# call of duty 4 lag



## ashleymoye (Mar 7, 2008)

I just brought cod4 and it lags like hell. The sound is ok, as are the graphics, its just the lag. It's annoying because It cost me quite a bit and you can't get refunds on PC games. I've got a Windows Vista Home Basic or something. How can I stop the lag?


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Please post your system specs. CPU, RAM, PSU, graphics card. What speed is your internet connection?


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## ashleymoye (Mar 7, 2008)

Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M CPU 440 @ 1.8GHz, ~1.9GHz
Memory: 446MB RAM
Graphics: ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M Series


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## Jack.Sparrow (Jan 22, 2007)

System requirements *Minimum*:
- Intel Pentium 4 *2.4 GHz* or AMD Athlon 64 2800+ processor or any 1.8Ghz Dual Core Processor or better supported
- *512MB* RAM (*768MB* for Vista)
- NVIDIA Geforce *6600* or better or ATI Radeon 9800 Pro or better
- 8 Giga bytes of free hard disk space
*Recommended:*
- 2.4 GHz dual core or better is recommended
- 1024MB RAM (*2048MB *for Vista)
- 3.0 Shader Support recommended. Nvidia Geforce *7800* or better or ATI Radeon X1800 or better.

I don't think you meet the minimum system requirements, thus the lag.


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## ashleymoye (Mar 7, 2008)

That's insane. They are pretty much saying you need to buy the latest pc and put nothing else on it apart from the game.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Not really. The system requirements are about average for modern games. Did you read the 'minimum system requirements' on the side of the box when you bought the game?

Vista needs at least 1gb RAM to run efficiently (2gb recommended). 446mb is very low, even for the less demanding XP.

The Celeron is not a gaming CPU, it's more for web browsing and office applications.

Your graphics card is well below modern specs, and is not recommended for gaming at all.

The 8gb of hard drive space required to install the game is at the higher end of the scale for modern games, but not unreasonable. If you have a 250gb hard drive, which is quite modest for a Vista system, then 8gb is a drop in the ocean, leaving plenty of room for other stuff. Most people using Vista have computers capable of running it well and plenty of hard drive space.

I would recommend you drop Vista and go back to XP if possible. Or upgrade your CPU to at least a P4, your RAM to at least 1gb, and your graphics card to something capable of playing modern games. Basically, these upgrades and the motherboard/PSU needed to run them means a new computer.


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## sandomingo (Mar 9, 2008)

Listen up! The problems most gamers have is that their Graphics video cards do not match those recommended by Game makers, having said that your system must be configured for games only so this way you'll get the best out of your system, too many updates will corrupt your drivers unless you carefully select the appropriate versions, bare in mind that video cards have their own cpu which allows them to decode and encode data as needed,


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks for your reply, but as you can see from the comments already posted, there's more to it than just the graphics card. :smile:


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## d-thinkerdotcom (Feb 11, 2008)

Remember there are 2 different types of graphics cards PCI-Express and AGP. Perhaps if you have low specifications u may just wing it with a 1Giga RAM graphics card. Try updating in a step by step way. If this does not work then try updating the memory.

I bought mine from Novatech and it has been working for one year with no problems. Look for NVIDIA.

One more thing, you may need to take out a CD drive, or a second drive and reconnect the power to the graphics card, as they require a lot of power. This is easier than it sounds.


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## Scotty49 (Mar 10, 2008)

Hey i have p4 1g ram and half decent gpu and i cant even run the demo. sorry but as the previous replys have stated when u deal with computers its a case of upgrade or die.


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## FreoHeaveho (Aug 22, 2006)

the recommended and minimum specs for that game can be found in computers several years old. Unfortunately laptops are not built for games.


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## d-thinkerdotcom (Feb 11, 2008)

Laptops are not good for new games, but great for emulators such as zx spectrum or Atari 2600.

It is hit and miss, buy a few old games, if they don't work give them to charity.


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## sandomingo (Mar 9, 2008)

bigfellla said:


> the recommended and minimum specs for that game can be found in computers several years old. Unfortunately laptops are not built for games.


Who said Laptops are mot build for games?? My brother has a DELL Laptop a few years old with a ATI Radeon video card and played the game COD4 from the first day he bought it without any errors or problems, and also COD2, we play online all the time. The problem is with NVIDIA CARDS they did'nt like the game code.


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## sandomingo (Mar 9, 2008)

Hey! Ashleymore Can you increase the memory, do you have an extra slot on your motherboard? or change the memory size upto your MB specs, and change your AGP or PCI video card to more recent one must have Shaders 3 and DDR3 512mb, 400mhz or higher processor on board, Go ATI Radeon, it does not have to cost you more than $230 Aus. Some of these cards are AGP X4,X8, Don't forget you will need to a power supply 400Watts or 450W. Best wishes


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

the original poster said that had an ati card.unfortunately its integrated graphics.id say thats the root of the problem here.


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## FreoHeaveho (Aug 22, 2006)

sandomingo said:


> Who said Laptops are mot build for games?? My brother has a DELL Laptop a few years old with a ATI Radeon video card and played the game COD4 from the first day he bought it without any errors or problems, and also COD2, we play online all the time. The problem is with NVIDIA CARDS they did'nt like the game code.


Most laptops are built with power conservation in mind so that battery life can be maintained. To do this, slower, less power consuming (and more recently more efficient) components are used. For example, hard drivers with 5400RP rather than 7200RPM or greater (or solid state more recently), lower powered gpus (such as integrated ones on 90% of laptops), slower CPU,s and sometimes LED backlit screens.

Yes, you can get the occassional laptop with a decent gpu that will play games, but it is the exception not the rule. An example are ones with 8800 but a ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M series however, is not built for gaming.

Just out of curiosity, what Dell Laptop is that please? Also can you please reference where nVidia cards "did'nt like the game code"? That would be an interesting read for me... cheers


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

bigfellla i have a feeling he was making an ati vs nvidia flame.i know of many people with nvidia cards that play cod4 with no problems.


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## FreoHeaveho (Aug 22, 2006)

including myself.... cheers pharoah

The min specs are NVIDIA 6600 or better/ATI X1300 or better

Recommended specs are: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or better

funny that infinity ward would make special mention of nVidia here..... :4-dontkno

...and that COD2 was built with nVidia drivers in mind...


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## sandomingo (Mar 9, 2008)

bigfellla said:


> Most laptops are built with power conservation in mind so that battery life can be maintained. To do this, slower, less power consuming (and more recently more efficient) components are used. For example, hard drivers with 5400RP rather than 7200RPM or greater (or solid state more recently), lower powered gpus (such as integrated ones on 90% of laptops), slower CPU,s and sometimes LED backlit screens.
> 
> Yes, you can get the occassional laptop with a decent gpu that will play games, but it is the exception not the rule. An example are ones with 8800 but a ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M series however, is not built for gaming.
> 
> Just out of curiosity, what Dell Laptop is that please? Also can you please reference where nVidia cards "did'nt like the game code"? That would be an interesting read for me... cheers


Hey! Bigfella The Dell Inspiron 9300 series, and as for Nvidia it was posted about a couple of months ago on the COD4 website because alot of people were having problems with error starting the game "Separate Alpha blending"

Infinity Ward was notifying everyone that they were working on this problem with Nvidia and that there was nothing they could do at the time, recommending the latest drivers from NVIDIA forceware which did not fix the problem for many people, some went to the trouble of buying new $3000 PC to find out that COD4 returned the same error, my believe is that they must have had an NVIDIA video card as there were not many people encountering this problem with ATI cards hope his answers your question.:smooch:


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## FreoHeaveho (Aug 22, 2006)

Ok, thanks for replying, the main point is that this is not a standard laptop, it has a faster hard drive, faster CPU, and more importantly a dedicated gpu (6800go or the 7880gtx I think). However you are still only looking at around 900 - 2000 in 3DMark06 dependent on what model you have. A bit different to the 4,000 you will get on an average desktop card (I get 13,000). This will be in my opinion, only is just playable (compared to a desktop), you would be looking at about 20 - 25 fps and highest settings. Not great. But satisfactory to most.

In terms of your nVidia comment:
Alpha blending is a convex combination of two colours allowing for transparency effects in computer graphics. The value of alpha in the colour code ranges from 0 - 1, where 0 represents a fully transparent colour, and 1 represents a fully opaque colour. This is done (I believe) with shader model 3 cards and as such the minimum requirements for COD4 are as follows: Geforce 6600 or better or ATI Radeon 9800Pro or better. 

This error (attached) that you are referring to relates to ATi cards equally.









http://www.cod4gamers.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=306
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f24/installing-ati-radeon-9800-pro-197374.html

To say, it is "my believe (sic)" that because you see more nVidia cards display this, it means it is nVidia specific, is based on anecdotal evidence (sorry im a scientist :grin. This effect you are seeing is much more likely to be a result of nVidia's much larger market share (ie more nvidia chips in the wild). In fact nvidia has a market share similar to Intel in the graphics department (around 33% each) and ATi's less than 20% at Q1 2007. Based on the success of nVidia since then, which correlates to the release of COD4, i would suggest that nVidia's market share has subsequently gone up.

Essentially all this means that your video card is not supported. Onboard video chips, nVidia cards older than the 6xxx series and ATi older than the 98xx pro series are not supported by COD4. It is not nVidia specific.


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## FreoHeaveho (Aug 22, 2006)

and today...

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f24/call-of-duty-4-and-ati-radeon-9250-a-231283.html


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## chrisredfield12 (Mar 22, 2008)

i bought call of duty 4 and it lags like f'n hell the computer iam using is HP pavilion a1230n


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## FreoHeaveho (Aug 22, 2006)

Your computer does not meet minimum specfications. It has a ATI Radeon Xpress 200 integrated video card. Not powerful enough.

You are lucky however. It has a PCIe x16 slot which means (dependant on your PSU), you can get any new graphics card. What PSU make and model is in it. You will need to open the case and look at the sticker on the inside.


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## chrisredfield12 (Mar 22, 2008)

ok...i did not understand what you just said tell me in a more lower specific way but alittle specific and where so i look in the box in which the compuer was in


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

The PSU (power supply unit) is inside the computer case, at the top rear where the power cable plugs into. Take the side panel off the case and post back with the details from the PSU label (see example below). This will tell us if you can install a graphics card to replace your onboard graphics without having to also replace the PSU.


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## helmszee (Aug 26, 2008)

Righto, brand new Toshiba laptop so if my specs are wats stopping me from playing COD4 i might cry lol. Don't know much but i think the following is wat u guys would want to see:
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_gdr.071023-1545)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
System Model: Satellite A210
BIOS: BIOS Version 1.70 
Processor: AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-62 (2 CPUs), ~2.1GHz
Memory: 894MB RAM
Page File: 1470MB used, 695MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: ATI Radeon X1200
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x791F)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_791F&SUBSYS_FF1A1179&REV_00
Display Memory: 318 MB
Dedicated Memory: 127 MB
Shared Memory: 191 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (60Hz)

------------------------
Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives
------------------------
Drive: C:
Free Space: 101.8 GB
Total Space: 145.4 GB


Sorry for posting so much stuff but not sure exactly wat is helpful lol

cheers


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## Jack.Sparrow (Jan 22, 2007)

Hi there, welcome to TSF. 

I would say it's a combination of how much memory (RAM) you have and your graphics card. 

If you have a look at the required specs for Vista, you'll noticed 768mb RAM required. You have 894, however, you graphics card shares 191 MB's of that, which takes you below the minimum required for the game (703 MB) 

Additionally, Microsoft recommends Vista Home Premium have atleast 1GB of memory. 

Sorry.


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## helmszee (Aug 26, 2008)

wat is required to fix this? is it possible or too expensive?


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## Jack.Sparrow (Jan 22, 2007)

I would say more RAM but even that won't guarantee you'll be able to play it cause I'm not sure if the graphics card is powerful enough. 

Stick around and get a 2nd opinion on that though, just in case.


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## helmszee (Aug 26, 2008)

the computer specs from the shop say that it has:
MEMORY - 1GB DDR2 (667) 
I then bought and had installed for me a 1GB Kingston Memory Chip

but when i ran Belarc Advisor it comes back with:
894 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'S1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'S2' is Empty

Does this sound right?


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## sandomingo (Mar 9, 2008)

helmszee said:


> the computer specs from the shop say that it has:
> MEMORY - 1GB DDR2 (667)
> I then bought and had installed for me a 1GB Kingston Memory Chip
> 
> ...


:4-thatsba (Look! helms just change the graphics card for a 500mb onboard memory and add the extra gig to your system memory, if you have installed a second memory sim and it does not register is because its a faulty one or the wrong one, about the windows vista deselect all your special effects and try again without them ok? run at a lower resolution


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## FreoHeaveho (Aug 22, 2006)

*Chrisredfield*, give us your PSU specs (look inside the machine) and we will determine what you need to play the game.

*Helmzee*, please donwload PC WIzard from my sig and install it. Then go to FILE< SAVE AS and click OK. Then copy and paste the text from that file into this thread. Also specify the exact model of RAM you purchased (e.g. the Kingston).

At the moment, the second DDR2 stick doesn't seem to be registering and the descrepancy between 894mb and 1GB is due to the shared VGA component.

In terms of playing the game (or any other for that matter) go here and select the game and it will tell you if you meet minimum specs: http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

*Sandonming*, I am not really sure what you are on about because you cannot upgrade onboard graphics memory (its a laptop), vista's aero features are automatically turned off by the driver when playing 3D games, and should memory be faulty or wrong, the computer wouldn't likely post.


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## helmszee (Aug 26, 2008)

here is wat PC wizard had to say, if you need any more let me know..
PC Wizard 2008 Version 1.84
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Owner: Michael Helms
Organisation: TOSHIBA
User: Michael Helms
Operating System: Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium Home Edition 6.00.6001 Service Pack 1
Report Date: Saturday 30 August 2008 at 10:55

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< System Summary >>>

> Mainboard : ATI SB600

> Chipset : AMD RS690/RS690M

> Processor : AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-62 @ 2100 MHz

> Physical Memory : 1024 MB (1 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM )

> Video Card : ATI Technologies Inc Radeon X1200 Series

> Hard Disk : ST9160821AS (160 GB)

> DVD-Rom Drive : TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L632H ATA Device

> Monitor Type : LGPhilipsLCD LP154WX4-TLD2 - 15 inches

> Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC

> Network Card : Atheros Communications Inc AR5006 family 802.11abg Wireless NIC

> Operating System : Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium Home Edition 6.00.6001 Service Pack 1

> DirectX : Version 10.00

> Windows Performance Index : 3.0

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
***** End of report *****

as for the kingston, all it says on the empty packet they gave me is
KTT667D2/1G
1GB Memory Module

cheers


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## helmszee (Aug 26, 2008)

ran the system requirment lab and it said i passed however it said 
System RAM
Minimum: 512MB RAM ((Windows® XP), 768MB RAM Vista®)
You Have: 893 MB
i'm starting to think that they havnt installed the extra gig, or at least havnt installed it properly.


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## IpwnCOD (Sep 12, 2011)

when i start COD 4 and its the start page its fine, but when i get to play the game, its all laggy. i cant do anything my system is::

Windows 7 
AMD Phenom 9750 Quad-Core Processer 2.41 GHz
4 gb ram
64-bit
NVIDIA GeForce 7025/NVIDIA nForce 630a

hope for a reply soon,
Thanks


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## Ooudestomp (Nov 4, 2010)

IpwnCOD said:


> when i start COD 4 and its the start page its fine, but when i get to play the game, its all laggy. i cant do anything my system is::
> 
> Windows 7
> AMD Phenom 9750 Quad-Core Processer 2.41 GHz
> ...


I think this may be your problem. You only have on-board graphics. Try playing it on lowest graphics settings, and you may get away with minimal lag.


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## sandomingo (Mar 9, 2008)

Hi, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner,
Your graphics card is the heart of everything on display, these games require 
Shaders 3 on your graphics card, your card has to be at least 250mb minimum memory, the card must have its own processor so it doesn't relay on your pc processor, also make sure there is no applications on the background, try and use a pc system utilities software, most of them have a games optimizer (Corel Pc System utilities)


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