Hi all:

Now I am playing the Titan Quest Immortal Throne, the freezing problem still exists when there are a lot of monsters moving around the screen. My machine is AMD 64 3500 2.2 Ghz and the graphics is nvidia 6150 (which is onboard asus mb). Could you tell me how to determine the bottleneck in this case? Any tools I can download? Thx for your advance.

HS

It's very clear your video card is terrible.

Only way of getting better performance is to upgrade the video card.

Terrible is a kind description.

I know.

This is what I think too but do you have any tools to determine the bootleneck ?

Common knowledge of the performance of the various components of the pc and how they interact with one another is probably the best tool available.

Upgrade your graphics.

Another question: If I buy a good graphics card, during the game do they still need the cpu resources?

I play TQ as well... and have been wondering the same thing about my stuttery framerate.

I've got an A64 3000 and a 6800GT. Still the GPU? or is my A64 3K now the likely culprit?

Yes, but in an entirely different way. The difference will be huge though.

To be honest, it's better to stop beating abuot the bush. We know what game you're playing: list your current system in detail, tell us what you're prepared to spend, and then sit back and listen to the advice / opinions.

My machine spec:
Amd 64 3500 2.2 ghz
Graphics: onboard nvidia 6150 (it might be a gpu too)
1 gig RAM
100 GIG hd (7200 rpm)
Asus mb (mpn-vm if I remember correctly)

Is it I just need to upgrade the graphics card? Any recommendation?

hs

what games do you normally play and at what resolution???

I am playing Titan Quest Immortal Throne. The resolution is 1024x768.

What's the motherboard? AGP or PCI-e?

What's your budget?

PCiI-e.
The budget is below $200.

hs

1) run the windows performance monitor while you are running the game. If the cpu is active over 70% of the time, it is likely a limiting factor. Look at the hard page faults per second. If it is over 5 per second, then you likely need more memory. Using an integrated vga, the lack of vga power is almost certainly the main culprit.
2) How to verify. Buy an add-in vga card and try it. If it helps, problem identified. If not, return it. Ditto for memory & cpu. Buy from a place that allows returns, save the boxes, and be prepared to pay a reestocking fee if you guess wrong. Better, yet. Keep the upgraded parts; they will help the next bottleneck.

Get a 1950 Pro.

And some beer.

Wait a sec. What kind of Power Supply do you have? That's the first thing you need to consider before upgrading your GPU.

I think my power supply is around 380W. Is it good enough?

Wow. I'm surprised you can play that game at all with integrated. I play TQ (@1600x1200 though) and it takes a toll. I never have checked my frames with FRAPS, but I get minor slowdowns once in a while. e6600@2.925, 8800gts320 614/1850,2gb ram, raptor. I just recently went up to 2gb ram and I have not (surprisingly) had a lock up since.

It is why I sent out this post because I am tired of the freezing.
Question: if the card has GPU, does the game still used up the cpu resources?

The cpu sends the info to your gpu to be calculated. So even if you have the best card in world your cpu still has in game tasks to perform.