Potemkin on 24/5/2006 at 17:46
So I have a somewhat technical question about Thief 2 and a possible bottleneck.
First off, I'll describe my hardware: It's an inexpensive computer from Fujitsu-Siemens that was bought about 1.5 years ago. It has an Intel Celeron processor that clocks in at 2.4 GHz, 256 MB of PC2700 DDR-RAM, a low-powered Intel graphics card that supports DirectX 6.0 and clocks in at 200/350 MHz
I'm very happy with it. I keep it tidy and clean (with defrag, antivirus, Ad-Aware, Registry Mechanic and so on) as to prevent it from gradually getting bogged down and slow; something that I feel I have succeeded at. It has a speedy internet connection (by my standards :D ) and it's quite adequate for my everyday tasks, and for playing relatively old games (generally pre-2000). I feel no need to buy a new computer to keep up with the present-day world of gaming, but I have been thinking about buying 512-768 MB of extra RAM to speed things up a bit. It will probably be an inexpensive version of Kingstons memory modules, as I don't need or want to overclock anything.
Now for the heart of my topic: Will this extra memory help speed up TMA? I play TMA with the same settings as with TDP, and even though I wouldn't describe the experience as choppy or stuttering, I clearly notice that it's not as ultra-smooth as TDP. To put it simply: On a regular basis, I notice that the framerate is lower than in TDP to a degree where I notice it clearly. The memory may speed things up in-game, but not if the graphics card is the bottleneck. Which is something that I won't rule out yet, since DirectX 6.0 was the current version at the release of TDP, while 7.0 was the current version at the release of TMA.
What's your take on it?
All help is greatly appreciated.
june gloom on 25/5/2006 at 03:35
celerons are for masochists. i wouldn't be suprised if that was half your problem.
your video card is also an issue. that thing sounds like it's onboard video. get a real card. you can get a geforce FX 5200 for like, $30, if that.
RAM is always a plus, but here it'll mostly just help your levels load faster. i got by on 256mb two years ago.
Goldmoon Dawn on 25/5/2006 at 03:49
I'm positive that it is your video situation. I am an old school gamer personally, and still use Win98. Here you go, I am playing T2X on a 700Mhz PIII, with 256 memory(PC100). :) It runs just as smooth as I would like, as well as Wiz8, Ultima IX, and Heroes IV. Of course, I have a video card much like dethtoll suggested holding it together.
DirectX 6.0? Wasn't that standard in like 98/99??? That doesn't seem right for a 2.4 Celeron. :cheeky:
Potemkin on 25/5/2006 at 12:55
So it's pretty safe to assume that the graphics card is the bottleneck, then? In that case I'll look into some cheapo 128 MB FX5200 cards. Just keep in mind that electronics and hardware is generally more expensive where I live at the moment (Sweden), as compared to the U.S..
Edit: The most inexpensive new 5200 I've been able to get my hands on costs $42, which isn't sub-$30. Granted, it's still not a whole lot of money, and if it can give some of the other "old" games in my collection a boost, I might go for it. I'm trying to spend as little money as possible on my computer to free up cash for other purposes, but seeing as how I've been planning to spend $30-50 on extra RAM, I can't see how this would be any worse. :D
Thanks for your help, and feel free to chime in with any other thoughts.
P.S: Yes G.D., DirectX 6.0 was introduced in August 1998. :D
Goldmoon Dawn on 25/5/2006 at 18:50
I am assuming that you have upgraded yourself to DirectX 9.0
If you didn't, that right there could very well solve it.
Potemkin on 25/5/2006 at 20:13
I sure have; updated it to 9.0c. That was even before I bought the full version of TMA.
Now it's more a matter of deciding which graphics card I'm going with. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration, I'm afraid. :D
