New Monitor slowing game down -- Acer x233H LCD
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2009-10-23 18:07 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
um.
actually.
What are you system specs?
Processor? Graphics card? Memory?
This system ran COH fine using an old CRT monitor.
Intel Pentium 4, 3.00 GHz Processor, 2 GB RAM
if I understand what I'm seeing, an ATI RADEON 9800 series graphics card.
MS Windows XP Home Edition 2002 version, Service Pack 3
It has some kind of dual hard drives, one supposedly backing up the other? 114 GB with 70 GB free on C: and 81 GB free on D:.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
A 9800 pushing 1920 x 1080? you're lucky the card has enough power to push the windows desktop at that resolution. Either back the Resolution settings in CoH down to 1024x768 (or what ever the closest wide screen res to that is) or buy a new GFX Card.
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Sounds like your video card just doesn't have the oomph to power the higher resolution you picked.
In-game, choose a lower resolution at the same aspect ratio and see if that fixes you up.
Make sure your refresh rate is set properly. There should be specs with your monitor that says what your default is, and these should be matched in your ATI software and in-game.
Other than that, the card may be too weak.
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Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
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question... what resolution was you're old CRT?
Because I'm willing to bet that it was something like 1280*1024
1920 x 1080 is a stretch for a 9800, even if you do turn all the details down to zip.
I think you'll find that lowering the resolution to something like 1440*900 will fit inside the 9800's performance envelope at the details settings you've been using.
Yeah, I thought the video card was the weakest link.
Was running at 1024x768.
I just tried resetting the desktop resolution lower and it keeps the screen black through the countdown and returns me to 1920 x 1080. I guess it wants to be that resolution.
But you guys are talking about the in-game resolution in COH, right? I'll try changing that.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
Ok, not so good. I changed COH resolution to 1440x900 and it said I must restart COH for the new settings to take effect.
I restarted COH...and it came up black screen like when I chaned resolution on the desktop.
Had to hold the button down on the CPU to to perform a hardware shutdown.
Thoughts?
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
not just you're graphics card.
The P4 wasn't exactly a performance king. It routinely got stamped by Athlon64's with way lower clock-speeds.
In real world terms, even a sub $40 Sempron for Socket AM3 wouldn't break a sweat outrunning that Pentium 4: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103698
and trust me.. I know. I had a P4 630 overclocked to 3.5ghz, and even when coupled with cards like Evga's 7900 GT KO, x1900 XT, and RadeonHD 3870, it struggled to give good performance even at 1680*1050.
I hate to say it, but you basically bought a monitor you're current computer can't drive.
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okay. when you change resolution in the game. You need to log out first. then exit the game from the login screen. |
Originally Posted by Sailboat
Ok, not so good. I changed COH resolution to 1440x900 and it said I must restart COH for the new settings to take effect.
I restarted COH...and it came up black screen like when I chaned resolution on the desktop. Had to hold the button down on the CPU to to perform a hardware shutdown. Thoughts? |
THEN reload the game.
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Sounds to me like the monitor doesn't like to run outside of it's native resolution. I'd say you have three choices:|
Originally Posted by Sailboat
Ok, not so good. I changed COH resolution to 1440x900 and it said I must restart COH for the new settings to take effect.
I restarted COH...and it came up black screen like when I chaned resolution on the desktop. Had to hold the button down on the CPU to to perform a hardware shutdown. Thoughts? |
1: change resolutions till you find one it likes, you'll probably end up with something distorted/stretched though.
2: Upgrade your video card
3: Switch back to the old monitor.
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Well, I did that. Now each and every time it loads a black screen and makes the idle noise in the background, but I can't see anything at all even to exit COH, and have to force a shutdown by holding down the power button on the CPU.
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Originally Posted by je_saist
okay. when you change resolution in the game. You need to log out first. then exit the game from the login screen.
THEN reload the game. |
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
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okay, Sailboat: Just to verify:|
Originally Posted by Sailboat
Well, I did that. Now each and every time it loads a black screen and makes the idle noise in the background, but I can't see anything at all even to exit COH, and have to force a shutdown by holding down the power button on the CPU.
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you are able to load up to the windows screen in the native 1920 x 1080?
(give me a few moments of edit here. having to switch OS's and turn another computer on)
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Okay, presuming you are able to get Windows to get to the desktop, start up City of Heroes... but STOP on this screen
See that little check box next to I AGREE that says SAFE MODE
Check that little safe-mode box in. This should cause CoH to load up with the lowest settings possible.
Before you do that though....
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I want you to download the latest driver for your Graphics card. That's going to be the 9.3.1 release, located here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...?&lang=English
download, then run this file : https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206...-64_dd_ccc.exe
That will get us up-to-date on Catalyst Control Center.
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Now, if what I think is happening, in Catalyst Control Center, there is an option for GPU panel scaling:
You want the panel scaling TURNED OFF!
You'll also want to go to Display Options and make sure that PANNING is allowed
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Once your sure you're on the 9.3.1 driver and that scaling is turned off and panning is allowed, try to launch safe-mode and tell us what happens.
Thanks. Sorry for the delay, just got back to the computer.
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Done, despite Windows grumbling about site security certificate.|
Originally Posted by je_saist
download, then run this file : https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206...-64_dd_ccc.exe
That will get us up-to-date on Catalyst Control Center. |
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Originally Posted by je_saist
You want the panel scaling TURNED OFF!
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by je_saist
You'll also want to go to Display Options and make sure that PANNING is allowed
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by je_saist
Once your sure you're on the 9.3.1 driver and that scaling is turned off and panning is allowed, try to launch safe-mode and tell us what happens.
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Going to try again without Safe Mode and see if the Catalyst settings or 9.3.1 driver helped.
Thanks again, will report back shortly.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
Ok, first time starting in regular mode (not "safe") it produced random screen gibberish.
Restarted comp and tried again, and it loaded correctly but looked just like "Safe Mode" did before -- wide and crude.
Before I spend tons of cash, is there any consensus of opinion that a new video card woould save this situation?
If not, is a new processor chip feasible or will I have to start from scratch and buy/build a whole new system to get proper use out of this monitor?
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
my thoughts would be return the monitor and get a 19" widescreen if that is what you want.
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okay, halt here. this is actually where I wanted you to be.|
Originally Posted by Sailboat
Ok, first time starting in regular mode (not "safe") it produced random screen gibberish.
Restarted comp and tried again, and it loaded correctly but looked just like "Safe Mode" did before -- wide and crude. |
Now you're in 640*480 and you should be able to start scaling resolution up.
Just follow the procedure earlier to log out, then exit the game, then start the game back up.
I'd actually suggest switching to WINDOWED mode first and making sure the game works in the resolution before switching to fullscreen.
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Before I spend tons of cash, is there any consensus of opinion that a new video card woould save this situation? If not, is a new processor chip feasible or will I have to start from scratch and buy/build a whole new system to get proper use out of this monitor? |
If you've got a Pentium4 @ 3ghz I'm going to bet you are either on Socket 478 or Socket 775. While you would have upgrade options with Socket 775, since it's the platform the Core-2 launched on, that depends entirely upon your motherboard and chipset... and Intel motherboards are lousy when it comes to future support.
Speaking for myself, I've got one of Intel's own boards, the D975X-Bx. Despite being a Socket 775 motherboard... it's processor support is abysmal : http://processormatch.intel.com/COMP...rdname=d975xbx
So even if you did have a Socket 775 motherboard, the chances of being able to upgrade the processor are... quite slim.
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Second, as I mentioned earlier, I had trouble with a P4 processor with a 500mhz clockspeed advantage (3.5ghz) over yours, averaging 30fps at 1680*1050... even when using a much more powerful graphics card, up to a RadeonHD 3870.
From a raw performance standpoint I'd have a hard-time imagining it being able to handle yet another resolution leap, even with a RadeonHD 5870 under the hood.
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It's my opinion that you don't really have a good upgrade path with the components you have to game at 1920*1080.
Thus it's also my opinion you'd be better off looking to build you're own new system, or having one built for you.
You can pretty much also do it for cheap. A decent Quad-Core Phenom with a RadeonHD 4850 can push 1920*1050... and the 5750 just launched and that's even more powerful.
(for reference, the system I'm on now is a Phenom Quad-Core @ ~2.5ghz with Crossfired 4850's, and I'm happy with what it can push)
Not to downplay je_saist's suggestions by any means,
But you can build an extremely decent machine without even having to go with a Quad-Core as well. When I upgraded a little over a year ago, here's the components I bought:
1 x Motherboard/Core2 Duo 2.2ghz Processor Combo
2 x 1gig DDR2 RAM (Recently I've upgraded to 2 x 2gig DDR2 RAM)
1 x nVidia 8600GT video card (Recently I replaced this with a GTS 250 1gig card)
My grand total was $380 for all of those components. That was including shipping. My point is, you can upgrade components of your PC (important components) for such a ridiculously small amount of money these days, and get so much out of the new hardware. Even before I upped the RAM and video card the second time, that machine had no issues running CoX and I was even able to multi-task (browse, listen to music, run other software and also run at full native resolution on my new 22" flat screen) without so much as even a hiccup.
Not that a Quad-Core isn't nice, it's not absolutely necessary. You can futureproof yourself with a decent dual core system as well. It all comes down to how much you're willing to spend, and how far into the future you're concerned with 
Just as a side note, since upgrading my video card to the GTS 250, I've tried out some games I never would have even thought of trying with the 8600GT (which was not a horrible card btw). The graphics are stunning with the GTS 250 and this 2.2ghz C2D processor coupled with 4gigs of RAM is a dream. I haven't come across any bottlenecking issues now or before.
Take the time to look at sales on Newegg, Tigerdirect or any other site you'd be willing to purchase from. Even check local Ma n' Pa computer shops in your area. They can have some awesome deals. Don't hesitate to throw a machine together (on paper) and post it here. Someone will definitely help you pick stuff out 
We'll see....
Thanks, it would be nice to get something shiny for not too much money.
I think my machine has a 266 MHz internal bus. Is it realistic to contemplate a new chip and motheboard in that same box, or am I starting from scratch?
$380 a year ago sounds like I could get something decent now for comparable cash.
Is it practical to imagine that I could do:
- new chip/motherboard
- high-end graphics card
- decent RAM (4 gig, perhaps more?)
for somewhere around $500? I still have the new monitor, and could use it, it's just temporarily stowed away so that I can run COH/V again on the old one.
I don't even know what chip would be sufficient, or what the hot new ones are, except for what's been suggested so far in this thread.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
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You absolutely can. You can get a motherboard/CPU combo for relatively cheap. If you're not needing to have the best of the best. There are even decently priced quad-cores if you really feel you need one (Personally, I don't really see the point at this point in time. Maybe within the next year to 2 years there might be a good reason to go quad). RAM is rather cheap as well at the moment. I paid $60+taxes for 2x2gig sticks a little over 6 months ago.|
Originally Posted by Sailboat
Thanks, it would be nice to get something shiny for not too much money.
I think my machine has a 266 MHz internal bus. Is it realistic to contemplate a new chip and motheboard in that same box, or am I starting from scratch? $380 a year ago sounds like I could get something decent now for comparable cash. Is it practical to imagine that I could do:
for somewhere around $500? I still have the new monitor, and could use it, it's just temporarily stowed away so that I can run COH/V again on the old one. I don't even know what chip would be sufficient, or what the hot new ones are, except for what's been suggested so far in this thread. |
The motherboard/CPU combo and a good video card will definitely be the highest priced of the new components. The video card moreso if you go higher. But even those are priced very well. That GTS 250 1gig video card I just picked up a couple of weeks ago, I paid $149 for it at a local Ma 'n Pa computer place. If you know where to look, you can get practically any component you need a very good price.
Is your computer one that was built? Or is it a pre-built machine? If it's pre-built (ie. A Dell or HP etc) you may have to buy a new tower and power supply (Both of which are dirt cheap as well. Can get a case for under $40 and a good power supply for under $100). I'm sure if you post your full computer specs here (I don't see them, but I may have missed them in the thread) someone will look up the info on it and let you know if you'll be able to stuff new guts into the case you have
If you can afford to spend $500, you'll be laughing at the machine you'll be able to put together with that. Especially since you can just utilize some of your older components (Hard drive, optical drive etc).
We'll see....
Great, I will try to post a comprehensive summary of my rig soon. Thanks to all who have taken the time to offer thoughts!
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
I'm the first to admit I'm not very technical.
My wife gave me a 23" Acer x233H LCD monitor tonight. Yay! I got it installed, perhaps even correctly -- I am using the "dual mode DVI" cable, the regular video monitor cable, and the power cord, but I only put the dual mode DVI cable on there because the monitor had a port for it and there's a DVI symbol on the box.
This is a 16x9 aspect ratio monitor. I changed my resolution to 1920 x 1080 on both the desktop and inside COH/V.
But...the game is very choppy/slowy now.
My first worry was that maybe LCD monitors are too slow at refresh rate or something and I'd have to reinstall the old CRT. But online review sites indicate people are generally happy with running high-definition movies and TV on this monitor, so it simply MUST be capable of handling a video load rapidly.
So I assume I need to tweak settings.
I am HOPING I don't need to learn how to generate one of those DxDiag.exe files or Hijack This and post it, but I will if that helps. I run Windows XP.
I am instead hoping that someone can tell me "tweak the framerate in the monitor" or something like that and I won't have to turn game graphics way down or buy a new video card.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and respond.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog