Choppy, Jerky Video During Gameplay

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

OK, this is a weird problem and might be slightly OT for this group. I
have two nearly identical Dell 4550 Dimension computers (Pentium 4's).
One has 768 MB RAM with a GE Force 4 MX420 (64 MB of memory) with Dell
flat panel screen; the other has 512 MB RAM with GE Force FX5200 (128
MB of memory) and CRT monitor (800X600 resolution).

When I run EA Sports NHL Hockey 2003 on the machine with the smaller
memory GE Force 4 MX420 the game runs wonderfully. (Also, it ran
flawlessly when the system only had 256 MB RAM) When I run it on the
machine with the FX5200 the skating action is choppy--the players will
stop skating for split seconds and then resume. It's quite annoying.

EA Sports suggests turning down the "player detail" to cure the choppy
video. Tried it, doesn't help.

I've also tried changing the refresh rate on the monitor to no avail.

How is it that an older Dimension with less memory and with a video
card with less memory outperform a newer machine with twice the amount
of RAM and video memory?

Is the MX420 somehow better than the FX5200?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

> Mark Hittinger wrote:

> > "powrwrap" <powrwrap@aol.com> writes:
> >How is it that an older Dimension with less memory and with a video
> >card with less memory outperform a newer machine with twice the amount
> >of RAM and video memory?

> Does your newer system happen to have a Samsung hard drive?


Not sure. Under the device manager only says it is a ST380011A. Is that
a Samsung number? Why would it make a difference? Anyway, it's an 80G
drive that has 60G free space.

Both the CD/R and CD/RW are Samsungs.