7600 GT and Quake 3 Problems

[TC10284]

I just got an XFX Geforce 7600GT video card with a Pentium D 945 3.4GHz. Before, I had a PD 805 2.66GHz and an ATI Radeon x1600. The past few days, when I try to play Quake 3 sometimes, I notice that the game has horribly low FPS when I look out over a long distance (say, to the other base in Q3CTF4 or Q3Tourney6_CTF). Even if it is a close view of something, I still see <60 FPS. With my x1600, I didn't have these problems at all. The odd thing is, sometimes I will get <30 FPS in Q3, and sometimes it will run really well around 125 FPS (where I capped the FPS with com_maxfps). I am using the same config file that I used with the x1600 (and all my previous video cards that I haven't had any issues like this with).

I am running the latest offical drivers from Nvidia (91.47) and I have installed the latest Intel chipset drivers for my Asus P5LD2 motherboard. I also have the latest non-beta BIOS for the mobo.

As far as temps go, the 945 runs at 46C idle and the GPU runs around 50-51C idle. So neither should be excessively hot.
I have not yet tried UT2004 to see if I have a similar problem in it.

Do you guys have any suggestions?

 

[BFG10K]

Did you remove your old ATi drivers?

 

[TC10284]

Yep, uninstalled them through Add/Remove Programs.

 

[BFG10K]

Try deleting the config file.

 

[TC10284]

Neg, that's a specially tweaked config that I've created. I tried renaming q3config.cfg to q3config.bak and basically ran it from a new config - same results from what I could tell.

 

[BFG10K]

You have a conflict there somewhere as the game flies on my 7900 GTX.

 

[akshayt]

AFAIK running Quake 3 on a 7600GT should be fine maybe at 12X10 MAX 4x AA 16x AF or higher.

 

[TC10284]

Originally posted by: akshayt
AFAIK running Quake 3 on a 7600GT should be fine maybe at 12X10 MAX 4x AA 16x AF or higher.

Yes, which is why I am confused on why this is happening. Q3 uses 100% of one CPU core, which is normal (because r_smp is set to 0), and there's nothing else running that should be using the vid card GPU. I just don't get it.

 

[gramboh]

You should be getting 125fps (if you capped with com_maxfps) solid with that card at 1280x1024 even with max AA/AF (my 6800GS unlocked to 6800 Ultra does on a P4 3.2, your CPU/card is faster).

Try using Driver Cleaner Pro (free program, google it). Install DC, reboot to safe mode (important) and run the program and remove all ATI files. In fact, the best thing would be to uninstall your NV drivers, reboot to safemode and remove all ATI/NV files, then reboot to normal and install new NV drivers.

There must be some weird conflict somewhere.

 

[TC10284]

I am trying some things. Reverted back to 91.3x drivers - no luck. Tried the config file in Q3 again - no difference. I just now tried Driver Cleaner Pro in Safe Mode - pulled off all ATI and Nvidia drivers then reinstalled 91.47.

Probably the last thing I'm going to try is the latest beta BIOS for my mobo but I doubt that'll help. After that, I'm out of ideas.

It's almost like, it takes the vid card GPU a while to run at full speed. It'll have low FPS (<50) and then eventually jump up to 125 FPS (the cap limit). So far, UT2004 doesn't seem to have this issue, but I won't say for sure since I don't have time to play it right now.

I'll keep you updated if I find out anything different.

 

[TC10284]

Driver Cleaner Pro = no luck =( :|

 

[TC10284]

Tried latest BIOS version for my board - no luck.

Ripped out card, put in an ECS 915P-A board with a P4 2.8GHz HT, installed 91.47 drivers - card runs fine...

Put x1600 back in my system, Q3 runs fine...this deserves a "WTF man?!"