Wasn't sure exactly how to title this, sorry.
I'm playing the game Rift which is very demanding on hardware. Got some hand-me-downs from a friend but I had to purchase a new motherboard to use them.
OLD SYSTEM
AMD Athlon X2 4000+ 2.1ghz
4GB DDR2 667 Dual-Channel
ATI Radeon HD4650 PCIe 1024mb GDDR2
NEW SYSTEM
AMD Athlon X2 245 2.9ghz (oc'ed 3.0ghz via bios)
2GB DDR2 667 Dual-Channel
Nvidia GeForce GT 240 PCIe 512mb GDDR5
The new system only has 2 DIMM slots which is why the amount of RAM dropped from 4mb to 2mb.
The old system had steady performance issues. Mainly, consistently low FPS - presumably "bottle-necked" by the CPU. However, I never had excessively long load times or spikes in FPS. While it was low, it was still consistent.
I have played the game over my friend's house using the AMD X2 245 + GT 240 and the game ran flawlessly and consistent.
Ever since installing the parts in my own PC I've had the same performance except that my load screens take FOREVER and the game chokes and stutters whenever it has to load new players.
The issue is most prominent in the main cities where there are many many characters on the screen at once. At its peak and expected performance I have 45-50+ FPS. When loading new objects or players FPS drops to 15 or less. Sometimes FPS even drops to 0-2 until it catches back up.
So my question is if this is related to the amount of RAM I have? I checked the Windows Resource Manager and with Rift running (minimized) there is anywhere between 1.2GB - 1.7GB of System Memory in use.
Is it possible that when the game has to load new characters that usage is going above my 2GB and causing the insanely excessive load times and FPS drops?
Would adding another 1GB fix this issue? DDR2 seems to cost an average of $20 for a 2GB stick and I could likely buy one this weak. (kind of low funds atm)
Or would overclocking my current RAM perhaps help move the data out of the system memory faster so that it doesn't get "clogged", for lack of a better term. How would I go about doing that safely?
One last note on my system. (I'm still learning about BIOS features and OC FYI) My CPU multiplier is defaulted at 14.5. I read an article that mentioned an issue with odd numbered multipliers. Could I safely change that multiplier to 14 or 16 so that the system uses the maximum speed of my RAM?
It is very aggrivating getting upgrades I know should run this game infinitely better only to find my performance is worse than before.
Any help provided could save me a lot of time, money, and frustration. Much appreciated.
EDIT: Just to be thorough I thought I'd add screens of my CPU-Z reports in-case it'll help.
I'm playing the game Rift which is very demanding on hardware. Got some hand-me-downs from a friend but I had to purchase a new motherboard to use them.
OLD SYSTEM
AMD Athlon X2 4000+ 2.1ghz
4GB DDR2 667 Dual-Channel
ATI Radeon HD4650 PCIe 1024mb GDDR2
NEW SYSTEM
AMD Athlon X2 245 2.9ghz (oc'ed 3.0ghz via bios)
2GB DDR2 667 Dual-Channel
Nvidia GeForce GT 240 PCIe 512mb GDDR5
The new system only has 2 DIMM slots which is why the amount of RAM dropped from 4mb to 2mb.
The old system had steady performance issues. Mainly, consistently low FPS - presumably "bottle-necked" by the CPU. However, I never had excessively long load times or spikes in FPS. While it was low, it was still consistent.
I have played the game over my friend's house using the AMD X2 245 + GT 240 and the game ran flawlessly and consistent.
Ever since installing the parts in my own PC I've had the same performance except that my load screens take FOREVER and the game chokes and stutters whenever it has to load new players.
The issue is most prominent in the main cities where there are many many characters on the screen at once. At its peak and expected performance I have 45-50+ FPS. When loading new objects or players FPS drops to 15 or less. Sometimes FPS even drops to 0-2 until it catches back up.
So my question is if this is related to the amount of RAM I have? I checked the Windows Resource Manager and with Rift running (minimized) there is anywhere between 1.2GB - 1.7GB of System Memory in use.
Is it possible that when the game has to load new characters that usage is going above my 2GB and causing the insanely excessive load times and FPS drops?
Would adding another 1GB fix this issue? DDR2 seems to cost an average of $20 for a 2GB stick and I could likely buy one this weak. (kind of low funds atm)
Or would overclocking my current RAM perhaps help move the data out of the system memory faster so that it doesn't get "clogged", for lack of a better term. How would I go about doing that safely?
One last note on my system. (I'm still learning about BIOS features and OC FYI) My CPU multiplier is defaulted at 14.5. I read an article that mentioned an issue with odd numbered multipliers. Could I safely change that multiplier to 14 or 16 so that the system uses the maximum speed of my RAM?
It is very aggrivating getting upgrades I know should run this game infinitely better only to find my performance is worse than before.
Any help provided could save me a lot of time, money, and frustration. Much appreciated.
EDIT: Just to be thorough I thought I'd add screens of my CPU-Z reports in-case it'll help.
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