Choppy Perfomance on Borderland

[cosmiconion]

Hey All, (Yes i mean Borderlands not Borderland )

My PC:

Mobo: ASUS m4a785td-v Evo
Processor: Amthlon ii x3 435 O.C. to 3.2ghz
RAM: 4GB DDR 3 (Crucial)
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD5670 512mb
PSU: OCZ Stealthstream 500w

Whenever I play borderlands (purchased today from steam) I get a rather 'choppy' feel when turning or moving around. It's not low fps as the mouse response is fast and any actions i make are instantaineous and my PC should be able to play this game on high with a decent res.

As it happens im playing it on 1024x768 x8 AA and other settings on high.

Even if I change the settings to low / med I get the same issue (soon after changing the settings in-game my PC froze up for around 20 seconds before being very sluggish until restart).

It's like horizontal lines in the environment that are jumping around when I move (causing me a savage headache!). Not like the entire scenery breaking up but just suttle imperfections that are happening very frequently. I do get it slightly on BF:BC2 but it's not really that bad.

My graphics card is brand new and has been running all my older games (Medieval 2: Total war, Killing Floor, Lead and Gold, BF2) without a hitch. I've checked to make sure it is inserted properly and no problems there. The temps are nice and cool having never seen it above 45oC and I have the latest drivers.

The only really awful part of my system is the screen. It's an aging relic from an old system that will be replaced as soon as I can afford it. It is an LCD flatscreen made by TCO Displays...so not top notch!

Could the monitor be causing these problems (perhaps the refresh rate is an issue)?

If not what else could cause the problem...it's really quite painful viewing!

Thanks

 

[swifty_morgan]

The cards not the greatest gamer going. You can try lowering your shadows and other game settings and turn off AA. And don't think that the requirements are so low you should be able to play it. Game manufacturers have been lying for years. Perhaps they should specify how well it will play with those requirements.

 

[cosmiconion]

Cheers for the response. After having another play around with the settings nothing has helped.

I went through each setting, lowered them one at a time and returned to the game to check the effect.

When approaching a building / physical structure I get a horizontal line that moves from about 1/3 of the way down the screen upwards as I strafe or look around. If I continue to move the line will keep reappearing...scrolling up, then another line appears. It moves very quickly and is almost like a poor attempt at rendering the images.

Sorry if this sounds a little obtuse but it's exactly what happens.

 

[swifty_morgan]

Okay, you have a video card and the board also has on board video. Is the on board video disabled or on auto select in the bios ? And you are plugging into the card and not into the motherboard right ?... You may also be having driver problems. Update the driver or try an older driver after un-installing the one you have. The card mat be defective..... not something you really wanted to hear i know.

 

[cosmiconion]

Thanks again for the reply. The card is auto-selected on start up and there is no choice to disable one or the other. I'm plugging into the hd5670, the vga slot. I do have the most up to date drivers at present but will certainly try rolling them back if all else fails.

As for a defective card, nope, not what I want to hear, but not an unexpected reply lol.

I will try hooking it up to my HD TV and see how it looks.


In regards to the card it plays Battlefield bad company on high very smoothly as well as MW2. The unreal engine isn't so harsh (other than on shadows) that it is more intensive than those two...is it?

 

[daship]

V-sync on? off? And did you try with no AA?

 

[swifty_morgan]

How much room is on your hard drive ? and is it cleaned up and defragged ? And I see this is an on line gamer. You don't have connection problems do you ? And you keep your apps turned off..... virus/messaging, etc. How much virtual ram do you have. You can try increasing that. I have mine at 10000/10000.... I have the room for it.

 

[cosmiconion]

Cheers again for the responses.

I have hooked my PC up to my HDTV to see if it was indeed the monitor and I am now having issues with Battlefield: BC 2.

It just isn't crisp whenever I move around near a building and is making me wonder if it is indeed a faulty card.

I've started a new thread specifically about my card (and whether it's faulty or not).

As for my HDD, it's 20% full, defragged and I don't use software in the background when gaming. My physical memory is 4094mb with 2840 available and 1084 free (surfing the net). I am on Windows 7 however which I gather does seems to use a bit more physical memory.


I fear it's an RMA case...

 

[cosmiconion]

V-sync on? off? And did you try with no AA?

10 Points to you!

Turning V-Sync on seems to have stopped the problem!

Thanks for all the replies