[ashleymoye]

I just brought cod4 and it lags like hell. The sound is ok, as are the graphics, its just the lag. It's annoying because It cost me quite a bit and you can't get refunds on PC games. I've got a Windows Vista Home Basic or something. How can I stop the lag?

 

[koala]

Please post your system specs. CPU, RAM, PSU, graphics card. What speed is your internet connection?

 

[ashleymoye]

Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M CPU 440 @ 1.8GHz, ~1.9GHz
Memory: 446MB RAM
Graphics: ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M Series

 

[Jack.Sparrow]

System requirements Minimum:
- Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 2800+ processor or any 1.8Ghz Dual Core Processor or better supported
- 512MB RAM (768MB for Vista)
- NVIDIA Geforce 6600 or better or ATI Radeon 9800 Pro or better
- 8 Giga bytes of free hard disk space
Recommended:
- 2.4 GHz dual core or better is recommended
- 1024MB RAM (2048MB for Vista)
- 3.0 Shader Support recommended. Nvidia Geforce 7800 or better or ATI Radeon X1800 or better.

I don't think you meet the minimum system requirements, thus the lag.

 

[ashleymoye]

That's insane. They are pretty much saying you need to buy the latest pc and put nothing else on it apart from the game.

 

[koala]

Not really. The system requirements are about average for modern games. Did you read the 'minimum system requirements' on the side of the box when you bought the game?

Vista needs at least 1gb RAM to run efficiently (2gb recommended). 446mb is very low, even for the less demanding XP.

The Celeron is not a gaming CPU, it's more for web browsing and office applications.

Your graphics card is well below modern specs, and is not recommended for gaming at all.

The 8gb of hard drive space required to install the game is at the higher end of the scale for modern games, but not unreasonable. If you have a 250gb hard drive, which is quite modest for a Vista system, then 8gb is a drop in the ocean, leaving plenty of room for other stuff. Most people using Vista have computers capable of running it well and plenty of hard drive space.

I would recommend you drop Vista and go back to XP if possible. Or upgrade your CPU to at least a P4, your RAM to at least 1gb, and your graphics card to something capable of playing modern games. Basically, these upgrades and the motherboard/PSU needed to run them means a new computer.

 

[sandomingo]

Listen up! The problems most gamers have is that their Graphics video cards do not match those recommended by Game makers, having said that your system must be configured for games only so this way you'll get the best out of your system, too many updates will corrupt your drivers unless you carefully select the appropriate versions, bare in mind that video cards have their own cpu which allows them to decode and encode data as needed,

 

[koala]

Thanks for your reply, but as you can see from the comments already posted, there's more to it than just the graphics card. :smile:

 

[d-thinkerdotcom]

Remember there are 2 different types of graphics cards PCI-Express and AGP. Perhaps if you have low specifications u may just wing it with a 1Giga RAM graphics card. Try updating in a step by step way. If this does not work then try updating the memory.

I bought mine from Novatech and it has been working for one year with no problems. Look for NVIDIA.

One more thing, you may need to take out a CD drive, or a second drive and reconnect the power to the graphics card, as they require a lot of power. This is easier than it sounds.

 

[Scotty49]

Hey i have p4 1g ram and half decent gpu and i cant even run the demo. sorry but as the previous replys have stated when u deal with computers its a case of upgrade or die.

 

[FreoHeaveho]

the recommended and minimum specs for that game can be found in computers several years old. Unfortunately laptops are not built for games.

 

[d-thinkerdotcom]

Laptops are not good for new games, but great for emulators such as zx spectrum or Atari 2600.

It is hit and miss, buy a few old games, if they don't work give them to charity.

 

[sandomingo]

the recommended and minimum specs for that game can be found in computers several years old. Unfortunately laptops are not built for games.

Who said Laptops are mot build for games?? My brother has a DELL Laptop a few years old with a ATI Radeon video card and played the game COD4 from the first day he bought it without any errors or problems, and also COD2, we play online all the time. The problem is with NVIDIA CARDS they did'nt like the game code.

 

[sandomingo]

Hey! Ashleymore Can you increase the memory, do you have an extra slot on your motherboard? or change the memory size upto your MB specs, and change your AGP or PCI video card to more recent one must have Shaders 3 and DDR3 512mb, 400mhz or higher processor on board, Go ATI Radeon, it does not have to cost you more than $230 Aus. Some of these cards are AGP X4,X8, Don't forget you will need to a power supply 400Watts or 450W. Best wishes

 

[pharoah]

the original poster said that had an ati card.unfortunately its integrated graphics.id say thats the root of the problem here.

 

[FreoHeaveho]

Who said Laptops are mot build for games?? My brother has a DELL Laptop a few years old with a ATI Radeon video card and played the game COD4 from the first day he bought it without any errors or problems, and also COD2, we play online all the time. The problem is with NVIDIA CARDS they did'nt like the game code.

Most laptops are built with power conservation in mind so that battery life can be maintained. To do this, slower, less power consuming (and more recently more efficient) components are used. For example, hard drivers with 5400RP rather than 7200RPM or greater (or solid state more recently), lower powered gpus (such as integrated ones on 90% of laptops), slower CPU,s and sometimes LED backlit screens.

Yes, you can get the occassional laptop with a decent gpu that will play games, but it is the exception not the rule. An example are ones with 8800 but a ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M series however, is not built for gaming.

Just out of curiosity, what Dell Laptop is that please? Also can you please reference where nVidia cards "did'nt like the game code"? That would be an interesting read for me... cheers

 

[pharoah]

bigfellla i have a feeling he was making an ati vs nvidia flame.i know of many people with nvidia cards that play cod4 with no problems.

 

[FreoHeaveho]

including myself.... cheers pharoah

The min specs are NVIDIA 6600 or better/ATI X1300 or better

Recommended specs are: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or better

funny that infinity ward would make special mention of nVidia here..... :4-dontkno

...and that COD2 was built with nVidia drivers in mind...

 

[sandomingo]

Most laptops are built with power conservation in mind so that battery life can be maintained. To do this, slower, less power consuming (and more recently more efficient) components are used. For example, hard drivers with 5400RP rather than 7200RPM or greater (or solid state more recently), lower powered gpus (such as integrated ones on 90% of laptops), slower CPU,s and sometimes LED backlit screens.

Yes, you can get the occassional laptop with a decent gpu that will play games, but it is the exception not the rule. An example are ones with 8800 but a ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M series however, is not built for gaming.

Just out of curiosity, what Dell Laptop is that please? Also can you please reference where nVidia cards "did'nt like the game code"? That would be an interesting read for me... cheers

Hey! Bigfella The Dell Inspiron 9300 series, and as for Nvidia it was posted about a couple of months ago on the COD4 website because alot of people were having problems with error starting the game "Separate Alpha blending"

Infinity Ward was notifying everyone that they were working on this problem with Nvidia and that there was nothing they could do at the time, recommending the latest drivers from NVIDIA forceware which did not fix the problem for many people, some went to the trouble of buying new $3000 PC to find out that COD4 returned the same error, my believe is that they must have had an NVIDIA video card as there were not many people encountering this problem with ATI cards hope his answers your question.:smooch:

 

[FreoHeaveho]

Ok, thanks for replying, the main point is that this is not a standard laptop, it has a faster hard drive, faster CPU, and more importantly a dedicated gpu (6800go or the 7880gtx I think). However you are still only looking at around 900 - 2000 in 3DMark06 dependent on what model you have. A bit different to the 4,000 you will get on an average desktop card (I get 13,000). This will be in my opinion, only is just playable (compared to a desktop), you would be looking at about 20 - 25 fps and highest settings. Not great. But satisfactory to most.

In terms of your nVidia comment:
Alpha blending is a convex combination of two colours allowing for transparency effects in computer graphics. The value of alpha in the colour code ranges from 0 - 1, where 0 represents a fully transparent colour, and 1 represents a fully opaque colour. This is done (I believe) with shader model 3 cards and as such the minimum requirements for COD4 are as follows: Geforce 6600 or better or ATI Radeon 9800Pro or better.

This error (attached) that you are referring to relates to ATi cards equally.

http://www.cod4gamers.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=306
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f24/installing-ati-radeon-9800-pro-197374.html

To say, it is "my believe (sic)" that because you see more nVidia cards display this, it means it is nVidia specific, is based on anecdotal evidence (sorry im a scientist :grin. This effect you are seeing is much more likely to be a result of nVidia's much larger market share (ie more nvidia chips in the wild). In fact nvidia has a market share similar to Intel in the graphics department (around 33% each) and ATi's less than 20% at Q1 2007. Based on the success of nVidia since then, which correlates to the release of COD4, i would suggest that nVidia's market share has subsequently gone up.

Essentially all this means that your video card is not supported. Onboard video chips, nVidia cards older than the 6xxx series and ATi older than the 98xx pro series are not supported by COD4. It is not nVidia specific.