Runs fine on slower pc with less ram. Choppy on faster w/more ram

[Pacocase]

Hey all, I subsribed to this service just to ask this friggin question, because it's driving me insane and I can't find an answer anywhere. I was running the game on an AMD 1700 based system with a 32 MB TNT2 and only 256 megs of SDRAM. I built a newer machine with another 1700 processor, but added a 64MB Raedon and 512 MB of DDR ram, and the friggin game is CHOPPY now! This makes zero sense to me and I was wondering if anyone had ever had a similar problem, or if it's already been covered and somebody can point me to the right thread. Thanks!
Paco

[Kuasimodem]

What's the game?

Running the latest drivers on the ATI card?

Got the latest DX drivers?

We need a little more info please

BTW - Welcome to TechIMO

[Pacocase]

I do have DX 8.1, but ATI's website is a pain in the ass... I tried to DL the latest Raedon drivers a few days ago and the DL's kept getting cut off. Of course, could have been ATI, could have been my crappy cable modem... You think the drivers could be making that much difference? I tried the ATI card out in the other machine and the game still runs smooth, so I didn't think it was the drivers. Also the card is the All-in-Wonder, but that doesn't really matter as far as the game goes. I just wanna get this thing working cuz I hooked the new pc up to my 5.1 receiver and projector. GTA3 on a 100" screen is sweet, but it would be sweeter if it was smooth. : ) Thanks

Paco

[daveleau]

It could be the drivers. Which Radeon? ATi is known for having driver issues. I would highly suggest getting the updated ones.

As for the system. Is it s fresh install of the OS? Are more things running in the background than on the other machine?

Good luck
Dave

[Pacocase]

It's the All-in-Wonder Raedon 8500DV, the 64 MB card. It is a fresh install of the OS, which is Win2000, nothing running in the background except the ATI control program for the TV and DVD player and all that, but it doesn't use much memory. Anyway, I tried shutting it down and I still get the framerate problem. The HD on the new machine however, is an 80Gig that I had to partition in order to get Win2k to install onto. It has a 10 Gig OS partition and the rest is for files. I thought that might have something to do with it, but I've never heard of a partition causing a problem like that. I enabled DMA on both the HD and the DVD rom, still to no avail. I guess I really should try the simplest explanation first and get some new drivers before thinking it's some kind of hardware problem. Thanks

Paco

[Kuasimodem]

When you tried the ATI card in the other computer, was that using the projector? Is the projector a standard TV projector or a VGA projector? I ask this because running both a monitor and TV out could be what's causing the choppiness.

Another thing to try is lowering the color depth of your display to 16-bit instead of 32-bit.

[Brainchild]

WElcome to TechIMO Paco.

You think the drivers could be making that much difference? I tried the ATI card out in the other machine and the game still runs smooth, so I didn't think it was the drivers.

Yes the drivers could be giving you problems. Are the cards exactly the same? And are you using both on the projector?

Also which OS are you using?

I would try new drivers for the all in wonder card.
Could be a settingf in the game as well
GTA3 Help and Support might have an answer for ya as well.

Good luck
BC

[Pacocase]

I ran it on the projector, which is a multisync CRT with a 5 BNC connection. It automatically syncs and scans to something rediculous like 85hz and 155khz. And I did disable the TV out, which was causing some problems with DVD playback too. Man, ATI's hardware is really nice, but their software support seriously sucks. I'll try running at like 640x480x16 and see if it helps, but I don't like to run at resolutions that low on a screen that big. It's no fun when you can see the scan lines. Thanks

Paco