Can you please help me identify the bottlenecks on my PC performance to playing planetside 2?

Discussion in 'Player Support' started by Risen, Sep 23, 2014.

  1. Risen

    I have:
    Windows Vista 32 bit
    4GB RAM (DDR2-800 SDRAM)
    intel core duo E680 3ghz
    Asus p5n-d, nforce 650i
    Soundblaster X-FI fatal1ty Champion
    Geforce GTX 260 (896MB)

    I have already used the "large address aware" program that allows the planetside 2 executable to recognize and use more RAM. This is the only thing that even lets me run planetside, otherwise it use to crash after a few minutes of playing.

    I currently have all the graphics turned down and the game is playable most of the time. Sometimes I get frequently stutters and freezing as things load during large battles, but most of the time I can still play decently.

    I know I need a 64bit operating system as my first purchase in order to ensure I can use enough RAM. But after that, I am not sure what is most important to upgrade for smooth performance during large battles.

    So the Questions I'm now asking are:
    1. Do I have enough RAM for large battles, once I have an operating system that can use all of it?
    2. Do I need newer, higher quality RAM, or is that not really a major issue?
    3. Is my CPU powerful enough t process a game like this during large battles without significant FPS loss, or will I still be getting issues with slow down until I upgrade it?
    4. Is my GPU sufficient for playing the game on medium settings or better without slowdown after I upgrade other components?

    And a related question:
    5. Which of the settings should I lower in the game to reduce the burden on system memory and the CPU, so that I can still keep some of the graphics based settings turned up higher? Because I want to make the game as playable as possible until I have the money to upgrade.

    Thanks for the help.
  2. user101

    PS2 is the most demanding game of all the games on the net.... You need a new PC.... i7 @ 4 core min @ ~4ghz memory 8
    GB min. at DDR3 or DDR4 @ 1600/1800 Video GTX-900 since it is cheaper SOE is just warming up with PS2, it is going multi core very soon. 4 Core min. in a few weeks, the Dev's are already doing the programming PS2.

    Forget 32 bits at this point... those min spec. are done... that was for old XP systems when PS2 came out.
    • Up x 2
  3. Bambasti

    user101 is right. Planetside 2 is a very demanding game when it comes to the CPU because there's so much going on at the same time. If the GPU is weak you can always switch the settings to low but there isn't any possibility to lower the load on the CPU.

    64bit OS is also a must these days so it's really a good idea to get one as you said.

    Would replace the whole computer, it's not fast enough anymore for games like PS2 and can hardly be upgraded.

    --> http://www.logicalincrements.com/

    Would get an Intel i5 (K) for gaming (to overclock it, so get an aftermarket cooler, too), some decent graphics card for $200 to $300 (if your budget allows it: the new Nvidia GTX 970 is nice, but more expensive) and 8 GB of RAM.
  4. Dragam

    You need a new computer... badly.

    But you can get yourself a very good computer relatively cheaply. Get a 4690k, overclock it, and get a gtx 970, along with 8gb ram, and youd be good to go.
    • Up x 1
  5. sjtw_w_stot

    I'm not one to tout "get a new computer" as when I was back in school, we were taught to develop our software with the lowest common denominator in mind, that being build for the crappiest computer still running on the market. SOE obviously hasn't followed that doctrine with PS2, however; your rig spec are horrible. Yes, get a new computer. I'm surprised you can even play.
    • Up x 1
  6. Risen

    Just replacing everything is not an option right now. I am looking for more nuanced advice about what I can get away with keeping for now.

    I don't believe the video card is a problem because I've tested it with different settings. There's no real difference in performance for me between low settings and medium, and I get decent sustained FPS. So this tells me my GPU is not the bottleneck, and is probably up to par. I exceed the minimum requirements for video card, but I am right at the line of what is required for CPU and memory.

    My issue is with freezing and stutters, which appears to be linked with lots of new things loading during large battles, regardless of what the load is on my GPU at the time.

    I know from playing a similar game, WW2OL, that stutters like this can be a CPU issue. But I'm not sure if it's mainly a CPU issue, RAM issue, or both.
    If I upgrade to 64bit and see a playable improvement, it might have been the RAM issue. The fact that I'm not using all my 4 gigs of RAM might be why it's not as playable as it should be, even though I exceed the minimum specs.
  7. radrussian2

    what settings are you trying to run the game at?

    over all tho get a new computer. set aside about 500 dollars and get a 6 core amd minimum and at least like a 760 gforce. and ddr3 ram. i dont know prices anymore. you might even be able to get better stuff for less now. you cant expect to game with a system that cant play games.
  8. user101



    You don't even meet min spec. for playing PS2... SOE says you need an I5 or I7 processor @3 ghz your running 1.6 ghz your not going to get any more than you allready have. There is nothing you can do because PS2 preformance is based on the CPU speed, I am suprised you can even load the game. SOE must have that part of the load code disabled right now.

    Sorry but you have to meet the min spec.
  9. radrussian2


    aplying the logic of developing for every system matter how ****** does not and can not apply to a game like planetside. the fact that planetside can even run as good as it does is a miracle.
  10. ninzor

    you can't polish a turd forever
  11. Siilk

    Ok, OP. First of all, your PC is grossly outdated, accept that and plan to upgrade as soon as possible if you want to play PS2 comfortably. As for current bottlenecks, your CPU is what you should look at core2duo is not even close to being acceptable for running PS2. The rest of the system is sub par but still not as bad as CPU. Unfortunately, you can't swap core2due for an i-series CPU so there's nothing you can do here. If you absolutely can't afford a new PC, buy 4 more gigs of ram and consider switching to 64 bit OS. This wouldn't significantly help with performance issues but at least will reduce crashes.
  12. Octiceps

    First things first, reinstall Vista and choose x64. Then think about adding another 2-4GB RAM.
  13. DashTech

    By the sounds of things it could well be objects being loaded in and out of memory. Your graphics card has enough VRAM for low settings. I think the game will be limited to 2GB of RAM in 32-bit mode, so a 64-bit OS will help it load more into memory.

    You can verify this is the issue by monitoring your disk I/O, your disk shouldn't be heavily active with long latencies on it. You should see intense bursts when spawning into a new area but then for activity to die down.

    Your RAM is also slow, this will be having an impact on your ability to load and shift data around in your system. There is nothing you can do to improve this apart from replace it (which, for you, would mean a new motherboard and CPU too).
  14. Jac70

    I cannot find any information on a Intel Core Duo E680. Whatever you have I would say that this would restrict your performance in the game. Even the latest i5s and i7s can be taxed by this game. You could try putting a Core 2 Quad into your system but I doubt it would make a significant difference.

    Ram quality or speed doesn't make a massive difference to gaming performance. The most important thing is having enough of it. I would say 4gb is enough for most current games but 8gb is becoming more common and useful.

    Again that GPU is a few generations old now, hard to say what it's capable of producing. It would probably be OK on mostly low settings as your CPU is likely the bottleneck for this game. PS2 is one of the most CPU intensive games ever made.

    -------------------------------

    I would say making sure your OS is x64 is your best option at the moment. Then doing what you can to make sure everything is running as well as it can in your system. A fresh OS install, removing unused software and drivers.

    You are at the point where it's not really worth upgrading bits and pieces because everything that will work on your current system will be hard to aquire and offer not much benefit. Your best option is to upgrade the guts of the system. New motherboard, CPU and memory. You should be able to still use the GPU as long as it is a PCIe card. You should be able to use the XFi especially if it is PCIe. You should be able to use your hard drives if they are SATA drives. You can also sell your current CPU, memory and motherboard on eBay.
  15. Joay

    Pretty sure its a typo and he means the E6800
  16. Benwah

    You could try upgrading to a 64 bit version of windows 7, but honestly, you really do need to replace everything. By that, I mean that you physically can not replace any individual part without needing to replace everything else with it. It's just all too outdated. So, to answer your questions.

    1. 4 GB will be a little too tight for my personal taste (I'm usually running a few background programs), but it should work just fine.
    2. You really should, but, unfortunately, your motherboard does not support DDR3 ram. You would need to replace the board, and then almost everything else in turn, to be able to upgrade.
    3. I'm sorry, but no, it is not powerful enough. Unfortunately though, as with the ram, just about everything would need to be swapped to upgrade.
    4. Again, I'm sorry, but the GPU will not run the game at medium. I'm even a bit iffy about low at 1080p, but I've been pleasantly surprised by the GPUs that can run this game before.

    And a related question:
    5. Unfortunately, you're going to need to do everything humanly possible to beat the visuals down to a level that your rig will be able to handle.

    To be totally honest with you, I used to have a rig about as powerful as yours (still do actually, no one wanted to buy it) and the only game I had that was playable was CoD: UO. Ya, the expansion to the original Call of Duty (great game by the way).
  17. Octiceps

    Dude, you're completely underestimating the OP's system. It may not be the fastest thing in the world, but it's capable of much more than what you make it sound like. My 8800 GT 512MB ran United Offensive at hundreds of FPS and BF3 at 60 FPS on Low 720p. The GTX 260 is a much faster card than the 8800 GT. First thing OP should do is to reinstall Vista x64 to actually take advantage of the 4 GB RAM. After that, add more RAM if needed and OC the E6800.
  18. Who Garou

    make sure your system is stabilized.
    Make sure to do restarts after installs.
    For a though stabilization do a restart, run virus scan (not full disk), shut down, start up, run virus checker, run launchers, run virus checker, restart, and run virus checker <- seriously, I do this sometimes to make sure my system is stabilized.

    You don't say which operating system that you are running. I'm running Windows 8.1
    I have noticed in Task Manager when sorting by name that Apps are not completely closing out and leaving a process running in memory.
    You can take care of this two ways.
    1) Log out and log back in. Don't open any apps before playing Planetside 2 (I'm hoping you already know to turn-off ALL of the live-tiles on the App screen)
    2) If you don't want to log out, you can open Task Manger - control-alt-delete and you will see it listed. Sort by name. This will bring the apps to the top. You know the App names. Just right click and close any Apps that are running that you have already closed (close the App itself first so you don't lose data). You should know the apps you use by name, so this shouldn't be hard to do. if you are concerned about your technical knowledge just use the first' way instead.
    I don't know what they are doing, but I have Alt-tabbed in the middle of some bad lag and ton's of sub-processes show up that are App related.

    By all means make sure that all other users on the computer are logged out. I strongly suggest having NO other programs open and running unless you absolutely need them while playing Planetside 2 - and definitely not IE.

    That should give you a much smoother ride.
    Good luck.
  19. AssaultPig

    I'm going to crib a post I made in another thread below and it might help you wring a bit better performance out of your system, but tl;dr: your processor is the problem. PS2 is processor-intensive and an old, relatively low-clock CPU is just not gonna do it. You might see how far you can clock it up, but other than that you're looking at upgrading. You might look at i5s, which are arguably the best chips for PS2; some of the previous gen versions are pretty cheap, they're strong overclockers with good cooling.

  20. Risen

    Thanks everyone for the help. I will try getting a new version of windows, then a new motherboard/processor.
    The tips on performance are also helpful. I'll go try them.