Help in speeding up a slow PC please!

Bret Riverboat · Sep 14, 2015

Hi all.

I got a new gaming rig specifically for ED and have been very happy with it, so I gave my father my old PC to play the game as well (he taught me how to dock successfully way back in '84). His PC does run the game as it's got more than the minimum requirements but not nearly as well as we would like. I set all the graphics levels as low as I could but it still struggles, during normal flight and very bad in the station or at a RES. it's borderline unplayable.

My question is: is there more I can do to speed it up? It's a Dell Inspiron One 2310 with a core i5 460m processor and Radeon HD 5470 graphics. Unfortunately it also now has Windows 10!

I'm happy to mess around with settings but no good at hardware altering- quite a newb when it comes to taking these things apart! If anyone has an idea for graphics set up both in and out of the game I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Many thanks

Riktar · Sep 14, 2015

The biggest issue you are facing is the GPU. The 5470 is WOEFULLY underpowered for ED. And since this is an All-in-one form factor, the GPU is not upgradeable on that machine.

Sorry I can't give you better news.

Windscreen Smudge · Sep 14, 2015

You're not going to get much more out of any of that hardware. The processor is locked and the GPU is anemic and won't OC well. $500 will get you a new PC that will run the game for years to come. Start saving up and don't be afraid to spend money on your hobbies.

TheDayman · Sep 14, 2015

Ouch - yeah I concur with what Riktar said. You can try OCing the GPU a bit - download the latest drivers from AMD and try MSI afterburner (not sure if it works with that model). Honestly I haven't spent much time upgrading laptops, so I don't know how difficult it would be to swap out the GPU but you could always give it a try.

Riktar · Sep 14, 2015

TheDayman said:
so I don't know how difficult it would be to swap out the GPU but you could always give it a try.

This system has the GPU integrated onto the mainboard. So there is no "upgrading" in the traditional sense.

Robert Maynard · Sep 14, 2015

Have you performed a disk cleanup since installing Windows 10? If you have not (and are happy to remove as many traces of the old version of Windows as possible), make sure to select the "Clean up system files" tab and select the "Previous Windows installation(s)" checkbox.

One aspect of older PCs that is often overlooked is the effect of a fragmented pagefile, especially on a partition that is relatively full. By default, Windows sets the pagefile to vary in size under the direct control of the O/S. As time goes on, with user files / programs adding to the disk usage (while the pagefile changes size at need), the disk becomes more and more fragmented.

A fix for this is to reduce the pagefile to a minimum size (or remove it from the primary O/S partition altogether), delete any unwanted files from the partition then defragment the O/S partition (I use Defraggler by Piriform). Finally reinstate the pagefile - to a fixed size by setting it to "user defined" size and setting the lower and upper size limits to the same value.

On some older PCs this has made the difference between virtually unusable (several minutes to boot up) and being relatively painless to use.

Alex Brentnall · Sep 14, 2015

A few questions here but:
Is your internet connection good and stable, are you in open/group or solo? If in Open it may be the internet not the hardware although I doubt it, just ruling out possibilities.
Do you still have the factory fitted hard drive in there? When was the last time the hard drive was re-formatted, assuming windows 10 was a recent wipe and start again job.

The non-SSD drives often accumulate slowdowns and require de-fragmenting, they also run better when less full. Using programs like auto-runs will help speedup the startup to windows process by deactivating programs that don't need to start everytime you press the on button (That won't help in game though).

As above you are a bit limited with the processor and GPU. An SSD may help speed things up in general but yeah sadly electronics do not age well

Ninja'd by a moderator himself!

Bret Riverboat · Sep 14, 2015

Windscreen Smudge said:
You're not going to get much more out of any of that hardware. The processor is locked and the GPU is anemic and won't OC well. $500 will get you a new PC that will run the game for years to come. Start saving up and don't be afraid to spend money on your hobbies.

Thanks Smudge.

Ive personally got a nice little set up with an i7 and a gtx980 specifically for this game- I just wondered if I could help my dear old Pops out

- - - Updated - - -

Robert Maynard said:
Have you performed a disk cleanup since installing Windows 10? If you have not (and are happy to remove as many traces of the old version of Windows as possible), make sure to select the "Clean up system files" tab and select the "Previous Windows installation(s)" checkbox.

One aspect of older PCs that is often overlooked is the effect of a fragmented pagefile, especially on a partition that is relatively full. By default, Windows sets the pagefile to vary in size under the direct control of the O/S. As time goes on, with user files / programs adding to the disk usage (while the pagefile changes size at need), the disk becomes more and more fragmented.

A fix for this is to reduce the pagefile to a minimum size (or remove it from the primary O/S partition altogether), delete any unwanted files from the partition then defragment the O/S partition (I use Defraggler by Piriform). Finally reinstate the pagefile - to a fixed size by setting it to "user defined" size and setting the lower and upper size limits to the same value.

On some older PCs this has made the difference between virtually unusable (several minutes to boot up) and being relatively painless to use.

Good idea, I'll try that thanks

Bret Riverboat · Sep 14, 2015

Alex Brentnall said:
A few questions here but:
Is your internet connection good and stable, are you in open/group or solo? If in Open it may be the internet not the hardware although I doubt it, just ruling out possibilities.
Do you still have the factory fitted hard drive in there? When was the last time the hard drive was re-formatted, assuming windows 10 was a recent wipe and start again job.

The non-SSD drives often accumulate slowdowns and require de-fragmenting, they also run better when less full. Using programs like auto-runs will help speedup the startup to windows process by deactivating programs that don't need to start everytime you press the on button (That won't help in game though).

As above you are a bit limited with the processor and GPU. An SSD may help speed things up in general but yeah sadly electronics do not age well

Ninja'd by a moderator himself!

Hey Alex

The internet is super fast at 30+mbps. The HDD is less than a year old so it's pretty empty except for the old Windows 7 files and ED.

I remember posting here back in June before I bought the game to find out if that PC would run the game, quite a few said yes on low settings, but I decided to spend a bit of cash to prepare for oculus rift. I just love mine, keeping it empty just for ED. I just wanted my Dad to have a decent playing experience really, I took him to a RES in open for the first time the other day doing some combat training (he is 78 bless him) and I could see and hear just how bad that old PC was!

the100thmonkey · Sep 14, 2015

Try setting the resolution to below the display resolution.

1280x720 should... ouch. I just looked up the GPU.

Try 1280x720 and set the supersampling to 0.75 (alternatively, 1920x1080 at 0.50 supersampling: same result - it should render in 960x540.) The game will look awful, but it will play a lot more smoothly, and consistency in FPS > teh purittee.

You could also buy an old 1024x768 monitor and try setting that as the primary display (provided that the Inspiron actually has the VGA adapter for an external).

The basic point I'm making is: lower the rendering resolution.

Bret Riverboat · Sep 14, 2015

the100thmonkey said:
Try setting the resolution to below the display resolution.

1280x720 should... ouch. I just looked up the GPU.

Lol

Try 1280x720 and set the supersampling to 0.75 (alternatively, 1920x1080 at 0.50 supersampling: same result - it should render in 960x540.) The game will look awful, but it will play a lot more smoothly, and consistency in FPS > teh purittee.

You could also buy an old 1024x768 monitor and try setting that as the primary display (provided that the Inspiron actually has the VGA adapter for an external).

The basic point I'm making is: lower the rendering resolution.

That's the kind of info I was looking for- thank you!

Monk · Sep 14, 2015

Kill your speed, not your credit balance...

Oh...wrong thread...

One thing, if you are willing to live with the consequences, is to turn super sampling below 1. It will give you a kick to performance, but my goodness is it ugly.

D6Damager · Sep 14, 2015

i5 processor and Windows 10 is fine for gaming (make sure there is at least 8gb of ram if you are not running 32bit), but you should upgrade that graphics card to the best you can afford when you get the chance. You don't have to buy top end card for ED either, but the card you have is several generations old now.

Chalito · Sep 14, 2015

Also, even though that PC has an onboard GPU, you can still get a new cheap GPU and install it, overriding the one onboard. I too have a gigabyte mobo with an onboard GPU, and I bought a cheap GTX750Ti to play this game. It handles perfectly fine at 1920x1080, running two monitors (one for the game and the other for web/TS/tools).

Alex Brentnall · Sep 14, 2015

Chalito said:
Also, even though that PC has an onboard GPU, you can still get a new cheap GPU and install it, overriding the one onboard. I too have a gigabyte mobo with an onboard GPU, and I bought a cheap GTX750Ti to play this game. It handles perfectly fine at 1920x1080, running two monitors (one for the game and the other for web/TS/tools).

Isn't it a laptop, kinda difficult there since the motherboard won't support it.
I did however just google external laptop GPU and without breaking the swear filters, wowee. I did not realise the market for it existed. Looks like this may be an option although the processor may still be the restricting part.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP_8EYQ-2RA

the100thmonkey · Sep 14, 2015

It's an all-in-one.

Bret Riverboat · Sep 14, 2015

Monk said:
Kill your speed, not your credit balance...

Oh...wrong thread...

One thing, if you are willing to live with the consequences, is to turn super sampling below 1. It will give you a kick to performance, but my goodness is it ugly.

On that lovely hi def wide screen it currently looks like 640 by 480 VGA graphics, I'm sure less resolution won't hurt him so long as he can see a red hollow target on the radar!

- - - Updated - - -

Alex Brentnall said:
Isn't it a laptop, kinda difficult there since the motherboard won't support it.
I did however just google external laptop GPU and without breaking the swear filters, wowee. I did not realise the market for it existed. Looks like this may be an option although the processor may still be the restricting part.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP_8EYQ-2RA

Not laptop, all in one desktop. I did look into upgrading the graphics card which you can't do.

This reminds me... When I re installed Windows 7 after the trial 10 broke, I could have sworn I had a graphics card like the one I mentioned, but I seem to remember the PC telling me it's only using 'built in' graphics. Could the PC forget what it has installed?

- - - Updated - - -

Chalito said:
Also, even though that PC has an onboard GPU, you can still get a new cheap GPU and install it, overriding the one onboard. I too have a gigabyte mobo with an onboard GPU, and I bought a cheap GTX750Ti to play this game. It handles perfectly fine at 1920x1080, running two monitors (one for the game and the other for web/TS/tools).

That would be ideal but I don't think I can fit anything into an all in one desktop, hence why I bought a new rig purely for ED

the100thmonkey · Sep 14, 2015

Alex Brentnall said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP_8EYQ-2RA

I might have to buy one of these!

I'm in love with the Engrish on the product page: "Using EXP GDC allows notebook external desktop graphics card, fully mentionL graphics performance, so that ordinary notebook turned the game."

Regardless, it's a wonderful hack! Alienware do something similar with their Alienware 13, 15 and 17 line (I have an Alienwre 13). It's great, but the dual core CPU really bottlenecks higher resolutions (I play on 3 1080p screens)

the100thmonkey · Sep 14, 2015

Bret Riverboat said:
Not laptop, all in one desktop. I did look into upgrading the graphics card which you can't do.

If you have a spare mini-PCI adapter, you can - that's what that hardware is all about!

Chalito · Sep 15, 2015

Whoops, I thought it was a desktop PC. My bad.
I knew external GPUs existed but I've never seen one, and honestly I wouldn't have thought of that. Good find!

Edit: It IS a desktop. But an al-in-one.. so you mean like those big monitors with all the pc inside of the monitor case? This is exactly why I never liked those

Maybe the external GPU is still an option then?