• Index » 
  • Community » 
  • Tech » 
  • Strange BF2 "issues"; No performance change between resolutions.
Freezer7Pro
I don't come here a lot anymore.
+1,447|6469|Winland

Well, I'm posting this mainly for kicks and shits, since it's a rather strange thing, especially considering the memory ammount of my graphics card. But if you've got any ideas, let's hear 'em.

Anyhow, I was playing around with +szx and +szy on my laptop today, since it's a widescreen, so I have to use it. I first tried running at 1280x800, which is native res of the screen, and it ran pretty fine, 20-40FPS. Considering the graphics hardware not even being fully DX9 compatible, I was pretty happy.

Well, since there's only 64MB of graphics RAM on this thing, surely, cutting the resolution in half would buy me some performance. This is where the strange thing start happening; There's absolutely no difference in FPS between 1280x800, 640x400 and 320x200. 20-40FPS through every res. I mean, WTF! with a graphics card this weak, the differnece should be immense between resolutions, especially considering that it's 64MB and limited to AGP2X due to bugged drivers*. (533MB/s )

Anyhow, anyone got an idea of what could be causing this "issue"?

The rest of the specs:

HP Compaq nx7010
CPU: Intel Pentium M Banias, 1.6GHz/400/1MB
GFX: ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 64MB/AGP2X*/270MHz/250MHz (Core/Mem)
RAM: 512MB DDR333

Yes, I know it isn't a gaming laptop, and I know it's not supposed to even run BF2 at all, especially not at this performance. (30FPS avg is really, really good for a card like this!)

* Due to lack of driver support, and issues with the OEM graphics chip, I'm limited to AGP2X. If I put it on 4X, BF2 hangs in the menu. Happens to all of these laptops.
The idea of any hi-fi system is to reproduce the source material as faithfully as possible, and to deliberately add distortion to everything you hear (due to amplifier deficiencies) because it sounds 'nice' is simply not high fidelity. If that is what you want to hear then there is no problem with that, but by adding so much additional material (by way of harmonics and intermodulation) you have a tailored sound system, not a hi-fi. - Rod Elliot, ESP
Lucien
Fantasma Parastasie
+1,451|6925
It means that the other parts are also limiting it to 20-40 fps, so while lowering the resolution may release the videocard from its hell the rest is still struggling.
https://i.imgur.com/HTmoH.jpg
Freezer7Pro
I don't come here a lot anymore.
+1,447|6469|Winland

Lucien wrote:

It means that the other parts are also limiting it to 20-40 fps, so while lowering the resolution may release the videocard from its hell the rest is still struggling.
I've ran BF2 a lot faster on a slower CPU with 512MB RAM...
The idea of any hi-fi system is to reproduce the source material as faithfully as possible, and to deliberately add distortion to everything you hear (due to amplifier deficiencies) because it sounds 'nice' is simply not high fidelity. If that is what you want to hear then there is no problem with that, but by adding so much additional material (by way of harmonics and intermodulation) you have a tailored sound system, not a hi-fi. - Rod Elliot, ESP
Lucien
Fantasma Parastasie
+1,451|6925

Freezer7Pro wrote:

I've ran BF2 a lot faster on a slower CPU with 512MB RAM...
And I have headphones
https://i.imgur.com/HTmoH.jpg
Freezer7Pro
I don't come here a lot anymore.
+1,447|6469|Winland

Lucien wrote:

Freezer7Pro wrote:

I've ran BF2 a lot faster on a slower CPU with 512MB RAM...
And I have headphones
I suggest you re-read...
The idea of any hi-fi system is to reproduce the source material as faithfully as possible, and to deliberately add distortion to everything you hear (due to amplifier deficiencies) because it sounds 'nice' is simply not high fidelity. If that is what you want to hear then there is no problem with that, but by adding so much additional material (by way of harmonics and intermodulation) you have a tailored sound system, not a hi-fi. - Rod Elliot, ESP
Agent_Dung_Bomb
Member
+302|7008|Salt Lake City

Sounds to me like the resolution was not the bottleneck.  Try running higher levels of AA/AF and see if the FPS change between resolutions.  If they do, it means at those graphic settings that you were using, the video card is not the bottleneck.  If the FPS still don't change, then you are looking at a CPU bottleneck.
Freezer7Pro
I don't come here a lot anymore.
+1,447|6469|Winland

Agent_Dung_Bomb wrote:

Sounds to me like the resolution was not the bottleneck.  Try running higher levels of AA/AF and see if the FPS change between resolutions.  If they do, it means at those graphic settings that you were using, the video card is not the bottleneck.  If the FPS still don't change, then you are looking at a CPU bottleneck.
The CPU can't reasonably be the bottleneck, as I've rendered BF2 at 50+ FPS with an Athlon MP 1600+, which has got half the system bus and 1/4 of the cache, togheter with a GeForce 6600. The Pentium M 1.6 is approx. 50% faster according to my tests.
The idea of any hi-fi system is to reproduce the source material as faithfully as possible, and to deliberately add distortion to everything you hear (due to amplifier deficiencies) because it sounds 'nice' is simply not high fidelity. If that is what you want to hear then there is no problem with that, but by adding so much additional material (by way of harmonics and intermodulation) you have a tailored sound system, not a hi-fi. - Rod Elliot, ESP
Agent_Dung_Bomb
Member
+302|7008|Salt Lake City

Well, when was the last time you actually ran BF2 with an XP1600?  Just try it.  You've got nothing to lose.  Oh, and as a side note, since this is a laptop, make sure the Intel speed step is off in the BIOS, and don't be trying to do this on battery.
Freezer7Pro
I don't come here a lot anymore.
+1,447|6469|Winland

Agent_Dung_Bomb wrote:

Well, when was the last time you actually ran BF2 with an XP1600?  Just try it.  You've got nothing to lose.  Oh, and as a side note, since this is a laptop, make sure the Intel speed step is off in the BIOS, and don't be trying to do this on battery.
Last time I played on the 1600+ was less than a month ago, as it got replaced by this laptop about two weeks ago.

I'll go try it, but I doubt it's gonna give really accurate results, since AA is very, very poorly supported (if at all) on these cards, and AGP2X is gonna choke on it really hard, too. It does have a nice, wide 128bit memory bus, though.

I've got SpeedStep enabled (Can't be disabled, lol), and the CPU runs at a steady 1.6 under BF2. Not even 100% load at all times, even.
The idea of any hi-fi system is to reproduce the source material as faithfully as possible, and to deliberately add distortion to everything you hear (due to amplifier deficiencies) because it sounds 'nice' is simply not high fidelity. If that is what you want to hear then there is no problem with that, but by adding so much additional material (by way of harmonics and intermodulation) you have a tailored sound system, not a hi-fi. - Rod Elliot, ESP
  • Index » 
  • Community » 
  • Tech » 
  • Strange BF2 "issues"; No performance change between resolutions.

Board footer

Privacy Policy - © 2025 Jeff Minard