Old system bottleneck

[Thylacine]

Greetings.
I'm hoping that someone can give me a suggestion about my pc and possible upgrade/replacement.
System is a Phenom II x2 550BE @ 3.1Mhz and 4GB DDR2-400 (5-5-5-18) with a Radeon HD 4770 on XP SP2.
The CPU can be unlocked to an x4 and overclocked to about 4Mhz, and the GPU increased by about 30%.
SH5 is all I run game-wise, so the question is: Where is the bottleneck in this arrangement, and will overclocking and unlocking cores give me a noticeable improvement in this simulation (run with Sober's mod-list in a 24" WS monitor)?. Can I get some more life out of the thing, or am I just wasting my time fiddling with it for minimal gains?
I suppose it's about time to upgrade the OS to Win7 as well, so this is a possibility also.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,



ed

[Herr-Berbunch]

Well what is your issue? Stuttering, lag, poor FPS, artifacts, clipped sound?

You've already got a reasonable setup there, you could get a new mobo, chip, card. Or you could upgrade to Win 7 on an SSD - usually doesn't increase FPS but can stop stuttering and clipped sound.

Ooh, RAM, what about that? 32 bit XP (any 32 bit O/S in fact) can only take 3.5 Gig, 64 bit a lot more.

And finally, from me, if it's stuttering/lagging have you tried D3D Antilag?

[Thylacine]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

Well what is your issue? Stuttering, lag, poor FPS, artifacts, clipped sound?

You've already got a reasonable setup there, you could get a new mobo, chip, card. Or you could upgrade to Win 7 on an SSD - usually doesn't increase FPS but can stop stuttering and clipped sound.

Ooh, RAM, what about that? 32 bit XP (any 32 bit O/S in fact) can only take 3.5 Gig, 64 bit a lot more.

And finally, from me, if it's stuttering/lagging have you tried D3D Antilag?

As I was watching my GPU hit 100degC and wondering how aptly Furmark's "burn-in test" was named, I realised that I hadn't mentioned memory (OP edited), which is really my only reason to upgrade the OS.
Current problem is CTD's which I strongly suspect to be RAM-related (and yes, antilag is installed and configured to suit)
I am thinking of purchasing a new system, but am interested in wringing some more life out of what I now have vs spending hundreds of dollars.
Thanks for the reply,



ed


edited to correct spelling

I'm not sure if SH is designed to take advantage of additional memory address space, but if it is, there is a 'switch' that you can use on the Microsoft support page, you would have to patch your XP 32 bit to SP3 to use it.

It gives an example of how to change the code for use on 'Windows Server 2003' but It does work on XP home/pro editions.

I use it to run 'Trainz 2010' & it sure cut the stutter in that down to near zilch. (link below) scroll down to /3GB.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833721

[Herr-Berbunch]

4 gig shouldn't be an issue, but using the switch should help use more of it.

I get worried when my temps (cpu and gpu) get near 70, wouldn't want to send them to 100.

[Thylacine]

Thanks very much Twinscrews.
SH5 is already large-address aware, and I had tried the /3GB switch before (which caused serious system instability), but checking your links informed me that I need SP3 to utilise it (hoping this fixes my CTD issues), and that IF YOU USE AN AMD PROCESSOR IT MAY CAUSE YOUR SYSTEM TO FAIL TO BOOT UNLESS A HOTFIX IS INSTALLED FIRST
See http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows...x0000007E.html for details.
Apologies for the volume, but I think this should be stressed.
I'll cross-post in the SH5 forum, so moderator's please delete whichever post you find least informative.
I'll post more when both are installed.

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

4 gig shouldn't be an issue, but using the switch should help use more of it.

I get worried when my temps (cpu and gpu) get near 70, wouldn't want to send them to 100.

I wouldn't think of letting my CPU get anywhere near that, but most modern GPUs run at seemingly absurd temps (spec for max operating temp of that particular chip is over 5% more). I find the GPU to be more of a worry re ambient case temp increase than actual core or memory temps. And Furmark stresses the poor things *far* more than any game will, but is very handy to get initial overclocking info.
cheers



ed

[CaptainHaplo]

Your looking at a couple of "possible" issues here. First - your using a fairly extensive mod - so memory is the first issue that raises its head. Your OS not being able to use all you have is the second - though it is related.

Next comes a few questions....

You said the game is crashing. Have you tried uninstalling the mods and playtesting? Yes - its not fun but this is a really good first step. If it continues to crash, you can rule out some wierd mod conflict. Also - it is important because it gives you a "baseline" for current performance whether it crashes or not.

Assuming crashes and performance problems still exist (if they don't - start ts the mod list) then add in the mods again and start the game. Pay attention to both your GPU temps as well as memory and CPU usage graphs. Play over a 5 minute span or so to get a good idea with task manager graphing. Note when you have slowdowns and look to see if they come during caching, read/writes to the disk, or spikes in the CPU usage.

Make sure you look at total CPU usage as well as by core. I haven't played with SH5 enough to know if it can use all cores well.

Another trick is to set the affinity for the SH5.exe process to a single core - see if that negatively or positively affects you.

If you see that core usage is "up there" with both cores - consider unlocking what you have before investing in another cpu. If memory usage is too high, your going to look to add more and change to an OS that can use it all. If your GPU temp spikes - you can use GPUz to see if your bottlenecking there.

Also - and it sounds silly because I am sure you have done this - make sure all your hardware drivers (video AND sound) are up to date. Also do the same for DirectX.

Let us know what you find and we will advise as possible.

[GT182]

If you think your CPU is overheating and find out it is, look into using this....

Tho you'd have to check and see which one would work on you CPU. Corsair now has the shown H-60, plus H-80 and H-100.

I have an H-50 on my i5 2.8 quadcore and I love it. No more overheating like I had before using a cpu fan.