New motherboard with onboard graphics

[ubersauce]

Anyway, new computer, NVIDIA 6100 motherboard (don't know the specifics )

Has onboard GeForce 6150 SE graphics, 512 megs of video RAM.

Runs Source games terribly. D:
I've heard that the 6150 SE is terrible as is, but it's got Shader 3.0 support, yet runs with exactly the same lag/choppiness (although awful) on high and low settings.

One more thing (possibly most important) for the time being we've only got a gig of ram in here, with another coming in a week or so. Could that be the issue?

Oh yeah. I've tried GMod and TF2, both run great on medium/high, on singleplayer mode... awful when I try multiplayer

 

[koolaid]

i think you should put this in a oftopic and entertainment forum but thats cool by the way might build my own computer in 3 weeks

 

[TheZaw]

Probably should put this in tech talk.

My suggestion is not to use onboard graphics. Any decent graphics card will beat integrated any day.

 

[RESPAWN]

Anyway, new computer, NVIDIA 6100 motherboard (don't know the specifics )

Has onboard GeForce 6150 SE graphics, 512 megs of video RAM.

Runs Source games terribly. D:
I've heard that the 6150 SE is terrible as is, but it's got Shader 3.0 support, yet runs with exactly the same lag/choppiness (although awful) on high and low settings.

One more thing (possibly most important) for the time being we've only got a gig of ram in here, with another coming in a week or so. Could that be the issue?

Oh yeah. I've tried GMod and TF2, both run great on medium/high, on singleplayer mode... awful when I try multiplayer

Probably belongs in tech talk, but I'll take a stab here. Most, if not all, onboard graphics cards leach their video memory from the general RAM pool. Therefore, if the BIOS is allocating 512MB from your total of 1GB of RAM, then you are only left with 512MB of RAM left for Windows and any applications. I really don't know what the minimum requirements are for TF2, but I generally don't even recommend running XP on only 512 MB of RAM, let alone attempting to run a modern game on a computer running XP with only 512 MB of RAM. If you're running Vista and it's only got 512 MB of RAM... well, I'm surprised it'll run TF2 at all.

There is also the possibility that your onboard video card isn't getting the full 512 MB of RAM. Most all motherboards I've worked with that include onboard video have an option in the BIOS indicating how much RAM should be allocated to the video card. The default value on yours may be something ridiculously low, like 64MB or so. That said, even if this is the case, I don't think you'll see much performance benefit cranking it up to the full 512MB, since that will sap memory away from Windows and any applications you want to run under Windows.

In short, I would suggest that you:
1) wait until you get your other 1GB in
2) after that, check the BIOS to verify that your onboard card is indeed being alocated 512MB of RAM. This will leave 1.5GB for Windows
3) if you can afford it, buy a full, slot based video card (although I realize that this isn't within everybody's means).

 

[Davethegreat]

Indeed, its better to have at least 2 GB of ram, and a dedicated graphics card.

 

[ubersauce]

Probably belongs in tech talk, but I'll take a stab here. Most, if not all, onboard graphics cards leach their video memory from the general RAM pool. Therefore, if the BIOS is allocating 512MB from your total of 1GB of RAM, then you are only left with 512MB of RAM left for Windows and any applications. I really don't know what the minimum requirements are for TF2, but I generally don't even recommend running XP on only 512 MB of RAM, let alone attempting to run a modern game on a computer running XP with only 512 MB of RAM. If you're running Vista and it's only got 512 MB of RAM... well, I'm surprised it'll run TF2 at all.

There is also the possibility that your onboard video card isn't getting the full 512 MB of RAM. Most all motherboards I've worked with that include onboard video have an option in the BIOS indicating how much RAM should be allocated to the video card. The default value on yours may be something ridiculously low, like 64MB or so. That said, even if this is the case, I don't think you'll see much performance benefit cranking it up to the full 512MB, since that will sap memory away from Windows and any applications you want to run under Windows.

I'm running XP, and everything seems good. Also, I checked again, and it specifies as only having 872 megs of RAM, so I'm guessing that missing 128 megs is going towards the video card, leaving TF2 lacking. (The recommended requirements are 1 gig of RAM)

Anyway, some new ram is getting ordered in a few days, so we'll see then.
Thanks for the help guys.

 

[RESPAWN]

I'm running XP, and everything seems good. Also, I checked again, and it specifies as only having 872 megs of RAM, so I'm guessing that missing 128 megs is going towards the video card, leaving TF2 lacking. (The recommended requirements are 1 gig of RAM)

Anyway, some new ram is getting ordered in a few days, so we'll see then.
Thanks for the help guys.

That's exactly where it's going then. When you get the new RAM, be sure to go into the BIOS and proportion out a bit more to the video card. I'll leave it up to you to decide how much, but I'll bet things will run OK with 512 for the video card and 1.5 GB for XP.

 

[PieceMaker]

Also, to add to what Respawn is saying, I know this is true for integrated sound cards and I'm assuming it's the same for GPUs. When you run integrated, it pulls power from your CPU, in this case along with your RAM, so you'll be lacking in that area as well. You could get a cheap card that's not the best in the world, but it will run better than integrated and it will free up a lot of your CPU and RAM.

 

[AWPerator]

Don't use an onboard.

If you have an EVGA motherboard, they know that all of the people who would buy their boards wouldn't use the onboard.

The only reason they MIGHT have included it was in case of Graphics card failure, although many of their boards don't even come with Onboard graphics.

 

[Vainiac]

respawn summed it up pretty well. a second gig of ram will help but its no replacement for a discrete video card. on that note you can pick up a 9800gt which will play TF2 and pretty much all recent games beautifully (I have the older 8800gt and its awesome) from the ego mall and newegg for only a $100. It comes with a free copy of call of duty 4 as well, so its a great deal you really cant go wrong with.

 

[ubersauce]

Well, figured this could use a bit of closure.
Was playing around yesterday, got the Nvidia Omega drivers
BAD IDEA. Completely glitched the display while in game (even tried with HL2: DM)
So uninstalled those, reinstalled the standard Nvidia drivers.
What do you know, now it works perfectly.
Everything maxed minus AA, still with only a gig of RAM.

 

[pimpinabox]

heh yea. video drivers do make all the difference in the world .. how are you playing maxed settings with a 6150se tho? my old 6600gt wouldnt even play some of the f.e.a.r. maps on max settings without lag. then again tf2 isnt exactly graphics intensive..

 

[jdubz]

Yea man, get a GFX card

You could also try to run a TF2 FPS Config.