That graphics card really isn;t very good. It's very old and also shares system memory which also makes it very slow. Do you know if you have a dedicated graphics card slot and if you do, is it PCi-Express or an AGP slot? Even the model number of your motherboard or the brand name and model if it's a bought PC from a shop?
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@Miss Chief
I think it´s PCi-express, not really sure 
Its 'turbocache', aka shared memory.
Those are pretty much at the bottom of performance, i would start at the lowest settings and slower work up.
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Until recently with nvidia, the last three digits of the model gave you an indication of performance.
200 being the lowest, 950 being the highest I've encountered with 800 being typically the top performer for the release version.
For reference, I'm still using a 6800gt agp, and it's doing very well for it's age, an 8600 ( much newer ) isn't much better.
Anyways, back to your question. You'll have to trade off a lot of things. Either, characters will look quite good, or the scenery, or you can have some particle or shadow effects. You won't get all of them at anything above a slideshow framerate.
As Sinergy said, turn everything to minimum, then slowly edge things up. In a raid or TF you will probably have to turn everything back down again anyways.
Fahie
A similar question - I currently have 2GB of RAM on my system, would upgrading to 4GB allow me to run the game on maximum settings, or would I have to upgrade the graphics card?
I have no idea what my graphics card is other than 'it's the one that came in the computer', which I'm guessing means 'not a very good graphics card'.
If you can't run the game on max settings that the moment then increasing the amount of memory is unlikely to make any difference to that. Without knowing what graphics card you're using it's hard to be completely definitive but the two things that will have greatest impact on game performance are graphics card and processor speed. Also, unless you're using a 64bit operating system (like one of the Vista 64 bit variants) then you're highly unlikely to see any benefit at all from installing extra memory.
Ever wondered how our costumes stay so clean and shiny given everything we put them through?
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A similar question - I currently have 2GB of RAM on my system, would upgrading to 4GB allow me to run the game on maximum settings, or would I have to upgrade the graphics card?
I have no idea what my graphics card is other than 'it's the one that came in the computer', which I'm guessing means 'not a very good graphics card'.
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2GB still can be enough if you have a nice videocard and CPU, so i would focus on that part first. My 2nd system is running with 2GB, but using a E8400 and 4850 is still can do very good at highest settings. (apart from some ati-related issues).
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
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Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
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Without knowing what graphics card you're using it's hard to be completely definitive
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It's a nVidia GeForce 6100, apparently...
To be honest, if your game is "sluggish" then the extra memory could help it. A better graphics card might require more memory anyway.
Fury
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Without knowing what graphics card you're using it's hard to be completely definitive
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It's a nVidia GeForce 6100, apparently...
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A quick google tells me that this is actually on-board graphics processing rather than a separate graphics card. If your PC has the capability to take a graphics card then that's going to give you an immediate noticeable increase in quality. On-board graphics capabilities aren't really up to most gaming demands now I'm afraid.
Ever wondered how our costumes stay so clean and shiny given everything we put them through?
Then you need to try out Spandex Crisis (Arc ID 32943)
[ QUOTE ]
Until recently with nvidia, the last three digits of the model gave you an indication of performance.
200 being the lowest, 950 being the highest I've encountered with 800 being typically the top performer for the release version.
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I agree, I am currently getting by with my single Nvidia 6800GTS, although I upgraded by RAM from 2GB to 4GB.
I am able to run CoH at full spec with all the bells and whistles on at a high resolution.
I recommend you double your RAM, although like me you'll probably have to buy the old style DDR ram. You could upgrade your graphics card but that depends on what your motherboard and power supply can handle. The cost of an upgraded Motherboard, GFX card and power-supply to run it is pretty much the cost of a new pc anyway. 
I recommend emailing Nvidia as they were very helpful in helping me maximise my old (4.5 year 
) system and squeeze a year or more's usefullness out of it.
If you're already running 2GB of Ram another 2GB won't have a dramatic effect on your games with such an old graphics card. I have an 8800GT 512MB with 2Gb of Ram and I'm maxxing everything in CoH with no trouble.
Defiant 50's
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@Miss Chief
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I agree, I am currently getting by with my single Nvidia 6800GTS, although I upgraded by RAM from 2GB to 4GB.
I am able to run CoH at full spec with all the bells and whistles on at a high resolution.
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Can your computer actually handle all 4 GB or does it cap out around 3?
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I definitely noticed smoother gameplay, I also tried upgrading my gfx cards in twin SLI mode, but bizarrely the performance in AoC (what the cards were bought to improve) was worse than with the single branded NVidia GFX card that was dated about a year older. 
(Luckily I got the money back on a refund) \o/
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A quick google tells me that this is actually on-board graphics processing rather than a separate graphics card. If your PC has the capability to take a graphics card then that's going to give you an immediate noticeable increase in quality. On-board graphics capabilities aren't really up to most gaming demands now I'm afraid.
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Cheers for that - is there any way of telling if my PC can take a graphics card, without physically opening the case up? Something in control panel or something?
I probably need to clean the dust out of it anyway, but opening it up means unplugging all the cables and I've found that computers really don't like that very much.
Many thanks, oh technically minded people!
Go to Start--->Run--->and type in dxdiag (and press return and then save all information to desktop)- that'll save a file with your PCs specifications on it. Try attaching that to an email to Nvidia or other interested parties who may be able to offer advice on how to squeeze a little more juice out of your PC in the short-term or offer advice on upgrades.
OK, I've opened up the case up and taken a look inside. Once I'd hoovered out all the dust and did some googling until I found that I appear to have a PCI-Express slot and what is either two AGP slots or two PCI slots and two other very short slots which are apparently (but probably not) also PCI-Express slots.
Oh, great Tech Brains of the internet message board, please tell this lowly non-tech what sort of graphics card I require!
Please phrase your answer in terms that can be understood by someone who did GCSE Computer Studies in 1990 and got a grade G. Ta!
It sounds like you have a PCI-Express graphics slot, 2 of the small PCI-ex slots (I run a sound card in one of those) and 2 PCI slots. I'm very certain you won't have both PCI-EX and AGP and almost certainly there wouldn't be two AGPs.
So in short you should be able to fit any of the modern cards with two buts.
1) your power supply is up to the job
2) you have the right and enough power connections from said Power supply
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It sounds like you have a PCI-Express graphics slot, 2 of the small PCI-ex slots (I run a sound card in one of those) and 2 PCI slots. I'm very certain you won't have both PCI-EX and AGP and almost certainly there wouldn't be two AGPs.
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Am I right in thinking that the presence of the two short PCI-Ex slots means that the long one is definitely a PCI-Ex Graphics slot? Just making absolutely sure...
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So in short you should be able to fit any of the modern cards with two buts.
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With two buts? By the Lord Harry, Jo-Lo has a lot to answer for...
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1) your power supply is up to the job
2) you have the right and enough power connections from said Power supply
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Well, the only thing I've added to it so far has been a pair of 512MB RAM chips, and there's loads of different sorts of plugs and whatnot in there. Hopefully, the power should be there...
Yes the long PCI-EX is the graphics port there should be a locking tab at the end furthest from the back of the PC, would you believe this locks the card in place 
You should be alright re power but (another but sorry) some of the PSUs (Power supply Units) supplied with ready built systems are not of the best quality and the modern graphics card can draw a lot of power.
Happy to be on Defiant.
Global name @mereman
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This is kinda the point where I tend to get a little bit nervous about advising people to continue to DIY.
You've got three main choices here:
1: Continue down the cautious DIY route. This will almost inevitably involve researching stuff on da interwebz about power connection pins, power supply capacities, PCI/PCI Express slot shapes, disabling on-board gfx processing etc. This will then allow you to buy a card in reasonable confidence that you can slot it into your PC, download the latest drivers and then play. (After downloading about four other versions of drivers and testing them just to see if they work better )
2: Take the plunge and buy a reasonably cheap PCI Express gfx card, plug it in and see what happens. Chances are it won't do any damage to your PC (unless you use chainmail gauntlets to install it while sitting in a bath of salt water in a lightning storm) but it might turn out that you don't have the correct power connectors on your power supply, or it's not powerful enough...
3. Find your local geek shop, take your PC to them and ask them to recommend and install a cheap graphics card upgrade.
Option 1's the cheapest in terms of cash but may take more time than you care to invest. Option 3's probably the most expensive but most guaranteed to succeed. Option 2 could turn out to be cheapest in terms of time and money...or a total waste of both if it doesn't work.
The choice (as they used to say on a popular Saturday night TV prog) is yours!
Ever wondered how our costumes stay so clean and shiny given everything we put them through?
Then you need to try out Spandex Crisis (Arc ID 32943)
Thanks for the help, all - I've now added a new Sapphire Radeon HD 3450 with 256MB memory and my computer hasn't exploded!
Not yet, anyway...
I spent yesterday afternoon wandering round Paragon City and the Rogue Isles with everything turned up to full going 'Wow! Look at that!' until I got told to stop.
Some things I noticed:
Those bits of the VEAT costumes that were stubbornly slightly the wrong colour turn out to be polished chrome. My Widow now looks like a T1000!
The pond in the middle of Oroborous is actually a reflecting pool. I've also spotted reflections in the MA building windows and on the Valkyrie sword costume part.
Somewhat unrelated, but 3D Sound appears to default to Disabled. After a year and a half on the game, my surround speakers are now WORKING!
Dark Astoria is really atmospheric - gouts of steam erupt from the sewer covers, the fog now looks like fog and the Banished Pants undead now all have glowing sigils on their chests. Watching a row of blue lights approach through the fog, to resolve itself into a column of decaying zombies trudging towards me made me wish that there was actually something to do in Dark Astoria...
You are more then welcome. I'm glad that you can now see CoH/V in it's true light
Happy to be on Defiant.
Global name @mereman
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Hi there I need some help setting up my graphic options.
My hardware is:
AMD athlon 64 3200+ 2.00 GHz
2.00 Gb RAM
nVidia Geforce 6200 Turbocache 256MB
How should i set my advanced graphic options to make the world enviroment and animation look good without bad performence?
Im sorry if I post this thread in the wrong board.