PC Shopping! Framerate loss! Suggestions?

[WellsMX524]

Well, after spending a little over $200 on a motherboard and Nvidia GTX550 graphics card, I've hit a wall. I'm basically trying to keep an old Vista machine alive, and it just isn't working out. I can't seem to get over 40 FPS in online games. I've already overclocked it, and pretty much done every performance enhancing thing I can think of.

I'm running low on money, and looking for a budget PC under $500.

I've came to these two conclusions.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883256195

Seems reasonable and mid ranged enough to handle Mx Sim and Photoshop.

and...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883227448

Someone possibly help me fix me my framerate loss issue?

At one point, I could run on High FPS on this computer with 40 riders at 60 fps before I had the motherboard and GPU swapped out. And it was an integrated chip. There was a snapshot that pretty much changed everything from that point on, and I can't remember which one it was.

[jlv]

A GTX 550 should be plenty. The overclocking won't help much and can potentially slow it down badly if it overheats. Try using the normal presets in the game, and restoring the default settings in Nvidia control panel.

[WellsMX524]

A GTX 550 should be plenty. The overclocking won't help much and can potentially slow it down badly if it overheats. Try using the normal presets in the game, and restoring the default settings in Nvidia control panel.

It's a solid card for what I was using, but I've gone into the Nvidia control panel and adjusted for best performance, turned Vsync off, and I'm still getting between 20-30 FPS in a 15 rider server (19802).

I'm also getting a high ping, which is really weird considering my connection is at 36 down/7 up, and it's ruining the game online. (The ping issue could be with my internet being down for 7 hours today)
I have tried changing the priority of Mx Sim to high, but no real changes.

I've pretty much searched the forums for everything. I just recall at one point you releasing a snapshot that cleared a huge frame rate/online lag issue for me when I was using a Nvidia GeForce 6150se chipset/AMD Athlon x2 dual core, and I could run 20-30 rider gates without lag.

Sorry to keep bombarding you with questions, but basically what I'm asking is:
* Do you recall which snapshot it could've been?
* Can I have multiple snapshots in my program folder, and it be effective? (stupid question)

[WellsMX524]

Sorry to double post, but I've narrowed the problem down to little things.
On the rF Nationals, I run almost 100FPS on single player, with normal graphic settings.
I go to a server, and I'm pinging at 40-60 for some reason, and my frame rate is bouncing between 20-50, giving me a very choppy experience.

Any suggestions?

[WellsMX524]

Oh, and to mention: the online races are on high fps settings.

[jlv]

Feel free to try older snapshots. I doubt you'll have any luck though since there are no reproducible performance regressions that haven't been resolved. The latest version should be the fastest.

You didn't say what CPU you're using, but unless it's horrible you should be getting better frame rates. I'd try reinstalling the graphics driver from Nvidia's site first. If that doesn't work I'd try reinstalling the OS and drivers. Maybe try a driver cleaner before you go for the total reinstall.

With that card the fastest setting will be shaders on for the models, so if you use the high fps settings you want to enable shaders after you select it.

[WellsMX524]

I'm using an i5. I might've figured out the problem, actually. Thanks JLV

[jlv]

If you fix it, let us know what it was. Might be helpful to someone with the same problem.

[WellsMX524]

Problem was my computer overheating, I'm running a decent graphics card, and a solid processor with a cheap fan cooling the whole PC down. Fan was running extremely hot. Probably going to be ordering a liquid cooled fan when I get paid Thursday.

But the lag issues with my old computer (Stock eMachines T5234 w/Nvidia 6530 Chipset, AMD 64x Dual core), here's what I did to fix the problems many times for frame rate issues:

* Set Mx Simulator to High Priority in the task manager
* Make sure that other processes aren't taking up a bunch of your memory
* Check graphics card control panel, make sure graphics are on performance settings (vsync off, of course)
* Check driver updates (I've fixed this problem via Teamviewer for many of my friends not knowing how much this matters)
* Turn down Model Geometric detail to between 6-12 (you can still see tuff blocks and track objects in SX Stadiums) - Gain of about 10 frames for me
* ALWAYS check your drivers to see if they're up to date
* If you're feeling frisky, trying to squeeze every ounce out of your GPU by overclocking it in small increments, always increase core voltage, etc.
* Make sure you're not running any Windows Updates
* Shaders/Copy always runs well for me

I've run out of things off the top of my mind, I could add more at a later date. This is just to help some people with slower PC's that want to squeeze whatever they can to have an enjoyable online experience.