Why are my computer games slow?

[Bjossi]

Without further info saying that really says nothing. What version of the Catalysts are you using? I am using 11.1 and latest beta of ATi Tray Tools.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Without further info saying that really says nothing. What version of the Catalysts are you using? I am using 11.1 and latest beta of ATi Tray Tools.

When I click "About" in Catalyst Control Center it says I am using version 2009.0918.2132.36825. But what on Earth does that have to do with it? Maybe I just have different drivers?

[Bjossi]

That is the version of the Catalyst Control Center, not the driver. You see driver version in DirectX Diagnostic Tool (Type dxdiag into Run and visit the Display tab of the resulting window.). If the driver came with the CCC in your case then I guess you have version 9.7, which dates back to summer of 2009. That certainly would explain why you can play these games without any issues.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Then I'm not planning on updating it any time soon.

[Bjossi]

Updating is not so crucial, even if you play many newer games.

[BTGBullseye]

I have a HD 5770 myself and it runs all my games beautifully at either max or very high settings. It is using the same power supply I used to power my old Geforce 7900 GTX so this thing can't be all that hungry.

 

But be careful of ATi cards, ever since their 10.5 drivers legacy OpenGL has been pretty much completely broken. I have to use source ports for Hexen 2, Quake 2, etc. that have a more modern renderer. But other than this all the games I throw at it work great and run smoothly.

That's strange. I don't experience any problems with Quake 2, Hexen 2 or even GLQuake.

I have no issues either... (I'm using a Mobility Radeon 5470 with 2GB dedicated RAM on the 11.2 drivers)

[Bjossi]

Cool, maybe I should upgrade to 11.2 then.

P.S. There is not a chance the HD 5470 has 2 GB of dedicated vRAM.

[BTGBullseye]

Cool, maybe I should upgrade to 11.2 then.

P.S. There is not a chance the HD 5470 has 2 GB of dedicated vRAM.

It's a laptop computer, made by Dell. 2GB dedicated, 1.75 shared. It's just as possible as the 2GB dedicated RAM on the GTX 560ti listed here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261099 (which by the way is supposedly not possible according to several sites)

 

Just because it's not listed as being possible, doesn't mean it's impossible.

[Bjossi]

Laptops tend to share system RAM with GPUs, that is nothing new. And the GTX 560 is actually a high-performance card, the 5470 is not.

My HD 5770 "only" has 1 GB of vRAM but gets some access to my system RAM as well.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Hmm, my readings are telling me this thread's geek factor is off the scale.

[Bjossi]

I'm not in anyone's wildest dreams the most knowledgeable about computer hardware, when someone corrects me I use it to get extra geek points.

[BTGBullseye]

Laptops tend to share system RAM with GPUs, that is nothing new. And the GTX 560 is actually a high-performance card, the 5470 is not.

My HD 5770 "only" has 1 GB of vRAM but gets some access to my system RAM as well.

True, however the 5470 is not an integrated card. It is a dedicated card, with dedicated RAM. 2GB dedicated, 1.75 shared of my 6GB system RAM.

 

I'm not in anyone's wildest dreams the most knowledgeable about computer hardware, when someone corrects me I use it to get extra geek points.

Isn't that what we all do? I probly just have more experience in this particular regard.