Looking for feedback on running EQ2 on my PC

[Michael]

Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

Hey guys. I have EQ2 installed but I'm going to remain busy at present
playing EQ1 and trying out AO for a least a while. But I've been curious
as to what I can expect in terms of performance and graphics detail with
the system I have now which I am not sure can even be considered
midrange anymore. It runs EQ1 beautifully though, except for the new
shadows which I tried but immediately turned back off.

My system is consists of the following:

HP Pavilion 540n
Pentium 4 2.2 GHz Northwood
ASUS motherboard
SiS650 chipset
512 MB PC2100 DDR RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX 5600 w/ 256 MB RAM
120 GB Western Digital HD 7200 RPM 8 MB cache
80 GB Maxtor HD 7200 RPM 2 MB cache
HP CD-Writer cd16f 16x8x40x
Lucent Winmodem
SB Live 5.1
SiS 900 PCI Fast ethernet
NEC Multisync FE990 19" flat screen monitor
MS Intellimouse (PS/2 mouse)
Motorola Cable modem

I am planning to add a 1 gig stick of PC2100 DDR RAM right after
Christmas which I priced at about 200 for name brand RAM. I did have
another 512 MB generic stick in there, which really didn't make much
difference running EQ1 except to cause frequent crashes when zoning and
going back to character select or camping out. As far as I can tell,
that stick of RAM was bad and I don't think I'll ever cheap out with
generic RAM again. I ran what I consider to be a half baked memory test
on it and the system crashed every time the test ran. I know to be
thorough I should have run memtest or something like it without windows
loaded but I couldn't be bothered and that takes a long time. So I just
pulled the RAM and went back down to 512 MB. All crash problems
dissapeared after doing so.

I am hoping that while the Nvidia FX 5600 is at best a midrange card,
that the 256 MB RAM on it will come into play in improving performance
with EQ2 and perhaps allow a little higher level of detail. I do plan a
complete system replacement but that's not happening until Summertime
most likely. I don't really even want to blow 200 bucks on RAM for this
system now but I guess it's going to be worth it for the six months or
so I get use out of it and I suspect it will have a major impact on
performance for what I have to work with.

A little off topic but I am planning to try WoW too at some point
upcoming. I've heard that it is not as hardware intensive as EQ2. Anyone
with some experience have a feel for how it might run on my current
configuration and how much difference the addition gig of RAM might make
for that game. I'll have 1.5 gig total RAM at that point.

Any feedback would be most appreciated as I am curious but don't have
time for EQ2 right now.


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[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

Michael wrote:
> Any feedback would be most appreciated as I am curious but don't have
> time for EQ2 right now.

You should be OK once you go to a gig of RAM. Running EQ2 without that much
is slow, choppy, and frustrating.

--
chainbreaker

If you need to email, then chainbreaker (naturally) at comcast dot
net--that's "net" not "com"--should do it.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 11:32:35 -0500, Michael wrote:

> Hey guys. I have EQ2 installed but I'm going to remain busy at present
> playing EQ1 and trying out AO for a least a while. But I've been curious
> as to what I can expect in terms of performance and graphics detail with
> the system I have now which I am not sure can even be considered
> midrange anymore. It runs EQ1 beautifully though, except for the new
> shadows which I tried but immediately turned back off.
>
> My system is consists of the following:
>
> HP Pavilion 540n
> Pentium 4 2.2 GHz Northwood
> ASUS motherboard
When did HP begin using ASUS MBs?

> SiS650 chipset
> 512 MB PC2100 DDR RAM
I see below you said you're getting 1GB. This is a must

<snip>
> I am planning to add a 1 gig stick of PC2100 DDR RAM right after
> Christmas which I priced at about 200 for name brand RAM. I did have
> another 512 MB generic stick in there, which really didn't make much
> difference running EQ1 except to cause frequent crashes when zoning and
> going back to character select or camping out. As far as I can tell,
> that stick of RAM was bad and I don't think I'll ever cheap out with
> generic RAM again. I ran what I consider to be a half baked memory test
> on it and the system crashed every time the test ran. I know to be
> thorough I should have run memtest or something like it without windows
> loaded but I couldn't be bothered and that takes a long time. So I just
> pulled the RAM and went back down to 512 MB. All crash problems
> dissapeared after doing so.
Try switching slots and see if it still happens. That is the quick acid
test for me. If it does then I presume it's bad and if I feel like it I'll
run further tests.

> I am hoping that while the Nvidia FX 5600 is at best a midrange card,
> that the 256 MB RAM on it will come into play in improving performance
> with EQ2 and perhaps allow a little higher level of detail. I do plan a
> complete system replacement but that's not happening until Summertime
> most likely. I don't really even want to blow 200 bucks on RAM for this
> system now but I guess it's going to be worth it for the six months or
> so I get use out of it and I suspect it will have a major impact on
> performance for what I have to work with.
You should be able to run the FX5600 at around medium level and be fine (I
have an MSI FX5600 and didn't have any problems with where it set the
defaults. It's still prettier than EQ1 at that level. RAM > GFXCard in EQ2s
case here it seems.

> A little off topic but I am planning to try WoW too at some point
> upcoming. I've heard that it is not as hardware intensive as EQ2. Anyone
> with some experience have a feel for how it might run on my current
> configuration and how much difference the addition gig of RAM might make
> for that game. I'll have 1.5 gig total RAM at that point.
From what I understand if you don't have problems with EQ1 on your current
setup you shouldn't have problems with WoW.


--
RJB
12/21/2004 12:14:59 PM

Love your enemies. It really pisses them off!
--Unknown

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

Michael <NOSPAM_Lin_mukai@comcast.net> wrote in news:FPKdnTWA5v2-zVXcRVn-
vA@comcast.com:

> Hey guys. I have EQ2 installed but I'm going to remain busy at present
> playing EQ1 and trying out AO for a least a while. But I've been
curious
> as to what I can expect in terms of performance and graphics detail
with
> the system I have now which I am not sure can even be considered
> midrange anymore. It runs EQ1 beautifully though, except for the new
> shadows which I tried but immediately turned back off.
>
> My system is consists of the following:
>
> HP Pavilion 540n
> Pentium 4 2.2 GHz Northwood
> ASUS motherboard
> SiS650 chipset
> 512 MB PC2100 DDR RAM
> Nvidia GeForce FX 5600 w/ 256 MB RAM
> 120 GB Western Digital HD 7200 RPM 8 MB cache
> 80 GB Maxtor HD 7200 RPM 2 MB cache
> HP CD-Writer cd16f 16x8x40x
> Lucent Winmodem
> SB Live 5.1
> SiS 900 PCI Fast ethernet
> NEC Multisync FE990 19" flat screen monitor
> MS Intellimouse (PS/2 mouse)
> Motorola Cable modem
>
> I am planning to add a 1 gig stick of PC2100 DDR RAM right after
> Christmas which I priced at about 200 for name brand RAM.

Good choice, you will want at least 1GB for running EQ2 well.

>
> I am hoping that while the Nvidia FX 5600 is at best a midrange card,
> that the 256 MB RAM on it will come into play in improving performance
> with EQ2 and perhaps allow a little higher level of detail. I do plan a
> complete system replacement but that's not happening until Summertime
> most likely. I don't really even want to blow 200 bucks on RAM for this
> system now but I guess it's going to be worth it for the six months or
> so I get use out of it and I suspect it will have a major impact on
> performance for what I have to work with.

I run with a 128MB ATi Radeon 9800 Pro, and it works well at the default
setting for performance vs quality. I believe the 5600 performs somewhat
less well than my card, but not by a huge amount.

For comparison, my system:

Asus A78NX-E Deluxe Motherboard
Athlon XP 3200+ processor
NVidia NForce2 Ultra chipset
1GB PC3200 Ram
ATi Radeo 9800 Pro 128MB (Built by Sapphire) video card

>
> A little off topic but I am planning to try WoW too at some point
> upcoming. I've heard that it is not as hardware intensive as EQ2.
Anyone
> with some experience have a feel for how it might run on my current
> configuration and how much difference the addition gig of RAM might
make
> for that game. I'll have 1.5 gig total RAM at that point.
>
> Any feedback would be most appreciated as I am curious but don't have
> time for EQ2 right now.
>

I have heard the same regarding WoW, I would expect that you would have
no problems at all running it from everything I have heard.

--
On Erollisi Marr in <Sanctuary of Marr>
Ancient Graeme Faelban, Barbarian Prophet of 69 seasons

On Steamfont
Graeme, 18 Dwarven Shaman, 16 Scholar

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

RJB <robartle@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote:
> From what I understand if you don't have problems with EQ1 on your current
> setup you shouldn't have problems with WoW.
>

WOW does make better use of the graphics hardware. It does use more
memory. It does not use exceptionally more of either, but I can say
that minimum hardware requirements are quite a bit less for EQ1 than
they are for WOW.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1
Spammers please contact me at renegade@veldy.net.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

"chainbreaker" <noone@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:cq9lo30220n@news2.newsguy.com...
> Michael wrote:
> > Any feedback would be most appreciated as I am curious but don't have
> > time for EQ2 right now.
>
> You should be OK once you go to a gig of RAM. Running EQ2 without that
much
> is slow, choppy, and frustrating.
>

I upgraded from 512 to 1gig - my other and I play EQ2 together, and it was
really annoying watching him zone through in a snap and I was still at the
"unloading character from zone" stage. I was much nicer after that

 

[Michael]

Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

Pamela Carlton wrote:
> "chainbreaker" <noone@nowhere.com> wrote in message
> news:cq9lo30220n@news2.newsguy.com...
>
>>Michael wrote:
>>
>>>Any feedback would be most appreciated as I am curious but don't have
>>>time for EQ2 right now.
>>
>>You should be OK once you go to a gig of RAM. Running EQ2 without that
>
> much
>
>>is slow, choppy, and frustrating.
>>
>
>
> I upgraded from 512 to 1gig - my other and I play EQ2 together, and it was
> really annoying watching him zone through in a snap and I was still at the
> "unloading character from zone" stage. I was much nicer after that
>
>

Thanks all for the feedback. I was kind of expecting that the gig was
going to be a necessity for EQ2. This game and WoW will be the first new
titles I've run on this machine in a year. I think at this point all
newer games are able to take advantage of additional RAM on video cards
if you have more then 128 MB. So hopefully being able to cache twice as
many textures will help performance somewhat too where I've got 256 MB
on the video card.

There was a discount offer for Kingston RAM in the EQ2 box that's valid
until June 2005 I think it is. I went to their site and it turns out
that you can select RAM specifically for your system manufacturer and
model for many systems, including mine. Although their prices are high,
with the 40% discount I can get it from them about as cheaply as I could
get something similar from say Crucial at newegg.com. So I think I will
do that right after Christmas, which will bring total RAM to 1.5 gigs on
my machine. That should do the trick nicely until I can spring for a new
system in the Summer.

Somebody asked since when does HP use ASUS motherboards. I don't know
really but my Pavilion 540n is about 3 years old I think now. When I got
it, it came with cheapo onboard video and sound, a 1.6 P4 processor and
one hard disk. But it only cost me $500. off the shelf at my local
CompUSA and was easily upgraded. HP makes nice systems for the money at
retail. For under a grand total cost I was able to put together a decent
gaming rig that's lasted a few years.

For my next system I am considering one of three options:
1.) Do the same thing again with an HP system and upgrade it for gaming
2.) Build my own from scratch buying all components I need from newegg
3.) Spring for a top of the line Alienware PC

Decisions, decisions... lol


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