Need Help with Lag

[octagon999]

I am increasingly frustrated with lag in certain zones. I have a fairly decent computer (AMD 1600) with what should be enough memory (512) and have a fairly recent video card w/128 Megs on the board. But jumping from 64 to 128 megs on the card has not improved my lag one bit it seems.

Finally after pursuing all other routes I can think of, someone asked me about my motherboard, and has suggested that the problem is that the motherboard has an on-board video chip. What I've been told is that regardless of what card I put in the AGP slot, its still trying to draw the display on the motherboard chip as well, so its still going to lag.

So... knowing how specific my dilemma is, what are your thoughts on this? Do I need to build me a new machine, with a motherboard that doesn't have a built-in chip, or should I look elsewhere for the solution?

Thanks in advance

[bearcaller]

If your computer has on board video and you haven't noticed any change by adding an agp or pci video card there is a possibility that you are still using the onboard video. Most boards that have onboard video require you to set a specific jumper to change your active video card to an agp or pci slot. Check with your board manufacturers website for where and how to change this jumper; and if your board is a little out of date then just google it and you should have an answer.

Also be aware that memory is not necessarily the most important factor when it comes to a video card. A ti4200 with 64mb of memory is a huge difference from a mx400 with the same amount of memory. Check into not just the memory of your vid card but also the clock speed and benchmarks. Also, if your card isn't using DDR memory you need to get one that does--the difference is huge.

[Draggar]

You should expect lag in certain high traffic areas, such as PoK, Nexus, Bazaar, and graphic hog areas such as Kunark, Jaggedpine etc..

Best way to cut down on lag in those areas is to go to an overhead view, cut the far clip plane down, turn off particles. Yes, its a pain, but it does help, a lot.

[Balkin]

I don't know about anyone else...

But since the patches last week and this weekend, I get weird lag, and random zone LD's now. It's been months since this has happened. I can't even leave a trader up in the bazaar for an hour without a problem. Soon as I stand him up and move towards the bank, the stuttering lag kicks in again...

/grrrr

[octagon999]

Thanks!

OK, I will look into this. My desktop support guy is going to come over with me and check it out. I guess he has some kind of benchmarking software and he's going to see how it does with the cards, and also with the onboard video disabled and otherwise.

Wish me luck!

PS I agree about inherent lag. Unfortunately I'm primarily hunting JPF, and I was hoping to conquer it through technology. Warsilks has also been a pain from day one as well.

[Cubwynn]

Re: Need Help with Lag

Originally posted by octagon999
I have a fairly decent computer (AMD 1600) with what should be enough memory (512) and have a fairly recent video card w/128 Megs on the board

You, sir, need more RAM. with 128MB, I don't see how you can even run Windows well, let alone EQ. You'll have a huge jump in framerate if you bump your RAM to 512MB or 1GB. I'm running 1GB, and I can even run through the Bazaar with only minimal framerate loss now.

Best thing is that RAM is pretty cheap atm...

[octagon999]

Re: Re: Need Help with Lag

Originally posted by Cubwynn
You, sir, need more RAM. with 128MB, I don't see how you can even run Windows well, let alone EQ. You'll have a huge jump in framerate if you bump your RAM to 512MB or 1GB. I'm running 1GB, and I can even run through the Bazaar with only minimal framerate loss now.

Best thing is that RAM is pretty cheap atm...

Sorry, my computer RAM is 512M, its my video card that has 128megs on-board.

I agree though, that memory is dang cheap now! OTOH, my computer store guy, who I am sure would love to sell me more memory, says that really 512 is plenty for most anything I'm likely to do. Of course, he hasn't met Everquest! LOL

[Cubwynn]

EverQuest will take up as much RAM as you allow it. 1GB makes a difference for my system.

[Kentarre]

Agreed

You need more system memory.

I just upgraded from 512 to 1GB myself and was suprised at how much difference it made. I ended up upgrading the video card as well (spiffy new FX 5600 Ultra with 128MB RAM onboard) but together, I'm getting great preformance out of EQ!