why do shadows lag my computer?

Question

Why do shadow's lag my computer really bad. I am able to turn all the settings up on my comp with out lag but shadows. Also, is their some sort of gpu overclocking?

my gpu is a GeForce 7300 GS /w 512mb memory according to dxdaig and sys info and the game im playin is fear

i also have a 2.2 amd 64 bit processor

Answer 1

I don't know how FEAR is handling this internally, but with shadows turned on, there's a lot more work to be done. They aren't static, the angle, distance * intensity of nearby light sources has to be determined and calculations must be made to see which shaodws will be visible. This is all based on the game environment, whereas things like textures aren't. If you move 10 feet forward to a staircase near a corner, what will be illuminated and where will the shadows fall? Doing all those calculations slows things down, hence the lag.

Lots more work for the CPU as well as GPU. Unfortunately the 7300GS is a very low-end card. You'll be much better off upgrading to a faster card like a 7600GS (DDR3 version) or better yet, a 7600GT. This is a case where $150 cards can handle things that $80 cards can't.

Update: here's a different question where someone gave a good breakdown of similar video cards:

Answer 2

I think the 7300 GS is not a very stout card. (Please don't think I'm being a snob - I'm using even older tech.)

I highly recommend visiting FEAR's forums and ask a few questions there to see if anybody else is having similar issues: http://forums.vugames.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1

I would also visit the FEAR website to see if you can find any game patches AND, most importantly, visit your manufacturer's website to see if you can download newer drivers.

Tom's Hardware can show you where your card falls within the "Latest & Greatest" based on performance of some recently released games: http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

BEST OF LUCK!
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Some GPUs can be overclocked, but the benefit is usually very small and it's so easy to overheat and damage your card. I wouldn't even consider it.

Answer 3

My computer used to do that when a lot of my RAM was being used up. Perhaps it is something to do with that especially if you are running Windows XP.