Faster computer - why the lag?

[Dragon Slave]

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6400+   3.36 GHz

3582 MB RAM

4 gb Corsair XMS DDR2

NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT

I don't know what any of this means, other than this new computer of mine is way more powerful than my old, with a 3x as much RAM, a better video card, and faster processor.  I'm not a hardware spec person, but l figure that a better computer = better running games?  Why wouldn't it?

I loaded up the sims today for the first time since transfering my files last night, and I expected it to fly.  I guess it did... load times were half or less than what they were on my old computer, but the game itself dragged horrendously when I tried to play.  Animations lagged to a crawl, camera rotations had a several second delay, whether rotating, scrolling, or zooming.  On my old computer, the response was almost always immediate, and even though there was some lag, it wasn't enough for me to consider the game unplayable, as I find it now.

I don't know what the deal is.  The graphic settings are at the highest level, which is what I had them set at in the past.  If my old computer could run it, then this one surly could.  But I don't think that's the problem, because even toning the settings down didn't make a difference.

It's odd because when I hit the start button key to minimize and return to my desktop, I'm there immediantly.  My old computer would give me a five minute lag before switching back.  So it's working faster behind the scenes -  as well as being faster on everything else it does.  There's no question that this isn't the superior computer.

I've closed all background tasks, system tasks, whatever seems unnessecary, but it shouldn't matter anyways if I have more than enough memory to run it.

Like I said, I'm not a hardware literate person.  I know this computer shouldn't have problems running the game, and if I had a guess, it would be with the system settings, video card, or divers.  I've already changed some of the settings to work for best performace, but beyond that, there seem to be so many new options with windows vista, I don't even know what I should consider.  I hate it.  

Does anyone know what could be causing the lag, or how to fix it, based on the hardware specs I posted? I can post more information if needed, but since I don't really know what's important, I'm not sure what to look for.  Any help would be appreciated, because if I can't get my game running at least as fast as it was on my old computer, I'm switching back, then all the money that went in to this one would be for nothing

Thanks!

[Theo]

You are probably looking for the multiprocessor syncing fix, although some people have reported this didn't solve their problem: Re: Are these BV bugs, or is it just me?, Re: BV freezes forever.

Being a new computer, odds are it has Vista installed. Upgrade to XP. 

[Dragon Slave]

Thanks for the links, the syncing fix seems like it might solve things, though the updates and utilities are for xp   I've downloaded the amd cpu driver for vista, but haven't noticed any improvements.  I'm still thinking this could solve things, if only I had the right utilities.

I do have a better idea of the problem though.  I first said that the animations were dragging as well, but on closer inspection, I realized they were actually faster and smoother.  The problem seems to lie just with my computers input devices, like the mouse and keyboard.  It takes several seconds before my actions are carried out in game, creating the lag when panning across the screen or zooming in and out.  Also, it's particularly noticable with the keyboard when I try to type things in the cheat menu.  I'm used to seeing the text appear as soon as I hit the keys, but now there's a sluggish delay before the text appears in the box. 

It's like these interfaces alone aren't running as fast as they should.  The game on the other hand, runs better than it ever has before... I just can't keep up with it when my sims are moving faster than I can follow, and rotating furniture has become so slow I might as well avoid buy and build mode all together.  Does this sound like it could be related to the dual processor problem?  I'm going to try and change the affinity of the game when it's running, see if that helps,  But I might end up returning to xp before this is all over.  I've loathed using vista from the start.

[KatEnigma]

Have you tried new mouse/keyboard drivers?

[Dragon Slave]

Drivers?  No, since the problem seemed to only exist inside the game.  I guess I can see how that would effect it though, espeacially with a new operating system.  Fortunatly, I was able to solve the lag by switching to a lower resolution, 1152 X 864, I think?  I thought it was set up to what I used to play on by default, and I still have trouble understanding why it made the difference it did, but I'm glad I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Thanks for the help though

[J. M. Pescado]

Is the "new operating system" Vista? Because that would be why. Vista chews up 75% of your RAMs, so unless you have at leat 8 GBs of RAMs, it's pointless to even consider using it. Even Microsoft think it's crap. It's ME all over again.

[Dragon Slave]

Yeah, it's vista.   I had a bad foreboding about it way before I switched, and one of the first things I noticed was all the crap system services running in the background.  I shut most of them down before playing, always.  But I don't know if it really makes a difference   For now, the change in game resolution seems to fix the lag problem, though sometimes, when I go back to the game after minimizing it, there's a lag I can't get rid of. 

Yeah, I've seriously considered switching back to xp... but won't it only be a matter of time before Vista takes over all together?  I feel like it's something I'm gonna have to inevitably accept, now or later.

[witch]

Not necessarily, you could hang on to XP until the OS after Vista comes out. Much like I did for ME.

[KatEnigma]

There's no reason to go to Vista.  I ran 98 until XP SP1.  I will run XP until something comes out that won't make me want to toss the computer out the window.

[J. M. Pescado]

Vista is so utterly crap that things that were originally dedicated Vista exclusives that weren't even supposed to run on XP...run better when hacked to run on XP. Vista = CRAP. Go back to XP!

[Ellatrue]

What about the whole directx 10 problem? I kind of expect Microsoft to force the issue.

[quasim]

Who needs DirectX 10 on Vista? Like putting the motor of a Porsche in a tractor :/

[Scotty]

You could install the game on The Enterprise computer, and it would still lag.

[J. M. Pescado]

What about the whole directx 10 problem? I kind of expect Microsoft to force the issue.

Given that Microsoft is backpedalling on Vista and games are developed to run XP, which is still the dominant platform still, even if they do support Vista, it is unlikely that Microsoft will force the issue more than they already have: They TRIED making DX10 Vista exclusives. These were hacked to run on XP. They ran better that way!

[Ennarys]

How does one switch to XP from Vista? I ask because I just bought a new computer and would prefer XP, but it came with Vista. Do I have to spend mucho money to purchase XP? How do I remove Vista?

[KatEnigma]

You find a copy of XP and you install it.

[witch]

But NOT over the top of Vista, which I have heard that some people have tried to do. Don't know whether that's an urban myth or not.
Find a tutorial on the net and print it out beforehand. Find the drivers you need for everything and put them on a CD or DVD.

[Ennarys]

I will consider it. Thank you.

[jsalemi]

There's a handy little utility called nLite (http://www.nliteos.com/) that easily makes custom XP install CDs for you.  When you install or repair XP, it asks for custom drivers on a floppy -- since most of us don't even HAVE a floppy drive anymore, this can be a problem.  nLite will copy the XP install CD, then you tell it which drivers to add (i.e., for AHCI disks, new motherboard, new video card, etc) and it generates a new image of the XP install CD with all the new drivers added.  Saved my ass recently when I built my new PC and moved my hard disk over from the old one.