Hi there,

I am aware my graphics card barely meets the minimum requirements of the game (ATI Radeon 3100) but I wanted to make sure the graphical issues I am sseing is the result of this and not the speed of my internet connection. The game is pixelated (because of the card I am sure) but it also keeps slowing down during space battles and ground battles - the frame rate goes much slower, then "catches up" then slows down again.

Can someone confirm this is graphics card realted and not internet speed related?

Thanks.

it is most likely the GPU (graphics processor unit) having trouble with the graphics.

on my work machine I had a really old card and it was blocky and i'd go into a space battle and the game would crash. eventually I burnt out the card trying to play as it coldn't handle the data.

the newer card can now handle everything and the GPU is about 60 times faster than the old one.

my advice is turn everything to lowest and see, if you stillg et the problems, may be time to invest in a newer card? you can pick up one of the low-mid range recommended cards quite cheap now, as cards tend to be obsolete after 6 months to 1 year.

I run 2x Gforce 8600GTX on my home pc, and it prods buttock, but you can buy those cards for like £50 a hit these days (though not the ones I have as they're limited editions).

Now I'm currently playing with a ATI Radeon 2400 (even lower then your card!!!) To get reasonable graphics performance out of this card, I've dropped the screen resolution down to 1200 x 780 and can play almost any scene, with a noticeable lag only occurring during the busiest of fleet combat action.