Updating Computer for recording

[Dukat]

Hiya all

I'm looking to record another video, but I wanted to upgrade my computer first so that it wouldnt lag as much when running the recording software. (gamecam and fraps both seem to lag a bit).

I currently have:

Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz
1 GB DDR Ram
Radeon 9600 Series (256mb)
Audigy 2 Soundcard

I think my motherboard might be a tad on the cheap side, as my computer was originally an PCworld-built advent computer, but has since been upgraded in all but CPU and motherboard.

Would it be better to get a new motherboard? or would more RAM do more for my performance?

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

Wow! you lagging with gamecam with that setup?
If I were you I'd be searching for improvement on your installation/software mate, cos I didn't even lag with Gamecam when I had my AMD XP 1400+ with 768MB DDR266..

 

[Dukat]

This is my problem - I'm trying to find the "weak link" but apart from my mobo I cant think of anything.

Admittedly the recording seems a little laggier since I switched to the Radeon, from my Geforce 4, but the graphics are WAY better with it. Would that be the cause of the lag? I've heard the series perhaps isnt the best of the bunch.

However, I've made sure the everything has the latest drivers, what else would I change from the software point of view? I run windows XPatm, when I record I turn everything bar DAOC off.

Would motherboards effect the lag caused when recording a video ?

 

[Serdan]

The mainboard can influence the speed a bit, but not dramatically, imo, in 3-5% range, unless you messed up with bios setups completely. So changing of mainboard will not save you here. As for your setup only thing you can do to improve your performance is to upgrade the CPU. DAOC is too strongly processor dependent. Check what is the maximal CPU speed you can use in your mobo, maybe it wise to upgrade both.


P.S. Of course these new dual kernel babies would solve your problem completely, but upgrade is a bit costy. Just had to mention that, sorry .)

 

[Dukat]

Dual kernal? Not heard of that before, does that mean hyper-threading? If so - thats what I have at the moment.

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

Cerdan means something like the AMD 64 x2 processor. It's got a dual core

Cerdan, a kernel is the spine of the operating system, it's got nothing to do with the processor, and having two kernels ain't gonna help your stability

btw, Are you running XP SP2? or SP1a?

 

[youngbaba]

CPU is fine get a faster HDD. Even better, be writing to a HDD other than the one with your windows swap file on

 

[Dukat]

Cerdan means something like the AMD 64 x2 processor. It's got a dual core

Cerdan, a kernel is the spine of the operating system, it's got nothing to do with the processor, and having two kernels ain't gonna help your stability

btw, Are you running XP SP2? or SP1a?

Running SP2 afaik

CPU is fine get a faster HDD. Even better, be writing to a HDD other than the one with your windows swap file on

Cheers - will look at getting the fastest hard disk I can find any idea on a recommended speed for writing video?

Will be strange though, I already have a good 50 gig spare atm, will be strange to get another disk :S

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

My experience with SP2 wasn't that good, I am running SP1a.. SP2 made my system a lot slower, and there were too many incompatibilities (even explorer acted funny).

What I also do, at installation, I install XP into a seperate partition of about 8GB. The only thing on that drive is XP and the swapfile.
Another partition (D is for my personal data so it don't get wiped when reinstalling (My documents, Favorites, Desktop, Mail etc..)
Third partition (E is for Programs and Games
F: is the DATA partition for downloads, music, movies etc..
and my second drive is partitioned in 4's, Linux Swap, Linux, Data (G and Backups (Z

G: was the drive where I taped the GameCam movies on. It also had an extra swapfile for Windows (making it respond just a bit faster.)

Swapfile should be between (about) 2.5 and 3.5 times the size of your internal memory

 

[Dukat]

My experience with SP2 wasn't that good, I am running SP1a.. SP2 made my system a lot slower, and there were too many incompatibilities (even explorer acted funny).

What I also do, at installation, I install XP into a seperate partition of about 8GB. The only thing on that drive is XP and the swapfile.
Another partition (D is for my personal data so it don't get wiped when reinstalling (My documents, Favorites, Desktop, Mail etc..)
Third partition (E is for Programs and Games
F: is the DATA partition for downloads, music, movies etc..
and my second drive is partitioned in 4's, Linux Swap, Linux, Data (G and Backups (Z

G: was the drive where I taped the GameCam movies on. It also had an extra swapfile for Windows (making it respond just a bit faster.)

Swapfile should be between (about) 2.5 and 3.5 times the size of your internal memory

I used to have a similar setup, C for windows, D for games, E for files. However at the moment I have it all on C, the disk has a small partition for a drive image, and the rest is just one big drive.

I prefer having the drives setup into 3, as it enables me to format one in the event of virus's or other dodgy mess ups with the O/S. However at the moment I have rather alot of files that need backing up, so that will have to wait for a bit.

SP2 seems to run fairly well, not noticably different to SP1, I've never really noticed much difference between the two.

 

[youngbaba]

Dude

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=80594

Best HDD that money can buy

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=55454

Slightly slower version, and cheaper

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=50948

36GB version of the slower variety

Any of these HDDs will be a massive improvment on what your running atm. I'd recommend a large one to act as main HDD, or if your happy with the one you have for windows and gaming, get a 36GB one dedicated to recording the vid and windows swapfile. Im buying the top one as soon as I get paid

 

[Joor]

1.Switch to AMD64 and use Windows xp 64 bit version- ALOT faster with fraps.
2.Get a good Harddisk(Western Digital Raptor 74 GB or a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250 GB with 16 mb Buffer )
3. Windows swap file should be 2.5x your RAM size.make a new drive (use PartitionMagic 8 is good)and put it in there.
4. In fraps option set to > halfsize,40-50 fps, no sound.

works for me

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

ofcourse you could buy an entire new pc, but why the hell do that if it's possible to make it work properly with just a good new installation, and perhaps a 2nd harddrive.

Like I said, I had gamecam working lag-less on my previous computer which was a LOT less then what he has.

And Western Digital, aye, they are damn fast, but again, I managed with two ATA100 Seagate 7200rpm drives.

And NOTHING on my pc was overclocked.

If the installation of the pc has been done properly, there should be nothing keeping you from a good capture (and ohw, enable hyperthreading, I didn't have it, but it might help you a lot. If you activate HT, run DAoC on the one, and Cam on the other virtual cpu)

 

[Himse]

Cerdan means something like the AMD 64 x2 processor. It's got a dual core

Cerdan, a kernel is the spine of the operating system, it's got nothing to do with the processor, and having two kernels ain't gonna help your stability

btw, Are you running XP SP2? or SP1a?

i just ordered a dual core pc, it actually rox

its good for running 2 copies of daoc aparently, i got 2x2.4 in mine...

Eggy says he has 4x3.0 or something insane, what an ass :\

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

i just ordered a dual core pc, it actually rox

its good for running 2 copies of daoc aparently, i got 2x2.4 in mine...

Eggy says he has 4x3.0 or something insane, what an ass :\

Oohw, I know the AMD 64 x2 rocks.. no doubt about it, but in my opinion, it's a shame to buy an entirely new computer for things you can do with a computer you currently own, like dukat's computer can.

No doubt in my mind that I'd love to have one of those x2's... but imo it's a shame to spend that much money if you've got a pretty good pc anyway.
Technological advances aren't going as fast anymore as they used to go, so a pc of two years ago is still pretty viable for about everything you can throw at it.

 

[eggy]

i just ordered a dual core pc, it actually rox

its good for running 2 copies of daoc aparently, i got 2x2.4 in mine...

Eggy says he has 4x3.0 or something insane, what an ass :\

That's 4 x Xeon 3.2ghz 1mb CPUs, don't usually use it for daoc tho

 

[Honza]

My configuration works pretty fast with GameCam (800x600x30FPS) and it is:
P4 2,4 HT (OC 3,2GHz)
4x Corsair 2-2-2-5 256MB DDR400 modules dual channel performance mode
Asus FX5950 (GeForce 5900 with 128 MB DDR2)
mobo Asus P4C800
HDD Western Digital SATA150 200GB (8MB cache)

I am completely lagless when the recording is in progress with GameCam...
Don't use Fraps, it loads your PC waste too much - imho uses quite ineffective algorithms. With PC u have you should be fine when properly configured BIOS and system (although that ATI card... cough cough).

And considering SP2... it will work much better if properly installed (things like badly working explorer or so just point to fact that servicepack was not installed neither included in instalation CD of Windows neither on unmessed installed Windows). Being slower - the same as above. Properly installed it increases performance of your PC about 2-5% (according to the many tests performed by computer magazines)

size of Swapfile: with 1GB ram it is more than enough to have 1,5GB swapfile (never filled more than 1,2GB of swap file even when working with 3Dmax, Maya, Adobe Premiere or other memory-hungry software, though performance wise simulate linux swap file - make another logical unit on your HDD, move it to drive Z (or st) and fill it 100% with swapfile... (set minimal and maximal size the same to fill the drive Z full - swap file won't be then spread all over your C drive or so. (for abusing by Windows for low space on Z - enable quota management for drive Z, deny disk space to users exceeding quota limit and set limit disk space and warning level to 1MB)

 

[Jaem-]

I recently upgraded my computer, I saved up for aaaages and ages, long long time then finaly bought myself some goodies.

P4 3.4ghz
ATI x800
1gb DDR2 ram
2x Sata Drives 16mb cach (raided into one)

I run my desktop in 1280x1024, I run my main cata client in the same and windowed(hate alt-tabing) and bot account running in SI with 800x640.
Using Fraps I can record from my main char with miniumal effects to my performance.

Keep in mind, its not just needing good memory, you need fast hard drives to beable to read data when your playing and writing huge amounts of uncompressed .avi files when your recording. I noticed this huge difference when testing it with my old IDE ATA133 drive and compared to my raid'd sata drives, huge gain in performance.

Sounds like your looking to make a nother movie Kalloth, look forward to it, I started making one again too but only have 3 clips so far.

 

[Honza]

I noticed this huge difference when testing it with my old IDE ATA133 drive and compared to my raid'd sata drives, huge gain in performance.

OFC, because IDE ATA133 works on southbridge and forces CPU to take care of all the crap, but S-ATA works on its own similar to SCSI so doesn't load CPU that much.

 

[andyr00barb]

To add my two penneth, I like to do the following when frapsing: -
Write to a partition that you only use for fraps clips. I usually completely format a partition and use that only for fraps. Reason being I want fraps writing to contiguous disk space. Can't imagine that writing to a fragmented drive does fraps any favours. I write to a Maxtor 7200RPM SATA disk with 8MB cache and it does just fine. I've had it in RAID 0 before though not at the moment and can't say I noticed much of a difference.

I've recently moved from a AMD 3400 socket 754 to a AMD 3500 socket 939. Fraps appears to be working much better for me now. One difference between the two is the fact that the socket 939 board supports dual channel RAM. I don't know if this is important but it is an observation. Is your 1GB RAM made up of one stick or two. Does the motherboard support dual channel RAM and does it support it in the slots your memory is in?

I run at 1280*1024 so I can only capture at half size in fraps. That said I capture at 30fps my actual FPS in game doesn't drop below that when recording.

What settings do you capture at and what does fraps report your FPS as when capturing/not capturing?

 

[Dukat]

Cheers all for the helpful replies.

I have tried using FRAPs and Gamecam, both of which run at around 15 fps, enough to cause really noticable screenlag, enough to make playing at any standard really hard.

With fraps I set it to half size and 25 fps, I've tried fiddling with the settings but this doesnt seem to help.

I've not had gamecam as long so I still need to check through how I have it setup.

My RAM is two 512mb sticks, as far as I know it supports dual channel ram, but I'm not really sure. here's the manufacturers website on the mobo, if that helps:

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=455

I've just bought a new computer, so I dont have more than £100 or so to spend, so most of the higher speed HDD's in previous links arent in my price range. I've read on reviews that hard disk speeds will only account for around 5%ish performance at most, where as I'm looking for a dramatic (30-50%) increase.

My old geforce card seemed to run alot faster than my current radeon, I'm considering trying to swap it while I record, will get back to you if that helps.

I'm going to be swapping alot of hardware around between my two computers, my newer one is an AMD, and seems to run alot smoother.

Sounds like your looking to make a nother movie Kalloth, look forward to it, I started making one again too but only have 3 clips so far.

yep looking to make a new video, this ones going to be showing off my playstyle, I learnt alot from the feedback on my last one, so I'm hoping this one will be alot better also trying to make a 'vampiir hunter' video with my paladin, trying to go round beating up vamps whenever I get time (not often at the moment). I also like making Raven Shield and Unreal Tournament videos, so once I get this recording problem sorted I'll be making a fair few

 

[Honza]

Thinking about your problems with lags... Thanks to fact ATI does not support multimonitoring for Direct 3D (DirectX part) this might be the problem - ATI drivers sux for ages and although ATI guys improved them quite a lot they still can't match nVidia ones. Your card simply does not support the feature, that's prolly the reason of your high lags. Try getting newest ATI drivers (direct ATI Catalyst - https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27, not gfx card manufacturer) and also you might try abusing ATI tech support - it can be just some feature to enable/disable in drivers settings to make your life easier.
Note that you NEED XP SP2 for best performance of drivers.
It might be also wise to check up new drivers for your motherboard ;-)