BF2 is slow on brand new system

[problemsandmore]

My specs are:


MSI 915GM-FR Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 915G Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
eVGA 128-P2-N368-TX Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
Intel Pentium 4 630 Prescott 800MHz FSB LGA 775 EM64T Processor Model BX80547PG3000F
Western Digital Raptor WD360GD 36.7GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
TOSHIBA Black IDE DVD Burner Model SD-R5372V
mushkin XP3200 Dual Pack 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
Win xp Pro sp2 totally updated

My problem is that in BF2 (not updated with patch, with patch is worse) my fps is horrendous if I put everything on high settings. I looked up on the internet and saw that my system should be able to handle high settings on this game, but so far I cant get it to do much more than my friends 5900. do I have too-high expectations or is this a problem that can be fixed? All my drivers and bios is updated and I even overclocked my PCI ex port and ram...

 

[sllewe]

Well when you say bad frames...what is bad? 30 40? or 10 20?

I think that BF2 (although i have no facts) is a very demanding game. MOst of my friends run it with 2gbs of ram. (i have one and am fine)

And remeber thats a intel. And as nice as they are for other multimedia applications, gaming is not there strong suit.

But if your getting real low fps, i could see a problem. I get a 40-50 range with most of the features on high (AA on 2x) ANd the fact that the patch is slowing you down...that is never a good sign..\

Sean

 

[Merc14]

I wouldn't expect super performance with your specs. BF2 is very hardware intensive and you have a single 6600GT with just 128MB of RAM on board. BF2 really needs 256MB of video RAM to start running large. http://battlefield2.filefront.com/info/BF2_GI_Requirements
It also likes 2GB of system RAM but the onboard video RAM is the biggie.

Yes, your system will run BF2 but you'll need to cut back on the eye candy or move up to a card with 256MB of video RAM, preferably a 6800GT. Sorry.

 

[problemsandmore]

WHen I say FPS is horrible, I mean like 2 fps. Yes, that bad. I know my system is not the best in the world but I looked on the site where I got it and others that bought it with specs less than mine were able to put everything on high and still get acceptable playability. I have also researched and found that I am not the only one with BF2 problems, and also evga has some specific probs with this game anyway, but I am not sure what they are. I also looked on the BF2 requirements link and finally found something that made me laugh. Although the 5500s not on the list, I played Bf2 on all medium settings with my old BFG 5500 oc 256mb.

 

[Merc14]

2 FPS! Sorry, didn't realize it was THAT bad. LOL OK yes you do have another problem.

Bring up the Task Manager and look to see what your CPU usage is (ctrl/alt/del). Then let us know how many processes are running and if any look suspicious or are using a huge percentage of CPU time.. You're looking for spyware, trojans virus' etc. If you haven't run a virus scan or a spyware scan using a good program like Sunbelt SoftwaresCounterspy then you need to do that first. Update your virus software and run a scan. Then download Counterspy and run it. You can use it for free for 10 days and it is an excellent spyware killer.

After you have checked for spyware and virus' etc. which would be my first guess about what this problem is, then it is time to look at the system. Are you sure that you have the correct driver for your video card installed. BF2 requires Nvidia 77.30 or above to run correctly. The current driver is 81.85. Go ahead and download 81.85 but don't install yet.

Download Drivercleaner Pro at drivercleaner.net (free too)and then un-install your Nvidia display driver using windows add/remove program utility. After the reboot Run "Nvidia" in drivercleaner to remove all the left over gunk from all the old drivers. Also run the CAB cleaner and SP2 CLeaner under tools in drivercleaner. When you are done install the new Nvidia driver.

Last but not least, do a disk clean and then defragment your hard drive. Hopefully you fixed the problem so now run BF2. Hopefully it is working now. If not then uninstall BF2 and then reinstall and apply the latest patch. I say to do this last because I ssume you have tried it already but also because all of the above are very good for your system regardless.

Good Luck and hope it works. If not, post back.

 

[problemsandmore]

thanx for the instructions. Ok, I read the instructions through and followed them. So I looked at the task manager after loading the game and it looked as though it wasnt even using the processor to max performance. Like, 80% of it was system Idle process. Then, I followed the rest of your instructions as close as I could and restarted the game. same slowness. Im thinking maybe its the processor problem. Is it?

 

[Merc14]

It's very hard to say. Your CPU seems to be fin, though, as it can run everything else with no problems. Another test you can run is memtest86. Just google it and run it as per the instructions, for a few hours. It isn't definitive but should tell you if you have faults in your RAM chips. It is a free utility too and should be in every troublehooters tool kit. Let memtetst run while you are at work or schools and if the RAM is good there should be 0 errors.

To test the CPU you can run SuperPI, a little calculation prgram that stresses the CPU by calculating Pi to 32 million. It's free and you can run it while eating dinner. Just google that too.

The above are just more elimination of possible problems type tests. You'll have abetter idea what the problem isn't after running them.