Performance Issue on Burnout Paradise

[gearsofwars99]

Hi, I have a performance issue on Burnout Paradise, and CnC : Red Alert 3 too...

Burnout first...

This is my PC :

C2D E7400
1GB RAM
9400GT 1GB

When I play, the game set the settings to high, at first it runs well, but when the enemy comes... BAM... the game lags as hell...

I tried to lower the setting, no AA, no shadow, No blur, etc...

And it just show the same performance... No doubt...

What could it be? Does the lack of RAM, or the lack of VGA capability??

and then red alert 3...

I was wondering, I can play Dragon Age : Origins on medium graphic and texture at 30fps, but not in this game...
Actually, as CnC fan, I`m really disappointed with this game, why not? Graphics of unit is looked more like a cartoon, the mechanical units didn`t show that it was a mechanical, (look at the CnC 3! The mechanicals, APC, Mammoth tank, they`re looking cool, right?!) and what`s more, a game like this cannot be played at medium texture if you want to play with tons of LAG...

I dunno why, I expect this game will be good, because RA2 is already good, and now? Scream in pain of its requirements, and I think it`s more better to play NFS SHIFT at high settings, even when you crashed the FPS dropped a lot...

anyone tell me what is the problem??

 

[Confused Stu]

It should be fairly easy to check if your CPU or RAM is limiting you in these games - simply open Task Manager, play the game until it lags, then ALT+TAB back to Task Manager to check the CPU and Page File usage charts. If the CPU has been sitting at 100% in the graphs then your CPU is limited you, or if your available memory is showing is pretty much nil and your page file usage is sky high then you need more RAM. That said, unless you're using XP or a VERY optimised Vista/W7 (i.e. zero programs running in the background) you are always going to struggle with only 1GB of RAM.

Personally, I'm pretty sure you are going to find your video card is the limiting factor here. The 9400GT, even paired with 1GB of RAM, is not a gaming card and really is only suited to playing DVDs and Blu-Rays (but it's very good at that). Have a quick look over one of the reviews for the card and you'll find it's gaming performance is really low - this is the first one Google threw up: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2409&page=1

My advice, at least 1 more Gig of RAM would be nice for that rig and shouldn't cost you too much, but I think you're going to see a lot more benefit in gaming from upgrading your graphics card.

 

[gearsofwars99]

I`ve OC ed my card, and it performed more better than before, but I still want to say, this VGA is crap as hell... I`ll looking forward for RAM upgrade... But I see the review in this web, even an 9500GT can play it very well, even 4670 is still playable at 1920x1080...

Yeah, I think it`s my VGA card... Thanks for helping!

 

[gearsofwars99]

Best answer selected by gearsofwars99.