sure they can fit in your case. : )

[Groovemaster303]

I have an nVidia 7900 GS, and it can run MOST of those games on high quality fine. I'd go with a 8500/8600(I forget which one...) or a 8800 because graphics will only get better and to me my 7900 is reaching its limit(basically guaranteed it won't be able to run Crytek on high.). Beware however, because those card are big, and you should make sure they can fit in your case. : )

I second that.

[dsx100]

So an Nvidia Geforce 8500 GT would be good then, right. I doubt I can afford anything better which makes me thing its probably Nvidia's 8 series equivelant to 7300 GS. 8600 costs around 50 to 120 bucks more than than the 8500.

[eternal Zero]

8600 from my experience is the way to go. But if you can shell out the dough, then go 8800.

[Groovemaster303]

The 8500GT is a good card but there is always something better sadly.

The SE and LE models tend to be stripped down to near nothing avoid them like the plague.

If your unsure about the 8500GT don't buy it wait a couple of months and then the 8600GT will probably drop in price and you will snag a great bargain.

Just in case you have not seen this here is a link with the specs of the Geforce 8 series and a comparison of the 8500GT and 8600GT models

http://www.ozhardware.com.au/content/view/39/1/

It's a good read and will let you know exactly what card does what.

To add to the confusion a little but could be worth a look check out the 7900GS

which performs really well in the test provided in the review above.

[dsx100]

Thanks for the help guys. That article was actually a good read. Very Informative.

For now, I'll try to invest in an Nvidia 8600. If I absolutely can't manage to get one, I'll go with 8500 GT. I really want Direct X10 support, otherwise I would consider a 7900.

Thanks agian for the help guys.

[Effef]

If you at all possibly can, save your money and go for an 8800GTS 320mb. Even with just a 320mb frame buffer, it kicks the crap out of any of the 8600 series.

[Groovemaster303]

Thanks for the help guys. That article was actually a good read. Very Informative.

For now, I'll try to invest in an Nvidia 8600. If I absolutely can't manage to get one, I'll go with 8500 GT. I really want Direct X10 support, otherwise I would consider a 7900.

Thanks agian for the help guys.

No problem, glad to be of help.