GForce Performance Issues

[JLee]

I finally upgraded my GF Platinum to the latest version so it will work with JRMC 14 but I'm having problems with GForce running quite slow and causing the audio to stutter.

I usually just run it with JRMC straight out of the box without any customisation other than to set the X & Y values for my screen size in the GForce JRMC Prefs file. My screen is a 47" Phillips LCD running in 1920 x 1080. Its connected to the HDMI port on the TV and DVI port on the graphics card. I use Powerstrip to set my graphics card to the correct resolution.

I've tried reducing the window size to 800 x 450 in the prefs file and also the target frame rate from 33 to 20 but am still getting the problem.

I thought maybe my HTPC, which I built about 8 years ago, was too old spec-wise so I upped the RAM from 1GB to 3GB but still no change. Maybe it's because the rest of my system is a dinosaur?

If anyone can offer any thoughts as to how I can make it run better with JRMC I'd appreciate it. My system specs are as follows:

MOBO: ASUS A7N8X-X (N-Vidia chipset I think)
GPU: 128 MB ATI RAdeon 9800 Pro with ATI Catalyst drivers
OS: XP Pro
CPU: Athlon XP 3000+ (FSB 333) (2.17 Ghz)
RAM: 3GB DDR 400 (on Auto so running at DDR 333 no doubt)
JRMC: 14
GF: 4.1
Soundcard: Soundblaster X-Fi
No AV or firewall running and no other software of any significance.

[BTT]

Hello JLee

It would be useful to know the speed of your Athlon XP 3000+ and, the amount of memory on your ATI Radeon 9800 Pro.


Regards BTT

[JLee]

Hello JLee

It would be useful to know the speed of your Athlon XP 3000+ and, the amount of memory on your ATI Radeon 9800 Pro.


Regards BTT

The CPU is running at 2.17 and the Radeon is the 128 Mb version. Updated specs in above post. Hope this helps.

[BTT]

Hello JLee

Thank you for the information.

In my opinion your 3Gb of memory is OK, your processor is I believe a little under power and, your graphics card needs to be upgraded to a minimum of 512Mb. Also that motherboard is a bit ancient these days and not doing you any favours.

My best advice seeing that the PC is approx eight years old and, things have moved on considerably since then is to consider a new machine. I hate having to say that but, I faced the same situation myself just a few short months ago and, I am enjoying G-Force as never before with frame rates as high as 60 fps (not that I would recommend that sort of speed).

I hope I have not ruined your day.


Regards BTT

[JLee]

I was hoping that wasn't going to be the case. I can't really justify replacing the whole thing when I don't use it that often. The old GF seemed to work really well but I had to upgrade it due to JRMC support. Is this happening because the new GF is a bigger drain on your system?

[jerohm]

I suspect that the coding used to take advantage of multiple core/thread configurations has a negative penalty for single core setups. The 'object' paradigm is great for defined blackbox interfaces and to reign in large (>2) programming staffs, BUT comes at an extreme resource expense.

I have an old Dell Dimension 3000 that has a 2.8Mhz Pentium IV that really does not perform acceptably. Never (ever) try to run a decent video card across the old standard PCI bus ... you will be very disappointed. AGI or PCIe is a must.

I recently purchased an i7-720qm machine, but GF4 runs the smoothest on my old Centrino Duo T2450 (2.00 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, XPro, 2G) hp laptop (@ 1024x576) and uses Intel Built-in graphics 945GM (AEON minimally requires the next generation Intel graphics processor).

It would be great if multiple cores just WORKED, but unfortunately programs still need help to make the best use of resources.

The elegance of efficiency has lost out to that of selling more and faster hardware .

[BTT]

Hello JLee

Just had a thought (that's dangerous), have you tried disabling Sprites and, FlowField Unions - Sprites in particular are resource hungry.

You could also try running G-Force through Winamp which I believe uses less resources than J River.

P.S You may want to have a read of this thread:-

http://www.soundspectrum-forums.com/vie ... php?t=6633



Regards BTT

[JLee]

Thanks BTT, I'll give that a try when I get home. It's that sort of customisation I was hoping to find out about. It seems to be so customisable there must be ways of reducing the power need to run GF.

As far as migrating to WinAmp I'm not going to do that because if you ever used JRMC for any period of time you'll know how amazingly powerful it is as a media player and with its close integration with NetRemote my whole system is built around it.

So I'll continue looking for ways to make GF work with what I've got. Do the developers monitor topics like this or would I have to email them to get some advice on this?

[JLee]

Also if I did decide to replace the system I could do with some advice as it's about 10 years since I tried building a PC and I've no idea how things have changed. If I buy a new mobo / CPU and Graphics card could I fit it in my existing Accent HT100 HTPC Case?

Also would any of these parts of my current system be reusable or all those formats no longer supported? I only just paid £80 for the 3GB RAM so woudl be a shame not to be able to use that. The sound card sounds pretty good too.

Standard IDE Hard Drives (non-SATA)?
X-Fi Sound Card?
DDR 400 SD RAM?
Q-Technlogogy 400 W Quiet PSU?

[BTT]

Hello JLee

I understand your reluctance to replace J River - it's your decision. However, you either choose quality of sound or more resources for G-Force.

I am not qualified to advise you as to if you would be able to update your existing system although to be honest I doubt it. A ten year old computer I believe most people would agree has served you well but, it's time to move on.

These are the specifications of my main PC, it packs a lot of power but, is certainly not considered a power puncher:-

Operating System:- MS Windows XP Home 32-bit SP3
Processor:- Intel Pentium Dual Core E6600 @ 3.06GHz
Memory:- 4.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz
Motherboard:- Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. G31M-ES2L (Socket 775)
Graphics Card:- NVidea 1024MB GeForce 9800 GT
Monitor:- 19" Wide Screen Hanns.G HA195 (1024x768@60Hz)
Hard Drive:- 488GB Seagate ST3500418AS (SATA)
Optical Device:- SONY DVD-ROM DDU1615
Optical Device:- HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NP20
Sound Card:- Realtek High Definition Audio
Case:- Xigmatex Utgard

I bought all the components individually and, a good friend put it all together for me for a total cost of £400.00 UK Sterling.

I hope the above helps you in making your decision but, it has to be your decision.


Regards BTT

[JLee]

Is there anywhere that lists all the things you should tweak and how to do it in order to get GF to run smoothly on a slower system? I've been reading through the forum and the FAQ but a lot of it is techie mumbo jumbo to me.

[BTT]

Hello JLee

I believe you have exhausted all the help that I can offer, the saying "you can't get blood out of a stone" comes to mind.


Regards BTT

[jerohm]

Things absolutely smoke using i7-2720/6570M hardware, and run as I assume ACO/mc2 always intended (AEON Included). The only thing I can guess is that even with multiple core configurations, each core better be able to move right along at the ~2GHz point or better. Anything less, the FPS seem to bounce around trying to keep up. However with THIS hardware configuration, the FPS remains pretty steady at the desired setting.

[BTT]

There is available a very good tool (utility) that allows you to define how a program uses various cores of a processor. You can set it so that a program on a Dual Core system uses 50% per core or on a Quad Core system 25% per core.

This can result in a considerable boost in performance.

http://www.ashampoo.com/uk/gbp/pin/0061 ... Core-Tuner


Regards BTT

[JLee]

I've looked all around GF Toolbar preferences and see no mention of sprites. I've disabled flowfield unions but could someone please help me disable sprites as recommended above.

Sorry if it's obvious to you guys but not everyone understands the jargon used.