Frame Rate Limiters?

[rditto48801]

Dark Messiah works well with no real problem with my present setup. My graphics settings are near or max settings iirc, any lag, if present is not really noticeable when it comes to large areas. Otherwise, it seems to run smoothly for the most part

As for The Sims 3, the lag seems random at times, sometimes just from moving the camera a little bit
Sometimes it is reasonable, like when switching lots that are a distance apart, because it takes a few seconds to load everything at a new location.
As I have mentioned, a lot of people on the official Sims 3 forums complain about lag issues, even on high end systems that are well above the required stuff.

I will have to try with graphics at minimal settings for Sim 3 to see if I still have bad lag or not. If so, then I guess the next step would be looking to other causes.

[Blín D'ñero]

I just saw there is a bios update: 1404
public asus FTP directory for M3A78 PRO

Not that is important if you don't have the issue:

M3A78 PRO BIOS 1404
Fix the issue that PS/2 Keyboard may not work normally after resuming from S3.
2009/12/07 update

[rditto48801]

A BIOS update?
That's new to me.

Their list is curious. A Radeon 4600 does not exist. Just like others do not: a 4800X2 for instance. I guess they meant to shorten the list somewhat by naming the 46xx series. (and 4800X2 as it is shorter than specifically naming the 4850X2 and 4870X2 on a new line.
What does exist is the 4630, 4650, 4670. I suppose they consider it a "Maybe, but it depends": Depends on the class within the family.

It might be due to people reporting of how well their card works, based on what is in their dxdiag or listed in the Device Manager.
For example, when I look in my Device Manager or in dxdiag, it says "ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series".
Or they might not list specific cards within a series unless they got enough reliable reports on performance of specific video cards.
Or it might be due to some other reason.

Edit:
I set more or less everything to minimum on The Sims 3.
I did leave 'advanced rendering' (using the 2.0 shaders) on, since disabling that tends to cause any terrain (but not items like trees/bushes) outside of the 'lots', and also the roads, to vanish and leave me staring at a black background.
The game still has a bit of lag, mainly when moving the camera more than a little bit, but it seems to occur as often, but it is now mild much of the time, but still with the occasional time it will really get slow.

Edit 2:
Got The Sims 3 going with most settings at max. There is still a little lag, but the slowdown is less noticeable at times, and the major lagging times still seem to occur, but for a shorter period of time and a little less severe.

The main culprits seem to be the view distance, and nearby lots it shows in 'high detail'.
I got both of those at minimal settings, and that seems to have taken a chunk out of the occurrence of the lag, and the duration of the lag.
I have yet to try it out on larger, busier lots, but so far it seems like I have at least made some progress with lessening the lag issue.

Edit 3:

I was going to get back to tweaking graphics settings when I popped in the disk and the game launcher came up... along with an unsettling bit of news in the 'news' section of the launcher.

EA has announced a new expansion pack for The Sims 3...
Two things comes to mind...
1: They don't give a crap about fixing the present problems (the game lacking v-sync and corrupting game saves, among others.)
or...
2: They are going to make fixes and integrate them into the expansion pack, forcing people to 'buy' a 'patch' for existing problems.

Make that 3 things.
3: Perhaps they are going to delay major patches until the new expansion comes out... which might explain lack of major patches if they had been working on the new expansion for some time, leaving few (if any) people to actually fix the present game.

I hope they don't do #2.
Reminds me of Silent Hunter 4, it only went to v1.4 with patches, hadve to buy the expansion pack (or the gold edition that has the base game and expansion) to get v1.5, as they never released a v1.5 patch.


Anyways, one thing I apparently forgot to edit in and mention before I quit Sims 3 last night, was experience some lag on a big, 'busy' lot .The FPS dropped to around 20, things got a little jerky.

I am getting inspired to start saving up for a new video card.
Had some spare money leftover from last month, so I already got some money to spare to put toward saving for a new one.

Any suggestions for a good video card between $100 and $200?

3 things I can think of that I think I should be looking for if I do get a video card.
1: It would be a plus if it was a dual slot with a blow out cooler like the one I presently have.
2: Has Pixel Shader 3.0 (required for at least one of the games I plan on getting in the future, such as Supreme Command 2)
3: at least 512 MB VRAM, perhaps even 1GB.

[Blín D'ñero]

Ehh.! :shocked2: I didn't read your last edit untill now. Please SZtop editing! Just multipost, is more practical.
But we already continued in the other thread anyway...
-

[rditto48801]

Ehh.! :shocked2: I didn't read your last edit untill now. Please SZtop editing! Just multipost, is more practical.
But we already continued in the other thread anyway...
-

Oops, my bad.
I sort of forgot about that last edit myself.