I just bought a computer with the following relevant specs:
HP Slimline
OS - Win7
Video - Nvidia 6000 series (not sure of actual number...I am at work)
RAM - 4GB
Processor - AMD Sempron
I have installed the vista/win7 version of POL and updated POL and FFXI. The game runs. If I use FFXI Config to set my settings (thus leaving the game under sampled) the game runs fine and FPS rarely dips below 28. However, if I want to match overlay and background resolutions to make the details a bit sharper, the FPS randomly dips to about 15-20, which is extremely annoying.
My old computer, which was four years old, had about half the specs (probably less, with only about 1GB RAM) that this one has, and ran on XP. Until about the end of its life (2 months ago) I was able to run with matched overlay and background resolutions and FPS was fine. I know my nvidia card was much older than the one currently installed on my newer computer. I also know that nvidia has come out with much newer stuff.
I have been reading in forums about problems with nvidia and problems finding good drivers that work with win7. Therefore I have tested a number of drivers in an attempt to resolve the issue, but to know avail. I have tried 16x.xx version (not exactly sure of the number, but it was released mainly for FFXI so I hear) and the 17x.xx (also released to help ffxi so I hear). Neither helped. 17x.xx actually did not install correctly on win7 as it was an xp driver. I also read another forum that asked me to try 191.xx. This also did not work.
The only other piece of info I can offer is that my nvidia is integrated and therefore there is a motherboard driver that I have not uninstalled. This may mean nothing, but I am not sure. If there is any help that any tech-minded people can offer, it would be valued and appreciated. I am not too techy, but learn a little as I go along trying to resolve issues. Thanks in advance for any information.