10 replies to this topic

[Togashi Renshi]

Hello to all, I have a bit of a problem here. I've recently tried installing Morrowind (+Tribunal+Bloodmoon) onto my new computer (which is actually rather old). It installed just fine, but when I went to play it, it was uber-slow. And I mean UBER slow. I tried changing the resolution, but it was still really slow. Basically, what I'm asking is that does anyone know what video card I would need for the game to run alright?

[Tom]

Morrowind is rather strange, its performance doesnt really seem to be related to any one thing. I have a P4 2.8ghz, 6600gt and 1gb of ram and only get ~25-30 FPS, whereas others with slower graphics cards get higher. So the slow performance could be a combination of many things, but I would think that GF5600 or radeon 9600 should be able to handle it, and 512 mb of RAM would help too. Processor Im not so sure, but somewhere in the region of 1.8 ghz should do.

[oralpain]

Morrowind is pritty CPU limited on all but the slowest graphics cards.

My old geforce 2 ran morrowind just fine.

[Togashi Renshi]

My laptop (which currently is in intensive care, so to speak) was a dell inspiron 7500, with I-don't-know-what-video-card. It's a fairly old computer, so that may have something to do with it. Maybe I should just spring for an Inspiron 1100 and leave it at that.

[Archmage Silver]

It really depends on what mods you use... at least with my pc it does.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2,2GHz / 640KB Socket 939 (Box)
Case: Antec Sonata Piano Black Quiet 380 W
Mobo: A8N-SLI Deluxe, NVIDIA nForce 4
Graphics: MSI GeForce 6800GT 256MB
RAM: 1024 Mt DDR 400 Mhz PC-3200 Kingston
Hard Drive: 160 Gt Seagate Barracuda 7 (7200 Rpm, DMA100, 8 Mt)
Speakers: Creative, 2 speakers & a subwoofer

I have like 150+ mods but it runs with but a little lag at all.

[Yovaneth]

My laptop (which currently is in intensive care, so to speak) was a dell inspiron 7500, with I-don't-know-what-video-card.

Intel 'Grantstone' so-called 'Extreme Graphics' chipset. Definately NOT supported by Morrowind - I think it even says so somewhere on the Bethesda website. Got to be one of THE worst integrated graphics chipsets ever designed; no support for OpenGL and almost sod-all support for DirectX. I have a Tosh laptop; 2.2GHz, 512Mb RAM and a 40Gb HDD; it never - and I mean never - gets used because of that crap chipset. It was an insurance replacement, before you ask the very obvious question!

OTOH, on a 1.8Ghz Athlon with a 256Mb ATI Radeon 9800 and 512Mb RAM, TES screams along with everything maxed out at 1260x1074.

-Y-

Edited by Yovaneth, 04 June 2005 - 11:04 AM.

[Togashi Renshi]

Hmm, yes, this will help mucho. Thanks!
One final thing Yovaneth, how much do you think the Athlon would cost?

[Yovaneth]

One final thing Yovaneth, how much do you think the Athlon would cost?

That depends on which Athlon you want.... the 1.8Ghz (2200+) is now an obsolete, almost-unobtainable chip. Plus, of course, the motherboard has to match. I don't know which country you are in, but here in the UK, it's almost cheaper to buy a new PC than to upgrade an old one. It definately is cheaper if all you need is the main PC and you already have a usable monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers/printer etc.

-Y-

[oralpain]

A 1.8 GHz Athlon 64 (2800+ for S754, 3000+ for S939) will cost about 120 bucks for the 754 modle and about 150-160 for the newer venice modle on S939. Both are very viable chips and are faster than any athlon XP in most cases, esp games.

If you want a reasonbly inexpensive upgrade you can get a quality, inexpensive socket 754 motherbaord for around 60 bucks or a 939 motherbaord for 80. Toss in a CPU for 120-150 and a gig of good memory for 100 bucks more. If you are just concerned with morrowind you could easily get by with 512 megs of ram, wich would only be around 50 dollars.

[Michele]

You migh try setting the "fog" to a higher level (as in you dont see as far) as the slowdown is usually caused by all the poly renders going on.

FWDeath taught me this trick.

Edited by Michele, 12 August 2005 - 12:51 PM.

[Matthewr16]

It's mostly just making sure you have 512Mb+ RAM and an actual graphics card rather than onboard, my old Radeon 9200SE ran Morrowind fine with 512Mb RAM.

-Matt