Low frame rates.

I have had the same problem, AMD's processor is very poor at floating point math which video accelerated games need in order to achieve the high frame rates, Pentium2s on the other hand have a strong Floating point math processor and they acheive very good framerates always about 10-20 more fps over the AMD. AMD just came out woth a new processor called the Athalon which has a strong floating point math and does very well if not better then a comparable pentium cpu. for games the main consideration is the video card/cpu
 configuration (more ram always helps too) but mostly it is either the video card (which a voodoo2 is good enough for 30-40 fps) or the cpu draging down the framerates.

Hi Adoi,

From the list of games that you had given us, they appear to be fairly recent, therefore, you may want to check up on the minimum requirements, or better still, the 'recommended' requirements.  If they say that the game would like a PIII 600, no matter how much fiddleing, tweaking, and software upgrading, you can not and will not get the type of performance that want.

However, before you pull out your wallet, and fork out your hard earned cash, you may want to:...

1. Make sure that you have the latest version of Direct X.  You can get this from the Microsoft site.

2. Make sure that you're HDD is defraged.

3. You may want to manually set the Virtual Memory, to 2.5 times the amount of RAM that you have.  In your case, you could set it to 320.  This will stop your hard disk from constantly resizing it's self.

4. Make sure that you have the latest patches and updates for the games that you are trying to run.

5. Make sure that your sound card is configured correctly.

6. Make sure that you have been though the actual game and made sure that you've got all the 'extra' bells and whistles turn off, for example, bump mapping (if the game has it ofcourse!), shadows, lighting effects etc.  I'm more familiar with Fligh Sims, and our equivalent would be turning off shadows, clouds, runway textures, ground traffic etc.  You get the point!)  All these things look nice, buy really tax the system.

7. Make sure that you don't have any other programs running in the background.  For example Anti-virus software, etc.  To see what you've got running, press (ONCE!!!) Alt+Crl+Delete.  This will give you a list of all the apps that running in the background, taking up memory and resources.  The only 'real' ones that you need are, Explorer, Systemtray, Rundll.  That's for my system anyway!  If you get rid one and then your system gets a bit 'angry' at you, you can restart you PC, and they will be there again.  When you try to do it again, you leave the offending one alone! ;)

If you have done all of the above, and this haven't changed, then unfortunately, the only thing that you can do, is upgrade.  I would suggest that you buy a new graphics card, before you go out and buy a new CPU, and/or motherboard.  At the moment, there are a HUGE selection of new video cards that are out, and are comming out.  The purchasing descision will greatly be effected by 1: Budget, and 2: Compatability with your motherboard.  So please, do your research!

PS.  Just a thought, what type of games are you trying to run.  The two standards are: Glide and OpenGL.  Now... the reason why, is that if your videocard supports Glide, and the games that you are trying to run are OpenGL, your games will run VERY poorly, if at all.  And that... could be a reason why you are getting the poor performance.

I hope I've helped a bit....

Regards,
Kevin...*

Hey guys,

I'm playing FIFA2000 with a "simple" P-233MMX, Monster I and 64 MB RAM without any problems.
Half-Life, too ;-)

Both, FIFA and Half-Life come with a readme.txt where performance problems are described and several workarounds are offered.
Except you have cracked versions, then I won't guarantee nothing ;-)
Try to check the troubleshooter out first, then let us know.

-Stavi-

well what are your frame rates at?

Adoi...
feedback would be appreciated and IMHO very helpful !

what is IMHO?

IMHO = "In My Humble Opinion"
Sorry for this ;)

There is nothing in the trouble shooter or the readme.txt

the tricks in the HZ setting for the monitor... set it to 75mhz or higher... if you have a 21" then i suggest a min of 85mhz
:)

I have both a AMD k6-2 and a pentium2, the pentium2 rocks (10-20 fps higher) compared to the AMD k6-2. I have a friend who had a monster 3d2 and a pentium and it rocked too, the amd is a very weak processor when it comes to 3d accelerated games. these comparisons are both with the "bells and whistles" turned off and turned on (besides who wants to play a fast game with no bells?), basically AMD screwed the game playing public by trying to undercut pentium2 processor prices at the expense of performance.  Sad but true
8-(

Hardly any change. Still long pauses with lots going on on the screen

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but it sounds like you've got to upgrade.

If you have the funds, and you have the motherboard to support it, you may want to consider the new GeForce.  This board rocks!  It's very good because it can take alot of strain (Clock cycles) away from your CPU.

You've could also resize the screen smaller.  That's what I had to do when playing Doom on a 486 DX2 66 with a 1/2 meg video card.  Hmmm... what are up to now?? 32!

========================================
On another note... did you FULLY install the game onto your hard disk, or are you playing the game with CD-ROM support?  If so, that "could" be your bottleneck.

And... have you followed my tips from my other post dated Tuesday, November 30 1999?

You may want to open your device manager...(And where is this "device" thingy... Right-Click on My Computer, then select properties.  Click on the Device Manager tab)  Check to see if you have any little yellow exclamation marks.  If you do, that means that you've a device that is conflicting with another device.  (If you want, you can think about it like two little kids fighting over which one is going to have the top bunk).  Why I ask you to do this, is maybe your video card, CD-ROM, or even sound card is having problems, and therefore, would be causing the lag in performance.

And while I'm at it... how many voice's do you have enabled.  I don't play games (only due to my lack of a decent PC, P60 32MB RAM, 1MB Videocard) so I don't know the exact terminology for it, but it's in the setup of the game.  This setting will enable you to select how many voice/baddies/cars you want to hear.  The more you have, the more lag you get.  If I'm am totally confusing you, I'm sure that someone who is familiar with what I am trying to explain, may/will be able to explain it better.

Make sure you don't have any virus scanners etc. runnind in the background.  These take up resources. A lot.

Well, that's all for now.

You could always buy your spouse a new video card.  I'm sure they'd LOVE to get one for Christmas!!! Hehehehe... If you get the silent treatment, just say you know a guy's father who gave his wife a butchers knife, and a mower for her birthday.  No wonder they are now divorced!

Cheers!

Kevin...*