8800GTS: Inconsistent Performance

[spam38]

System setup:

Motherboard: DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D
CPU: Dual Core AMDOpteron 170
RAM:
2x512MB DDR400 Corsair Value Select
2x1024MB DDR400 Corsair Value Select
Video Card: BFG GeForce 8800GTS OC2
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy 4 ZS
Storage: 2x160GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA
Monitors:
ViewSonic VP201b
Samsung SyncMaster 171v
Power Supply (one at a time of course):
Athena Power AP-P4ATX50F12 ATX12V 500W
APEVIA ATX-CW500WP4 ATX 500W


The overall performance of the system seems to be very inconsistent. I can run 3dmark06 twice in row, the first run gets 8xxx, the second only gets 5xxx. Standing still in WoW, my frame rate will bounce between 20 and 40fps. CnC3 seems to jump between running smoothly, and stuttering a little bit as well (no fps stats).

I've heard much about power supply issues, which is why I've tried both of the above PS units, one has a 28A 12V rail, the other has two 18A 12V rails. Both exhibit the same issue. How does one know if their PS isn't powerful enough? I don't see any underclocking of the video card. In fact, the nVidia monitor shows the core at 1244MHz and memory at 4092MHz right now... usually those are 580 and 850 respectively. I've also never received any warnings about low power (except for in CnC3 when I lose a Power Plant )

Any help would be appreciated. This has all been really annoying.

Thanks in advance!
Tim

 

[Fraggable]

Well now your GPU and memory speeds are obviously doubled for some reason. Maybe a driver issue? That could be it right there. Try uninstalling/cleaning --> reinstalling the drivers.

28A should be enough for that card, but if it's a low quality PSU then there's every chance it's not actually outputting that level of current. If you have 2 18A rails, you need to make sure that the card is able to draw power from both rails using the Y-cable that came with the card.

When you're running the game, ALT-TAB out of it and watch your task manager. See if there's some other process taking up CPU time making your game run inconsistently. The sounds card drivers for my X-fi did that until I figured out what was going on and fixed it.

 

[spam38]

Wow! Thanks for the quick response!

I guess I left a few things out of my first post. I have done a clean install of Windows XP 32bit, with the current stable nVidia drivers (97.92). When using the PS with dual rails (which is the one I'm using now), I have the Y adapter cable connected to the first plug on the two peripheral cables. Thanks to dual monitors, I've been able to watch system stats while 3d apps are running, and I haven't seen anything I would consider out of the ordinary (no extra tasks soaking up CPU time, no frequency drops, etc). I'm pretty sure the "doubled" frequencies are a reporting glitch, I'm just not sure what to make of it.

So at this point, my guesses are either driver issues or power issues. I've got the latest drivers, so I can't really do much about that. So I'd really like to know if there's a "de facto" way of the video card letting you know its underpowered.

 

[spam38]

Also, here's a graph of my 12V line as reported by SpeedFan while running 3dmark06. The score I got was 6343. I believe ATX specs allow for a 5% tolerance, which this is within.

Link to graph

 

[Fraggable]

Yeah you're not really having issues with power as far as I can tell. I'm running a 8800GTS 320 on a 500W Ultra PSU (pretty cheap brand I think) and it runs just great.

I'm betting it's driver issues. Maybe not just video drivers, some other drivers might be causing problems. Open the Task Manager and see what's taking up your CPU time.

 

[spam38]

If there's another task taking up CPU time, its not admitting it . The next highest CPU user is the Windows Idle Process, with nothing else significant following it.

 

[Fraggable]

Start up WoW and when your inconsistent performance starts up then check the task manager and see what's slowing it down.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

don't use the old "stable' drivers. they maye be anything but there not stable.
install riva tuner and enalbe monitoring. ten monitor vram usage and physical ram usage in game.

try running adaware , spybot , avg,. close any symantec or mcafee products you have. uninstall them complelty.check if you hdd is set yo dma or not. run memtest.

 

[aatf510]

Does your system have sufficient cooling?
I mean if it does not, it can be throttling up and down.

 

[Zardnok]

Originally posted by: toattett
Does your system have sufficient cooling?
I mean if it does not, it can be throttling up and down.

I was also thinking perhaps some type of heat related throttling. Maybe try taking the side off the case and sticking a box fan to blow inside just to see. Considering the video speeds it is reporting you running, I would definitely think heat would be building up inside. I am thinking you have a corrupt video card bios.

You say you ran 3dmark06 back-to-back. Did you reboot the system in between and close all extraneous processes? Were the CPU scores roughly the same for each test?

 

[spam38]

The heating issue does seem to fit. I've noticed that the video card seems to never go about 60C, even if its at that temp, and I give it more load. What are normal operating temps of a 8800? I just assumed they were normally fairly high.

I also forgot how long its been since I gave my case a good cleaning. My side fans had about a 1cc of dust in them :Q

When I said back to back, I meant I ran it, checked my score, and then ran it again right away.

 

[spam38]

After several days of using the 100.95 driver with my fans unclogged, things couldn't be running better! Thanks for the help everybody!