Significant stuttering/video lag - any help?

[requiacity]

Significant stuttering/video lag - any help?

So I recently picked up TW2 (during the Steam Summer Sale). I only just got around to trying it out yesterday, and I was very unhappy to discover that the game will not run at all smoothly. On the game's auto-detect settings (which puts me at a "high" spec), the stuttering is absolutely unbearable - constant stutters, and the game chugs along at about half speed. At the very lowest settings possible, the game is barely playable, and still boasts a considerable visual delay (between a half-second and a full second between a keypress and visual change). I have CCC configured to use the game's suggested graphics settings, I turned off/disabled every unnecesary setting in the game's advanced options, I updated my graphics drivers - no dice. According to systemrequirementslab.com, my computer is more than qualified to run the game. Is there any fix for this? Or are the game's listed requirements (which I'm not exactly skirting, either) misleading?

This is what Speccy has to say about my machine:

Operating System
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP2

CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 @ 2.66GHz
Yorkfield 45nm Technology

RAM
6.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (6-6-6-18)

Motherboard
Dell Inc. 0M017G (CPU 1)

Graphics
DELL S2409W (1920x1080@60Hz)
1024MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 6450 (Diamond)

Optical Drives
TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-H653F ATA Device
PLDS BD-RE DH-4B1S ATA Device

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

Well it's your GPU, it's far too weak. It's only about half the minimum required power to run this game.

 

[GuyNwah]

Systemrequirementslab tells lies. Don't believe it. The game's stated requirements are true, and LordFuzzyButt is right: your computer doesn't meet them. Your GPU is maybe half the practical minimum and a quarter of the stated minimum. And this game is hard on the GPU.

That motherboard suggests you have a Dell Studio 540 or 540s. The 540 can take any GPU, though you will need a power supply upgrade if you go above an AMD 5670 or 6670. The 540s requires a low-profile GPU.

Also, this game is more sensitive to screen resolution than to graphics settings. Try it at 1280x720. You should get a noticeable improvement, though it still may not be playable on that GPU.