Battlefront Graphics Card Conflict

Apolyonn · #1 May 12th, 2009, 03:14 AM

I've recently upgraded my computer, and purchased a PCI GeForce 8400 GS. My computer works great and it runs the majority of my games pretty well, but all of my LucasArts games lag intenstely (during offline play) with that card. When I contacted LucasArts, they told me that my card was newer than the ones Battlefront was tested on, so I tried out my old Radeon 9250 and, sure enough, works great.

The biggest problem with this victory is that 1) the Radeon belongs to my brother's computer, and even if I wanted to keep it 2) most of my other games are too good for it.

I've been reading through some articles and found that, in addition to a PCIe x16 slot running significantly faster than a PCI, the GeForce 9800 GTX has a program claimed to run the Battlefront games well. The problem is, that program's requirement is Windows Vista, while I'm running on an XP

Anyways, the heart of my question is this: what graphics card will run both Battlefront well, but will also run newer games well? Would the 9800 GTX do the job on my XP?

Suggestions needed and appreciated.

**smurfy** · #2 May 12th, 2009, 07:21 AM

Hi and welcome to CTH.
What driver did you use for the new card? One that came on a CD with the card? One that came from Microsoft Update? One that came from nVidia website?

Apolyonn · #3 May 12th, 2009, 01:27 PM

I used both the original driver that came with my card's cd and the latest driver from nvidia's website. It didn't make a difference.

michael123 · #4 May 17th, 2009, 12:28 AM

With regard to the 9800GTX, it should run most things very well, but is expensive. It will blow the 8400 out of the water, but might not be worth the price if all your other games are running fine. It'll work fine on XP, but what exactly do you mean by it "has a program to run Battlefront well"?

Apolyonn · #5 May 17th, 2009, 05:04 AM

Now that I look back, I don't think this is quite what I need....but the program I was referring to is called 3D Vision

http://www.nvidia.com/object/GeForce...sion_Main.html

I realize now that this has to do with 3d glasses and not necessarily improving gameplay in the way I originally thought it would. Sorry for my n00bish mistake.

And I found a 9800 GTX for only 140 (after shipping) on NewEgg.

michael123 · #6 May 17th, 2009, 10:59 AM

Yeah that is a different thing, it's basically a program and hardware from nVidia which turns your game 3D. Any 9800, 9800 or GTX200 series graphics card should play the game very well, if you don't mind paying $140, I'd go with the one you found, or a 9800GT if you want to go a bit cheaper.

Those graphics cards are, relative to your game, very new and powerful. There is still a minute chance of them not helping if the game is just downright weird, hating modern hardware or something, but this is very unlikely.

Apolyonn · #7 May 17th, 2009, 05:53 PM

I'm hoping it runs the games well. The weird part is I didn't have this problem when my 8400 was in my old computer. Ugh...

I see you have an 8800GT. You don't by chance have any experience playing a Star Wars game with it, do you?

michael123 · #8 May 17th, 2009, 06:21 PM

Well an 8800GT = 9800GT, and should nuke any older Star Wars game. I recall playing JK2: Jedi Outcast demo on it a while back and that worked fine. It worries me a bit that the game worked fine with that card in your old computer, suggesting that something different in your new computer might be bottlenecking it. What are your specs?

Apolyonn · #9 May 17th, 2009, 06:28 PM

They're posted on my profile if you want to check. Anything else, let me know.

EDIT: It didn't necessarily work "fine" on my old computer because the PC was undeniably outdated (EMachines T2596), but it wasn't terrible as it is now. It at least didn't give me a choppy intro screen, and in-game was choppy but bearable on lower graphic settings, which led me to believe that using it on a newer computer would solve the problem (which, of course, it didn't).

Just out of curiosity, why do you use three different malware programs?

michael123 · #10 May 17th, 2009, 08:49 PM

Yeah if I were you I'd just grab a 9800GT or 9800GTX, as long as you've got the money for it. Should play the game fine.

With regard to your other question, well I don't really use Spybot S&D any more, which leaves me with an antivirus (avast) and an anti-malware (adaware), which work pretty well together and kepp my computer clean.

Apolyonn · #11 May 18th, 2009, 12:28 AM

Ah, I didn't realize Ad-Aware wasn't an antivirus program. I always thought "malware" pretty much referred to everything.

I did see an 8800GTS for about $40 cheaper than the 9800GTX, so I'm considering just getting that, only because I'm taking my girlfriend to Cirque de Soleil and there's a chance I might get hit with my job's mass furloughs. From what you've said I don't think I should have many problems with that, which is fine with me.

**smurfy** · #12 May 18th, 2009, 02:18 AM

I still think the 8400 should breeze through Battlefront.

What other games have you tried that "work pretty well"?

Have you got the latest ASUS chipset drivers for the motherboard (July2008)

Apolyonn · #13 May 18th, 2009, 02:31 AM

See, I would think so too. I've wondered if it has something to do with the PCI vs. PCIe bus speeds. But I don't know enough about that to form any hypothesis about it, especially since it doesn't run ALL games so poorly.

Another possible factor might be that I'm running on XP, perhaps?

I don't see why the chipset driver would have anything to do with it since Battlefront works well on my Radeon with this PC.

Working games:

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Rainbow Six Lockdown, Need for Speed: Underground, Unreal/Unreal II/Unreal Tournament/Unreal Tournament 2004, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast demo.

Halo is choppy. I can never make Halo happy, no matter what computer I use >

Anyways, like I said above, the problem is emminent with LucasArts games, though it hasn't shown me the same type of trouble with Jedi Outcast demo...

michael123 · #14 May 18th, 2009, 05:03 PM

I'd have thought it wasn't the 8400GS, but with the rest of your specs I just can't see what else it could be. The graphics card would also explain choppy Halo performance, and whilst it should be able to run most of the slightly aged games you list, it is certainly no powerhouse.

Regarding the 8800GTS, that's one you sometimes have to be a little careful on, as there were two models made by nVidia, the first of which lagged behind quite a bit in terms of performance. It should still run your games fine, but to get value for money and be on the safe side, I'd go with something different. Could you post a link to the card? Another contender I'd look at is the 8800GT or 9800GT (same card) which should be a fair bit cheaper than the 9800GTX but a safer bet than the 8800GTS. Seeing your specs, the graphics card really is holding you back with regard to gaming and perhaps also slowing down any video/photography work you do.

Running XP should make a game run faster if anything.

As for "malware" and adaware, well malware is a prettly broad term but adaware tends to focus more on the smaller things, tracking cookies etc, whereas avast goes for bigger viruses.

Apolyonn · #15 May 18th, 2009, 05:12 PM

8800 GTS
9800 GTX+
Another 9800 GTX+, $104 but recertified, not new.

I didn't think XP would be a factor, but the 8400 was also designed for both DX9 and DX10, so I dunno if running it in Vista would make a difference. But, as you said, I would think that Vista would bog it down.