Sins beta 4 begins to "slideshow" at recommended specs, why?

I can see my fleet and trade ships, battles and whatnot start to move and stop, move and stop in a Me vs. 2 ai battle late in the game (single star 26 planet map). Its annoying to say the least. My 2.4 ghz AMD dual core is showing only 56% to 74% max load when this is happening and my 2gigs of RAM is at 70% with vista and all its RAM draining stuff in the background running. I have a single 7950gt GPU but thats not the bottleneck here. Anybody know why this is happening? It feels like what SupCom does to my CPU when its maxed at 100%. It just shouldnt be doing this with my CPU and RAM having the headroom it does right?
12,655 views 17 replies
Reply #1 Top
We recommend you try the final version of the game and go from there.
Reply #2 Top
Ya, I hear ya. Late for a beta 4 tech question. Still curious tho lol.
Reply #3 Top
I've got very similar specs, just trade the 7950 for an ATI x1950 (pretty close in performance anyway) and I haven't had any problems whatsoever. Hell, even my old laptop with just under a gig of RAM and a Radeon 9000 can run the game pretty smoothly. Maybe its an Nvidia problem? got the latest drivers and everything?
Reply #4 Top
isn't an nvidia problem unless it's a 7 series thing because i've played it on a 6800 gts, 8600 gts, and 8800 gt, all without problems or slowdown more severe than their power would indicate.
Reply #5 Top
I spent the first 4 hours with the game trading the 3 drivers I have around to see which was the most stable and they all suffered from alot of recoveries. Soooo, maybe it is a 7 series thing. The older driver tested by and recommended by Alienware (Ya I know)seems to be the most stable with it. But it seemed more of a CPU problem, like it couldnt handle the calculations of all the AI stuff going on. Which was weird cause it wasnt using much CPU...

Reply #6 Top
indeed possibly a 7xxx series issue, i recall slowdown at times with my 7800gt and beta 3...
Reply #7 Top
I spent the first 4 hours with the game trading the 3 drivers I have around to see which was the most stable and they all suffered from alot of recoveries. Soooo, maybe it is a 7 series thing. The older driver tested by and recommended by Alienware (Ya I know)seems to be the most stable with it. But it seemed more of a CPU problem, like it couldnt handle the calculations of all the AI stuff going on. Which was weird cause it wasnt using much CPU...



That's your problem. You are using an alienware system.

My first and second gaming rigs were Alienwares (when I had the funding) and both suffered from poor drivers, hardware malfunctions, and other issues that made their price tags WORTHLESS.

My third rig, which I'm on now, was built by CyberpowerPC (for roughly HALF THE COST of what it would've costed form Alienware by the way) and I've no issues with this beauty since.

However, I do believe the 7 series may be the issue. And while I hate ATI right now ever since they merged with AMD, I do have to recommend an ATI card since they are more compatible with AMD Processors than Intel
Reply #8 Top
Ya, I'm not gonna even start. But I will say that this is a post Dell-AW so it was alot cheaper than they used to be.
Reply #9 Top
Also the problem (besides it being a proprietary system) is Vista, but you already know this. Vista needs at least a gig of ram to run, and has about 50 to 60 processes running at default settings. Especially if you are running Aero. Disable Aero. That will give your system some breathing room.

Sins uses more RAM than CPU. You have the specs to run the game with no problems. From the sounds of it your running on a Laptop (correct me if wrong). Anyone who mentions "GPU" i automatically assume it is a laptop. Laptops generally share 256 megs of system ram for the video. In other words 256 megs of your 2 gigs is being set aside for your GPU. On top of Vistas 1 gig usage just to run that leaves you with about 700 megs for the game and other applications. I am betting that Sins is running on mostly the page file for you. Especially if you maxed your settings out. You need at least 1 gig free to runs the game on highest settings.

Take a look here http://www.blackviper.com/ If you aren't afraid of configuring your services, and disabling unnecessary ones. I use the safe settings for my laptop. It will free up at least 200 megs of ram in vista.
Reply #10 Top
That's your problem. You are using an alienware system.



or you could just build it yourself  ;)  trust me it's not that hard, saves money and if something goes wrong you can either troubleshoot here : http://forums.hardwareguys.com/

or you can just google it, nearly always has a solution :)
Reply #11 Top
I've DIY'ed most of my rigs but this one. Its actually a good system and I've been pretty happy with Alienware. I figured I overpayed about 300 hundred dollars just to have blue alien eyes match my razor, lcd hdtv and g15 but I had the money. Its not the parts, I wouldnt call Foxconn, Corsair, Sony, etc; substandard parts. I usually reduce the amount of processes to to vital windows when playing games like supcomm, and it automatically flips to Vista basic with Sins. Its in the code of beta 4 and vista, I'm pretty sure now. I threw in another 2 gigs of ddr 800 LL and its still chugging on large maps. So, I'm gonna wait until Alpha gets on here and go from there. I should just break down and get a 8800gtx cuz this 7950gt has had problems with other games and flash hates this card, but I'm saving up for my dream telescope/ binocular viewer setup and astronomy makes gaming look like a poor mans sport for sure. Eeeek, lots of text. This thread should die now, ty for you inputs! wp
Reply #12 Top
8800 gtx, meh. the gt is nearly as fast and so much cheaper it's not funny. if you really want to be that fast, grab the gts, it's faster than the gtx
Reply #13 Top
oooh  :HOT: XXX edition? Damnit no! Spring is coming and I need a light bucket for my arizona skys!
Reply #14 Top
8800 gtx, meh. the gt is nearly as fast and so much cheaper it's not funny. if you really want to be that fast, grab the gts, it's faster than the gtx


Um, since when is the GTS faster than the GTX?
Reply #16 Top

8800 gtx, meh. the gt is nearly as fast and so much cheaper it's not funny. if you really want to be that fast, grab the gts, it's faster than the gtx


Um, since when is the GTS faster than the GTX?


They're not, but they are nearly identical in performance up to the >24" resolutions, and considering the price...win! (proud owner of OC'd eVGA 8800GTS 512 :P)
Reply #17 Top
OK, good. This thread will self destruct in...3...2...1