Disgrace

[Sutts]

Originally Posted by StonedRaider

I find that very hard to believe.

1. Why have you got an i7 (also which one is it? 2500K?2600K? sandybridge?) with other components so outdated?

2. The GTS250 would blow up running this even with everything on low. Its just such an old card. My ATI4870 struggled to run it.

3. 2GB of RAM? really? You can run this game with 2GB ram and enjoy it? Also can you tell us whats the ram like? is it DDR3? DDR2? whats the clocks and the speed on it? In any case, 512 MB set aside for the OS, another 256 for open process leaving u 1.25 GB ram to run CoD. When i run it with my 12GB RAM the game maxes out at 2.87GB of memory used.

I call shenanigans on that post. Its also buffling why would you have an I7 which would be limited by every other component on your system. Just does not make sense.

So if you care please post these things:
I7 core and what edition
What exactly is the RAM
Motherboard
The Vram on the GTS250.
Game Settings.

As for resolution on my system. The computer is forcing the TV to run at full 1080p HD. So the resolution is 1920x1080. However the TV supports also 1920x1200. Furthermore I already posted the resources that the Game uses. The system is not maxed out and there is plenty of headroom with resources that could be used. And even at the lowest settings the stutters are not resolved.

I remain certain that its not me pushing the game or the system, its the memory leak occurring from RAM.

Does seem strange I agree. My i7 is one of the 1st I think so not one with a fancy name. The GTS250 wasn't that old at the time I believe and seemed good value.

I seem to remember the memory was DDR3 but not sure what difference it makes.

I'm at work now but will post my settings later.

I do think it's just down to me running it on 1280 something resolution. With medium settings and no grass/shadows etc. it looks OK to me and I can still enjoy it.

I do plan on upgrading my card, memory and OS after the patch though.

[StonedRaider]

Originally Posted by Sutts

Does seem strange I agree. My i7 is one of the 1st I think so not one with a fancy name. The GTS250 wasn't that old at the time I believe and seemed good value.

I seem to remember the memory was DDR3 but not sure what difference it makes.

I'm at work now but will post my settings later.

I do think it's just down to me running it on 1280 something resolution. With medium settings and no grass/shadows etc. it looks OK to me and I can still enjoy it.

I do plan on upgrading my card, memory and OS after the patch though.

If i run such low res on my TV it just look plain awufull. Even on the 1600 hundreds res there are lots of squares which i hate.

I would think that if you are running an I7 core then you most likely have DDR3 RAM since the Motherboards for I7 typically only support DDR3 RAM. The difference is quite large between DDR2 and DDR3 mainly that DDR2 has 8.5 GB per second bandwidth and DDR3 is 12.8. What that means is faster read/write speeds meaning less time for the processor to get its data.

In any case 2GB of any RAM is limiting the I7 core. The GTS250 were great cards when they got released but you know with time they aged and now are old. Just surprised you are able to run CoD with it.

Your resolution is probably what is saving you from horrible performance, but still if you are getting CTD like me its pointing to RAM memory leak. What i mean by that is this: the Game has a flaw in memory code so that it writes wrong data to RAM or uses a lot of resources, eventually saturating available RAM and creating a dump.

The I7 you have has potential, although i dont know what generation it is. But pretty much all of them are good. If you could get 6GB RAM in your system and a better card Like a GTX480 or an ATI 5970 (bear in mind these are old now, 2 generations old) your system would fly.

[Sutts]

Originally Posted by StonedRaider

If i run such low res on my TV it just look plain awufull. Even on the 1600 hundreds res there are lots of squares which i hate.

I would think that if you are running an I7 core then you most likely have DDR3 RAM since the Motherboards for I7 typically only support DDR3 RAM. The difference is quite large between DDR2 and DDR3 mainly that DDR2 has 8.5 GB per second bandwidth and DDR3 is 12.8. What that means is faster read/write speeds meaning less time for the processor to get its data.

In any case 2GB of any RAM is limiting the I7 core. The GTS250 were great cards when they got released but you know with time they aged and now are old. Just surprised you are able to run CoD with it.

Your resolution is probably what is saving you from horrible performance, but still if you are getting CTD like me its pointing to RAM memory leak. What i mean by that is this: the Game has a flaw in memory code so that it writes wrong data to RAM or uses a lot of resources, eventually saturating available RAM and creating a dump.

The I7 you have has potential, although i dont know what generation it is. But pretty much all of them are good. If you could get 6GB RAM in your system and a better card Like a GTX480 or an ATI 5970 (bear in mind these are old now, 2 generations old) your system would fly.

Yes, I do get regular CTD after 20-40 mins which is a bit limiting to say the least.

Thanks for the advice. I am looking forward to upgrading. So....

Which OS - Win 7 64 Professional or Win 7 64 Ultimate - any benefit for gaming?

Is 6GB RAM enough do you think?

In terms of cards, I'm waiting for the next gen cards to come online and hope for some decent bargains. I guess 2GB+ is best?

Cheers

[Bokononist]

Originally Posted by Sutts

Yes, I do get regular CTD after 20-40 mins which is a bit limiting to say the least.

Thanks for the advice. I am looking forward to upgrading. So....

Which OS - Win 7 64 Professional or Win 7 64 Ultimate - any benefit for gaming?

Is 6GB RAM enough do you think?

In terms of cards, I'm waiting for the next gen cards to come online and hope for some decent bargains. I guess 2GB+ is best?

Cheers

Unless you need multilanguage support or bitlocker Win 7 Home Premium is all you really need. As for VRAM, the more the better it seems. Can't wait until I can justify a GFX upgrade myself.
RAM wise 6GB should be plenty, I have 8 myself, but CloD, freetrack, teamspeak and Afterburner all running together use just over 4GB.

[StonedRaider]

Originally Posted by Sutts

Yes, I do get regular CTD after 20-40 mins which is a bit limiting to say the least.

Thanks for the advice. I am looking forward to upgrading. So....

Which OS - Win 7 64 Professional or Win 7 64 Ultimate - any benefit for gaming?

Is 6GB RAM enough do you think?

In terms of cards, I'm waiting for the next gen cards to come online and hope for some decent bargains. I guess 2GB+ is best?

Cheers

OS: Is your preferance, just stay away from Vista at any cost! Win 7 and Win ultimate will have exact same performace in games and dont matter 1 single bit. Just make sure it is a 64 bit system otherwise you wont be able to have more than 4 GB RAM.

RAM: 6 or 8 or more will all be fine. It highly depends on what frequency they are running. I got a deal on 12GB DDR3 RAM running at 1600mhz for 40 quid (GBP its UK monies). 6 or 8 GB would be ideal unless you plan to do some very heavy computing like capturing or folding. Generally games will not exceed 4GB ram use, leaving you plenty for other things to run. Win7 Reserves 1GB to itself. So i would say get 8 or more to future proof yourselves a little. Again RAM modules come in different sizes you can get a module (stick) in different varieties like 1,2,4,6,8 GB. So its up to you. Just make sure they are DDR3 and have a good frequency 1600mhz or more!

Cards: The new generation has been released recently. Nvidia literally released their new card a week ago its the GTX680. And ATI about 2 months ago its the ATI 7970. These are Flagship cards and they come at a cost! You are looking at 400 quid (GBP) at the very least for one of them! If you do have the cash to spend on them then expect to be future proofed for 3-4 years! Otherwise get a generation below, like the GTX580 or ATI 6970, although a generation old they are still very powerful and for me the ATI6970 runs everything i play at full settings. Unfortinantley not CoD though. I still believe the optimization the developers will make will eventually take effect and fix this problem. These cards are also made to run at high resolutions and the Vram you refered to comes really into play only at high res. If you are not going above the 1600 resolutions then 2GB will do the trick just fine. Above that you would want 3GB.

Remember that you would also need to upgrade you PSU (Power Supply Unit). This bit i would not cheap out on, and get a quality unit! 750 Watts should be plenty and give you a little head room for later. Some of the good manufactures of PSU's are Corsair, Cooler Master and Antec.

You can always go to Steam Forums into hardware and OS section and ask for some advice. I've seen many people there asking for advice on what parts they need for their usage. Just dont forget to mention your budget! otherwise people go mental and tell you to buy the most expensive stuff!

[Sutts]

Originally Posted by StonedRaider

OS: Is your preferance, just stay away from Vista at any cost! Win 7 and Win ultimate will have exact same performace in games and dont matter 1 single bit. Just make sure it is a 64 bit system otherwise you wont be able to have more than 4 GB RAM.

RAM: 6 or 8 or more will all be fine. It highly depends on what frequency they are running. I got a deal on 12GB DDR3 RAM running at 1600mhz for 40 quid (GBP its UK monies). 6 or 8 GB would be ideal unless you plan to do some very heavy computing like capturing or folding. Generally games will not exceed 4GB ram use, leaving you plenty for other things to run. Win7 Reserves 1GB to itself. So i would say get 8 or more to future proof yourselves a little. Again RAM modules come in different sizes you can get a module (stick) in different varieties like 1,2,4,6,8 GB. So its up to you. Just make sure they are DDR3 and have a good frequency 1600mhz or more!

Cards: The new generation has been released recently. Nvidia literally released their new card a week ago its the GTX680. And ATI about 2 months ago its the ATI 7970. These are Flagship cards and they come at a cost! You are looking at 400 quid (GBP) at the very least for one of them! If you do have the cash to spend on them then expect to be future proofed for 3-4 years! Otherwise get a generation below, like the GTX580 or ATI 6970, although a generation old they are still very powerful and for me the ATI6970 runs everything i play at full settings. Unfortinantley not CoD though. I still believe the optimization the developers will make will eventually take effect and fix this problem. These cards are also made to run at high resolutions and the Vram you refered to comes really into play only at high res. If you are not going above the 1600 resolutions then 2GB will do the trick just fine. Above that you would want 3GB.

Remember that you would also need to upgrade you PSU (Power Supply Unit). This bit i would not cheap out on, and get a quality unit! 750 Watts should be plenty and give you a little head room for later. Some of the good manufactures of PSU's are Corsair, Cooler Master and Antec.

You can always go to Steam Forums into hardware and OS section and ask for some advice. I've seen many people there asking for advice on what parts they need for their usage. Just dont forget to mention your budget! otherwise people go mental and tell you to buy the most expensive stuff!

Great stuff, thanks StonedRaider.