Help With Graphics Card And Ati

[Darth Tratious]

i just bought an Ati Radeon 9550 256Mb 4x/8x AGP Graphics Card i am switching over from Nvidia anyway is this a Good Card Since I Do Not Know much about ATI at all and the game seems to lag although i think that is from my CPU could someone help me with this

My System Specs

AMD Sempron 3000+ 2.0 (Not The 64-Bit CPU Broken Down a Regular Sempron)

1.25 GBs of PC2700 Ram

i'm not sure what type of model number my Motherboard although i do know i have a VIA Mobo

umm anything else please ask

[EnderAndrew]

ATI puts out good hardware, but their drives seem to be causing all kinds of problems with games these days.

 

I've been an ATI person my whole life, and I recently switched to NVidia happily.

[Cactus]

Is it all the time, or only in certain areas?

 

CHeck your advanced graphics settings in the game to make sure you dont have AA (Anti Aliasing) turned right up, as that might lag your system down a fair bit. I wouldnt say its your cpu thats the problem, though i'm not 100% sure.

 

Sorry if this seems trivial, its just the first things tha come to mind. Could it maybe be some other program running in the background lagging you? (like winamp, its visualisations lagged me at times).

[Darth Tratious]

Is it all the time, or only in certain areas?

 

CHeck your advanced graphics settings in the game to make sure you dont have AA (Anti Aliasing) turned right up, as that might lag your system down a fair bit. I wouldnt say its your cpu thats the problem, though i'm not 100% sure.

 

Sorry if this seems trivial, its just the first things tha come to mind. Could it maybe be some other program running in the background lagging you? (like winamp, its visualisations lagged me at times).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

no i don't have any apps running in the back ground are any that would slow me down alot i'm just trying to figure out why it is lagging i think its my crappy CPU but i'm not sure

[Darth Tratious]

could someone help me with this problem

[Cactus]

Is it by any chance a "9550 SE" ? They have been known to be poor in gaming.

 

I think 2.0ghz should really be enough to run the game, i would be surpised if it was your CPU.

 

Can you check the advanced graphics section of your options, and make sure your not in some bizarrely high resoloution or have Anti Aliasing turned on high?

 

I cant really think of much else except the game being ran in too high settings for your card. Maybe try running the game in compatilbility mode? I doubt it will help, but i cant think of anything else.

[Darth Tratious]

Is it by any chance a "9550 SE" ? They have been known to be poor in gaming.

 

I think 2.0ghz should really be enough to run the game, i would be surpised if it was your CPU.

 

Can you check the advanced graphics section of your options, and make sure your not in some bizarrely high resoloution or have Anti Aliasing turned on high?

 

I cant really think of much else except the game being ran in too high settings for your card. Maybe try running the game in compatilbility mode? I doubt it will help, but i cant think of anything else.

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whats compatibilty mode? i'm a noob to graphics card so i have no clue what that means i think my CPU might be the problem or could it be slowing down because there is no air flow and everything is getting hot

[Darth Tratious]

oh yeah forgot no its not the 9550 se version its the regular version just a 9550

[swaaye]

Good lord people. Stop buying new 9550's (and NEVER buy a SE anything) when you can buy a 9500 PRO off eBay for $50 or so. A 9500 PRO is a 9700 chip with a 128-bit memory bus. It would be a beast for a game like this. Or just go with a 9700 PRO or even a 9800.

 

9500 PROs on eBay

9700s on eBay

 

Do not buy anything SE! They are crippled with 64-bit memory buses.

 

There is nothing wrong with ATI's drivers. KOTOR is designed to run optimally on Xbox, which is a NV chip. So obviously it's tweaked as hell to run as best as possible on Xbox/NV. They need it to look as best as possible on that underpowered little console (relative to PC). They may even use some specific NV driver optimizations.

 

KOTOR2 runs fantastic on my 9700PRO, and my laptop with a 9600 ran it pretty well as well.

[Cactus]

If you go to where the game is installed (program files\lucas arts\kotor2\) right click the file called "swkotor2.exe" and click the "compatibility" tab at the top. Tick the enable compatibility checkbox and choose windows 98 (best to try all, but win98 is normally the best). Then double click swkotor2.exe file and see if its improved. You still havnt mentioned your graphics settings so i'm not ruling out lag from running the game beyond your capabilities.

 

And yes, SE's might as well stand for Slow Edition

[Darth Tratious]

If you go to where the game is installed (program files\lucas arts\kotor2\) right click the  file called "swkotor2.exe" and click the "compatibility" tab at the top. Tick the enable compatibility checkbox and choose windows 98 (best to try all, but win98 is normally the best). Then double click swkotor2.exe file and see if its improved. You still havnt mentioned your graphics settings so i'm not ruling out lag from running the game beyond your capabilities.

 

And yes, SE's might as well stand for Slow Edition 

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my graphics settings are normal everything is turned low or off