can you solve this long term graphic problem?

Question

i am currently using a nvidia geforce 7600gt(agp) and in most games its fine,however in some though especially racing games(need for speed most wanted) theres a minimal amount of lag(stuttering) and as much as i have tried various solutions(driver updates,direct x update,psu upgrade,and even interior clean of fans i still experience lag in some games
my p.c is a pentium 4 (hyper threaded)3.4ghz,1gb (pc3200) ddr ram,geforce 7600gt(agp),550watt psu,2 x 250gb hdd
as you can see although core 2 duo class its certainly not slow
why should i still suffer this lag in some games,one forum post suggested it could be that i am using a onboard audio adapter and i should invest in a dedicated sound card(audigy ect)
what are your views on this problem,has anyone had this problem,have i missed something
any advice and ideas would be really appreciated
thanks guys !

Answer 1

Given your specs that sounds just about right, assuming you are playing with max settings and on a fairly decent resolution, 1280x1024 and above, I would expect there to be some lag. That is an alright card, but is nothing amazing, it came out at just about the same time as the game, and it is midrange card, which means you should expect midrange performance.

Now if you are playing on medium settings at a lower resolution, then quite obviously you a different problem, as that graphics card should be able to handle that. I would look into whether your RAM is running in dual channel mode, I talked about that in the answer to your last question, and you may consider getting a sound card, that could take some heat of the processor and may speed things up in the game.

Answer 2

You might consider increasing to 2 GB RAM
Video card is pretty good. Per
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
7600GT FRAPS = 40.9
For serious gaming I like to see at least 50 FRAPS (preferable around 80 or more), but it is not worth the money to upgrade to a different AGP graphics card.


Need for Speed: Most Wanted Tweak Guide
http://www.tweakguides.com/NFSMW_3.html
In-Game Lag/Freezes/Stuttering/Jerkiness: To reduce any stuttering or loading pauses in NFS:MW, make sure you have adjusted your in-game settings such that your FPS as measured by FRAPS (See In-Game Settings section) is consistently above ~25-30FPS. More importantly, make sure you reduce things like Antialiasing and/or Texture Filtering, as well as World Detail and Shadow Detail if necessary. Keep in mind that systems with 512MB of RAM or less will experience a lot more stuttering than those with more system RAM.For systems running Dual-Core CPUs and/or Pentium 4 CPUs with HyperThreading see the Conclusion section of this guide for a specific fix to jerkiness issues. If you're really desparate to fix up the stuttering, see the Audio section of the In-Game Settings section. And of course, make absolutely sure that you have run the Windows Defragmenter after installing the game, since if its files are fragmented this can greatly increase your stuttering and in-game loading pauses.

Conclusion section
http://www.tweakguides.com/NFSMW_5.html

Answer 3

This PC is certainly not lacking

I would think that the one who suggested the sound card would be the closest to solving this dilemna.

In the game, the sound and graphics work in unison.
If the sound can't keep up, I could see how it may cause a lag in the graphics.
Sound Blasters are cheaper today than a few years ago.
You will probably want to invest a few bucks in a set of surround sound speakers for that Audigy.
Let the neighbors know when you are in play.

I hope this helps

Answer 4

Try downloading a program called enhancer which can sort out most fps (Frames Per Second) rates on nvidia graphics cards and make sure that you have the latest nvidia drivers installed
i use this for my online gaming and it does work

nhancer will give you the option for duo core or single core processors remember to switch your LOD Bias to clamp and knock off the Vsync in the nhancer there are also other settings you can play about with that should solve your problems here is the link to the program

http://www.nhancer.com/

hope this helps

Answer 5

Lower the graphics quality and resolution to the lowest possible, then play one of the problem games.

If the lag is still there then , the problem is with your videocard most likely not being powerful enough.

If the lag is not there , then it could be so many other things.

Also do you use an LCD screen ? If you do , maybe those problem games just create too much movementfor your LCD!

Answer 6

Try some external programs for tweaking graphics cards. Also have you closed all other programs while playing the game? This may help too and I think you should try some benchmarking programs to monitor your game while in play to see exactly at what points your game is at it's peak level.

Answer 7

First off I would suggest getting another gig of RAM for a total of 2 gigs. That additional system memory will really help.
Defragging your hard drive can also reduce graphic stuttering.