Lay your knowledge on me.

CommonTater said:

There are multiple explanations possible... GPU is most likely, but also hard disk, controller speeds, etc.

seekermeister said:

Part of etc. is RAM.

Well I have 4GB of RAM and most if it isn't being used either. Would hard disk speed really be a major factor? I'm going to presume it's the GPU because all slightly lower spec games run fine, I assume if the hard disk was an issue it would crop up in those too.

When you began this thread, your questions sounded more theoretical than something to apply to a particular situation. Now that seems reversed. If this was really about a game issue from the start, it should have been posted in the Game Forum.

Regardless of the hardware that you have installed, that doesn't mean that all of it is performing as it should. but if the only time that you are having a problem is with one particular game, it may have nothing to do with hardware at all...assuming that your hardware meets the minimum specs for the game, it could be a problem with the installation of the game. Actually, the possibilities are endless, therefore the fashion in which you designed this thread is not likely to provide a solution, because the solution will probably require a process of elimination by testing hardware, tweaking, etc.

EDIT: Just as a gut reaction, I would tend to suspect that the problem is due to the fact that you have an ATI video card. The card itself is good, but ATI has never been good for drivers.

seekermeister said:

When you began this thread, your questions sounded more theoretical than something to apply to a particular situation. Now that seems reversed. If this was really about a game issue from the start, it should have been posted in the Game Forum.

When I started the thread I had a few questions regarding a few things I wanted to know (just for the sake of knowing) and others regarding problems I had. Seemed easier to add something else that had come up since than to make another thread about Far Cry 2, because it was just an example I was using.

seekermeister said:

Regardless of the hardware that you have installed, that doesn't mean that all of it is performing as it should. but if the only time that you are having a problem is with one particular game, it may have nothing to do with hardware at all...assuming that your hardware meets the minimum specs for the game, it could be a problem with the installation of the game. Actually, the possibilities are endless, therefore the fashion in which you designed this thread is not likely to provide a solution, because the solution will probably require a process of elimination by testing hardware, tweaking, etc.

EDIT: Just as a gut reaction, I would tend to suspect that the problem is due to the fact that you have an ATI video card. The card itself is good, but ATI has never been good for drivers.

In general when I'm playing games the CPU is never pushing it's self to the limit and there is plenty of RAM going unused. I was just curious. That to me would suggest the GPU wasn't performing in higher spec games like GTA IV, Crysis and Metro 2033. Just wanted see what people thought.

Tepid said:

No,, not really,, as games are programmed for GPU,, so, the GPU does most of the work, that and RAM, the Hard Drive only plays a very small factor, specifically, read/seek times.
Which is why some newer games take a while to load, then play fine. But, using SSD, and that load time drops significantly.

Newest Systems now really are so fast,, that the HDD is the slowest part of the system typically.
But, with the Cache sizes of HDD's increased, you don't really notice it much.

Drop an SSD in and you will see just how fast the newer systems really are.

Even on older systems, you ofcourse will see a significant speed increase with SSD.
But on a newer system, it can really be day and night. So, really the slowest part of a PC these days is the mechanical HDD.

Edit: Yes, seekermeister is right about ATI drivers. However, I do have the 4890 and am quite happy with it.

You may need to drop the ingame settings down. and yes. The GPU will play the biggest part in games. So, with gaming, the bottle neck will first be the GPU, the CPU, RAM, and MOBO all play a part, but their roles are sort of combined. They each have separate timings etc. but they are all pretty much in line with each other do their nature. Bus Speeds, etc.
If the CPU, RAM and MOBO are right for each other, it all comes down to more the rating level (or overall speed) of the 3. RAM can play a part, but typically, good RAM is all you need.

In other words,, the largest majority of the newest games will play fine on a Dual Core CPU with good Ram and a Mobo to match. Your GPU will need to be high end though.

I had actually looked at SSD's a week or so ago, fancied getting one but they where pretty expensive.

I'm currently using a 4850, it seems okay but I know it would struggle with some of the games I mentioned above. My mobo though was a cheapy (listed in my specs) I always sort of thought it might come back and bite me in the ass. As you can see though, I'm no expert. Maybe the mobo is fine but it was the cheapest part of the set up.

Cheers again guys.

kylehimself said:

I'm currently using a 4850, it seems okay but I know it would struggle with some of the games I mentioned above. My mobo though was a cheapy (listed in my specs) I always sort of thought it might come back and bite me in the ass. As you can see though, I'm no expert. Maybe the mobo is fine but it was the cheapest part of the set up.

I'm not really up on games, but isn't some of those games DX11? Generally, I do not consider Asus a cheapy MB, but from what I read here:

ASUS M4A785D-M PRO review

It doesn't support DX11. That may be a factor in your performance issue.