Need help enhancing (making it faster) oblivion!

[mboy99]

Ok guise, lemme start of by saying that I have read the Optimizing oblivion post. I have tried just about everything in that guide, and nothing goes faster. What I'm trying to do, is to get oblivion to go on high Q[uality] without any bumps in preformance, and no visual bugs. Right now, oblv runs fine in cells on low quality, but outside, preformance slows doen to about 10-16 fps. I've tried almost every mod out there, (including streamline) with no prevail. What I'm looking for is hardware for my PC to increase preformance (No mods, unless you're really sure they'll help me, please). Here are my current spec's: (from my comp)

 

System:

 

XP

Home Edition

Version 2002

Service Pack 2

 

Computer:

 

Intel® Pentium 4, p.4 GHz

1.5 GB RAM

about 150 gigs ROM

 

EDIT: oops =P I meant 150 gigs harddrive space.

 

Video card: ATI Radeon 9550 / X1050 series [Dpoint SB70]

 

Monitor: Mitsubishi 1024x768 (non-HDR)

 

I'm thinking that it's the rendering of the cells/wilderness that is hindering my preformance, which is why I am thinking about getting a new gaming-specified Video card and/or an new HDR monitor for my B-day (which is in about 35 days BTW =D) Any (Hardware-related) suggestions would be greatly appreciated! =D (And bumps, too, if allowed)

[malonn]

Hardware is the best solution for increasing performance.

[Crisb92]

The HDR comes from the Video Card, not the monitor, but yeah, a new vid card or new processor would be a good idea. However, before rushing into it, make sure that your motherboard supports pci-e and the newer processors, otherwise the new components may not fit.

 

This is the system I'm getting, hope it helps you:

 

CPU Intel C2D e6750 2.66GHz

GPU Nvidia Geforce 8800gt

MB aBit iP35 Pro

RAM 2GB DDR2

PSU Corsair HX 520W

Screen Samsung 206BW

[bibosemper]

As stated above, a new monitor will do nothing to improve game speed.

 

I'm sure you'll get plenty of suggestions regarding hardware upgrades, but said suggestions might be more helpful if people knew what kind of budget constraints you're dealing with! I'm going to assume you're operating on the cheap, and so suggest:

 

Memory: Getting up to a full 2GB might be a good idea, but you probably already knew that.

 

Video card: This might be the real bottleneck for you-- for a passable card that doesn't break the bank, you might try something from ATI's Radeon X1950 family, or, on the Nvidia side, the popular 8600gt. These are both *cheap* (or at least as cheap as gaming cards are going to get) and, just as important, widely available. Tom's Hardware Page is your friend here... and be sure that your power supply can handle whatever you buy!

 

Processor: Upgrading your CPU can essentially involve building a new computer, especially if you're working with an older motherboard. There's a typo in your original post-- are you working with a P4 2.4 or 3.4? If the former is the case, Oblivion may always be a bit much for your machine, no matter how much RAM or video card muscle you install.

 

Software: You have tried the low-poly grass mod, right? That's a very simple mod that can make a real noticeable improvement to outdoor frame rates. Also do be sure to keep the "fruit salad" in your system tray to a minimum. It's okay to turn off your resident virus scanner for a while if you're just playing Oblivion... and make sure you're not dl'ing any torrents in the background or anything silly like that. But, as your original post suggests, you're probably already on top of that stuff.

 

Best of luck and keep us posted! Running games on the "happy medium" level of hardware = a project that always fascinates me and, I would guess, many others here.

 

Oh, and not to get too snotty or anything, but I seriously doubt your hard drive is read-only :thumbsup: