How to make PC's games run smoothly like console's games?

[netspiderz-net]

I have the system that you see below in the signature. And I think that is a good system for games. Is not the best, but is enought...

I have games that no matter wich resolution I play... they still glich every time a sound is made.

Also, some time I see the hard disk loading every few seconds producing the game to become irregular. (in those moment I would like to kill my hard disk!)

:arrow: I mean I have enough memory 1GB + good CPU + good graphic card 256MB GeForce 7800GT Graphic Card.

What should I do for make a game fluent like a console game, without keep on loading from the HD? :?:

Why the graphic of those freaking consoles is fluid? :!:

Should I increase the RAM? Make a SLI? :?:
What happe if I remove the file paging and/or the virtual memory?

 

[kickbutt]

The hardware should be enugh to play most games in most res, without much trubble.
I would say its software related ...
Check what kind of proc. u have running in backround. It can be some kind of monitoring software (checking temps and stuff) or somthing like that.

If not then its prob your system going to the swapfile (same thing here close down proc u dont use) but 1Gb ram should be enugh anyway for "most games"

 

[falsterbo]

I would say switch CPU to an AMD 3700+/4000+ or an AMD X2 and then overclock it...

I also have an Intel 530 3,0GHz and it is so slow comparade to my new 3700+ @ 2,91GHz.

Buy 2x 1Gb ram too if you want the most out of your system.

I have 2x 7800GT in SLI and they rock, but if want to build an SLI system, then I would say buy 7900GT or 7900GTX...

 

[sincraft]

From as long as I can remember, this has been an issue. The more memory, usually the better - but you will NEVER get rid of them completely...ever ever ever until they figure this out. Yea, it's annoying. Especially when you are JUST about to kill, aim, target, shoot, land, etc ...well you get the picture, - as this is ALWAYS when this occurs lol.

Anyway, don't listen to people saying, switch to this system that is far better than yours or this system that is a bit better - because it is a moot point. YOu will ALWAYS find a game that this will do this in...if you don't want it to happen, play minesweeper. Like I said, don't listen to anyone on here about stuttering. I've been through this with many people I've know in the past, and some have gone to VERY extreme measure to try to eliminate these issues. Most people that believe it can be cured, are usually on their...at best...2nd system.

S

 

[waylander]

First of all don't listen to the guy that's saying don't listen to the others... we all know that as soon as we buy something it's obsolete in 3 months but so what? We chose this as a hobby and we will continue to try and get the most out of our systems.

I agree that regardless of what you do, some game in the next year or so will make it happen again but...

If you want to alleviate the problem somewhat then the cheapest upgrade to make is to your ram. If your hard drive is running during game play it's because your ram can only hold so much data for quick retrieval, once that space is used up then it has to go to the HDD for the rest of it. Therefore the more ram you have the less it has to read from the HDD.

I would also suggest upgrading to a 2 x 1gb kit instead of just adding another 2 x 512mb but that is up to you...

The great thing about a ram upgrade is that if you get nice ram at fast speeds, even if you can't utilize it fully right now you can put it in your next system with no problem.

 

[dokk]

I have the system that you see below in the signature. And I think that is a good system for games. Is not the best, but is enought...

I have games that no matter wich resolution I play... they still glich every time a sound is made.

Also, some time I see the hard disk loading every few seconds producing the game to become irregular. (in those moment I would like to kill my hard disk!)

:arrow: I mean I have enough memory 1GB + good CPU + good graphic card 256MB GeForce 7800GT Graphic Card.

What should I do for make a game fluent like a console game, without keep on loading from the HD? :?:

Why the graphic of those freaking consoles is fluid? :!:

Should I increase the RAM? Make a SLI? :?:
What happe if I remove the file paging and/or the virtual memory?

HI MR.Spider..Question
1..When did you last defrage your hdd's??
2 How large is your swapfile/pagefile.sys ?
3.Do you manage the size of these files,or,do you let windoze,do it.
4 Where is said swap/pagefile.

1 Some games/apps.,are very [too much sometimes] sensitive to broken files/dirs..
2,3.Microshaft recommends 1 to 1.5 x swapfile to installed ram.I am presently running 800m swap,with no probs at all.
4.I usually put swap/pagefile at the front of a partition and lock it there.
erretta :::You said nothing about your PSU ,,I would expect you to have 400 to 500W PSU ,one more thing not that it really matters just a little trivia 32bit fats are faster that ntfs,,,less overhead..
my rig amd 3700/64,, 1g cheap kingston ram ,,BFG7600 OC,what i throw at it runs fine i may or may not tone down the eyecandy from time to time.
Anyhoo try everything that seems reasonable 'cause ya' never know what any particular computer will respond best to..........Good luck...

 

[mitch074]

While your RAM is quite sufficient for most if not all current games, you'd do well to get an extra 1 Gb for games such as Oblivion or FEAR.

On the other hand, the swap could be caused by an active background process choosing that moment to activate and load data from the swap. My recommendations would be:
- disable as many taskbar utilities as you can: do you need Windows Messenger to load every time you start your system? Do you need that graphics quick settings? Do you need that printer control panel there? Most settings can be reached using the Control Panel and you never use them anyway, shut them off! Some boot-time softwares can be easily disabled using the msconfig utility.
- shut down as many services as you can: do you need a themed Windows GUI? Do you need to run a Windows files/print server? Do you need automatic updates turned on, same for the Security Centre? Do you need a magnetic card reader? Do you need an IR monitor?
- run a pair of good, deep virus and malware scans. Get rid of unneeded software. That definitely helps. Also, remove Norton/Symantec System Craps , get a free antivirus (Grisoft AVG free or Avast! are good, small and unobtrusive) and turn on Windows firewall.
- defragment your drive. Use sysinternal's defrag utility to defragment your swap file at boot. Allocate a good chunk of HD for the swap.

Do that, and you'll have a killer rig without spending a cent. You could go further by dedicating a 10 Gb partition to the system and installing the games to a second partition, disabling system restore, deleting the compressed backups left behind by the patches, cleaning up the temp directories and such.

 

[netspiderz-net]

HI MR.Spider..Question
1..When did you last defrage your hdd's??
2 How large is your swapfile/pagefile.sys ?
3.Do you manage the size of these files,or,do you let windoze,do it.
4 Where is said swap/pagefile.

Well,
- My last defrag was 1 month ago
- If you are talking about Virual Memory... I have Custom size (I do not remember that I touched it!). Initial size(MB) 1536 and Maximum size (MB) 3072. The VM is active only on the Main hard-drive.
- I do not manage the size for these file... said Custom size.
- My PSU is 420W or 430W Termaltake

What happen if I completely remove the use of the Virtual Memory?
Do you know what means... Initial Size on the VM?

When I run games I see that 90-95% is used. So I think that upgrading to 2GB will be used by the system.

 

[netspiderz-net]

While your RAM is quite sufficient for most if not all current games, you'd do well to get an extra 1 Gb for games such as Oblivion or FEAR.

On the other hand, the swap could be caused by an active background process choosing that moment to activate and load data from the swap.

Usually before start any game I remove all processes that I do not need.
Some time I play FEAR and when it come the most complex action... specially when multiple sounds are loaded... the computer become irregular letting me lose smoothness.

I never heared before about free antivirus like Grisoft AVG or Avast! The problem is trust them as good Antivirus!

Anyway, as soon as I can I will upgrade the system with another 512x2GB of RAM.

Also I need to understand how to manage the this Virtual Memory.

Thanks to all.

 

[Ycon]

Play in 640x480?
Sorry, but even 2x X1900 XTX are too slow to be able to play quite a few new games at full eye candy settings.

 

[davidflet9]

good piece of advice for VM LEAVE IT BE! set it to system managed size or leave it as it is. people with far more experience with that sort of thing set that value for a reason, iknow people will disagree but there is no point changing it making it smaller or getting rid of your swap file will potentially grid your system to a halt, especially if you run out of memory during a game.

as for improving game performance try going msconfig in the run tool and choose selective startup and remove the startup items checkbox, this should help a lot, i wouldnt recommend surfing the net with this off tho as you will potentially be without antivirus or firewall depending on whether or not it is configured as a service

good luck more RAM should help i invested in 2GB not long back, very good move in my opinion

 

[Multiplectic]

Play in 640x480?
Sorry, but even 2x X1900 XTX are too slow to be able to play quite a few new games at full eye candy settings.

Yeah! That's absolutely right!
With my old system (powered by a FX5600) I decreased the resolution towards 640x480 (with AAx4) and EVERY game went fluidly through my monitor..
Instead of spending hundreds of bucks in more memory, or another video card (what would lead you to buy a stronger PSU), decrease the resolution! It's easy, fast, simple, and you won't spend a single buck!

 

[MasterLee]

Do not remove the Virtual Drive, very bad to do. What you can do is find a small (10 Gig) hard drive and use that only for Virtual Drive, it makes a noticable difference.
Then you need to find the sweet spot, that is memory timings and speed, CPU speed, and CPU overclock, and GPU/Memory overclock, where it all works in sync, no hestitation, and everything works smoothly.
Take notes, change one thing at a time, you'll be okay.

 

[Darkchyld]

My 2 cents worth...
It looks like you've got a good system, you should not be having probs on most games. Some of the newer stuff might drag it down with all the goodies maxed. Afew things to check..
Your VM, let windows manage it. If your currently set to custom, switch it back.
RAM. 1Gig should be enough, 2Gig is better though.
Do a ctl-alt-del, how many processes you got going? Its not uncommon to see 40-50. WAY too many. Go Here and par that list down.
If your running an antivirus shut it down, see if performance improves.
Do the basics, defrag and the like.
Drivers. Run dxdiag and check versions. You got the latest and greatest?
My system, XP-3000 on a Gigabyte GA-400-N, 1G RAM, ATI 9600 PRO and I'm playing Tombraider Legends, Prince of Persia T2T, Dreamfall, Fable the lost chapters, Quake 4, and Starship Troopers faultlessly at 1024x768. Of course not all the eye candy is turned on in them. I will be upgradeing soon, I hope.
Personally I'd advise against OC'ing for the moment. You do risk hardware damage. To me your saying its time for new hardware when you start OC'ing. I'd rather have a stable system to use and wait until I could afford the hardware.

 

[amddiesel]

It seems everyone didnt read his post entirely.... He quotes..."I have games that no matter wich resolution I play... they still glich every time a sound is made" It seems your having a graphics card issue and sound driver issue..Your system is "sick" It seems there are sound/graphics card driver issues or conflicts

Im not an expert but some people here are

 

[Darkchyld]

Its not so much its "sick", its busy. Why does the CPU have to pause to handle an audio issue? I belive your MB has Realtec on the MB. Disable the Creative card and try using the on-board just to see if it makes a differance. Like you said, drivers.. :lol:

 

[mitch074]

you didn't read through my suggestions: said processes don't always appear in the Task manager: Windows services don't appear, for example.

Since it seems it's a sound driver problem you're having, you should try updating said drivers, switching sound engine in the games (EAX on/off, Directsound Hardware/software) or check Sound in Control Panel to be sure that hardware acceleration is set to 'max'.

 

[MarcusL]

Windows always seems to put a lot of stuff in the disk cache even when you have tons of free ram.

You could try getting another Gig of ram. Creating a RAMdisk and putting your swap file on it instead of on the harddisk. Then your swap transactions would be Ram-to-Ram rather than Ram-to-Disk.

If it doesn't help, you will now have 2GB of ram which will certainly not hurt.

 

[Multiplectic]

That's awesome! Good tip, MarcusL!
I'd say that is a very good first post! :trophy:

 

[mitch074]

you do that, or get an iRam and 4 Gb of RAM - and put the temp folder and swap file on it

 

[Blank2k3]

tis the advantage of a dedicated games console.... lower spec then PCs & generally perform better then even high-end PCs in terms of "Fluid"

games are designed specifically for xx ram xx processor xx graphics, so theres absolutely no conflicts... every PC is differant, so "fluid" gameplay is hard to come by unless u have an extreme computer that goes so fast it skips over the "bumps" in the road, atleast thats my experience anyway.

Ram is a good cure tho

 

[Multiplectic]

Beyond any benchmark or test, anyone has one of these iRam?? I'd like to know if it really worth the price, and to know it from a user's personal experience...

 

[ches111]

You really need to look at the system as a whole.

A great graphics card, a great cpu, and hardrive and memory and ..... and ....all are great when you look at individual specs. But until they are placed together as a whole and optimized as a whole they could look like the problems you are having.

Many people create a gaming logon for their PC and enable a different hardware profile that disables all uneeded equipment (sometimes not possible). Also you can go through the many gaming/windows optimization threads on forums like these and implement changes accordingly.

Also something as simple as a hardware conflict (which it sounds like you may have) can cripple what should be an awesome machine. Do you have a dialup modem installed in your PC? There is a reason that it used to be called plug and pray (mostly modems causing conflicts on a com port or dma channel or IRQ) these mostly conflicted with Sound cards.

In device manager do you have any yellow exclamation point symbols?

There is a lot of things to look at to make a good system good.

 

[tomaytohead]

ok, I've had similar issues before, like a sounds that's supposed to be "brrrrrpppppp" comes out "b-b-b-b-rrrr-r-r-r-r-pp" or something like that? Well for me, this not only happened in games, but in DVD playback. My issues was the IDE channel was running in PIO mode (windows sets it there after some read errors on disc drives) It needs to be in DMA mode. So, to check this out, go to your 'Device Manager' and expand the 'IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers' bring up the properties for 'primary or secondary IDE Channel' and click on the 'Advanced Settings' tab. Make sure the drive is set to 'DMA if available' and try things out then, restart may help, check to see if it 'Current Transfer Mode' changes to 'Ultra DMA....' if it doesn't go back to the device manager and delete the primary or secondary controller in question and restart (i had to do this). When windows reloads, it should load up the proper transfer mode for the device.

 

[ches111]

Have you updated all of your drivers, did you happen to notice if anyone was having problems with any of the new drivers? Companies do make mistakes and release bad drivers on occasion.

Have you updated your Bios? Does your Bios recognize DDR2-677 if it has not been flashed? Don't laugh it happens.

Have you googled for hardware/driver conflicts with the hardware that you have? Did you use the manufacturers drivers or the other guys (see ATI).

Again it could be any number of things all of which could be easy or hard to correct.

My vid card in my sig was not stable at stock voltage, I found an obscure reference that said to bump its voltage by .1 and all is well. It worked!

The machine you have when optimized and de-conflicted will perfom nicely. I would not recommend spending any more money.